Bevy of Bond girls pep up premiere

A BEVY of glamorous Bond girls greeted the 500 lucky guests to the regional premiere of the latest James Bond film, Die Another Day.

Glamour was the theme of the evening as guests were escorted up the red carpet into the cinema and past an honour guard provided by the Royal Air Force from RAF Honington, near Bury St Edmunds.

Before entering the foyer, guests had a chance to look over the many cars from James Bond films past and present.

Among the vehicles on display were the latest Jaguar XKR complete with rocket launchers – as used in Die Another Day – an Lotus Espirit from The Spy Who Loved Me, the remote control BMW 750i from the car park scene in Tomorrow Never Dies and the classic Aston Martin DB5 as seen in Goldfinger and Thunderball.

The event was organised by Clive Thomas, of Anglia IT Recruitment, to raise funds for the East Anglia Air Ambulance.

"It's a fantastic evening. We said when we announced the premiere just six weeks ago that we wanted to make this the best night out in Suffolk this year and I think we have done just that," he said.

Among the guests invited were Suffolk-based Bond stunt veteran Dave Bickers and members of his team from Bickers Action, former EastEnders actor Bill Treacher, Ipswich Town chairman David Sheepshanks, and Ipswich mayor Richard Risebrow.

The target of £10,000 is expected to be blown apart after some guests paid up to £300 for a pair of tickets and several thousand pounds were also raised by a charity auction held before the screening.

UGC Cinema manager Richard Wright said: "It's been a brilliant evening. It's shown that regional cinemas can stage a premiere worthy of anything that happens in the West End."

Die Another Day opens across the region on Friday, with previews at selected cinemas tomorrow.