 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 
|
 |
 |
Goal! Movie fever hits Preston as Mark Lawrenson, Viv Anderson and over 300 punters attend glitzy Vue premier organised by The National Football Museum.
In a week that has seen English football lambasted for being expensive and boring, who'd have thought a mythical young soccer player from Mexico would reinvigorate the Preston publics' passion for the beautiful game.
But that was exactly what happened down at the Vue Cinema on London Road on Thursday night. The people of Preston turned out in force for a special charity premiere screening of Goal! organised by The National Football Museum. The story sees the fairytale rise of a young Mexican boy from Los Angeles chasing his footballing dream in England with premiership heavyweights Newcastle United. Sound corny? Well it was, but in all seriousness, by the end, there (nearly) wasn't a dry eye in the house!
The National Football Museum , a registered charity, organises fundraising events such as the premiere to raise money allowing it to continue offering free entry to all visitors. The Museum was once again supported by star names from the footballing fraternity who recognise the wonderful work the Museum does in saving football's heritage. This time it was local hero Mark Lawrenson and Viv Anderson, the former Manchester United, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and England player who attended the premiere much to the delight of autograph hunting fans.
A champagne reception and a special appearance from the FA Cup itself only served to fuel the football fever inside the Vue cinema prior to the screening. A pre-curtain raffle was the icing on the cake as several lucky punters bagged themselves some truly outstanding football related memorabilia courtesy of exclusivesignings.co.uk.
Mark Bushell from the Museum said : “This was a brilliant night for all concerned. The Museum benefited from raising much needed funds and the people of Preston simply had a great evening in the company of the stars. A special thank you also goes out to Mayor Bhiku Patel and our local MP, Mark Hendrick both of whom once again showed their tremendous support of the Museum by attending the premiere.”
Calvin Whitehead, General Manager at Vue Cinemas, who won International Exhibitor of the year 2005, said: “We were thrilled to get involved in this fantastic event. The National Football Museum is the jewell in the crown of Preston , if not Lancashire and we jumped at the chance to support them and the great work they do. To get the Mayor, local MP, Mark and Viv down here was simply superb and all credit must go to the organisers at the Museum. We at Vue also showed we can host a movie premiere as glitzy as anything in London 's Leicester square!”