Peppard Revels Film Club

The following article was written by John Hasler and published in the Spring 2025 edition of "Peppard News". It provides the background to the formation of the Peppard Revels Film Club.


Peppard Revels Film Club

"At the time of the millennium, it was decided that a major village celebration was needed and an ad-hoc committee was set up under the chairmanship of Sir David Money-Coutts. The central feature was a parish supper in a large marquee on Peppard Common. The title was a reflection of the original Peppard Revels which were apparently a drunken and bawdy affair.

Deemed to be a great success it was decided to arrange further events every three to four years.

In 2008 the theme was the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming’s birthday, the Flemings being a local family. As a lead up to advertising the proceedings, five James Bond films were screened in Peppard War Memorial Hall.

We then realised that it would not be difficult to set up a village film club which could also provide an income for further Revels events.

With the technical help of Guy Ferguson from Highmoor, a projector and speakers were purchased. Later, the hall was fitted with a permanent projector and speakers reducing the need for us to lug heavy equipment in and out of the hall. Films started to be screened in 2009.

A group was established to run the film evenings and to sort out the administration and other requirements. This included the need to obtain public screening and local authority licences. A group of volunteer cooks to provide a tasty, hot meal in a bowl while Tony and Barbara Laithwaite arranged for a bar and a glass of wine for everyone. Geoff Pitcher became the projectionist and a raffle was supervised by Fred Nickson.

To enable a range of films to be shown we decided to invite people to make suggestions and then vote each year. While the choice of films is sometimes surprising it does mean that the everyone has a say.

In January 2025 our 80th film was screened; we're now in our 19th year."

John Hasler