Hallowe'en and Christmas drive-in cinema charity events planned for Falkirk Stadium

Following the success of two Lockdown Drive-In Movies events in August, the Catherine McEwan Foundation is planning further events at the home of Falkirk Football Club in the coming months.

The first will be a weekend of Hallowe’en films, from October 30 to November 1 before the team return to screen some festive favourites in December.

The foundation helps to support those patients and their families across Scotland suffering from Crohn’s and colitis.

Derek McEwan, who founder the charity after his mother died of Crohn’s disease, said: “We do lots of different fundraising events across the year and we normally do the drive-in movies at Christmas in Glasgow.

“With the challenge of holding events our fundraising plans have been totally destroyed, and as with many other charities it’s given us problems trying to do the work we’re doing.

"Coronavirus doesn’t stop our patients and their families needing help, but it has stopped some of our projects and plans in their tracks.

“We looked at what we normally do and decided to run drive-ins in the summer, which isn’t a time of year we would normally do them.

"But they might be the only events we’re allowed to do, so we did one at Braehead in Glasgow and we introduced one at Falkirk Stadium.

"We were really over the moon with how it went in August.

“Securing a brilliant site at the Stadium really helped us, it captured the imagination of people in the town and surrounding communities.

“The feedback we got was great, I lost count of the amount of people who sent us messages and emails about how they had enjoyed it.

“It was great coming to Falkirk. The feedback and the experience has been fantastic of the people that came down.”

With the success of the August screenings, tickets are now on sale for the foundation’s next events locally next month.

Those films set to be screened at the Hallowe’en event were chosen by the public.

Derek added: “Rather than us choose what films to show and people not want to see them, we had a poll on Facebook and the most popular films are the ones we are screening.

“We hope people can come down and support it and have a great time.

“By buying a ticket your money will be helping people who are suffering from Crohn’s and colitis.

“Although fundraising is an important part of these events, it’s also a chance to raise awareness of the charity and the work we do."

Derek said the drive-in cinema event will run in the same way as those in the summer with street food available from the Big Feed.

He also promised a few surprises on the night too.

He added: “We want people in Falkirk and the surrounding area to come down, enjoy the films and support a small charity at the same time.”

On Friday, October 30 the films lined up are: Casper (6pm) and Beetlejuice (9pm).

Saturday, October 31’s programme features The Rocky Horror Picture Show (7pm), Scream (10pm), while on Sunday, November 1 the movies being screened are The Addams Family (3pm), Hocus Pocus (6pm) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (9pm).

General admission is £29.50 per car, plus a £1.50 booking fee.

Organisers are planning to host a festive drive-in at the stadium from Friday, December 11 to Sunday, December 13 with further information to be released in due course.

Tickets and information for the Hallowe’en dates can be found at www.lockdowndrivein.com.

For more on the Catherine McEwan Foundation, visit www.catherinemcewanfoundation.com.