The Royston Picture Palace, the community cinema based at Royston Town Hall, held the gala evening on Monday, with over 100 guests from the community enjoying a drinks reception and live music before a screening of the Great Gatsby.
Royston’s old Palace cinema opened on July 1, 1913, and to mark this occasion organisers invited 100-year-old Royston resident Rupert Clay to cut the ribbon at the new cinema. As part of the celebrations, a Pathé newsreel from 1913 was also shown.
A spokesman for the Picture Palace said: “Rupert, who was born into a pioneering family in the United States, moved to England in his youth and enjoyed a successful business career, receiving an OBE in 1959 for his voluntary services to the National Savings Movement.
“Rupert was delighted to be involved in the gala event and said that he could remember going to see the early films of stars such as ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle.”
Tickets for the Picture Palace, a joint project between the Royston First business improvement district company and Royston Town Council, can purchased from Royston library, or online at www.roystonpicturepalace.org.uk Films are shown each Friday and Saturday night.
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