Blakemore said the club, which was entering its fourth year, had “settled in with a core group of enthusiasts” and was open to new members. “There’s been a few people showing interest, but there are some who think there’s still a waiting list.” The society briefly closed membership in February 2018 when its numbers were enough to fill the 110 seats in Movie Max Digital’s biggest theatre. Blakemore wanted to assure those interested in joining that, with about 60 people attending each film session, there was plenty of room for more.
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Jayne Blakemore and Alison Gray outside Movie Max where the film society meets.
As it has been classed by the district council as a priority building, the deadline to completeseismic work is 2033. Blakemore said while she was not surprised by the initial assessment result, she was now in limbo as to what to do next. “Based on early assesments the costs for the work will be in the hundreds of thousands and possibly in the millions, but I hope that by the time I get to actually doing further assesments, the technology for strengthening would make it cheaper. “The costs of strengthening are prohibitive, and there re all sorts of practicalities I have to go through,” she said.