Cherry Rogers recalls going to The Avenue cinema …
“The Avenue Cinema, was the main entertainment for most people in Brandon when I was growing up. There were of course dances and socials, and church fetes which were all popular. People went out and had fun, no entertainment was brought to the home apart from radio in our early years. Television was later and we had one channel with restricted hours. You could always watch the test card if you were hooked! The first sets had about 9” screens.
The Cinema had a change of programme three times a week and a special programme on Sundays. It was well sprayed with disinfectant by Jack Coote before every performance and was ruled by him with a rod of iron. He always dressed for the part bow tie etc. At the interval everyone used to tear across the road at breakneck speed to Ronnie Mackender’s shop. Cinema-friendly snacks were bought – crisps with paper that made one hell of a row, monkey nuts (we always called them monkey nuts) in shells so they would crunch underfoot and bags of cherries with pips that could be spit like missiles if the film was boring. As a child I always went to the cinema on a Saturday afternoon. I think it was sixpence and my Nana gave me the money to get rid of me for the afternoon. I had my dinner at hers (called dinner then, it was the main meal, lunch was not a word in their vocabulary) and after dinner I went out of the house like a rocket. I had to get to the cinema early to swing round the railings outside and had to be among the first in. There was always a cowboy, “Jesse James Rides Again” was one I remember, a cartoon and a main film.
The kids were given a free show once a year and the information went round like wildfire, free pictures, on Saturday. I reckon every kid from Brandon, Weeting and Tip turned up. It was mayhem, with kids flying about along the Avenue in both directions. We were given a free ice cream or lolly and war was waged with them. Cowboys against Indians was one of them. Ice creams were hurled in the air and bits stuck to the screen. I am sure we were not intentionally naughty, but we were all so excited.
Poor white-haired old Mr Knight was an usher and had no control whatsoever. He seemed old to us but perhaps he wasn’t more than sixty. Mrs Brown was the usherette and she was lovely but a little dodgy on her feet. Between them they had no chance. The appearance of Jack Coote for one second, commanded complete silence and you could have heard a pin drop, until he walked away and then the noise was deafening.
Just as an afterthought. I do remember it was not unusual for the film to be stopped two or three times, so that some kind of order could be regained. The walk home with all those kids was an experience not to be missed.