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Saturday the 24th of September, 2005, saw a visit
to the Ritz cinema by the Cinema Theatre Association. This is a group of
enthusiasts which was founded to study and appreciate the important heritage
of cinema buildings, many of the older and more historic ones now
unfortunately having been lost.
This particular group of 50 were drawn from many places around the country
and were enjoying a short tour of cinemas in the North East. Having briefly
viewed the outside of the other two former cinema buildings in Thirsk, the
group arrived at the Ritz shortly after the audience had left following a
well-attended matinee of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to be met by
several members of the Ritz Volunteer’s committee.
Volunteer’s chairman, John Potter, started the visit by giving a brief
history of the building, from it’s origins in the mid nineteenth century as
a Mechanic’s Institute, through its conversion to the first cinema in Thirsk
by Walter Power in 1912 (The Picture House – he often accompanied the then
silent films himself on the piano) and finally to its being taken over by
the volunteers in 1995.
The Volunteers have just celebrated their 10th year of custodianship of the
Ritz, showing a special season of the most popular films from the last 10
years. Attendance is currently running at around 20,000 a year.
The visitors then rapidly dispersed to all areas of the cinema, inspecting
and photographing practically every nook and cranny, ranging from the
projection room, the screen, the recently installed new seating in the
balcony, to the few remaining gas-light fittings and even the rarely seen
original Thirsk Picture House logo hidden behind new equipment. This was
accompanied by refreshments provided by the Ritz committee, which were
obviously well appreciated by the visitors on their hectic travel schedule.
After a vote of thanks to the Ritz for
their hospitality, the association departed to continue with their tour.
Anyone interested in the Cinema Theatre Association should visit their
website at
www.cinema-theatre.org.uk for more information.
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