The project has focused on 21 cinemas in the areas of Crosby, Waterloo, Seaforth, Litherland and Bootle which have played a part in our community and formed fond memories and helped shape and develop opinions and ideas on the world through the medium of cinema.

These memories have helped create this website, a film, a documentary and a Cinema Heritage Trail.

The memories we have recorded have also been placed within the North West Sound Archive and Sefton Records Office to be stored and kept for future generations.

We have also recorded and digitally scanned several pieces of local cinema memorabilia from collections of local cinema goers who have contributed to the project and our aims in helping to preserve a part of our local heritage which could have been lost.

Living in a modern, world with instant and on demand access to media makes it difficult for younger generations to percieve the social phenomonom and importance of Going to the Pictures.

For our parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents, and their families before, the cinema offered an escape from what was sometimes a harsh world, a warm and luxurious environment in which to socialise and be entertained and informed.

Cinemas not only showed films but also news programs in the form of Newsreels. These provided information about what was going on in the world, putting moving pictures to what was only read about in newspaers or heard on the radio before the days of television and the internet.

They gave a place within the local community to meet and socialise and offered variety in the choice and frequency of films.

There were many cinemas to choose from and Going to the Pictures was a weekly part of life which was an affordable luxury.

Cinemas were good value for money when times were austere providing a full nights entertainment or an escape for the children to a Saturday Cinema Show for a few pennies or an exchanged jam jar or two.

This website provides initial sources of information for further research into the subject. It has first hand accounts from people telling their experiences of the golden age of cinema.

Through the project we have been looking at several themes and asked questions about going to the pictures relating to these themes. The Themes are – Picture Palaces, Children’s Cinema Matinees, Gender in Cinema, Cinema and Society, and Memorabilia

Memories and background information can be found under each of the Theme Headings and through ‘tag’ words through the website.

The site is really easy to navigate so sit back and enjoy Going to the Pictures.

The documentary will soon be available to view on this website.

The film was created by film maker Christina Condron and up and coming new film maker and project volunteer Sean Reynolds, who have filmed over 50 interviews with local cinema goers and staff from the ‘golden age of cinema’. Additional camera assistance was provided by Bill Morris, John Lines and Beth Greenwood. Sound and image editing support by Jordan Plant.

Archive photographs were provided from Sefton Records Office, Liverpool Records Office and Keith Rose.

We would like to sincerley thank all those who shared their cinema memories on camera with us for the Going to the Pictures Project. We have enjoyed sharing your memories and appreciate your time and contribution inhelping preserve our local cinema heritage.

The Going to the Pictures film was screened at the Project Showcase Event at the Plaza Community Cinema in March 2013.
The full film will soon be available to view through this website.

The book has several versions and was written by local Waterloo man and film projectionist Harold Ackroyd.

Harold worked in several cinemas around Liverpool and was a cinema and film fanatic. So much so, that he had a room in his home covered into his own private cinema and held regular film screenings for close friends.

The book tells the story of every cinema in Liverpool from cinemas hey day and also has many photographs and local cinema adverts and other items of interest. It really is worth a read and a great resource for further information about the cinemas we have looked at through the Going to the Pictures project.

As part of the project volunteers were given the opportunity to attend a Website Workshop in which they learnt skills on how to upload text and visual content to the website.

The contextual information and content has been developed and uploaded by heritage Officer for the project Christina Condron and project volunteers, Bill Morris, Sean Reynolds and Libby Howell.

The websites structure has been developed by Sam Meech.

A special event was held at the Plaza Community Cinema on 3rd October 2012 to celebrate the launch of The Going to the Picture Project.
The event was a day to reminisce, take a nostalgic look at our local cinema heritage and to share memories of Going to the Pictures.

A specially selected screening program of archive films were presented by The North West Film Archive which included -
‘Romance at the Odeon’ – A 1937 Film giving a short overview of the Odeon Cinema Chain.
‘Do you want Sunday Cinema and Games?’ A 1941 film made to support The Stockport Express wartime campaign to allow cinemas to open on a Sunday.
‘Candid Camera visits ABC Preston’ This was a 1959 publicity film presented by actor Richard Todd to promote ABC cinemas.

The trailer for the Going to the Pictures memories film was shown to generate converastion between guests and encorage more people to share their cinema memories.

Displays of old cinema photographs and cinema memorabilia tables were on view for guests to learn more about our local cinema heritage and help to trigger memories of Going to the Pictures.

A Film Poster Memory Workshop was hosted during the event by artists Sam Meech and Will Daw. The poster workshop was an opportunity for guests at the event to write down a cinema memory and have it turned into an old style film poster using screen printing techniques.
The photograph below shows one of the guests turning his memory into a poster.

Students from Crosby High School worked as part of the event team to help the day run smoothly. They worked as Meeters & Greeters, Usherettes and Memory Catcher’s. They also took many photographs and carried out some filming to document the event and capture cinema going memories.

The day was rounded off with some special screenings of some of the old serials which used to be shown at the children’s cinema matinees. We showed Batman from 1949.

And also a trailer for The Phantom Empire which was made in the 1930′s and starred the singing cowboy Gene Autry battling against cowboy hat wearing robots! The serials were very popular and had the audience booing the baddies and cheering the goodies.

View some of the old style film bill posters created at the launch event and photographs from the workshop below.

Throughout the project we have been capturing peoples memories of Going to the Pictures.
Many have been recorded using professional quality digital cameras and microphones. These recordings have been edited into short clips for the Going to the Pictures project website and film.

images showing people sharing their cinema memories

Students from Crosby High practicing their camera skills

People who used and worked in the local Picture Houses between the 1930′s and 1960′s period have been invited into the Plaza Community Cinema to share their cinema memories on camera. We have a collection of over 50 interviews ranging from about 30 minutes to 2 hours in length which have been placed within the North West Sound Archive for safe preservation. A DVD collection of cinema memories can also be found within Sefton Records Office. By placing the recorded interviews of cinema memories with the North West Sound Archive we hope that a part of our local cinema heritage is preserved for future generations and not forgotten.

We have heard many funny and interesting stories whilest recording memories of going to the pictures

Students from Crosby High recording cinema memories at intergenerational session

As well as working with Crosby High School to capture cinema memories several volunteers have worked with Heritage Officer Christina Condron throughout the project to record and capture these memories of Going to the Pictures. Special thanks to Sean Reynolds, Bill Morris, Jordan Plant, Johnathon Lines and Beth Greenwood. And of course a huge thank you to all the people who have shared cinema memories with us. We have met some great people and heard some fantastic stories.
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This image shows project volunteer Sean Reynolds filming ex cinema projectionist, Mike Taylor – The last projectionist at the Bootle Odeon Cinema

This image shows volunteer Jordan who helped with editing

This image shows some of the project volunteers setting up to film
This image shows a resident from Nazareth House sharing his cinema memories with Heritage Officer Christina Condron

This image shows Steve Ellison – film historian preparing to share his cinema memories and thoughts on camera

We also viewed some selected screenings from the film archives with a view to screening them at the project launch event. The screenings we watched and screened at the project launch were a 1937 film about the Odeon Cinema Chain called ‘Romance at the Odeon’, a short film called ‘Do you want Sunday Cinema and games?’ which was made in 1941 as part of a campaign for Sunday Cinema opening, and also ‘Candid camera visits ABC Preston’ which was made as a publicity film for the ABC chain made in 1959. Each of the films took a nostalgic look back at how cinemas once were and what a big part they played in society

This image shows two of the project volunteers Johnno & Sean at The North West Film Archive.