Friends of the Broadway, the charity aiming to reopen the former Broadway Cinema on Prestwick Main Street, have won funding for new new professional-grade digital projection equipment.

It follows a successful funding bid from South Ayrshire Council’s Community Wealth Building Award, as part of the landmark Ayrshire Growth Deal.

And it comes just in time for a special Valentine's event this weekend - the Broadway Rom-Com-a-thon.

It will be the first time the Broadway has had state-of-the-art digital projection - and the funds have already been used.

The Broadway now has a professional Barco DP2K-15C projector from CinemaNext, the largest cinema exhibition services company in Europe.

The projector will ensure that new releases will be shown to communities in South Ayrshire for years to come, up until the Broadway Cinema’s full restoration is complete.

The Broadway has also announced an all-new partnership with the UK's first super-premium popcorn brand, Popcorn Shed.

Popcorn Shed is an independent, family-owned business offering a wide range of gourmet popcorn including flavours such as red velvet, salted caramel, and pink gin.

The partnership is the first of its kind for pop-up cinema in Ayrshire and Popcorn Shed’s products will be available for the first event of the year coming this Valentine’s weekend.

The event will be the inaugural Broadway Rom-Com-a-thon, with a programme featuring some of the greatest romantic comedies of all-time.

It includes the first new release with the group’s new digital projection equipment, the new box-office hit Anyone But You this Friday, February 9, with doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.

Saturday then brings two classic 90s rom-coms starring Julia Roberts: Notting Hill starting at 2.30pm and Pretty Woman at 7pm.

They will be followed by a Sunday matinee of Pillow Talk from 1959 starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson at 2pm, then a finale screening of the iconic Dirty Dancing at 7pm.

The film festival will be hosted at the Broadway’s temporary venue Prestwick Academy, with a 300+ fixed-seat auditorium, professional stereophonic cinema sound system, and now super high-definition projection to match.

Councillor Bob Pollock, South Ayrshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development said: “It is wonderful that the Broadway Prestwick has secured new cinema equipment thanks to South Ayrshire Council’s Community Wealth Building programme.

"Community Wealth Building is a progressive economic approach, and the Broadway Prestwick is just one example where this approach is having fantastic impacts within our local communities."

Friends of the Broadway Prestwick would like to give huge thanks to CinemaNext for their efforts and co-operation, and South Ayrshire Council for their commitment to supporting the project, and for the funding that will keep local cinema in our community for the foreseeable future.

Extra thanks also go out to Andy Day, Technical Manager of the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne for the wonderfully kind donation of our professional Doremi media server, Popcorn Shed for their collaborative efforts in making their partnership possible, and to Colin Butler of ODEON Cinemas, for his incredible support and generosity in helping the projectionists with the set-up and installation of the new equipment.