Lynne Mowbray |

The Yamba Cinema is about to get a total makeover, with plans in place for a second indoor cinema as well as an outdoor cinema.

For decades, the Yamba Cinema has been a part of the lives for both locals and visitors alike. Cinema owner Debbie McCredie said that she has continued on with her family’s lifelong association with the cinema. “My dad became a projectionist at the age of nine,” said Ms McCredie. “He worked as the projectionist of the original cinema [next door where Repco is now], but he didn’t own the building. “When the building was sold, he looked around and bought this vacant block of land and designed this cinema and built it around 1975 and it opened in 1980. “My parents worked it until 2004 when they retired and I bought the business off them and I have been running it ever since. “People refer to it as an icon and I guess that’s because today, there are not too many small towns that still have a cinema. “In around 2013 every cinema in Australia had to convert to digital which saw an end to film and sadly a lot of the smaller independent cinemas closed, due to the expense of converting. “The extensions have been in the pipeline since I took over the cinema in 2004 and for a number of reasons mainly costs; it’s only now that they have come into fruition. “The plans are for the existing cinema to be shorter and narrower – so it will be smaller and then we’ll have another cinema added on the back of it. So we will have one bigger cinema and one little boutique cinema. “It will be good because it will enable me to screen a lot more movies. We will be able to screen two movies at the same time. “We’re also going to have a grassed area at the back of the cinema, which will be turned into an outdoor cinema, which will also be used as a function area for fundraisers and birthday parties etc. “The DA went into council with submissions to be lodged by Friday April 13 and council have said that they will advise me by April 30. “All going well, we hope to start building by August and be finished in time for Christmas. “I can’t wait to get it all done and get the new building up,” she said.