For just over a week (6th to 15th September), a wide variety of places throughout England have taken part in Heritage Open Days. We like to use this as an opportunity to see inside buildings that we haven't been in before.
The East Yorkshire town of Beverley has quite a few buildings which take part in this evend, so we planned a day there, and the East Riding Theatre was the first location that we visited. A knowledgeable guide showed us features of interest outside the building, then in the theatre and finally backstage, so it was a detailed and entertaining tour.
The building started life as a Baptist Church, built in an attractive Art Nouveau-Gothic style and opened in 1910. Its use as a church ended in the mid 1960s, and since then it has had a variety of uses, including being home to the county archives, as a vaccination centre and as a store.
In 2013, a voluntary group began the process of taking over the builfing to convert it into a theatre. In 2014, Universal Productions filmed parts of 'Dad’s Army' inside the building, and the financial injection from that enabled the theatre to be opened later in 2014. For the film, the entrance foyer became Captain Mainwaring’s office and the main auditorium was used as the village hall.
Since then it has become a popular theatre venue with a wide variety of productions being staged.
What a fascinating theatre and repurposing of the building. Not sure you meant 1913 and 1914 in the last section? Suspecting 2013 and 14 but great history and clearly an interesting tour.
How cool is that. Where I live, in Richmond BC, the movie industry has used Britannia Heritage Shipyards as a location numerous times and the financial windfall from that has helped the city to establish a marvelous historical display and keep it free for the public.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
The colour and hint of smoke in the interior shot were the result of one of the technicians demonstrating some of the special effects that were possible. Our tour was concluded with a visit to the cafe in part of the building, preparing us for the next visit on our tour.
Thank you Chris - Yorkshire has become quite a centre for the film and TV industry. Beverley has been used for several productions. while other popular locations at the moment are York, Halifax and Grassington.
Ian
September 17th, 2024
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Quite right, that is what I meant - I've changed it. Thank you!
Ian
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
The colour and hint of smoke in the interior shot were the result of one of the technicians demonstrating some of the special effects that were possible. Our tour was concluded with a visit to the cafe in part of the building, preparing us for the next visit on our tour.
Ian
Thank you Chris - Yorkshire has become quite a centre for the film and TV industry. Beverley has been used for several productions. while other popular locations at the moment are York, Halifax and Grassington.
Ian