Oscar-winner Rachel Shenton opens Dougie Mac hospice cinema

An Oscar-winner has officially opened a cinema room at a Staffordshire hospice.

Rachel Shenton, who won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2018 and grew up in the county, was asked to cut the ribbon by the Dougie Mac charity.

It converted an unused room at its site in Trentham, with the help of good cause enterprise Together for Cinema.

Mrs Shenton said she was "very passionate about cinema" and "everybody having access to story and drama".

She added: "I have to say I'm really, really impressed by the space. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't quite this."

All costs of the installation were paid for by Together for Cinema and the cinema room features a 3m (10ft) wide screen, surround sound, a starlight ceiling and space to accommodate wheelchairs and beds, plus seating for friends, family and carers.

The Dougie Mac hospice said: "Our families are excited to relax, enjoy a film and make special memories together."

Ian Morrish, the founder of Together for Cinema, said: "There really are some great therapeutic benefits to snuggling up and watching a movie. We all feel better after a good movie."

Mrs Shenton, and her husband Chris Overton, claimed the Oscar for her 20-minute film, The Silent Child, which was based on her own experiences of growing up with a parent who became deaf.

She said she hoped some of her future movies would be shown at the cinema.

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