Yahoo News 1950s County Durham cinema opening this weekend at tourist attraction
A 1950s cinema, toy shop, electrical shop and record store will open at a popular County Durham tourist attraction this weekend.
The new additions will officially open to visitors at Beamish Museum at 11am on Saturday (July 6).
The new exhibits will include a recreation of the Grand Cinema, Ryhope, Sunderland, and a toy shop named after Romer Parrish in Middlesbrough.
(Image: Beamish Museum)
It will include A Reece Ltd Radio and Electrical Services electrical and record shop, STEM learning space, and a milk bar.
The opening celebrations will include a parade, led by Ryhope Allstars Jazz Band and the Ryhope Miners’ banner, along with community groups from Ryhope and Middlesbrough,
Rhiannon Hiles, Beamish’s chief executive, said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming everyone to Beamish to celebrate the opening of our 1950s cinema, shops and STEM learning space this weekend.
(Image: Beamish Museum)
“We can’t wait for our visitors to experience these fantastic new 1950s exhibits and stories, as we mark this incredibly exciting and significant moment for the museum.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in the Remaking Beamish project – our staff and volunteers, communities, funders, partners and supporters, including The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Reece Foundation and Friends of Beamish. As a charity, this couldn’t have been achieved without this amazing support.
“The Remaking Beamish project overall has involved over 44,000 community members and school children, more than 22,000 people living with dementia and their families and carers taking part in health and wellbeing activities, and over 35,000 hours have been contributed by volunteers.
“The museum, which welcomed over 800,000 visitors last year, is committed to building on this work, as an anchor cultural institution in the region, working with partners to help highlight the North East as a magnificent region to visit, live and work in.”
These celebrations, which will take place at the Events Field at 10:30 am, will also see music, dancers and vehicles.
(Image: Beamish Museum)
Organisers have said visitors will be able to explore exhibits, take part in STEM activities in the new workshop, and watch short films and other work created by the community.
This follows the opening of the Georgian Drovers Tavern and pottery - while the museum will also open two Georgian-themed self-catering cottages later this year.
The Remaking Beamish project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The cinema will be opened by Bill Mather, who was a trainee projectionist at the Grand in the 1950s, and Gary and Angela Hepple, who donated the cinema to the museum.
Visitors will be able to experience a slice of the 1950s and watch Pathé News, adverts and films at the venue.
Hundreds of people sponsored cinema seats in support of the project.
(Image: Beamish Museum)
Mr Mather, who managed and owned cinemas for 53 years, said: “It has given me an absolute great pleasure to have been able to register my knowledge, from memory, into the foundation and rebuild of what I have termed my ‘Palace of Dreams’.
“Being permitted to voice my love of this wonderful building, so lovingly, recreated at Beamish and having started my ‘over half a century’ in the cinema business at the Grand cinema and seeing the end product is not unlike, to coin a phrase, being the mighty ‘Wizard of Oz’ sitting in my seat, and looking back some almost 10 years working with the Beamish team, and seeing and remembering all those staff from the 50s, who helped make it ‘a night of dreams at the pictures’!
“The icing on the cake is to have been asked to carry out the grand opening of my ‘Palace of Dreams’ on Saturday, 6th July and albeit I have opened my own cinemas over the years, this one is special to me as it is where it all started in 1950.”
The Grand Cinema was a popular fixture of the 1950s, before being turned into a bingo hall, and later closed.
The venue was dismantled in 2020, with reusable parts and features incorporated into the cinema at Beamish.
A spokesperson for the museum said: “The toy shop will be opened by Brian Parrish, the son of Romer Parrish, after whose popular shop in Middlesbrough the 1950s toy shop is named.
“Visitors will be able to hear the story of Romer Parrish and his shop, as well as 1950s life in Middlesbrough.”.
Mr Parrish said: “In 1933, my father Romer resigned from the family department store in Newcastle to make his own mark in life.
“He set off walking from Newcastle with his dog, ending up in Middlesbrough where he settled and bought his first shop at 79 Linthorpe Road setting up a Fireside Lending Library, lending books out at sixpence a time. He then expanded into newspapers and cigarettes. While living above the shop he met and married Joan and started a family.
“I would like to thank all the people of Middlesbrough who voted for a toy shop at Beamish and a big thank you to the rest of the North East who shopped with us.
“I would also like to thank all the people at Beamish who made this happen and also thanks to National Lottery players for making it possible.”
Simon Gilroy, Trustee of The Reece Foundation, said: "The trustees of the Reece Foundation are immensely proud to see A Reece Ltd Radio and Electrical Services opening as part of the Remaking Beamish project.
“This initiative is a fitting tribute to Alan Reece, not merely as a name above a shop, but as a dynamic STEM learning space, inspiring future engineers.
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“We are confident that young learners and visitors will delight in exploring the 1950s appliances and records, and in participating in activities led by the museum’s Learning Team.
“The emphasis on enhancing STEM education through this engaging and sustainable development exemplifies our aim to support the long-term prosperity of the North East by promoting engineering, manufacturing, and environmental initiatives."
Find out more about visiting Beamish Museum, including the Remaking Beamish opening celebrations, here.
