The Pen*stone Cinema Organ Trust

19/05/2025

Join us in Pen*stone for a celebration of silent cinema & visual storytelling. Our festival has film showcases, film competitions, & even 1920s costume contests!

11/05/2025

What a fabulous afternoon we’ve enjoyed today at the Pen*stone Paramount.

Master of silent film accompaniment - Donald Mackenzie provided a superb improvised musical score on the Compton cinema organ, which included several musical references along the way, all adding to the amusing action taking place on the silver screen. Not only was Donald making good use of his thematic material, he also showcased some of the glorious sounds the Compton organ is capable of producing, especially following the recent improvement work that has taken place.

Many thanks for a memorable afternoon, Donald. It was a masterful performance.

10/05/2025

What a fabulous afternoon of entertainment we’ve been treated to at the Pen*stone Paramount.

Phil Kelsall performed superbly at the console of the Paramount Compton organ, showing why he’s been Blackpool’s star organist for over 45 years.

The audience were enthralled and enchanted with the beautiful voice of Maggie O’Hara, who paid tribute to Gracie Fields and of course Dame Vera Lynn.

Andy Eastwood had the audience in the palm of his hands with some great comedy songs and his musical tribute to George Formby.

We welcomed just under 300 audience members to the show, which was a superb musical celebration of the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. It was good to see visitors from far and wide, some travelling from Durham, Nottingham, Cumbria, Blackpool and Lincolnshire.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, we present a silent film classic - ‘Go West’, featuring Buster Keaton. Maestro of silent film accompaniment- Donald Mackenzie will be at the console of the Compton organ, working his musical magic to give us a one-off show to remember.

09/05/2025

There’s now very limited seating available in the Stalls area for our ‘Hits from the Blitz’ show featuring Phil Kelsall, Andy Eastwood & Maggie O’Hara at the Pen*stone Paramount. Seating availability in the Circle is fine, although this does involve climbing around 25 steps on the staircase.

To book your seats, please use the following link.

https://pen*stone.admit-one.eu/seats/7235/

06/05/2025

We’ve got a great line up of events this coming weekend as part of our 25th Anniversary year at the Pen*stone Paramount.

On Saturday afternoon, we present a show in commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. Phil Kelsall, Andy Eastwood & Maggie O’Hara will be paying a fitting tribute to the music and variety stars of the war years, with a show packed full of nostalgia and entertainment.

On Sunday, we turn the clock back further, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the silent film classic - “Go West”, featuring the irrepressible Buster Keaton in one of his iconic comedy film roles. The musical accompaniment is provided by London’s West End star organist - Donald Mackenzie, known throughout the World for his superb improvised film scores.

Come and join us for a weekend of pure nostalgia, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Yorkshire’s largest and only cinema organ installed in an actual cinema - The Pen*stone Paramount.

Use the links below to book your tickets.

Hits from the Blitz
https://www.pen*stoneparamount.co.uk/event/93342

Go West
https://www.pen*stoneparamount.co.uk/event/97833

Go Yorkshire, British Silent Film Group, George Formby Appreciation Group, Silent Film Fans, We Are Barnsley, Visit Barnsley, Dame Vera Lynn, BBC Sheffield, BBC Look North, Buster Keaton, Barnsley Event Pages, Pen*stone FM, Love Pen*stone, The Cinema Organ Society, Cinema Heritage Group, VE Day 80

04/05/2025

One week today.

𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟏𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 - ‘𝐆𝐨 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭.

The film will be accompanied live on the Compton organ by Donald Mackenzie - Concert Organist - Organist at London’s famous Odeon, Leicester Square in the heart of the West End’s ‘Theatreland’

So come along and celebrate the mighty Compton organ in its 25th Anniversary year at the Pen*stone Paramount - Yorkshire’s only cinema organ in a cinema theatre.

Tickets can be purchased from the Pen*stone Paramount website
www.pen*stoneparamount.co.uk/event/97833

26/04/2025

It’s International Organ Day today. We’re pleased to be welcoming a group of young organists from Sheffield to try their hand(s) at the Compton Cinema Organ at the Pen*stone Paramount today.

25/04/2025

Join us at the Pen*stone Paramount on Saturday 10th May at 2.30pm, when we commemorate the 80th Anniversary of VE Day with our one-off show “Hits from the Blitz”, featuring Phil Kelsall at the Compton organ, together with Andy Eastwood and O’Hara live on stage, singing the songs that helped win the war.

Tickets available on the door or in advance using the link below.

https://www.pen*stoneparamount.co.uk/event/93342

14/04/2025

We enjoyed a superb musical afternoon at the Pen*stone Paramount on Saturday in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the opening of the Paramount Compton in Pen*stone.

Simon Gledhill and Richard Hills performed a wonderful selection of music, which showcased every aspect of the Compton organ to perfection. As well as solo performances, Simon & Richard had carefully arranged a number of organ & piano duets, which were simply stunning and showed the high standard of musicianship on offer from our featured artistes.

The organ performed magnificently and did everything these two fine musicians asked of it. It is a credit to the whole team that worked tirelessly getting the sections of the organ refurbished and reinstalled just in time for the concert - a great team effort that was rewarded by a fine sounding instrument for the concert.

Here’s a number of photographs of a special day.

Photographs: Declan Poole, Heidi Cooper, Joseph Briggs and Kevin Grunill.

11/04/2025

This Saturday, come and join us for our 25th Anniversary concert at the Pen*stone Paramount, featuring Simon Gledhill & Richard Hills at the mighty Compton Cinema Organ.

09/04/2025

25 years ago today, we celebrated the opening concerts of the Paramount Compton cinema organ at the Pen*stone Paramount. Nigel Ogden and Kevin Grunill were the featured artistes with a special cameo appearance by young organist - Darryl Evans.

This coming Saturday, we present our 25th Anniversary celebration concert, featuring Simon Gledhill & Richard Hills, which promises to be a superb afternoon of music.

We hope you can join us for this very special celebratory event.

06/04/2025

There’s now less than a week to go to our special 25th Anniversary celebration show at the Pen*stone Paramount. A show not to be missed featuring Simon Gledhill and Richard Hills at the console of the Compton organ (yes, probably at the same time at some point in the show).

The Compton has received some refurbishment work in preparation for its 25th celebratory year and is in fine voice.

Don’t miss this special event.

Admission is available on the door or you can book a reserved seat of your choice via the link below.

https://www.pen*stoneparamount.co.uk/event/93338

We look forward to sharing this special event with you.