Cinema at the Village Hall

There has been a growth in recent times of travelling cinemas – at least I have become more aware of them. It’s tempting to think of this as a new idea, because until the 1960s, there were cinemas all over the place and not much need for the mobile variety. Every decent sized town or even village had one. However, we turned them into bingo halls and Presto or Gateway supermarkets as people turned away from big screens in favour of the small ones in the corner of their living rooms. These days, we seem to be falling back in love with going to a public place to be part of a bigger audience than the one that we can fit round our tellies. A happy consequence of this is that village halls are now being used as temporary picture palaces.

I can confirm that this concept is not new though, after reading the Winter 1951 edition of “The Countryman” journal. I was very pleased to read the opening line of the first article within the green paper covers:

“Our cinema is the village hall.”

How they advertise their village hall cinema at Hambledon in Surrey hambledonsurrey.co.uk

The piece concerns the travelling screen that went about the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is a first hand account from a member of the audience of how the village looked forward to the event, and made their way to the hall to sit among an audience of friends and relatives – how wonderful to think that everyone watching the film knew each other so well. Because of this, the film didn’t start until everyone was there and had been properly greeted. The Postmaster was in charge of the whole operation, and the projector wasn’t turned on until he had solicitously called out “Are ye ready?”

The seats were not the velour tip up types, but benches, which leads to this fun portrait of a member of the audience:

“…there is an ominous creak: Bessie is now seated on the bench in front of us. She is a dear soul whom we are proud to know, but these benches were gifted from the school only when considered unfit for bairns, and Bessie weights fifteen stone…”

I also wanted to know more about the old lady who enjoyed a scene so much that she had to be led out into the fresh air to recover.

And the verdict on the showing of “Whisky Galore” – a film of great interest to the Highlanders?

“A lot of damned nonsense, but good clean fun.”

Do you like the 1945 film "I Know Where I'm Going?" - I wrote a book of short stories about a fictional original audience. Find it here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XY45DWD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i13

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