Charlton Farm Hospice, found in Wraxall, UK, enriches the lives of many by providing care for children with life-limiting conditions – and now can bring added joy to patients thanks to a recently donated home cinema worth £18,000.
Located to the west of the city of Bristol, in the southwest of England, Charlton Farm Hospice provides vital help – ranging from respite and short breaks to emergency care, palliative care, and end of life care – to the families and children in need in the local area.
Ian Morrish, founder of Together for Cinema, had been in contact with Charlton Farm since April 2012, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the project could not get underway until December 2016. At this time Morrish received the all-important go-ahead to convert the hospice’s games room into a home entertainment multi-functional room – he then made it his mission to find an installer to take on the project.
“Having supplied Together for Cinema with extenders for the last couple of years, we as a team, wanted to help further,” said Dave Schorah, WyreStorm, who ended up leading the installation alongside his colleague, Adrian Ickeringill (now of distribution company, Invision). “When the Charlton Farm Cinema came up, local to our offices, it was a great opportunity for the WyreStorm team to get involved.”
In the early stages of the project it became clear to the Wyrestorm team that a cinema upgrade was the best route to go down in the dedicated entertainment space available at the hospice, with importance placed on keeping it multi-functional for different occasions.
In the few months that followed ISE 2017 the team acquired a number of products thanks to generous donations from the likes of Monitor Audio, Middle Atlantic (via RGB Communications), Arcam, Epson, Dataflow, QMotion, and WyreStorm, in addition to donated systems from NAD, iRoom and Enado.
The install officially begun in April 2017, with the first site visit involving cabling and the deployment of surround sound speakers and an electric projection screen measuring 270.3cm x 151.9cm supplied via Premier Group, and an iRoom iPad docking station.
The next phase of the project involved the installation of the rack, AV receiver, and projector. The last pieces to the puzzle included the control system and automated blinds.
Since re-opening the cinema room has received extremely positive feedback from children and families alike; “The Games Room at Charlton Farm was transformed by Together for Cinema into the perfect cinema,” said Steve Benson from Charlton Farm Children’s Hospice.
He added: “This is something that children and adults of all ages will use for many years to come as it has added that extra dimension for the families and affected children here at Charlton Farm. The cinema is wonderful, not only does it provide a sensory experience for our children but provides a huge joyful boost for the siblings.
We cannot thank the installation team enough for their time and effort. It was an incredible job from the outset and we will be forever thankful for all the pleasure it has already given to families and children who have stayed here and who will stay in the future.”
“Now the system is in place and being used by staff and family staying at Charlton Farm, it is wonderful to see the impact it is having,” commented Schorah. “It was a great honour to be involved in such a brilliant charity as Together for Cinema and we would highly recommend installers to volunteer with local Hospice’s as it makes such a difference.”
All products and services were sourced, supplied and installed free of charge. WyreStorm has also committed to being on hand for any post-installation servicing or technical queries.
People involved with the project: Ian Morrish, founder of Together For Cinema and sales manager at Integrated Systems Europe, Adrian Ickeringill (Wyrestorm at the time of the install, now Invision), Dave Schorah, product manager at WyreStorm, Alex Martin, IP & control support engineer at WyreStorm and Nick Roberts, training & specification manager at WyreStorm.
To help with Together for Cinema’s next project please contact Ian Morrish.
www.togetherforcinema.com
Tech-Spec (Donated)
Arcam AVR850 AV receiver
Epson EH-TW6100 projector
iRoom docking station
Middle Atlantic 24U rack with lockable drawer
Monitor Audio Soundframe 5.1 speaker system and CW10 subwoofer
NAD T567 Blu-Ray player
Sapphire Electric Screen (16:9 format)
QMotion automated blinds with on-wall remote control
WyreStorm Enado control (ENA-100-010 19-in rack mounted system), EX-35-H2, EX-70-H2X, NHD-400-TX/RX & more