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Christine Rich and Frank Terry outside Little Gem Theatre in Wagin (Chloe Papas / ABC Local)

26 November, 2013 9:50AM AWST - The little theatre that could By Chloe Papas

The Little Gem movie theatre in Wagin has won the fight to keep its doors open to the public. Despite the tide of home-based downloadable entertainment, the community has saved its cinema.

Raising almost $45,000 from community donations, the staff at Little Gem have purchased a brand new digital projector and will continue to show films for the foreseeable future.

The team, run completely on a volunteer basis, were told in March that their old 35mm projector would no longer cut it, and the switch to digital was mandatory.

For a little theatre in a little town, it was a death sentence - almost.

Volunteer Christine Rich says that although their target was daunting, the team never blinked: “We said right from the start that failure was not an option.”

The Great Southern community threw their support behind Little Gem, a theatre that has become a central hub for towns stretching from Wagin to Boddington.

In just over 7 months, the volunteers had raised enough money through Facebook callouts and wood raffles to call up the big guns in Perth and order their new projector.

But although Little Gem Theatre will keep its doors open, for the man behind the theatre, the victory is bittersweet.

“It will be good where quality is concerned, but for me, I prefer the ‘click click click’ of the old projectors,” says Frank Terry.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -