Stars of the show

Volunteers at the Miners' Club volunteers Andy Marr and Matt Beckett (Louis' brother).

THE hard work of local volunteers who transformed a burnt-out club into a small community cinema has paid off after their group finally received charity status.

The Miners Community Arts and Music Centre was a social club in Moston until it was neglected, so residents decided to make use of the building in other ways.

It is a family-run project, with Failsworth resident Louis Beckett (46), manager of the club, using his redundancy money from his previous job as a fabricator and welder in Oldham, and his dad who also used his own money for his retirement.

Louis said: “When I got the club it was derelict, with no heating and no water. It’s a great little space. People were willing to give their time for free. We’ve had local people coming and cleaning for us and kids helping to clean the seats.”

The club, on Teddington Road, opened a 90-seater cinema (Moston Small Cinema) that is a volunteer-run independent screening space.

The cinema was built by more than 60 volunteers over 12 weeks in 2012, with materials donated by organisations and businesses in the North-West.

Cinema seats from the 1930s were donated from Liverpool’s Plaza cinema for the 16ft by 9ft screen framed by red, velvet curtains.

It is used for film screenings, theatre shows, conference events and parties for local residents and businesses.
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