Movie golden age recreated

Film enthusiasts have recreated a moving picture palace based on an original which was first built in 1912 in Southwold.

The Electric Picture Palace has 66 authentic upholstered seats, rising cinema organ, box office, kiosk and circle, and even offers a second feature and the National Anthem.

Members of Southwold Film Society were inspired by the original Electric Picture Palace - which closed in 1963.

Childhood sweetheart

The 300-strong society spent four years and more than £100,000 converting an old cart shed and hayloft into the cinema.

And the screen welcomed its first star, Michael Palin, who opened the rebuilt palace.

The Monty Python star remembered how he and his future wife Helen would visit the old cinema when they were childhood sweethearts.

Members of the film society, which is a registered charity, try to capture the feel of traditional British cinema-going showing classic films, usually on 16mm film.

John Bennett, cinema manager, says: "The intention was to recreate the heyday of the cinema.

"Every effort has been made to reproduce the pleasure of visiting the cinema, so often overlooked by the big multiplexes.

"There is a supporting picture as well as the main attraction at every show."

The "tiny wurlitzer" rises from below the stage and also plays during the interval.