Rare chance to see behind the scenes at Ritz Cinema, Thirsk

The venue is offering daylight, access all areas tours on Saturday (September 16) as part of the national Heritage Open Days event.

Many period details will be visible, and guides will lead tours explaining the building's history, interesting characters and the story of 28 years of succesful volunteer management.

The building itself pre-dates the invention of cinematography, being a Mechanics Institute before conversion to a cinema in 1912 - one of the first in the UK.

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Walter Powers was the man with a vision and he opened the cinema as "Thirsk Picture House," but locally it was simply "Powers".

Many devoted people have taken the reins of the cinema during, sometimes, very tough times. After closing briefly, in 1995 the town council took the helm before transferring the task to the dedicated volunteer group who still staff and maintain it today.

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In the daylight various historic details can be seen and will be explained by the guides, along with a chance to see how the technology has evolved over the years.

Tours take place on Saturday only, on the hour between 10am and 5pm with no booking required. Guided tours will last approximately 45 minutes and group size will be limited to 15 people per session. There is full wheelchair access to the ground floor only as there are stairs to the balcony plus the projection booth has very limited capacity.

A Ritz spokesperson said: "You may have joined us many times for the darkened immersive cinematic experience, but join us on the 16th to experience the cinema as a building and discover life behind the scenes."

Following the heritage opening, upcoming feature films include Gran Turismo, followed by And Then Come the Nightjars.

See www.ritzcinema.co.uk for full up to date details.