Cinema Opening

The two men responsible for the room we’re sitting in – Ian Morrish from Together for Cinema and Iain Martin from iCubed Home Cinema – have many things in common. They’re both passionate about the audiovisual industry. They both have highly successful careers and have each built thriving businesses. And, most obviously, they have (almost) the same first name. Yet get chatting to them, and you soon realise there’s a wider, deeper mutual interest that drives and propels them – the desire to give back.

Most recently, the pair have united to provide ellenor – a hospice charity which provides care and support for people of all ages facing life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, and their families, throughout Kent and Bexley – with a brand-new, multi-functional, state-of-the-art cinema room.

Equipped with dimmable, twinkling lights, an enormous television, and what Morrish terms “super audio”, the room – fitted as part of ellenor’s Wellbeing Wing, an expansion to the hospice’s home in Northfleet – will be capable of filling a multitude of needs for patients, families, and staff. It offers a cinema-like experience but is versatile enough to be used for video presentations, meetings, arts and crafts sessions, and a welcoming space for staff gatherings.

“It’s a media room,” Martin explains, “a multi-functional space that gives you all the ‘wow’ of a cinema experience but can be used for so much more than watching films. ellenor can give video presentations here, host meetings, run arts and crafts sessions, and so much more.”

Such a rich, engaging audiovisual sounds expensive – and Morrish and Martin concede that the value of the ellenor installation would normally come to around £35,000. Yet thanks to their respective companies’ hard work, generosity, and network of benefactors in the AV community, the pair have been able to plan, design, and install ellenor’s brand-new multi-functional space at no cost to the hospice.

Providing support to young people at ellenor – whether they are siblings or children of patients, or young people facing life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses themselves – is a deeply rewarding and life-affirming experience. What makes this installation even more special is that it marks Morrish’s 50th project, each one delivered entirely at no cost to the charities that benefit from it.

This half-century of installations is the culmination of work which started, for Morrish, in 2009 – ironically, in front of a television. Morrish was watching The Secret Millionaire, and the episode was about a Blackpool-based holiday home for children with short lives called Donna’s Dream House. Inspired by the story unfolding before him, Morrish resolved to get involved. He called Donna’s Dream House and, 14 months later, was unveiling a purpose-built cinema (located in one of the log cabins Morrish had watched The Secret Millionaire donate just over a year earlier) at the venue.

But the real moment the impact of his giving back hit home wasn’t until Morrish witnessed two little girls – one of them without much time to live – watching SpongeBob SquarePants in the new, £25,000 cinema room. He had to leave the room as he broke down. Yet as the tears fell, another idea began to grow in the space behind his dewy eyes – that this triumph was only the beginning.

And that he could do much, much more.

That installation – and that light bulb moment – were the first stirrings of the business that would become Together for Cinema: Morrish’s commitment to empower charities with immersive, cinema-quality places to relax in and enjoy. Morrish set the goal of 25 installations by 2020 and achieved it; now, a mere four years later, the team at Together for Cinema have doubled that number.

Yet it wouldn’t have been possible without the second half of this audiovisual axis: Iain Martin of iCubed Home Cinema. iCubed designs and installs bespoke home cinema and media rooms, and the fact that Martin and Morrish already knew each other – having met at a tradeshow and worked in the same industry for years – made the partnership a good fit from the get-go.

Morrish, as he describes it, is like the conductor – liaising with charities and overseeing Together for Cinema’s strategy and relationships with funders and the community – while Martin is the actual orchestra: and, without his and iCubed’s expertise and experience, the installation at ellenor wouldn’t have been possible. So what drives Iain Martin – and what is he looking forward to when ellenor’s multi-functional cinema room is unveiled to the world?

“My main motivation is helping the children,” says Martin, who has supported residential care homes for elderly residents with heavily subsidised installations, but for whom the room at ellenor will be his first experience with a place that supports children. “So this one I’m particularly looking forward to”.

Referencing Morrish’s ‘moment’ – when he saw the children watching SpongeBob SquarePants and had to leave the room for ten minutes as he broke down – Martin says, “I want to hear a child’s voice go ‘wow’. Then I’ll have to step away for my own ten minutes out.”

If all that sounds exciting, it’s about to become even more impactful as Together for Cinema and iCubed continue rolling out installations. With 50 rooms already completed at a value of over £1,300,000 and Together for Cinema now established as a Community Interest Company (CIC), the next goal is 100 installations, potentially worth up to £3,000,000. This expansion will bring vital support to even more families, including those in Kent and Bexley facing life-limiting conditions, like the ones ellenor assists.

But there’s also another exciting project in the works – and it’s just been announced. Only days ago, Morrish approved a new website, givingback.tech, which will allow companies like installers, distributors, and manufacturers, to post second-hand audiovisual equipment for charities in need. “In commercial and residential audiovisual industries, there are thousands of items – totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds in AV equipment – that are simply unused,” Morrish explains.

“As a charity or good cause, you may not have the luxury budget to buy 15 sound bars for your facility. But they might be available to you on this website.”

Along with the multi-functional space Morrish and Martin have built, ellenor’s Wellbeing Wing will contain a range of new spaces and facilities to allow even more patients and their families to benefit from ellenor’s services. The development will contain a large Changing Places toilet facility, new rooms for counselling, an improved playroom, and dedicated quiet spaces. Work began in March 2023 and is being delivered by Barnes Construction.

Morrish, for one, can’t wait to walk through the space when it’s built – and, asked for his message to the people who will be benefiting from ellenor’s brand-new, picture-perfect multi-functional cinema and media room, encourages you to do the same.

“Just enjoy it!” Morrish says, beaming. “We’re so, so happy to be involved because we know how much the space will be used and enjoyed. And please, get in touch to tell us about those magic moments. One of the saddest things about this role is that, even though we know we’re making a difference, we often don’t hear much about the impact of our rooms following an installation. Despite the fact that we know that children, and their siblings, and their parents, and their care team, and the staff – that everyone who enters this room – will love it.

“I mean…who doesn’t enjoy a massive TV and really good audio?”