The Curzon (Clevedon) is one of the longest continually running purpose built cinemas IN THE WORLD. It opened it's doors on the 20th of April 1912. Right in the center of our town, it's a real feature. The front of the building was damaged during the 2nd World War - a soldier was standing in the doorway and was killed by a bomb. The damage is still visible today.
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| Image Source : Neville Stanikk Photography |
I love The Curzon. I don't say that lightly. I really do love it. I visited myself as a child and I enjoy being able to take my boys there. When I have more time, I fully intend to volunteer there. It has struggled for a long time to be profitable so I do love to support it.
Something I really love about The Curzon is how community focused it is. Along side screening current releases in the evenings, The Curzon offers various other events including:
CineMa & Baby
This is something I've loved over the years - screenings especially for parents/careers held on Wednesday mornings. You can bring your baby along with you. Enioy a current release and no one minds if your baby cries! Even better, CineMa & Baby is improving! From September, it is moving to Mondays at 11am and will include an arts & crafts activities aimed at 0-2 year olds! This will cost £6 per session.
Curzon Kids
Another event I am passionate about! The Kids Club was set up for 3-16 year olds and their parents. Held on Saturdays once a month, for the cost of £4 a ticket you get to watch a film and enjoy an arts & crafts activity after the film. Since having Felix, I have had little time one on one with Ethan. I've found attending the Kids Club at The Curzon invaluable. It provides us with a chance to have some time together, just me and him. Mummy and Ethan time. It's precious to both of us. Ethan always enjoys the craft sessions after the films. Sometime I really love about it is that it's not all about "new releases". The films shown might be new, the might be classics or they might be something a bit more "cult". To give you an idea, we have seen Dumbo, Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro among others.
The people behind The Kids Club are lovely, friendly, welcoming and very passionate about what they are doing. The main person behind it all is Caroline Lowe. If you go along you are bound to be welcomed by her. I have spoken with Caroline a few times about The Kids Club. She has worked tirelessly to make it a real event. The Kids Club now has a special area above the cinema, a whole room with space for arts & crafts and other actives. It's a great little space and so lovely to see more of the cinema building being used.
Summer Holiday Activities
Over the summer holidays, The Kids Club is running extra craft activities. During August there is a film screening and activity every Saturday morning and during the week extra craft sessions are being held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and afternoons at a cost of £3.50 per session. We haven't been able to attend any of these yet but many of my friends have and they have been raving about them!
In short, we just can't get enough of The Curzon. It's such a family and community centered place. A real gem, something that is hard to find these days I feel!
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I loved Clevedon when I looked around as a possible place to move to but things have changed again so no move on the cards yet! The cinema looks amazing - reminds me of childhood trips to the cinema in the good old days! :)
ReplyDeleteAhhh, we would have been happy to have you as new Clevedon residents! x
DeleteIt sounds amazing Alex, I much prefer smaller places like this to the huge Cineworlds and Vues x
ReplyDeleteMe too! We love taking the boys somewhere we were taken as children. You can feel the history in there. I love it! x
DeleteI had no idea about all the history behind The Curzon. What a fascinating building. I'm so glad that it's still in use as a cinema, so many local cinemas in interesting buildings have died off with the advent of multiplexes.
ReplyDelete