New funding pledge boost for Montrose cinema hopes.

Montrose: Residents get behind drive for new picture house

A town’s residents are taking to their feet and wheels to help raise cash to build a local cinema.

The Montrose Playhouse Project embarked on its most successful event to date in the form of a DIY Sos-style strip-out at the old pool in November.

Volunteers had helped save the project £250,000 and the team is now working behind the scenes to raise the funding required for the rest of the renovations at the Mall building, which amounts to around £2 million.

The aim of the project is to bring back a cinema to Montrose and create a cultural arts hub for the town and surrounding area.

Chairman David Paton said: “Once we have a commitment to capital funding from one or more source, we intend to raise the balance through a rewardbased crowdfunding scheme.

“In anticipation of this, we have carried out a two-week survey of just over 500 respondents asking them what, if any, of our proposed rewards they’d be interested in, with an indication of prices.

“These ranged from a ticket to the opening night at £30 or a brick in the Playhouse Wall of Fame for £50, all the way up to a main sponsor at £50,000.

“In the two-week period we had raised a theoretical £1m from around 4% of the town’s population, which is yet more evidence of the community’s desire for the facility.”

Graeme Thomson, Gary Jamieson and James Kennedy are giving the project a further boost by signing up for a 25-mile kiltwalk in Glasgow next Sunday.

And on June 30 Montrose Driving Instructors’ Association is holding its annual mock driving test fundraiser, with all proceeds going to the ambitious project.

Mr Paton said: “The MDIA do this every year for a local charity as a way of giving back to the community whilst promoting good driving awareness.

“The entry fee is £25, for which you get a 30-minute mock driving test with a qualified driving instructor — and a cuppy and a cake afterwards.

“Full details are on our Facebook page.”

People can sponsor Graeme, Gary and James on the kiltwalk by going to glasgowkiltwalk2018.everydayhero. com/uk/graeme-9

gstrachan@thecourier.co.uk

Pictures: Paul Reid. Top: David Paton gives a tour of the Montrose Playhouse Project in the old swimming pool on the Mall. Above: Solicitor Kristin Alexander with David.