THIS weekend’s outdoor cinema in Saumarez Park was enjoyed by 6,000 islanders.

The Bigger Picture, organised by Barclays Wealth, saw three different films being shown on a 22ft high-powered high-definition video projection screen which came complete with 5.1 Dolby surround sound and has been described as a huge success which exceeded all expectations.

‘We had absolutely no idea how many people would turn up and so to say we were overwhelmed would be an understatement. We wanted to give something back to the local community and thought that this was the perfect way of doing so. We’re delighted that so many people came along and enjoyed the entertainment and we hope that they had as much fun as we did,’ said Barclays Wealth’s country head Sharon Parr.

The most popular night was Saturday when 2,500 people of all ages watched Mama Mia with just under 2,000 watching Kung Fu Panda on Friday and Star Trek on Sunday.

Barclays Wealth supplied free soft drinks, popcorn and ice-cream to cinemagoers and over the three nights they handed out 4,380 drinks, 3,750 boxes of popcorn and 4,700 tubs of ice-cream.

‘To make this all happen took 15 production staff, 14 Guernsey Scouts, 16 local usherettes and two popcorn chefs who were fuelled by 140 bacon sandwiches and about 900 cups of tea but the end result was one very happy crowd and so all the hard work was definitely worth it,’ said Mrs Parr.

As soon as the film finished on Sunday, the crew began to dismantle the site and by early morning today, Saumarez Park was back to normal.

‘We want to thank everyone who was involved. Although the production crew was from the UK, we were keen to use as many Guernsey suppliers as possible from Guernsey Dairy for the ice-cream and Source Temps for the usherettes through to Joys for the set-up and G4S for security and everyone went the extra mile to create a very impressive event,’ said Mrs Parr.

The Bigger Picture in numbers:

6,000 people watching

4,380 soft drinks

4,700 tubs of ice-creams

3,750 boxes of popcorn

900 cups of tea for the crew

140 bacon sandwiches for the crew

22 foot screen

16 usherettes

15 production staff

14 Guernsey Scouts

5.1 Dolby surround sound

3 films

1 happy crowd