Businesses invited to sponsor seats as Ryhope's Grand cinema gets ready to reopen at Beamish

With Beamish Museum soon set to open its 1950’s town re-creation of Ryhope’s Grand Cinema, the Living Museum of the North is offering local businesses the chance to sponsor a seat in the auditorium.

As well as having an engraved brass plaque on the back of a seat, the Take a Seat campaign will also see sponsors’ names displayed on the big screen following a movie showing and sponsors will be invited to a “special celebration event” once the cinema opens.

The first company to take up a seat sponsorship is Durham based property development and energy company, the Banks Group.

Banks Group has been “a long-term supporter” of the Remaking Beamish project, with a £10,000 grant from the company’s Community Fund supporting the recreation of the celebrated North East artist Norman Cornish’s Spennymoor home.

They fund also provided a £20,000 grant to support the construction of a replica of the Coundon and Leeholme Community Centre which is also based in the 1950s town.

Liz Peart, partnerships officer at Beamish Museum, said: “We are delighted that the Banks Group is the first business to be taking a seat in our 1950s cinema and would like to thank them for their ongoing and very generous support of the museum and particularly our Remaking Beamish project.”

Kate Culverhouse, community relations manager at the Banks Group, added: “By bringing history to life through outstanding projects like the 1950s cinema, Beamish is safeguarding and strengthening links to the North East’s unique history and heritage.

"It’s a real jewel in the region’s tourism offering and as a fellow County Durham based business, we’re proud to be continuing our long-term support for its fantastic work.”

Originally located on St Paul’s Terrace, Ryhope, the Grand was a working cinema from its opening in 1913 and was hugely popular in its heyday in the 1950s, regularly selling out all its seats.

A sharp decline in cinema visits in the 1960s, due largely to the popularity and availability of television sets, meant that the cinema ceased trading and became a bingo hall.

The Grand was donated to the museum by owners Angela and Gary Hepple and in 2019 the original building underwent a full architectural survey to assess which materials were suitable for salvage and re-use and a record made of any items that could not be saved.

In 2020, the Grand was dismantled, with re-usable parts and features incorporated into The 1950s Town cinema. The Museum’s re-creation of the Grand is set to include options of feature length films at set times as well as showing archive footage, shorts and period news during the day.

There will also be “occasional evening screenings” of 1950s classic films. Visitors will be able to take a look behind the scenes at the projection room and learn about the skilled role of the projectionist.

As well as local businesses, individuals can also sponsor seats, some of which have already been taken up by people who “may have personal or family connections” to the original picture house.

Seat sponsorship is being sold on a first come, first served basis from the museum’s online shop.

Individual seat sponsorship is £295, with a package available for businesses priced at £5,000, which includes acknowledgement of the sponsorship on the cinema’s big screen.

The Remaking Beamish project is the biggest development in the museum’s history, including a 1950s Town, 1950s Spain’s Field Farm re-creation, and expansion of the Georgian landscape, including self-catering accommodation, Drovers Tavern and pottery.

You can find out more about the Take a Seat campaign on the museum’s website.