Hannah Felsbourg
1 December 2024
An Anglican vicar has put his locks on the line, trading his usual style for purple hair this Advent to support a new community cinema initiative.
A fundraiser raised over $800 and invited contributors to vote on the vicar’s new look, with choices ranging from a mullet to long hair and a beard.
The funds will support a free youth and family community cinema in Meredith, located between Geelong and Ballarat, offering weekly movie nights during school holidays.
Inverleigh, Bannockburn, and Meredith parish priest the Reverend Timothy Smith said the cinema would provide much-needed activities for young people in Meredith.
He said besides a skatepark there was little for young people to do in the town and limited public transport to nearby Bannockburn.
The cinema is planned to screen family-friendly movies once a week during school holidays, providing free popcorn and drinks to attendees.
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Dr Smith said he was considering new uses for the church building in Meredith besides its current evening church services and parish community growth meetings.
He had the idea to start a community cinema there to build relationships with the town and provide a space for young people to come together.
The Melbourne Anglican Foundation funded the cinema equipment, but installation costs had not been included in the grant.
Dr Smith had been growing his hair out as an experiment and decided to let contributors choose his next hairstyle to raise the needed funds and engage the community.
Although a mullet nearly won, the result was a return to Dr Smith’s usual short haircut. However, he decided to go ahead with dying his hair as well.
He will sport his newly colourful hair in December through to February 2025, starting with purple for advent and possibly switching to a different colour for Christmas.
He hoped that seeing him around town with his new hairstyle would also help people hear about the new cinema.
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