A CINEMA club based in Wirral’s historic Birkenhead Town Hall (now Wirral Museum) faces an uncertain future after the local authority announced proposed cuts in public buildings.

The Birkenhead Library Cinema Club is in its 37th season and has become known for showing films people would be unlikely to see in a multiplex.

Using projection equipment rescued from a former cinema, and based in the Assembly Rooms upstairs in the historic town hall on Hamilton Square, the club has gathered a significant following.

But the review currently being consulted on by Wirral Council now poses the most significant threat.

Club secretary John Baxter said: “With the town hall’s future now in doubt, we don’t know what the future will be for the cinema club.

“The town hall is a grade I-listed building, but if it’s taken over by a private organisation, we could end up being charged for the use of the rooms, and that could well be prohibitive.

“At the moment, we just about break even.

“It’s a real shame, because there is nowhere else like this on this side of Wirral and we have a loyal core membership.”

Mike Taylor, the club’s projectionist, who showed The Sound of Music twice a day for two years, has a passion for old cinema, and even recorded its decline in the second half of last century.

His cuttings and photographs from this period fill eight scrapbooks, five of which he donated to the record office at Liverpool Central Library.

For 15 years he has worked the projector for film buffs at the club which meets on Thursdays.

Mr Taylor said they are due to return after a Christmas break, but fear they may not even see through the current season.

He added: “The last film shown before Christmas is called The Band’s Visit, an Israeli film. You would not have a chance to see any of these films anywhere else in Wirral, but this is not a commercial cinema, it’s for enthusiasts.