A SLIDE show with a difference will take place in Teesdale later this month, using a Victorian magic lantern and its glass plates.

The lantern has been in David Edwards' family since the late 1800s, when it was bought by his grandfather, Bill Jeffries of Cardiff. Mr Jeffries and his wife were members of the Plymouth Brethren and used to take the magic lantern around the chapels in their area in a bid to convert drinkers to the temperance movement.

Mr Edwards, a chemist who lives at Gainford and is a member of the Magic Lantern Society, has recently been given the machine by his father, John Hugh Edwards, together with about 2,000 plates or slides, which he has been busy cataloguing with his son, Stephen. "The very early lanterns date back to the 1600s; Samuel Pepys had one," he said.

The only modification to his own lantern is its conversion to electricity, while the plates are mostly hand painted and date from the 1820s to 1930s. Some are in sequence and include scripts to tell a story, while others show views from around the world or the words to hymns, all of which can be projected on to a screen.

"The lantern would previously have been powered using a block of lime over which would be played a hydrogen flame, making it glow, hence the term limelight," said Mr Edwards, who agreed it sounded a highly dangerous practice.

There will be an opportunity to view some of the plates when he and his son give a slide show at the Methodist church hall in Barnard Castle on Thursday, November 28, at 7.30, with proceeds going to Teesdale Carers' Centre. They are busy putting together a programme and will probably include travels in Africa, English cathedrals, round the world views and comic slides, as well as Jane Conquest, a temperance story which has all the usual Victorian melodrama ingredients, including a drunken husband, poverty-stricken wife and hungry children.

During a break to allow the old machinery to cool down, a pie and peas supper will be served and a pianist will entertain with Victorian songs.

Tickets, £4, are available from the carers' centre in Victoria Road (9am-5pm, or call 01833 630202) or the Teesdale Mercury shop in Market Place. Victorian dress is optional