Sir – I was pleased to be able to attend Witney’s First Contemporary Film Festival, held at the Corn Exchange last week.
This excellent event, which was organised by two local young people, Daniel Newton and Jennifer Learney, provided an opportunity to showcase a number of up-and-coming young film-makers from the local area, as well as other established independent film-makers. There was a wealth of talent, a diverse range of films, from the humorous to the macabre, and from delightful animations to serious wildlife photography ready to rival David Attenborough, as well as a wonderful atmosphere.
With the rise of Witney to a shopping destination for West Oxfordshire, surely now is the time to invest more in the wider cultural opportunities for the burgeoning population.
The Corn Exchange could be developed to provide an arts centre to rival that of The Theatre, in Chipping Norton, and the Cornerstone Arts Centre, at Didcot, and provide a venue for the wealth of talents in theatre, music and film, so ably demonstrated by Daniel and Jennifer last week.
I look forward to hearing what plans the Witney Town Council and West Oxfordshire District Council may already have to enable this to happen.
Janet Maxwell, Church Green, Witney
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