CHILDREN in fancy dress packed West Howe’s new community cinema on Sunday for a special screening of hit Disney film Frozen.

The free event was held at the Henry Brown Youth Centre, where a 14ft projector was installed following a long-running campaign by Cllr Roger Marley.

The 73-year-old, who once ran Bournemouth’s ABC cinema, invited families to the 180-seat venue and encouraged them to sing along to the film’s catchy soundtrack.

It comes after he won financial backing for the project from the Big Lottery Fund and the Regeneration Partnership for West Howe.

“It’s been fantastic and all the seats have gone,” said Cllr Marley.

“It’s wonderful to see all the children here and it is one of those films where they start singing along from the start.

“I was brought up with the cinema, which was a hobby, and I was lucky enough to be paid for it all.

“I used to go around doing this type of thing with Dorset Moviola around Dorset and Hampshire so I thought it was such an ideal thing to raise funds and have this in West Howe for the benefit of the residents and the children.”

Among the invited guests was Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns, who praised Cllr Marley for bringing entertainment for all generations to the suburb.

“This is a part of Bournemouth that for a very long time had a very challenging reputation to some degree,” he said.

“That community focus and things like this are bringing out the real underlying sense of community that was always there.

“I’ve heard from Roger Marley the whole way through and his ambitions for this and how he has tried to get the funding for it.

“This has been a journey that has been more than two and a half years in the making.”