Historic Royal Tour to be screened

On the 8th July 2013 the Harris Museum & Art Gallery will host the world premiere of a new film A Right Royal Tour of Lancashire produced by North West Film Archive on the 100th anniversary of the Royal visit to Lancashire.

The Royal visit to Lancashire was a spectacular tour which saw King George V and Queen Mary travel the length and breadth of industrial Lancashire by motor car. They visited a remarkable 37 towns and cities in just 8 days, starting at Warrington on the 7th July and ending with a procession in state carriages around Manchester and Salford on the 14th. It is hardly surprising that dozens of film makers and cinema owners like Will Onda were keen to capture the excitement of the occasion. Many of these films are now held by North West Film Archive in Manchester.

The show is a compilation of material from the local cinema newsreels of the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Lancashire over an eight day period in July 1913. Using contemporary material to sketch Lancashire life, the film looka at the industries and lives of the people of the County, before following the Royal couple as they visit Pilkington’s Glass works St Helens, Horrockses Mill Preston, Blackpool, Colne, Burnley and Bacup, before heading on to Rochdale, Chorley, Bolton, Middleton, Atherton and Leigh, and finishing in Manchester on the final day of the tour. Set against a time of national tension, and with the activities of the suffrage movement and wider global politics in the minds of many, the King and Queen covered 220 miles on an extensive visit to over 30 towns and cities to find out more about the people of this important County which was a powerhouse of the Empire.

There will be 5 public screenings of 'A Right Royal Tour of Lancashire 1913':

The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston (July 8th) 2pm and 7pmThe Royal Court Theatre, Bacup (July 9th) 7:30pmPendle Hippodrome Theatre (July 10th) 7:30pmParbold Picture House (July 16th) 7:30pm