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.

The project has been very fortunate in having several people who have come forward with items or collections of cinema memorabilia. Volunteers through the project have helped to scan and digitize materials and a selection of which can be found through this website.

We would like to thank the following for their contributions:

Bill Morris – Bill has a large collection of cinema related memorabilia including original cinema programs, magazines and posters. He developed his love of cinema and began collecting from an early age, he has been involved in the project from the beginning and kindly brought along his collection to display at the project launch event and has digitally scanned images from his collection and uploaded them to the project website.

Joe Humphries – Joe is a huge film fan and has a specific interest in Hollywood legend James Dean and has written a book about his life. He has a large collection of candid photographs, rare magazines and programs which he also kindly displayed for the project launch event. These collections helped to prompt memories and led to topics of conversation among the guests

Steve Ellison is a film and cinema historian, he has been involved in the project from the early days and has provided much background information and pieces of cinema memorabilia. For the project launch event he kindly loaned us some of his collection of serials from the children’s matinees of the 1930′s to the 1960′s. The original batman was a great hit and had the audience cheering and booing just like when they watched as children.

Keith Rose has an interest in Liverpool cinemas and buildings and has been researching and developing an archive of cinema images for several years. He is currently writing a book on the topic and has allowed the use of some of his archive photographs and memorabilia for the project.

Mary Cross – had kept an original program from 1947 when the Plaza Cinema held a Starlight parade midnight matinee. She has strong memories of attending the event and remembers loaning her aunts fur stole for the glamorous occasion.

Barbara Smith – Barbara had a copy of Photoplay and has provided information and photographs for the project. She was also brave enough to sing the children’s cinema song all the way through on camera for us and provided us with the words.

James Walsh – As a boy James was a monitor in the Gainsborough Cinema for the ABC Minors Children’s Cinema Matinees. He continued going to the pictures as he got older and had kept an original film listing program from the Gainsborough Cinema from 1956 which he allowed us to scan for the project

We have also been fortunate to have several people donate photographs to the project and would like to thank all who have contributed

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.