FROM 1910 to 2010 – Thwaites Empire Theatre, in Blackburn, is preparing to celebrate a century of entertainment.

In readiness for its centenary as a cinema and theatre, it wants to hear your memories and build up an archive of your old photographs.

Can you help staff create an online museum, which will chart its long history, before it’s all lost?

For while the building in Ewood may be 100 years old, we know precious little about it.

Built as a cinema for silent films in 1910, it was popular with cinema-goers until the 1960s, when multiplex screens became the newest venues.

After falling into disrepair, it was back in the 1970s when a dedicated band of enthusiasts set up a charity aimed at providing Blackburn with a theatre that would be a focal point for amateur arts and entertainment.

The charity raised £800,000 in 10 years, and three years ago the major refurbishment of the old Empire building was complete, creating a theatre for 320.

Over the years it has been known as the Electric Light Theatre, the Barn, The Empire, The Red Brick, the Thwaites Theatre and now, finally, the Thwaites Empire Theatre.

Now the board wants to hear from you if you remember spending your courting days at the Empire, enjoying Saturday matinees as a child, or if you worked at the garage forecourt, or the factory, that once stood on the site of the neighbouring Capita performing arts centre.

Do you remember watching Asian films on the screen, or have you kept any old tickets, handbills, photographs, or newspaper cuttings, relating to the cinema or theatre at Ewood?

As well as building a time line, the theatre is planning to create a commemorative history booklet and disk to mark the centenary, and bring local people together to work with professionals for a community performance based on these memories.

If you have any memories, scrapbooks, photographs or stories, you can get in touch with the Looking Back desk.