When children’s charity Together for Cinema appealed for support to build a home
cinema at Keech Children’s Hospice in Luton, Crestron immediately volunteered its
help with the project.
Keech Children’s Hospice in Leagrave near Luton, supports life-limited children and
their families by providing hospice care throughout the child’s illness and into
bereavement. The hospice is part of Together for Short Lives, the UK’s leading
charity for children with life-limiting conditions and all those that support, love and
care for them.
The charity currently supports 53 children’s hospices in the UK. Together for Cinema
is a project that aims to create home cinemas within each hospice to provide an
escape from reality for the children staying there, and their supportive siblings.
When Together for Cinema appealed via CEDIA for volunteers to build a new cinema
room at Keech Children’s Hospice, award-winning Crestron installer Smartcomm
was quick to offer its services for free.
Smartcomm first contacted Crestron about the project in August 2015. They
required a user-friendly control system for the cinema, and Crestron kindly donated
an MC3 control and a TSW-750 touch panel to support the installation. Phil
Breitschadel, European VP of Sales at Crestron commented: “When Smartcomm
approached us with details of this project, we didn’t hesitate to say yes. Lots of us
at Crestron have children of our own, so this was a project that we were only too
happy to support. It’s a great example of the industry all working together to do
something truly worthwhile.’
The Crestron MC3 is a compact 3-Series Control System® featuring built-in infiNET
EX® and ER wireless technology. The MC3 forms the core of the cinema network,
integrating all additional technologies, including screen, projector and audio, to
create an easy-to-use and economical system. The MC3 also facilitates seamless
multi-tasking allowing multiple programs to run simultaneously. For example, the
room can easily be transformed into a fully-automated boardroom to deliver
important presentations and team training when the cinema is not in use, without
affecting the pre-set cinema settings.
A Crestron TSW-750 touch panel provides the hospice workers and families with a
stylish user-friendly control system that needs little explanation; users can dim the
lights, set the volume and start the movie all at the touch of a button.
All equipment, including the screen and projector, was provided by manufacturers
free of charge, and the completed cinema room is already being used daily at the
hospice. Commenting on the final install, Smartcomm said; “We demonstrated the
working system and Crestron control interface to a handful of children, families and
workers and it was at this point that you really appreciate the installation. The
reward of a single smile was enough to make us want to provide an install like this
again in the future.’
David Rigg, Buildings Manager at Keech Children’s Hospice; “On behalf of Keech
Children’s Hospice, I would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your generosity in
providing us with this amazing facility. As part of a programme of fun activities,
we use the room for watching films, giving the kids a much needed break from
reality.’
