Remaining directors Juliet McKoen and Julie Hammerton called in Mazars LLP of Leeds to put the company into voluntary liquidation. A creditors’ meeting was held at the Abbey House Hotel in Barrow last Tuesday, where it was revealed that Ms McKoen is claiming £28,149 and Ms Hammerton is claiming £5,830.

The company had been run by Kerry Kolbe and Loren Slater, who are no longer directors.

Ms Kolbe is claiming £6,334 and Ms Slater is claiming £3,945.

Ms McKoen said: “I feel desperately sorry that the vision Julie and myself had – which was to stimulate commercial and artistic film and video culture in the South Lakes – has ended up this way.

“It was a personal dream of mine when I started to sit on the Northern Production Fund. There were very few applications coming from Cumbria and that’s why we set up the company and I believe that the company has done a lot of work. I feel desperately sorry for the creditors.”

A statement released by Juliet McKoen and Julie Hammerton said they “deeply regretted” the liquidation.

It said: “This follows a prolonged period during which they have been unable to gain access to company information, companyfinancial reports and the company premises in Lawson Street.”

The statement said the directors consulted Mazars when they established that Shoreline was facing insolvency and added: “Mazars will investigate all directors’ conduct, including former directors Kerry Kolbe and Loren Slater, to establish why and how the company became insolvent and whether there was misfeasance [misuse of legal power] involved.

“They will realise Shoreline’s assets and will consider whether Shoreline Films has any claims against the three companies currently trading at Lawson Street – Creative Studios Cumbria, Signal Films and Signal Films and Media, in order to pay company debts of £73,000 as fully as possible.”

Ms Kolbe and Ms Slater are sending a letter to creditors, via their solicitor, which said: “We have tried our utmost to persuade Juliet and Julie to allow us to pay the creditors, but since our removal from the company we have had no real means of forcing the issue. Ultimately, we had to accept the situation and move on. When we left the company there was enough money to pay all creditors, but as the cost of the voluntary liquidation now needs to be taken into account this may no longer be the case. In addition, there may be other cashflow issues arising from the premature cancellation of projects.

“Furthermore we’ve been made aware that the current directors have submitted a claim of their own to the liquidators amounting to something over £34,000.

“However, we understand that the liquidators will now be responsible for maximising the return for the company’s creditors, the list of whom we provided to them some time ago. We’ve been told that whilst initially the liquidators will factor any other creditors’ claims they receive into their calculations, they will then go on to investigate how all of the claims have been incurred and how they are evidenced, and will then make a decision on each claim on a case by case basis. We are extremely regretful that despite all our efforts this situation has not been resolved.”

Charles Morris, boss of the Roxy Cinema in Ulverston, is owed £831 after showing a series of art films between last August and March this year. He said: “I am particularly aggrieved because I was told they had a grant specifically for that purpose. We went into an agreement and have been left high and dry.”

It came to light in June that Shoreline hadn’t paid any bills since February, when directors Kerry Kolbe and Loren Slater told creditors that funds were available but they were being blocked from making payments. In May, Ms Kolbe and Ms Slater wrote to creditors saying they had been told to make the staff of four, including themselves, redundant and incur no further costs.

Shoreline Films was established by Ms McKoen and Ms Hammerton when they were producing the BAFTA-winning short film Mavis and the Mermaid in 1997, and fully incorporated as a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee in 2002.

Described as a “social enterprise” and partly grant-funded, the company combined the production of its own films and documentaries, with industry training schemes and workshops.



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