A Christmas present to Deal is how the owners of the new Kent Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) describe their December preview opening before it officially launches in March.

It tells the story of the moving image - everything from shadow puppets to the magic lantern and the golden days of Ealing Studios.

Beth Robson gets a guided tour.

For all of his adult life David Francis OBE has collected magic lantern slides.

In black and white or colour, with themes of animals, comedy or of the Orient, the hand-made pictures have captivated him.

The film archivist and former curator of the British Film Institute’s National Film and Television Archive went on to inspire and entertain others by co-founding the London Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in the decade between 1988 and 1998.

Since 2012 he and wife, Prof Joss Marsh, a renowned expert on Victorian culture, have devoted their time (and sums of money they “daren’t divulge”) to creating Kent’s own MOMI.

In a disused care home, practically camouflaged in the centre of Deal, its arrangement has been thought out down to the tiniest detail and renovated to be entirely wheelchair friendly.

The sleek but quirky two-storey space now showcases the evolution of the moving image from the times of cave men and ancient Egyptians through to the 19th century, and the glamour of the 20th century film.

The pair’s enthusiasm is endless and their knowledge the perfect combination, with Ms Marsh’s Victorian expertise filling gaps in Mr Francis’s recollections – and likewise.

“I always said I was the black sheep of the family by not being involved in cinema,” she says. Ms Marsh is the daughter of Terence Marsh, the production designer who won an Oscar for Oliver!

She and Mr Francis have created an unforgettable offering for Kent.

Visitors to the museum will have the benefit of their commentary but they are working towards creating audio tours, and they are appealing for prominent local people especially actors to get in touch to lend their voices.

The ground floor has the Margaret Amaral Gallery, revealing how the origins of cinema come from the shadows which formed the template for cave drawings.

This progressed on to shadow puppetry from Asia, creeping through into Turkey and Europe where it became a big deal in France.

Hand-drawn silhouettes, a more affordable form of personal art than portraiture, was a huge craze in Victorian Britain.

The exhibitions move on to the earliest forms of photography, including a copy of the world’s first photograph.

The first floor tells how science stepped in to develop the art form we all appreciate today, in an exhibition dedicated to the Royal Polytechnic Institute, London.

Its displays include a panorama, a phenakistoscope (a wheel that spins creating the illusion that still images are moving), and an argan lamp which is an earlier version of the magic lantern, using whale oil.

Taking pride of place is Mr Francis’s treasured magic lantern, dated 1891, along with a wall hung collection of colourful slides.

They create what he describes as a “wonderful experience – for the first time in human history – of seeing images moving through time through a beam of light.”

In a room dedicated to the building’s former owner Susan Jackson is a demonstration of how film cameras have evolved.

And just to transport the visitor back to Deal, KentOnline's sister paper the East Kent Mercury’s most famous photographer Basil Kidd is remembered, by displaying his studio camera stand, with a camera, similar to what he would have used in his studio.

Fans of the films created at Ealing studios are in for a real treat in the last two exhibition rooms where they can take hours poring over examples of hand drawn posters promoting the best films, some by the likes of Edward Ardizzone who lived in Deal’s conservation area.

For those who really know their stuff there will be a quiz where guests have to work out which props and clues relate to which Ealing Studio film.

Be warned: There is no such thing as a quick walk around a museum like this. You’ll need to take your time by enjoying refreshments between rooms, and make sure you hold on to your ticket. For £5.50 it entitles you to return at any time in a year.

Kent Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) is at 41 Stanhope Road, Deal and is open Fridays to Sundays from now until December 31 for a preview. It opens fully in March 2018.