THEATRICAL youngsters are seeking memories of the silverscreen in the 1950s after receiving a funding boost.

Vamos Young People’s Theatre, the youth section of Worcester-based professional full-mask theatre company Vamos Theatre, has received £34,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to explore the city’s cinematic past.

Their project will involve the gathering of local people’s stories which may be used as inspiration for the making of a performance and feed into an exhibition to be staged in July next year.

Members of the youth theatre along with historians from the Hive are seeking members of the public to share their cinema-going stories and an open evening will be held at the Sawmill Walk-based library from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on November 25.

Rachael Savage, the theatre’s artistic director, said: “We are delighted that our young people have the opportunity to be trained in research by the professionals at the Hive.

“We’re really looking forward to meeting local people who would like to contribute to this great project and celebrate Worcestershire’s love affair with the cinema.”

Justin Hughes, archaeological project officer at the Hive, said: “It is great to be working with the Heritage Lottery again and with Vamos.

“Here at Explore the Past in the Hive we are confident that new recordings of people’s memories of the cinema will really enrich our oral history archive.”

The youth section is open to youngsters aged between 16 and 25 and the theatre uses real-life stories to create its productions.

People attending the open evening are welcome to bring along any photos or memorabilia they want to share.

The Vamos Theatre organisation is based at the Worcester Arts Workshop in Sansome Street, and was established in 2006.

For more information on the group go to vamostheatre.co.uk.