Going To The Pictures

Memories are made of this… Project overview

The aim of the Going to the Pictures Project has been to help preserve a part of our local cinema heritage by collecting and recording memories from people who used and worked in the local picture houses from the 1930′s to the 1960′s.

Cinema Heritage Interactive Map

Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.

The Hollywood Influence on British Cinema Goers

Through the memories of cinema going we have recorded for the project, many people have commented on the growing influence America had upon British society through the cinema

Escapism at the cinema and the glamourous film stars

The lives and views of the stars were big news and the film stars would become as much as a draw to the cinema as the films themselves

The Queens Picture House South Road Waterloo

The Queens Picture House – The first purpose built cinema in Waterloo

To be continued…The Serial at the cinema

Cinemas would show episodes of a serial each week which would be left on a cliff hanger, this was a way of having regular cinema patrons return each week

Penny rush and Roy Rogers

If you got in for the ‘Penny Rush’ you had extra money for sweets – Toms early 1930′s matinee memories

Silent films – then sound comes to the cinema

The innovation of sound technology in the late 1920′s caused a sensation in the world of film and many cinemas had to adapt and alter to embrace the new technology.