2020
Well the Trust’s plans for 2020, like everyone else’s, have been partly put on hold due to Covid. However, while we couldn’t welcome visitors into the building this year, we have been working hard on funding applications for the stonework repairs and the strategy to raise the funding for the full capital project. More news coming on this soon!
2019
At the end of the year we received some fantastic news. The Trust’s funding application to the Architectural Heritage Fund for a Project Development Grant had been successfully approved; we were awarded a grant of £67,260 toward a total development cost of £76,260. This grant will enable the Trust to bring in a consultancy team in 2020 to work up the proposals for the building and make funding applications for the capital work.
During the summer the Picture House played host to the ‘Electric Sound Palace’, a new work by Chris Timpson inspired by the building and its historic orchestra. The installation featured immersive sound technologies, and drew inspiration from the cinema archive held by the Trust. The work formed part of the Eyeview/Wavelength programme across the Bay.
Success! Our small team of volunteers secured grant funding totalling almost £40,000 from Historic England, the Architectural Heritage Fund and Rosalind Hicks Charitable Trust to carry out the stonework repair investigations, and future uses viability work. These two reports were delivered in the late autumn. The stonework repairs were costed in the region of £250,000 including fees. The total project cost anticipated to be in the region of £2.5million.
2018
The Trust worked up applications to Historic England and the Architectural Heritage Fund to enable two key projects to be delivered: technical investigation of the stonework of the front of the building, and framework business planning and architectural concept schemes to identify a viable preferred option to advance to major capital funding.
2017
Also in September of that year we hosted our first event for the International Agatha Christie Festival. Agatha Christie often visited the cinema when she was resident at Greenway, and so it was a pleasure for us to welcome her grandson Mathew Prichard to share his memories of Agatha in such a special setting. Later that same week we also welcomed her great grandson James Prichard into the building to learn more about our aims for the regeneration project.
‘The Tale’ September 2017, a three weekend art exploration of performances across Torbay, saw the Picture House once again open her doors to new audiences. A binaural recording and vintage film project saw old and new technologies interlink to create a memorable new art piece by Britt Hatzius ‘In Order Not To Be There’; audiences could experience a film without seeing it, purely through the medium of sound.
His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex made a visit to the Picture House in May. This was a real honour for the Trust, and an opportunity for some of the students from South Devon College to return to the Picture House to perform extracts from ‘Memoirs of a Cinema’. Primary school children from Curledge Street Academy came along to meet HRH and talk about their involvement in the forthcoming production ‘The Tale’.
In May the Trust was proud to be the launch venue to celebrate Torbay Culture securing £1.2million for their Great Place scheme proposals to develop the cultural landscape across the Bay.
At the start of the year, the Trust set out to programme in a range of educational and cultural activities designed to bring a wide range of audience members back into the space to experience the majestic beauty and history of the building. Our first venture was a joint collaboration with South Devon College. Three months of planning and rehearsals designing a immersive performance piece based on the history of the building and the high-tech work of the film students and ‘Memoirs of a Cinema’ played to a sell out audience.
2016
All of the hard work to purchase and carry out holding repairs and upgrades to the Picture House meant that we were able to open the building for the first time to our community during Heritage Open Days. All 120 tickets sold out in 15 minutes and led to the development of the regular Picture House tours programme. It was fantastic to be able to welcome back many members of the local community, and those from further afield, who grew up watching films at the Picture House and returned to share their memories.
Conservation Surveyor, Philip Hughes surveyed the building to help inform the scope and costs of the restoration. This work was funded through a grant from the Coastal Revival Fund.
2015
The Trust officially buys the building from Dartmouth Steam Railway Company thanks to a £40,000 grant from Historic England and funding from Torbay Council.
We were awarded a grant of £49,960 from the Coastal Revival Fund to start phase 1 works to make the building safe. This enabled us to carry out necessary emergency works such as temporary roof repairs to prevent water ingress, and comprehensive asbestos removal. Temporary floor repairs, lighting and a fire alarm system meant we could insure the building and safely open it for meanwhile activities, such as tours and pop-up cultural events.
Well known architecture and interiors photographer, Paul Ryan-Goff donates his time to document the beauty of the untouched building before restoration begins.
2013/2014
Charitable Trust set-up to save Paignton Picture House.
Paignton Picture House celebrates its 100th birthday. Grants awarded from The Architectural Heritage Fund, the Cinema Theatre Association and the Torbay Mayor's Fund. Featured in the Herald Express, Western Morning News, BBC Radio Devon.