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The Picture - This is the outside view of the recently-repaired Town Hall steps and entrance. The panels on each side of the name proclaim the centenary of the Paramount from its opening in 1914. A grand centenary event took place in 2014, replicating as closely as possible the original opening ceremony. More details on the Town Hall History page.
A Brief History
This is not the actual Town Hall History page but it seems fitting to sum it up here. The history section also includes recent updates.
The Carnegie Free Library
The Library and the Town Hall were all part of the same building, with a Council Chamber and other rooms sandwiched in between and a Masonic Hall set back and above the central part. Literacy and learning was a great thing to aspire to and people wanted their children to have the best education that was possible within their means. To this end, public libraries were being established throughout the country. One of the great proponents of literacy throughout the USA and the UK was the Scottish-American steel magnate, Mr Andrew Carnegie, who saw fit to part-fund a library for Penistone. This was the beginning of a great improvement in Penistone's facilities.
The Carnegie Free Library opened in 1913, funded by the community and a generous contribution from Andrew Carnegie. Over the following year in 1914, Penistone Town Hall was built adjacent to the library, along with Council Chambers and the Masonic Hall. Again, the funding was raised by public subscription from the people of Penistone.
Until a new library was opened in 1966 the Carnegie Library was in the right-most section of the building. In recent times, the Library became an office area, as a contact point for Barnsley MBC services under the title of 'Barnsley Connects' and more recently as an office for BMBC support to the Ward Alliance. The economic crisis of the late noughties closed that section down and moved some of its lesser functions and information leaflets to the current Penistone Library on the High Street.
Penistone Town Hall (later called 'The Metro Cinema' and now called 'The Penistone Paramount')
The new Town Hall was opened on Saturday 31st October 1914, to great ceremony. Previous to Penistone's Town Hall being opened in 1914, any large and important public meetings would have been held either in the 'Assembly Hall' (which was a cinema before this one) or in the open to accommodate the crowd. Speakers for such as election hustings would have stood on wooden platforms which might have been hastily-constructed. Our new Town Hall could accommodate all such events, plays, dances on the sprung floor and much more. In 1915, the hall started being used as a film theatre and the name used most often would soon become 'Penistone Town Hall Cinema,' although the other activities would continue.
The Town Hall had been from the start designed as a theatre with a proscenium arch and stage. As a cinema, it enjoyed the great popularity of films at the time but always with the proviso (which still applies) that public meetings could be held there as necessary. It still might be used as an Assembly Hall on occasions. In fact, it would be used for all manner of duties over the years.
As mentioned above, it started showing films in November 1915 but, at the time, Penistone already had another established film theatre, the 'Assembly Rooms Cinema' near Stottercliff Road, in direct competition. This is all explored in more detail than anyone needs in the Town Hall History page, which also includes a timeline of events in the Town Hall.
'What's Yours is Ours'
Barnsley Council (BMBC) assumed ownership of Penistone's assets under Local Government Reorganisation which was imposed in 1974. In 2003, the local community with Penistone Town Council (PTC) had to fight plans by BMBC to sell off the venue. Demolition was a distinct possibility, such was the strained relationship between Penistone and Barnsley MB Council. Penistone people hoped to re-establish our original ownership of the building in an effort to protect it. During the changeover to Barnsley control in 1974, the Town Hall deeds had been sent to Barnsley archives. The late Cllr George Punt was tasked with searching for the deeds but to no avail. The deeds had somehow become 'lost', possibly as a result of a fire. It seems that the only 'proof' of Penistone's ownership of its main attraction is either anecdotal or inferred by old Penistone Almanacs.
As time went on, relations between Penistone and our Barnsley masters had improved and PTC managed to keep control of the day-to-day running of the theatre. It was suggested that BMBC's ambitions could have been thwarted by the lucky accident of the Masonic Hall being attached to the Town hall, that BMBC had no control over it and that any attempt by Barnsley to reassert their desire to demolish the buildings might have become a legal minefield.
What we now call the 'Paramount' was always 'Penistone Town Hall Cinema' on official documents. In 1986, BMBC bestowed upon the hall its own (largely unloved) new name: 'The Metro'. This was based upon their status as a 'Metropolitan' district and demonstrated again their controlling power over Penistone. The name lasted until 1999, when the installation of the 'Mighty Paramount Organ' led to a much more attractive name: The Penistone Paramount Theatre.
2014 and 2015 Centenary Celebrations
The Paramount/Town Hall Theatre celebrated its centenary from October 2014 to November 2015, along the lines of its early beginnings and the celebrations are outlined in detail in the Town Hall History page, which also includes the 2015 centenary of when films were first shown in the Town Hall. Bear in mind that Penistone already had a cinema well before the Town Hall was built.
Pictures of the Pictures
Some people still call our Town Hall cinema, "Penistone Pictures."
These pictures were mostly taken at an open day in 2005. The plush bar room is a welcome place to relax during intermissions, as the others queue up for the ice cream trolley in the auditorium. Yes, ours is a very traditional theatre, although it does not have any discernable flea infestation that might have been common elsewhere (Eg. The Princess Cinema in Huddersfield). Steve Tales was the enthusiastic and knowledgeable manager at the time and we can see him here standing next to the mighty Compton theatre organ. The organ concerts are very popular and sometimes the organ is used to provide incidental music - and sound effects - when old silent films are being shown.
Of course, the projection system is now digital but there is some of the older equipment on show by the stairs to the circle. The platter discs shown here are for film-winding and rewinding. For an interesting demonstration of film winding using a platter, take a look at a 15-minute Youtube video, which is not from Penistone.
Modern Times
As a theatre and traditional cinema, it has shown top films and a variety of entertainments right from the earliest days, often with films shown on the national release date. The Paramount showed the premiere of 'Heartlands' in 2003 as special event. The stage is often used for live shows, tribute bands, comedy nights and amateur productions and pantomimes from our two thespian societies. The licensed bar is open during film intervals, which helps the audience in its quest for the suspension of disbelief. There are also facilities for video conferencing. The first picture below was before the facelift of 2001, the second from 2014 to mark the 100th anniversary.
Seating is fixed now but it used to be removed for dances until the 1970s and the sprung floor was ideal for dancing - or traditional foot-stamping when a film went wrong. Spring mechanisms under the floor sit on rows of pillars but they are now all chocked up. An improved projector put an end to the many breakdowns. It used to be very smoky in the old days and the projection beam would light up a shaft of smoke on its way to the screen. In fact, all the seating had small ash trays fitted. Not any more, as all UK public buildings are now no smoking areas.
New seats were installed around 1990 and were planned to be renewed again in 2014. In 2017, the screen and the curtains are planned to be replaced. The screen is made to roll up out of sight when live acts are on the stage. It was exposed to dust when rolled up and this could leave a mark on the screen when open. The new system rolls it in a box to protect it when the stage is being used.
Penistone area people can be proud of our theatre and it is our most successful venture. Our thanks go to those far-sighted local people who raised money and helped to make it happen nearly a century ago. The building is in use just about every day and its facilities are very good for a small independent cinema, with Dolby surround sound, a video projector, DVD player and satellite tv reception. It is also unusual for a cinema to have a licenced bar, intervals in films and a lady with an ice cream trolley.
Going Digital
With films being increasingly distributed in digital form, Penistone Paramount installed new digital projection equipment. The addition of a new digital satellite system in 2014 has enabled the possibility of live showings of such as theatre, opera or ballet performances from such as Glyndebourne. Films are now typically distributed on hard disc drives which are delivered by courier. These are digitally encrypted and only work for a prescribed duration, which might typically be a week.
There was a special Yorkshire Film Archive event in November 2008. An organist played before Yorkshire Film Archive (YFA) films were to be shown and a speaker from the YFA explained details about the old film clips. The first clip was of a train from the 1880s. Not everyone gets it right. The presenter referred to our theatre being 'in Barnsley' on three occasions but we might forgive him for his poor grasp of geography, as he had travelled all the way from York and might have been jet-lagged or otherwise disturbed by our proximity to a neighbouring county.
Compton Theatre Organ
This picture shows the Manager, Steve Tales, standing by the organ console.
The 'Mighty Paramount Theatre Organ' had originally been built for the brand new 3,000-seat Birmingham Paramount cinema which opened in 1937 (Cinema Treasures). The Birmingham Paramount would be renamed the Odeon in 1942. The organ was restored in the 1950s but removed in 1988 to The Oswestry Regal (Leg Street and Oswald Road, see Cinema Treasures), where it gave good service until the cinema closed in 1994.
The well-known Blackpool Tower Ballroom organist, Kevin Grunhill, bought the organ from Oswestry and set up Penistone Cinema Organ Trust. After careful restoration, it was installed in Penistone Town Hall in 1999 with due ceremony. This led to a new name for the Penistone theatre, now to be called the 'Penistone Paramount', replacing the generally unloved name of 'The Metro Cinema' imposed by BMBC in 1986.
Beginnings of the Organ at Penistone
On 1st March 1999, an agreement between Penistone Town Council and the Penistone Cinema Organ Trust was signed to install the former Paramount/Odeon, Birmingham Compton cinema organ into our Town Hall cinema. The Penistone Cinema Organ Trust was formed at the same time. The founding committee members were organists Kevin Grunill (Chairman), Ronald Dickinson (Vice Chairman), Frank Wensley (Treasurer), Barry Metcalfe and PTC Councillor Maureen Harrison (Chairman of Penistone Town Council’s Cinema Management Committee). Trustees on the committee were Barry and Georgina Grunill.
The 'Mighty Paramount Organ' was installed in the Town Hall with due ceremony that same year. The organ performances soon proved to be a popular attraction on Market Day afternoons (Thursdays) as mostly grey-haired music lovers pack coaches from far and wide to visit Penistone. As part of the same organisation, organ concerts were also held in St. Andrew's church, next to Penistone Library but these were discontinued. Another outpost at Barugh Green is part of the Penistone Organ Trust.
Steve showed me the Compton organ console and I was very privileged to see the secrets behind the scenes in the pipe room. The brilliant white organ console gives no real impression of how elaborate are the marvelous workings in the pipe room. The whole under-stage area is filled with row upon row of pipes and other instruments to give the organ its wonderful wide range of voices and special sound effects.
Organ Concerts
The first organ recital at the Paramount was in November 2001 with Kevin Grunhill tickling the ivories. Penistone's weekly organ concerts proved to be hugely popular from the start and can easily pack the town hall with mostly elderly music lovers. What they call 'the toy box' finds particular favour when the occasional silent film is being shown. Kevin G continued as the main organist for the Market Day organ concerts. The Penistone Cinema Organ Trust went on to provide a second venue for organ concerts at the Astoria Centre.
The organ has proved to be a very worthwhile asset to our great hall of entertainment. Everything is electrically controlled from the keyboard, which can be unplugged and moved about but the sounds come from air-driven pipes and a few solenoids. In its original setting at the Birmingham Odeon, the solenoid-operated console could also have controlled the theatre lights. The Organ page has views of the pipes and special effects machinery behind the scenes.
GB Burgin:
'It is much more comfortable to be mad and know it, than to be sane and have one's doubts.'