THOUSANDS of people lined the street at a North-East open-air museum for the royal opening of its newest attraction.

The £1.2m Masonic Hall at Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham, is now complete and yesterday the public were allowed in for the first time.

Music from Tavistock Chester-le-Street Riverside Band got the 3,000-strong crowd into the spirit for the ceremonial opening.

Many sang along to traditional hits such as The Blaydon Races, Cushy Butterfield and Land of Hope and Glory, led by Eddie Gratton, from Blackhall, near Peterlee, and a member of Carradock Lodge.

Then followed music from Chester-le-Street Burma band of Durham Light Infantry and a procession of 1,000 Freemasons in full regalia.

They wore their ceremonial collars and aprons with darker colours representing rank within the organisation.

The men formed lines for the arrival of the Duke of Kent, Grand Master of the United Lodge of England, in a carriage drawn by four horses.

Speeches were made before the royal visitor performed the key-turning ceremony at the door of the Masonic Hall.

Museum director Miriam Harte said: "It is delightful to be where we are today with a project we first dreamt of in 1998."

The museum teamed up with the Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham eight years ago to rescue Masonic Hall, in Park Terrace, Sunderland and turn it into a major visitor attraction for the 1913 town area.

The lodge, which has 203 branches between the River Tyne and the River Tees, agreed to raise £500,000.

The Park Terrace Hall was built in 1869 for St John's Lodge number 80 and was used by the Masons until 1932, when it was decided bigger premises were needed.

Over the years it has had a variety of uses. Then in 1998, it was sold and work began to transplant the building to Beamish.

The foundation stone was laid on July 1, 2000, and the facade was re-erected by a stonemason, who completed the work last summer.

The Beamish Masonic Hall is the only one in Europe, possibly the world, to be built at a museum and open to the public.

Visitors can see the fully- fitted temple, with its artefacts and memorabilia, as well as a display of masonic history and traditions.