Dench joins campaign to save movie hall
By IANSFriday, February 18, 2011
LONDON - Veteran actress Dame Judi Dench has joined a campaign to save a small cinema hall in Scotland by signing up to become one of its celebrity supporters.
The actress has followed in the footsteps of Tilda Swinton, Dougray Scott, Robbie Coltrane and Rowan Atkinson by becoming a patron of the Highland Theatre in Oban.
The venue closed last summer after the owners went into liquidation, but officials at Santander Bank, which has now taken over ownership, have agreed to postpone an auction to sell off the cinema so local residents can try and raise enough cash to buy it, reports dailystar.co.uk.
Scottish neighbours are hoping to raise 20,000 pounds to place a deposit down on the theatre and hope to eventually collect the full amount of 195,000 pounds.
Town centre manager Campbell Cameron, who is hoping to reopen the Highland Theatre as the Phoenix Cinema, says: “We are delighted that Dame Judi Dench has given us her support. She has an affinity with the area because she comes up here on her holidays.”
