Charles Morris recalls his first trip to the cinema like it was yesterday.

“The film was Lady and the Tramp; I watched the screen through a shaft of light coming through clouds of cigarette smoke and was hooked,” he said.

He went on to help out at his local cinema, in Hoylake on the Wirrall. “I gave out flyers, mended seats, painted walls, stoked the boiler – I just loved being there,” he recalled. “The first time I went into the projection room I was amazed at how it all worked. I showed my first film, unaided, aged 13. It was Tom Thumb, on Christmas Eve, and the projectionist was otherwise engaged; entertaining an usherette with a bottle of sherry!”

Although he went into engineering, cinema remained Charles Morris’s first love and eventually he achieved his dream of running a cinema.

Today he runs six of them; two in Cumbria and four in Yorkshire, including the Plaza Skipton and Keighley Picture House where centenary celebrations were held yesterday.

Guests including former members of staff gathered at the North Street cinema for a lunch reception followed by screenings organised by Keighley Film Club, which included History of Film, a documentary on the pioneering days of cinema from 1888 to 1913; The Picture House, paying tribute to the Keighley cinema; Maya Deren’s surrealist At Land with a specially-composed musical score played live, and 1913 gothic thriller Fantomas: In The Shadow of the Guillotine. Celebrations continued last night with The Artist, the 2012 Oscar-winning homage to silent film.

Moving pictures came to Keighley in 1896, at the Mechanics Hall. The Picture House was the town’s first purpose-built cinema, initially owned by local businessmen, and was sold in 1954 to the Essoldo cinema circuit. Classic Cinemas Ltd took over in 1972, converting it into two screens.

The cinema closed in 1983 due to structural defects and following an extensive renovation it re-opened in 1985. Closure came again in 1991, following financial difficulties, but it was rescued by Mr Morris who re-opened it in July, 1996 with a screening of Tom Cruise action movie Mission Impossible.

“The late MP Bob Cryer came to me at The Rex in Elland to see if there was a possibility of maintaining an independent cinema in Keighley. Sadly, he had died by the time the Picture House re-opened,” said Mr Morris. “There are very few purpose-built cinemas which have lasted 100 years and are still showing films. The interior was totally re-structured in the 1980s but the building retains its original frontage.

“We have made some changes over the years – Dalby Stereo, new seating, new screens – but the most significant change in the building’s 100-year history is that 35mm film has been replaced by digital technology. We have installed new digital projection systems in all six cinemas, which is a brutal necessity, but we still have the old projectors too.”

Mr Morris compiles a varied film programme, blending mainstream movies with art-house films, weekend family film matinees and occasional special screenings and premieres. Emmerdale stars hit the red carpet for a premiere of Jane Eyre shortly after the re-opening in 1996, and actor Bill Nighy attended the 2001 premiere of Blow Dry, a comedy filmed in Keighley. In a multiplex age, the little cinema continues to pull in the crowds, including people who went there as youngsters who now bring their own children and grandchildren.

“We have the personal touch,” said Mr Morris. “We don’t deafen with sound and we don’t overcharge for the entry fee and confectionery. It’s a relaxing environment with great nostalgic appeal.”

In early years the cinema stage was used for variety shows and pop concerts. As a teenager, Barbara Pearson saw Adam Faith there in 1960.

“He did two shows, when we came out there were queues around the block for the next show,” she said. “We didn’t have a television when I was a child so my parents brought us to the cinema. It was what everyone did. My children came here too. It’s a lovely old cinema; in a multiplex you could be anywhere in the country but these independent cinemas have their own identity.”

Mrs Pearson’s husband, Robert, trained as a projectionist at the Picture House in 1975. “It was owned by Classic Cinemas then, I was their Chief Projectionist of the Year in 1981 - the first time someone outside London had won the award,” he said. “I trained for four or five years to use the 35mm projector; it’s a skill to splice the film and get the timing just right. An average film comes on eight reels. We’d make the odd mistake but I don’t think the audience noticed!

“I remember showing Jaws, Grease and Ghostbusters for eight week seasons. I ended up knowing them all word for word.”

Jim Walker was a Picture House projectionist for 13 years, starting at the 1996 re-opening after working at cinemas in Lancashire. “As a boy I was more interested in projectors than films,” he said. “I started at the age of 16, in those days we showed films like Dr Zhivago and Mary Poppins for 20 weeks. Everyone went to the cinema, we had packed houses. Digital projectors have taken the fun and skill out of it – you just press a button now.”

For the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Khadim Hussain, yesterday’s celebration was a nostalgic affair. “Growing up in Keighley, I came here as a child and loved 007 films. My children came here too, and now my grandson does,” he said.

Keith Marsden started at the Picture House in 1941 as an office boy and went on to run the accounts and book films. “I remember characters like ‘Gas Harry’, who was an attendant here and worked in the council’s gas department. Everyone had two jobs,” he said. “Another attendant was Willy Ord, who walked with a long stick. If anyone in the auditorium made too much noise he’d lean in and poke the stick at them! Most of the staff were in the orchestra for the silent films and live shows.”

Keighley Film Club is launching screenings at the Picture House on the third Wednesday of each month, starting next week with Bottle, a locally-made film about Keighley’s Lund Park area. “We’re trying to bring films here that people would normally have to go out of town for,” said membership secretary Fiona Plane. “In August we’re showing family film Where The Wild Things Are and there’ll be The Shining for Halloween. We’re open to suggestions.”

Mr Morris is chronicling the Picture House’s history in a book and is appealing for photographs. “I’m short of old pictures, there are none of the interior,” he said. “I’d love to hear from people who worked here years ago or remember coming to the pictures.”

* Anyone who would like to share memories or photographs of the Picture House can ring (01535) 602561.