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.

Flyer for ‘The Inspector,’ 1962

Flyers distributed in cinemas were a popular way to advertise forthcoming features.

The Picture House / Broadway / Gaumont / Odeon – Stanley Road, Bootle.

The Broadway Cinema – Stanley Road Bootle

The Documentary Film – The Story of the Project

Local film maker Tim Brunsden has followed the Going to the Pictures project development and has created a documentary which tells the story of the project.

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

Cinema Programme Bootle Gaumont February 1962

Cinema program from Boole Gaumont February 1962. Films showing at the cinema at that time included two ‘abridged versions’ this means that the films had been edited into shorter versions often in order to fit around the main feature