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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 cinema as a community venue.
The Cinema’s of the 1930′s to the 1960′s were often seen as being a quite luxurious venue for the public to go. They were an important part of the community for socialising and magnificent places of entertainment
Screen struggle at the Gaumont Cinema
I sent the 3 children to the pictures and my youngest son actually committed the cardinal sin of The Gaumont
Exchanging jam jars for Cinema entrance
In some cinemas admission could be obtained by exchanging jam jars if you had no money. This practice was especially true at the children’s cinema matinees where some children would take them to the cinema with jam still in.
The cinema and morality
Moral issues have always been a concern when it has come to films and censorship
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
My first visit to the Winter Gardens, Waterloo.
In 1933/34 I went to “The Pictures” for the first time, but I was not impressed. The black and white film was very old and scratched; it looked like driving rain to me. A few years later I went again and paid a penny to get in with a penny for ice cream in the interval.
