Aiming to remove the hurdles from immersive cinema for families who would not otherwise get the experience, Living Home Tech has teamed up with Together For Cinema to design and install a bespoke, private cinema room for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice in Dorset.

Your first trip to the cinema should be a magical experience. The smell of the popcorn, the ultra-loud volume and bright lights, the crowds packed in to watch the latest blockbuster in tiered seating; a trip to the cinema tingles all your senses before the film even starts. But for some children it’s just not accessible, and Living Home Tech wanted to help change that.

Ian Morrish, founder of Together For Cinema, said: “When you’re experiencing troubles as these children and their families are, they can’t go to a normal cinema or restaurant. They need PEG feeding, complex wheelchairs, and then there’s the cost of carers and transport – it’s just not realistic.” So, he decided to bring the cinema to them.

Together For Cinema (TFC) is an AV industry good cause enterprise whose main focus is to design and install home cinema rooms in children’s hospices and other suitable locations across the UK for the provision of “Cinema Therapy”.

Inspired by an episode of Secret Millionaire set in a children’s hospice, Ian began work on TFC in 2009 in his free time while working at Integrated Systems Europe. In 2020 he committed to the project full time, and by the end of the same year hit their target to complete 25 cinema room installations.

With 30 years’ experience in the AV industry Ian has a wealth of contacts who share his passion to give back to the community, and their contributions of equipment, time and expertise meant that for the first 12 years of TFC no monies changed hands whatsoever. Ian said of Living Home Tech’s Director, Luke Crutcher: “He has been fabulously supportive in getting involved!”

For the Julia’s House project there had been an installer lined-up but it was a tricky job, which is when Living Home Tech entered the frame. Ian said: “Luke came on board, and we visited together. It was a challenging room, but Luke’s vision was great, we got on straight away. He was so keen to get involved.” Whilst talking about Julia’s House, the pair also decided on a solution for Dorset Children’s Foundation for later in the year.

Living’s Luke said “Working with Ian has been so motivating and inspirational. Living’s purpose is to bring joy to people in their environment, to appreciate entertainment in a comfortable space, designed for their needs. This is no different – and so rewarding. We are so happy to be making a difference and working with a fantastic local charity like Julia’s House”.

This will be the 35th installation, taking TFC past the £800k mark to the value of installations since they started had there been normal charges. Ian said: “Once it’s completed in the summer, we will have a big party!”

 Becoming a registered charity later this year, CEDIA (the Global Association for the Home Technology Industry) has already given Ian a special recognition award, and TFC is on track to reach a value of £1m by 2024. Ian said: “Every second in a kids’ hospice has to be a sparkle rather than a tear. Quite simply, Together For Cinema is a pure and unquestionable good.” And the Living Home Tech team can’t help but agree!