AN urgent appeal has been launched to raise £15,000 to save Lynton Cinema from closure.

The volunteer-run picture house could be forced to close its doors before the end of the summer season unless it converts its projection equipment to cope with digital films.

Currently, the cinema shows old-style reel-to-reel films, but the celluloid is being phased out and from August only digital projection films will be available.

The cost of converting the cinema equipment is estimated to be at least £29,000 but while the cinema trustees have around £13,000 to put towards the upgrade and the Lyn Valley Society has promised £1,500, the shortfall of £15,000 must be met in the next few months if the cinema is going to survive the transition into modern technology.

Colin Croxford of the cinema said: "The cinema has been running for 13 years and has been a great success, enjoyed by locals and a wider audience across Exmoor.

"Thousands of tourists have delighted in a visit to our unique and traditional little cinema and I have lost count of the number of times I have heard visitors say they wish they had a cinema like this.

"Well, in Lynton we have a cinema like this but it could soon be a case of 'we lost our cinema'."

Plans are in the pipeline to make funding applications to Exmoor National Park Authority, the National Lottery and the Coastal Towns' Initiative Fund.

Anyone with any fundraising suggestions or who would like to make a donation to the cinema appeal should contact Colin at the tourist office in Lynton or by emailing him at [email protected]">[email protected].