CLEVEDON'S Curzon Cinema has launched a special sponsor a tile campaign to raise £170,000 towards the restoration of the picture house's roof. The

CLEVEDON'S Curzon Cinema has launched a special sponsor a tile campaign to raise £170,000 towards the restoration of the picture house's roof.The new 'Raise the Roof' campaign was launched on the Curzon's 94th birthday celebrations on Sunday. The drive is being fronted by one of the Curzon's celebrity patrons, actor Alan Rickman.It is hoped the campaign will raise the £170,000 needed for roof repairs at the Curzon, which is believed to be the oldest purpose-built continuously operated cinema in the world.Although Alan Rickman was unable to be at the launch, he is appealing to the local community to support the fund-raiser.He said: "The Curzon is such a unique community facility. Please help preserve it for future generations."Curzon vice chairman and director of fund-raising Hilary Neal said: "We are delighted that Alan has agreed to support our first major fund-raising campaign."We need the whole community to get behind this appeal and we are confident that such is the love and support for the Curzon from local people, that the campaign will be a huge success."The campaign is vital as the roof is in a very poor state and deteriorating rapidly."This deterioration has to be arrested to prevent further damage to the building fabric and to enable the internal restoration phases to happen."There are three main ways that people can make donations to support the campaign.There are individual tile postcards costing £1 that supporters can purchase from the cinema box office.If everyone who sees a film at the Curzon over the next year buys one tile, this would raise nearly one third of the fund-raising target.People can also sponsor a stack of tiles for £5 per stack or in multiples of £5. For those who can afford a regular commitment, roof tile covenants are available which involves a monthly covenant to the Curzon by standing order, from £5 per month upwards.Information is available from the box office or on www.curzon.org.uk