Even if you never met Peter, if you are a film fan living in or near Leeds, then you owe him a heartfelt thank you. Peter was one of the trio of filmgoers who, in the early 1980s, founded The Friends of the Hyde Park Picture House.

“I have been involved with the cinema for many years, as I have been going there since 1975 and along with Xavier and Bob I am a founder member of the Friends . . .”

Xavier Chevillard was for many years the treasurer for the Friends. Bob Geoghegan was a member of the Friends’ Committee for years.

It was the friends who were instrumental in saving the cinema when the owners, the Robbins, decided to close. They campaigned successfully for the Leeds Council to rescue this local landmark and cultural venue and it subsequently became part of the Grand Theatre Trust.

It was the Friends, as part of the activities to support the Picture House, who persuaded Leeds Leisure Services, Yorkshire Arts and Yorkshire Television to support a Film Festival in Leeds, The first festival was organised by Bob Geoghegan together with a BBC colleague Janice Cambell. The Festival has continued and has become Leeds International Film Festival, held in November each year, and a notable event in the British Film calendar.

For many years Peter was secretary of the Friends; then in 2008 he took over as Chairperson, a post he retained until he died. He chaired all the meeting, including the Annual General Meeting held at the Picture House, in his own imitable style. From small beginnings the Friends developed alongside the cinema. When the Friends was formally constituted in 1986 it had about a 100 members. Now the membership runs at over 500. The Friends have also become a registered charity in order to improve their ability to support and fund-raise for the Picture House.

Over the years the Friends have supported and helped the Picture House develops its facilities and its programme. In the early 1980s they assisted when the current stage was added to the proscenium. In recent times they have provided funds to add to the digital technology used in projection. And the Friends also provided the pump-priming funding for the project, now funded by the Heritage Lottery Funds, to redevelop the Picture House. This will lead to a second screen in the old basement; proper facilities for the audiences: and (after years of such suggestions) the addition of a cafe/bar alongside the front of the Picture House.

The Friends’ membership have been active in other ways. For years they published a regular newsletter, ‘Hyde & Seek’. And they also commissioned and published a history of the Picture House; if you are interested there are, I believe, a few remaining copies. There have (intermittently) been social events, discussions on cinema and films, and extra screenings at the Picture House. An early event in the 1980s was a screening of D. W. Griffith’s Hearts of the World (1918 and starring both Dorothy and Lillian Gish) with a musical accompaniment as part of a World War I commemoration. Another memorable event was Derek Malcom from The Guardian interviewing Peter Ustinov. And, of course, there was also a ‘Laurel and Hardy evening’. For a period there was a monthly film club with fine examples of popular, art and independent cinemas. Included in the programme was the ever-popular The Apartment (1960), a film that has returned several times to the Picture House. There was also the classic British noir Brighton Rock (1948). Among the foreign language titles was the final film in Satyajit Ray’s great trilogy The World of Apu / Apu Sansar (1959). Now there are regular Friends screening; in June (to accompany the AGM), on Yorkshire Day on August 1st, and in the Christmas season. And they have a set of webpages for information, reports and film reviews.

Peter was an ardent cineaste; his favourite genres being horror, fantasy and super-heroes. He was a regular attendee at the now-defunct Horror/Fantasy weekends at Bradford’s Media Museum. He was also a fan of traditional cinemas. He had in earlier days been a viewer at the Lyric and Lounge Cinemas, both now gone. In recent years he patronised the Cottage Road Cinema, The Hebden Bridge Picture House and the Rex, Elland (near Halifax). As well as offering the charms and pleasures of traditional auditoriums all these cinemas still have and still use 35mm projection .

Peter will not be here to enjoy the facilities of the new developments of the Picture House, likely to be ready by the start of 2021. It is though, in a way, appropriate in that the as-it-is-now Picture House and Peter will pass on close to each other. The Friends intend to mark Peter’s contribution to the ‘new’ Picture House with a sponsored seat in the auditorium, in the place where Peter himself had a favourite spot. Before that the screening following this year’s AGM will feature a title from his favourite genre, ‘Let the Right One In’, (the original Swedish version not the unnecessary Hollywood remake). Gone but not forgotten.

Peter was cremated at Cottingley Hall Crematorium on Thursday April 18th and following this members of the Friends attended a celebration of his life at Christ Church in Armley, Leeds. The ashes will be scattered in the ‘Garden of Remembrance’ at the Crematorium.