Friday the 13th might not be the luckiest time to make a date with the past, but next Friday the National Media Museum is doing just that.

From 6pm, the NMM is putting on the 1950s style with live jive music, fashion, themed food and two films reflecting aspects of the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Sixty years ago the £8 million Festival, which opened on May 3, 1951, was described by Labour Party deputy leader Herbert Morrison as a “tonic for the nation”.

The NMM’s Fifties Night will not be costing that. To get in will not cost a ha’penny – although normal ticket prices will apply to the screening of a 60-minute Festival of Britain film documentary at 6.30pm and the 1952 movie The Happy Family at 8.45pm.

Even organiser Fozia Bano said: “Using the national photography and television collections, as well as our cinemas, we want our 1950s theme to give an insight into the time when Britain was rebuilding for the future.”

Jan Faul, curator at the British Film Institute in London will introduce the Festival of Britain documentary, which includes clips of amateur and official event films.

In The Happy Family, a London family barricade themselves into their corner shop to resist its threatened demolition to make way for the Festival.

In the museum’s foyer, swing dancing sessions are promised, led by 1950s-style singer Em Brulee and the band TC And The Swing Cats.

Saltaire boutique The House Of Rose And Brown is putting on a vintage fashion show, with male and female models wearing the fashions of the 1950s.

Hair and make-up artists will be offering a Fifties makeover to visitors who will then be able to have their picture taken in the Museum’s 1950s photography studio.

Bunting, balloons and a selection of cakes in the cafe area will, it is hoped, create a street party atmosphere reminiscent of the time.

Festival of Britain festivities took place up and down the country, starting in June and in some places going on until October.