Tonight there is a proper night out in store for us. Once a year the Screen Machine visits our island. This fantastic beast is a lorry with a cinema on its back. With 102 seats and five screenings of three different films on offer over its two day visit, there is the opportunity for everyone on the island to enjoy a trip to the flicks. This time our choices are “Shrek”, “The Parole Officer” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary”. How long ago were these films showing in the city?

It’s tipping down with rain as folk arrive at the lay-by where the Screen Machine has chosen to park. Popcorn, juice, crisps and ice-lollies are sold from the back of someone’s car to raise money for the school PTA. The ticket office is in the lorry’s cab. The atmosphere inside the cinema is jolly (not to mention damp) as neighbours greet each other and peel off dripping jackets. My children seek out their friends to sit beside, not needing to be with me for security. Five minutes in to the film the mechanism breaks down. Ah well, a chance for more chat and it’s handy to have the lights up again while we work on these rather tightly knotted bags of popcorn. Once the driver/ticket seller/film mechanic has fixed the problem everyone settles down again for the rest of the film.

This is a highly sophisticated travelling cinema. I once encountered a very different set up at a small fishing village on the island of Zanzibar (off the coast of Tanzania). It consisted of a TV set propped on the tailgate of a Landrover and wired up to its battery. The auditorium was the village’s football pitch – an area of sun-scorched grassland and red earth. The audience (of several hundred) sat on the ground munching sunflower seeds and spitting out the seed cases. Those at the front gave a running commentary on the plot and the information was passed through the audience to the back. Even if you could see the TV, there was no way of hearing it because the Landrover engine had to be kept running. After a while someone took the TV off the tailgate, where it was vibrating in time with the engine, and put it on the ground. As the hot sun dipped below the horizon a gentle onshore breeze cooled us. We jeered the bad guys and cheered the good guys (it was a “Rambo” film so this was easy) and everyone had a fine time. The money raised from Coke and sunflower seeds was given to the local school to buy jotters and pencils.

Despite the different levels of sophistication (and the contrast in weather conditions!) our trip to the Screen Machine reminds me of that evening in Africa. It is good fun watching a film surrounded by people you know. Popcorn tastes much better when you know that you are helping to raise funds for your school (but next time can it be salty please?). While living on far-flung islands the wars of the world seem mercifully remote.