FRI 3 SEP 2021: Free screening of NATIONAL VELVET 🐴🐎🏇 @ShrewsburyHse – Day One of #CWFFF21 – the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival @CWFilmFestival

National Velvet
Shrewsbury House
Friday 3 September 2021
Doors: 6.30pm, Film: 7.30pm

All films are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Runtime: 2h 4m
INDOORS
BBFC Rating: U – a family-friendly screening, bring your foals along
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Angela Lansbury

The book’s author, Enid Bagnold, b 1889, lived in Shooters Hill before the First World War – her father was a Colonel in the Royal Engineers at Woolwich Arsenal at the time [Reference]

Watch this space for news from Shrewsbury House about the horse-themed event add-ons. This might include popcorn in feed bags…

What we’re charitably calling the ‘joke’ section…
How do you describe a hungry horse in 4 letters? MTGG

11 was a race horse.
22 was 12.
1111 race.
22112.

More horse jokes here.

Travel options for Shrewsbury House
[Google Maps] [What3Words: start.luxury.silks]
Buses stopping nearby: 89 (N89), 244, 486
Car parking can be reserved for blue badge holders (venue has a ramp and wheelchair-accessible loo on ground floor). [Contact Shrewsbury House]
Plan a journey with Citymapper (free online and phone app)

 

Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival 2019 listings

The listing is going up on our website in a day or two but I wanted to have something to point people to, or that’s cut/pasteable into emails and stuff so that I can tell my chums, so here it is 🙂

Website: https://www.freefilmfestivals.org/filmfestival/charlton/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cwfilmfestival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharltonWoolwichFFF/

ALL screenings are FREE and available on first come first served basis. The capacity for Akeelah and the Bee is probably only about 30 to 40 (in a room at Woolwich Library) so advise arriving promptly.

The full programme for this year’s Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival #CWFFF19 pic.twitter.com/ktqyz8zTaa

— Steve Hunnisett (@Blitzwalker) August 19, 2019

Friday 6th September
Cinema Paradiso (12), 7.30pm, Shrewsbury House, Shooters Hill / Plumstead Common
Black Panther (12A), 8pm, Artillery Square, Woolwich

Saturday 7th September
The Greatest Showman (PG), 11am, Charlton Manor School, Charlton
Free Solo (12A), 7.30pm, The Reach (climbing wall by riverside), Charlton

Sunday 8th September
Life of Brian (15), 8pm, The White Swan (gardens), Charlton
The Bridge on the River Kwai (U), 8pm, Garrison Church, Woolwich

Monday 9th September
One Cut of the Dead (15), 8pm, The White Swan (gardens), Charlton
Night of the Hunter (12), 8pm, St Thomas’ Church, Charlton

Tuesday 10th September
Auntie (PG) // Leitis in Waiting (18) + Welcome to Britain (PG) – 6.30pm, Thameside Studios Main Gallery, Woolwich

Wednesday 11th September
They Shall Not Grow Old (15), 7.45pm, The White Swan (indoors), Charlton

Thursday 12th September
Faces of Genocide (18) // Shooting Dogs, aka Beyond the Gates (R), 7pm, Charlton House Old Library, Charlton
Mars Attacks! (12), 7.30pm, Starbucks, Charlton

Friday 13th September
Matilda (U), 4pm, Shrewsbury House, Shooters Hill / Plumstead Common
Wonder Woman (12A), 7.30pm, Shrewsbury House, Shooters Hill / Plumstead Common
Vertigo (PG), 8pm, Severndroog Castle (outdoors)
Dean Spanley (U), 8.30pm, Charlton House (outdoors), Charlton – a dog-friendly screening in the grounds of Charlton House but if it rains we’ll move inside (and dogs are still welcome).

Saturday 14th September
Akeelah and the Bee (PG), 2pm, Woolwich Centre Library, Woolwich
First Man (12A), 8pm, Artillery Square, Woolwich

I’m screening ‘The Dish’ 📡 @charlton_house as part of the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival :D

THE DISH (2000) [12]
The above is just the trailer, come and see the real thing*
Charlton House, 7pm^ on Friday 14 Sep 2018 – FREE

As part of the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival I’m putting on a free open-air screening of The Dish at Charlton House next month (with subtitles ON). Come and see this lovely film and have a look through a telescope too – we’ll be joined by the Flamsteed Astronomical Society. I am exceedingly happy about this event.

The Dish is the best film i've seen in such a long time. Small time Australian comedy about capturing the first moon walk, winner

— William Mulvaney (@WillMulvaney) January 20, 2012

The Dish directed by Rob Sitch is one of my favourite films. It’s heartwarming and funny and in July 2018 was voted 16th (by Australian film critics) in the Top 25 Australian films released in the 21st century and it has an incredible 96% ‘fresh’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ tomatometer.

The film is about the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing, specifically about the television picture signals that were sent from the surface of the Moon and picked up back home on Earth by the receiving radio telescope at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory in New South Wales – aka The Dish.

My friend visited the Parkes telescope not long after the
film was released and brought me this lovely souvenir

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon they were understandably keen to get out and stretch their legs rather than undergo a scheduled rest period, but this caused a bit of a challenge. The timings meant that Moon hadn’t fully risen above the horizon and so wasn’t quite in sight of the Parkes dish.

In order to grab the television signals from the lunar module’s antenna the Parkes team had to orient the dish so that it was fully vertical and pointing at the horizon – but a windstorm turned up, putting the safety of the team and the integrity of the dish itself at risk…

L-R: Patrick Warburton as NASA’s Al Burnett, Sam Neill as director of the observatory Cliff Buxton, Tom Long as Glenn Latham and Kevin Harrington as Ross ‘Mitch’ Mitchell.

*The Real Thing by Russell Morris is one of many fabulous songs featuring in the film’s soundtrack, with a lovely score by Edmund Choi.

^Exact timings to follow

Watched the heartwarming Australian flick "The Dish" tonight. Lovely little film about Apollo 11's moon landing from Parkes's perspective.

— RedGrayWhite (@RedGrayWhite) December 13, 2009

Parental guide
There is brief strong language and the film is certificate 12 in the UK.

Timings / telescopes
More info to come but it looks like the doors will open at 6.30pm, there’ll be a bit of time to grab a bite to eat (the Charlton House tea rooms will be open), look at the telescopes (or rather through them) and get comfy for the film. In a rather nice touch the Moon will be, somewhat disobligingly, only 20 or so degrees above the horizon meaning it might be a bit difficult to spot. Just like in the film!! Other stars / planets may be available, weather permitting.

Seating
It’s an outdoor screening so please consider your comfort – warm clothes and light rain protection (no umbrellas please!). If the weather doesn’t look promising we’ll move into the Library so the screening will go ahead regardless of the weather. You can bring camping seats but please sit behind those on mats so that their view is not obstructed.

Food / drink
Will be available from Charlton House.

Subtitles / accessibility
The film will be screened with subtitles on. Both Charlton House and the outdoor screening area are wheelchair accessible (and there is an accessible loo on the ground floor). There’s also a lift but won’t be needed for this visit.

Travel
Buses 53, 54, 380, 422 and 486 stop nearby. The 486 can be picked up from opposite Charlton rail station, the 380 turns onto the same road a little further up the (quite steep) hill. Charlton station is served by trains from Charing Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge, Cannon Street and, less frequently, Blackfriars and St Pancras (also West Hampstead and Luton).

From Blackheath it’s the 54, from Blackheath Standard 53, 54 (the 380 takes a more circuitous route) or 422, from Westcombe Park it’s the 422.

Further reading 📡〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

• An Alternative Guide to Great Movies: The Dish (2000) (2017) by Andrew Clarke for the Ipswich Star
• Review of The Dish (2001) by Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian
• Inside the big dish that brought us TV from the Moon (2016) by Richard Hollingham for BBC Future
• Sarkissian, J.M. (2001) On Eagles’ Wings: The Parkes Observatory’s Support of the Apollo 11 Mission Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust., 18: 287–310 [PDF] [web version]