“My first memory of the pictures is coming to the Plaza to see ‘Oliver’. Of course I fell in love with ‘Oliver’ as I was the same age, probably about 6 or 7. Aww!!!”

Di Pennington

“My father did shift work, so every third week we would all go to the pictures either to the Regent, Plaza or the Corona.

If it was the Corona we would have an early tea, rush from Brownmore Lane down Endbutt Lane through Coronation Park to get to the Corona Picture House, which was were the Co-op shop is now in College Road. The park would be closed when we went home so we walked the full length of College Road, Kingsway, Stuart Road and into Brownmore Lane: A long evening out.

Most Saturday afternoons I would go with school friends to the Stella in Seaforth, as the father of one of my friends was the manager and we would get in free.

Sometimes we would go to the Queens or the Winter Gardens picture houses; they were also known as the ‘Flea Pit’.

We always had to stand in queues to get into any picture house.

On Saturday mornings there was a club for children, I think it was 6 pence to get in.”

Cherie Bootle

“In 1933/34 I went to “The Pictures” for the first time paying 1d. each to go in for about 2 hours. The Winter Gardens was not the best place to go to. The film was a Western, in black and white of course, I was not impressed. When I arrived home my mother asked me had I enjoyed it, my only comment was, “I’ll never go to live where the cowboys and Indians live because it rained all the time.” Nothing would change my mind. It was several years later that I realised that the film was very old and scratched. Well, it looked like driving rain to me.

Two years later I went again! I was given 6d. to pay for the three of us. I took my young sister and young cousin for their first time to a picture house in Walton Vale. We had a great argument outside, should we pay 1d. for our seat and have a penny ice cream in the interval, or the 2d. seat. As the eldest I decided – 1d. entrance and 1d. ice cream. The ice cream won! But if we had been nearer the front we would have been behind the screen!!!

I have only been once to the Plaza, about 2/3 years ago and before that to see the film of Winston Churchill’s funeral.”

Miss Betty Leitch

Going to the Pictures is a Heritage Lottery funded oral history project looking at cinema going in the areas of Waterloo, Crosby, Seaforth, Litherland and Bootle near Liverpool Merseyside.

Delivered by the Plaza Community Cinema, the only surviving old style cinema in the area, the project has captured and recorded memories of Going to the Pictures from the 1930′s to the 1960′s.

Working in the community, fond memories of cinemas golden age have been digitally recorded in order to preserve part of our local cinema heritage. The oral history recordings are stored within the North West Sound Archive.

The project has focused on 21 Picture Houses which played a part in community life with origins dating back over 100 years.

Through the project we have achieved several outputs including the Creation and development of content for the Going to the Pictures Website.

Cinema Heritage Trail map - made in conjunction with Crosby High School the map depicts the sites of the old cinemas in the area incorporated into a modern collage art work.

The Going to the Pictures Film- made with film maker Christina Condron and project volunteers including Sean Reynolds, Bill Morris, Johnathon Lines, Jordan Plant and Beth Greenaway using a collection of filmed cinema memories providing first hand experiences of Going to the Pictures, the premiere screening was shown at the Plaza Community Cinema at the Going to the Pictures Showcase event in March 2013.

Going to the Pictures Documentary – The documentary made by film makers Tim Brunsden and Fred Bidulff, tells the story of the project filmed over the lifespan of the project, tracing the development and progress of the Going to the Pictures Project. The documentary was screened at The Plaza Community Cinema at the project showcase event and can be viewed within this website.

Almost 50 interviews of Cinema Memories deposited within The North West Sound Archive to be preserved for future generations

Written and video memories of the Going to the Pictures Project and local Cinema Heritage placed within Sefton Records Office – including documents, memorabillia and dvd recordings of cinema memories

The Going to the Pictures Project has engaged with a number of groups, organisations and individuals within the the community and would like to offer sincere thanks for their contribution and to all who have shared cinema memories. And of course a big Thank You to The Heritage Lottery Fund for enabling this project to take place.