THE REGENT IS AN INDEPENDENT CINEMA AND THEATRE.
29 May 2024
Originally opened as the Regent Super Cinema in 1931, and after a brief stint as a bingo hall, the Regent Charity was formed to protect the heritage of this unique building. Now run as a non-profit multi-purpose venue, we welcome over 100,000 guests per year with an exciting mix of live music, comedy, and local acts on stage, alongside a packed cinema programme of the latest releases, live broadcasts, and a few classics on 35mm film.
The Board
The Regent is led by a Board of Directors elected by Members of the Company. Each Board Member can serve a five year term.
Mark Goldsmith Chairman
Mark was born in London and moved with his family to Christchurch in 1963. His long association with the Regent started almost immediately as he and his sister were regularly ferried to the Saturday morning cinema by his parents, to enjoy ‘Tin Tin’, ‘Flash Gordon’ and of course everyone’s hero ‘The Lone Ranger’!
Mark has a passion for both cinema, theatre and live music, and having finally taken early retirement, joined the Regent Centre as both as a technical volunteer, backstage and front of house usher. Mark is a member of the local Cadenza choir and a keen motorcyclist.
Janet Townend (Vice-President)
Born and brought up in Twickenham, her first holiday was in a chalet on Mudeford Sandbank and her father taught her to row in Christchurch Harbour at the age of 6.
At University she studied Biochemistry and was pleased to get a job back on the South coast at Poole Hospital. Whilst there she studied computing and ended up running the results service for all the NHS laboratories in the area. Janet met her husband Kit in Christchurch in 1975 and supported him while he and others got the Regent Centre off the ground from 1982.
She has been Secretary of CADArts, the arts umbrella body for the area, for several years. It was this body that with others persuaded Christchurch Borough Council to buy the Regent, create an apron to the stage and provide some back stage space so that live shows as well as films could be put on. Kit walked with sticks and was delighted to find the Jubilee Sailing Trust had a Tall Ship, The Lord Nelson, that they could both sail on. She is still a supporter. Janet currently plays in 4 music groups, on various instruments.
Christian Knighton
Christian was born in Bournemouth and has worked in the technical Theatre industry since the age of 17. He started working as a part time stage-hand at the Pavilion Theatre in 1975. Quickly moving to the Playhouse Theatre as Electrician in 1976 and then onto the Pier Theatre as assistant stage manager. From 1986-1989 he worked at the Royal National Theatre in London returning to Bournemouth as Technical Manager for the Pier Theatre until year 2000 when he successfully became the Resident Stage Manager for the BIC and Pavilion later changing the title to Technical Coordinator.
From 2022 having taken retirement Christian continues to support the Pavilion in technical administration. Christian enjoys travel, theatre, cinema and gardening, he is delighted to be on the Regent Centre Board and looks forward to supporting the organisation as much as he can.
Georgina Smith
Georgina lives in Highcliffe with her husband and two grown up children! They have a hairdressing salon in Christchurch and an e-commerce business called Ecotowels.
Georgina is a member of the Highcliffe charity players and has been performing at the Regent Centre since 1988. She also performs with the vocal harmony trio The Fifinellas.
Darren Slade
Darren spent more than 30 years as a local journalist – first at the weekly New Forest Post (where the publicity manager for the Regent was one of the first names in his contacts book) and then for the Bournemouth Echo.
He was the Echo’s local government reporter, chief reporter and business editor before becoming content manager for the accounting software business iplicit. He is a trustee of HealthBus, a charity bringing health care to people experiencing homelessness.
The father-of-two is a lover of films of all kinds, from the Marx Brothers to Star Wars!