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.

Additional entertainment at the Cinema matinees

Some cinemas would have additional entertainment aside from the films which would entertain and involve audience participation.

Films and Filming

Films and Filming was first published in 1951, and where other film magazines of the time publicized films and their stars with little critical appraisal, Films and Filming was very much a serious magazine about […]

Cinema poster screen print workshop

At the project launch event memories from cinema goers were collected in a number of ways. view some of the old style film bill posters created at the launch event

Female roles

The role of women portrayed on the screen often fell within the stereotypical roles amplified and made up by Hollywood

No supersized popcorn or giant fizzy drinks

Things sold within the cinema during the 1930′s to the 1960′s were limited in terms of the refreshments and snacks sold within modern cinemas.

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.