m , i n c r


SECTION – Strap here i x Events


‘Our outdoor movie night took place in the afternoon’


We’ve always loved watching flms outside and thought running an event for the school would be exciting. But it seemed like such a big task and we kept running into hurdles. One of the biggest challenges was fnding an organisation with a screen that worked in daylight, as the long summer days mean the sun sets too late for school-age children to start watching a movie. Luckily, we heard about Sundown


Cinema (sundowncinema.co.uk). We got in touch and they sent us their brochure and FAQs booklet. After that, it all seemed achievable. We booked a July date with a 4pm


screening time and started looking for sponsorship to help with the initial outlay – it cost us over £1,000 just to hire the equipment. We managed to obtain £700 in sponsorship from local


companies paying between £50 and £300 each. In return, we offered advertising before the movie and after the end credits, which we created in PowerPoint. Sundown Cinema guided us through


the application for the special licence needed to run an outdoor cinema event – the cost of this licence is 40 per cent of your ticket price. We decided to charge £5 per ticket for anyone older than two. Parents could purchase tickets through the school as well as pre-ordering hot dogs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The PTA made a shortlist of three


movies and allowed the children to vote for their choice. Sing 2 won by a mile, and we purchased two copies on Blu-ray for the day, just in case. We sold 450 tickets, making £2,250 on ticket sales and taking our total


income, including sponsorship, to almost £3,000. After deducting the cost of the licence and screen hire, we began the event with around £1,000 proft. Sundown had already asked about


practicalities like access, and when their technician arrived at lunchtime, he set everything up with no complications. The PTA ran stalls selling candy floss, ice lollies, soft drinks, beer and Pimm’s. Money from these, combined with the hot dogs and doughnuts, came to just under £800, giving us total profts of £1,770. It was such a fun event. The sun


shone and the families had a fantastic time. The support we got from Sundown made planning easy. It was such a great event that we’re already planning another one for this summer. Kate Brown, PTA fundraising team, Katherine Semar Schools (450 pupils)


pta.co.uk SUMMER 2023 35


AS TOLD TO: DANIEL ETHERINGTON; IMAGE: SUNDOWN CINEMA; ROBERTO/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM


H


t


e


f o


l p


r


w i


p


t h


g


p l


atten


d


a


n


c


n


a n n n g a


e


i s n i s i d


i n g e a a m


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52