RADCLIFFE film director Danny Boyle visited a new arts centre ahead of its opening next year.

The Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting film-maker is one of the new patrons of HOME, created following the merger of the Cornerhouse and Library Theatre Company, due to open next spring in Manchester.

He gave a speech at a fundraising launch in which he talked about growing up in Radcliffe and travelling to a cinema in Hulme where he would watch independent films, inspiring his career path.

HOME will include a 500-seat theatre, a 150-seat studio space, a gallery, five cinema screens, digital production and broadcast facilities, a café bar and restaurants.

Before the reception, Mr Boyle, pictured, joined graduates of Cornerhouse’s BFI Film Academy on a tour of the HOME building site to see how it has developed since his February visit.

He said: “It’s a tardis. It’s massive inside, it’s absolutely amazing. You’ve got the opportunity here to transform the rest of Britain by the presence of HOME.

“I feel privileged to be here as one of the patrons.

“Chesterton said education was simply the soul of a nation passing from one generation to the next and I think HOME can be that as well.”