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Following on from our cinema experience I have completed some research regarding the ‘carer card’ the staff told us about. Looking on the Cineworld website I found the following;

http://www.cineworld.co.uk/terms

3.7 Customers entitled to a free carer’s ticket must provide a valid Cinema Exhibitors’ Association Card (CEA card) or locally issued disability card. Please see www.ceacard.co.uk for the full terms of use. Guide and Hearing dogs are welcome but other animals are not permitted on the premises.

My wife and I hadn’t heard about this card, so here is some more useful information that will help you and your family when going to the cinema.

The following has been taken from the CEA website;

Welcome to The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association Card Website. This is a national card that can be used to verify that the holder is entitled to one free ticket for a person accompanying them to the cinema. Terms and Conditions of use apply which can be downloaded by clicking here.

The card is valid for 1 year from the date of issue for cards issued since March 2009.

Printed application forms are available from cinemas across the UK supporting this card.
You can download an application form to print out and fill in.
We are unable to provide application forms by post.

To apply for the card you will need submit proof to show that you meet one or more of the following criteria:

a) Be in receipt of Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance.
b) Be a registered blind person.

You will also need to supply a passport-sized photo with your application to appear on the card.

A processing fee of £5.50 is chargeable per card. This is to be sent along with the completed application.

If you wish to search for participating cinemas please click here.

For information and frequently asked questions about the scheme please click here.
The RNIB can offer information about audio description services in cinema, on DVD, on digital television and in the theatre.Visit the RNIB web site.

If you require information regarding subtitles and audio description for cinemas visit http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/

If you have any difficulty, please contact us at the address below:

The Card Network
Network House
St Ives Way
Sandycroft
CH5 2QS

Tel: 0845 123 1292
Fax: 0845 123 1296

Minicom / Text phone: 0845 123 1297
Email us

During our 2 week holiday we took the kids to the cinema. This is the first time for both Josh and Amelia. Joshua has been wanting to see Cars 2 for some time now, so we decided it was time to take the kids to watch a film on the big screen. We turned up at the Cineworld Cinema Braintree and went to purchase our tickets. Lucky for us the only showing was Cars 2D as apposed to 3D.

When enquiring about pricing for children and mentioning Joshua was partially sighted  we were told we would have to pay the full child’s price. The ‘not so helpful’ member of staff that couldn’t care less and wasn’t at all helpful told us that we would have to fill out a ‘Cineworld form’ and apply for a carer card to get discounted entry. We were only told about this card after quizzing the member of staff about why the didn’t have appear to have a pricing policy for people with disabilities. We were then told to go to the ‘pick & mix’ counter to pick up the form. I then spoke to another ‘not so helpful’ member of staff at the ‘pick & mix’ who didn’t know what form we were after.Eventually they found the form…however we couldn’t fill it out and use it there and then as it had to be sent away to apply for the carer card.

Moving on to the film experience itself.

We decided not to go into the cinema early and waited about 5 minutes after the start time because we didn’t want Josh and Amelia to sit through adverts etc… as we didn’t want them to lose all concentration for the main film. Lucky enough the front row seats were available, they always are as know one normally sits in them but we felt this would be best for Joshua. Joshua has a good null point looking up and we also sat second row from the front to the left of the screen.

Joshua loved the Cinema, as did Amelia and they sat at watched a good hour of the film and were very well behaved. As you can see from the picture (not very good quality) Joshua was happy tucking into his large bag of popcorn, which between us all we polished off nicely. When asking Joshua if he could see ok he said yes which was good, he didn’t look like he was struggling or uncomfortable looking at the screen but you could see the concentration as well as using his null point.

The film itself wasn’t really a good choice as it went way over Joshua’s and Amelia’s head, We were pre-warned by friends but this was the only cartoon showing and Joshua really wanted to go to the cinema. We left before the film finished but both kids came away loving the experience. It was a nice treat for them but at £25 for the family an expensive one.