Author: grahamrsherwood

The Regent Cinema

~ grahamrsherwood ~ 1 Comment

(What’s on at Watts’)

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The building that was to eventually become the Regent Cinema (originally named The Regent Palace Cinema) situated unsurprisingly along Regent Street in Finedon, began its life in 1822 as the town’s first Methodist Chapel, preceding the inauguration of a new Chapel building in 1904, which was to be located at the junction of Summerlee Road and Wellingborough Road.

It became the Regent Palace Cinema in 1926; Alfred Watts was the proprietor, who had previously run the ‘Star Cinema’ in the nearby Star Hall situated on Laws Lane, that itself had been initially established by George Robinson in 1920. The original Star Hall which had opened on 29th April 1898 began life as a Men’s Temperance Institute, offering tea and dancing. Initially, the cinema was only allowed to open on certain nights of the week. 

The Star Cinema was taken over from Richard George Robinson in 1923 by the Irthlingborough Theatre Syndicate, Alfred Watts was one of the three partners in the syndicate, the other two being Alvah Allibone Drage and Fred Line. This was in the early part of 1923. Later that year in June 1923, The Electric Palace in Burton Latimer was experiencing financial difficulties and facing Bankruptcy, so Alfred Watts stepped in and took over the running of it. In 1925, Alfred Watts bought out A A Drage and F Line, thus disbanding the syndicate. It is thought that the Star Cinema closed in March 1926 and the Regent Palace opened on 25th October 1926. In 1929, Alfred made his son Geoffrey manager of the Electric Palace.

 

Upon Alfred Watts’s death in 1938 his son Geoffrey Watts took over the whole cinema business (including The Regent), with his sisters Marjorie and Doris taking an active part, each becoming managers of their respective cinemas locally. The Watts family owned all three cinemas, in Finedon (The Regent) in Burton Latimer (The Electric Palace) and Irthlingborough (The Picture Palace). Irthlingborough had the largest capacity with 490 seats, with Burton Latimer 450 and Finedon with only 300 seats being the smallest. The slogan that quickly became synonymous with the Regent was “What’s on at Watts’ Cinema”. Grandson Tom Watts can remember that in those early days, in the 1950s, the company owned a dark blue Ford Popular van with that slogan sign-written on the side as advertising.

Conveniently, and more so economically, films would be shown at all three cinemas during a weekly rotating schedule.The programme screened in Finedon on Monday and Tuesday evenings, would then go to Burton Latimer for Wednesday and Thursday and finally end the week at Irthlingborough for Friday and Saturday. In this way the local audiences enjoyed a varied programme each and every week and would have been able to travel to neighbouring cinemas if more socially convenient and in order not to miss anything. The Finedon Regent also enjoyed an extra showing as it was the only one in the group that was allowed to show films on a Sunday.

When the Regent Cinema first opened the prices of admission were 3d, 6d, 9d, 1/- and 1/3d. Children were admitted for half price when accompanied by an adult. The seats in the first three rows at the front were quite basic wooden forms, whereas the 1/- seats were green leather and the 1/3d an altogether plusher red leather. Tickets for these uncomfortable wooden seats were 3d in old money (the equivalent of less than 2p today). However, a typical, much-worked ploy, often used if children could not afford to pay, would be to club together what little money they had within a group of their friends, sending two people into the cinema, who paid, who would then open a back door by the toilets to let the rest of the gang in for free!

What was not realised at that time by the public and more importantly the children, was that there was an “Entertainment Tax” on each ticket sold and if caught by the Inland Revenue the penalty would a fine of £5.00 for the customer and a fine of £50.00 for the cinema proprietor who had allowed them to enter without paying. This tax was initially only a temporary tax, first levied in 1916 to help with the WW1 war effort. Unfortunately, it lasted until 1960 and was one of the prime factors responsible for the eventual decline of the cinema industry.

Geoffrey Watts’s son Tom, recalls the sad demise of the Regent Cinema on the last night’s showing in December 1960. He remembers, 

‘I was at Finedon in the projection room at the end, shutting down the arc-lamp and turning off the projector for the very last time, then removing the film from the projector and putting it in the can’.

‘I remember taking it down to the Foyer and waiting there for my Father to come from the Burton Latimer Cinema with that film. Marjorie, my Aunt, then brought the film from Irthlingborough and we all waited for the Film Transport vehicle to arrive, which we had done every Saturday night for as long as I could remember. We loaded the films on the lorry but this time there were no new films to unload for the following week. This was truly THE END of an era’.

In a subtle twist of fate, some of the redundant seats from The Regent Cinema actually found their way back for use in the Star Hall, the cinema’s first home of course, and saw many year’s use for the town’s famous Pantomime and other Am-Dram productions.

There are many wonderful memories of The Regent. One such recollection is from Janet Schmelzer, an émigré to the USA, who remembers seeing future President Ronald Reagan on the silver screen in Finedon. She also recalls one of her schoolfriends’ grandmother, a Mrs Pugh working there, often needing to quieten the children down when the film projector broke down as they shouted and stomped ‘put a shilling in the meter’. Occasionally, she was also required to dash down to open the curtains, which had failed to open as the film was beginning, to similar chants of jocular abuse.

Another local cinema-goer, Martin Bailey, recalls the only time that he saw a long queue to enter The Regent was at the showing of ‘Rock around the Clock’ with Bill Hayley in 1958 and fondly remembers his favourite KP peanuts were only 2d a bag (that’s old money for our younger readers). Another local David Henderson remembers from the late 1950s, early 1960s, a member of staff named Warner who collected tickets and was the doorman and security guard who ‘scared the living daylights out of us cherubs’ back in the day. 

John Hibbert’s uncle, Reg Richardson, was the projectionist at The Regent. Owners son Tom Watts remembers that about a year before the closure of the Regent, Reg went on to work for a company named GB Kalee which both supplied and maintained cinema equipment nationally. There is a wonderful anecdote to this recounted here by Tom.

‘Reg left the Regent some time before it closed, maybe a year or so, he went to do some training in London, with Kalee, and told me how he had gone to Buckingham Palace to maintain the equipment in a private cinema for the Royal Family. This cinema was a gift to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh from the British Film Industry for their wedding in 1947’.

Sadly, Tom Watts (who aims to write a book about the three Watts’s cinemas) remembers that only at the eleventh hour before closure did anyone in the family think of recording photographically the three venues. Tom therefore had to make a swift dash around with his camera and snap a few pictures before the final curtain and the doors were bolted. Only with the benefit of hindsight did he realise that there were many more he could have taken.

Merry Christmas

~ grahamrsherwood ~ Leave a comment

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On behalf of FLHS we wish you all a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year in 2024

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With Christmas on the way soon, it seems to appropriate to once again share some of those precious Christmas memories from times gone by, before iPads, computers, electronic games et al. Enjoy these lovely reminiscences from Finedonians past.

Christmas Eve excitement: I remember when we were very little, us children were allowed to sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve and used to see how long we could stay awake for by telling each other stories or trying to guess what we might receive as presents. It seemed like ages that we were awake, as we had gone to bed early but in truth it may only have been nine or ten o’clock at the very latest. 

A chilly start: I have vivid memories of a freezing cold bedroom when we woke up on Christmas morning. Ice on the inside of the bedroom windows and being able to see one’s breath stand out quite clearly to me. We were told by our mum and dad that if we woke up too early, we had to put our dressing gowns on and get back into bed to open the presents which had been left at the foot of our beds. We didn’t need reminding not to go downstairs until the fire was lit. 

Playing chicken: Looking back, it is interesting to note that back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, chicken wasn’t the everyday meat it is today. Poultry was for Christmas, and Easter if you were lucky in our house. I remember a cockerel hanging on the back of the kitchen door for a few days before being plucked and dressed ready for the big day and then being kept in the outhouse (old coal bunker as was) until it was time to cook it. We didn’t have a fridge in those days. One other thing I recall was being given the chicken’s feet to play with by pulling its severed tendons to make the claws flex in a grabbing motion. My sisters weren’t very keen on that! 

Happy families: As for what Christmas presents I received, children today would be very disappointed. I was a child during the war. My mum always tried to get me a new dress. My stocking contained a jigsaw, a book, an apple and some nuts. My grandma gave me a shilling. As I got older we always went to Midnight Mass which was a beautiful service. Afterwards home to a drink and a mince pie. On Christmas day my Grandad, Uncle and Aunt always joined us for the day. During the day Finedon Old Prize Band went around the village playing carols visiting all the pubs on the way. One year my dad arrived home with a friend who was slightly worse for wear. Mum took one look at him, put him on the settee with a bucket by his side. Boxing day was a more relaxed day with the older members of the family going down the Cons Club where my Uncle played songs on the piano and my Grandad pĺayed the squeeze box, then, home for a cold lunch. I could go on but I think I’ve said enough but happy memories of Finedon many years ago. S.C. 

New pyjamas and Sinbad: I remember my childhood Christmases. We had a pillowcase which we would lay at the bottom of our beds and we always left a biscuit for Santa. On Christmas Eve we would have a bath and put on our new pyjamas and watch Sinbad the Sailor on telly. I would be so excited getting off to sleep and when morning came I would run down stairs into the best room (we were only allowed in there at Christmas time). I remember having a Cinderella watch on a plastic high-heel, some games like ludo etc, books, a tin of paints and a cowgirl outfit. On top of my presents were an apple and an orange, later in the day we had dinner with Christmas pudding with a sixpence in it. In the afternoon we would watch telly if I remember right it was usually the circus on TV. S.W. 

Christmas tipple: My best present was when we lived on the High Street. Mum made me a hat shop out of a cardboard box. There were two little dolls and she had made a bunch of tiny hats on stands. I also remember that I went around to the neighbours and they let me have this drink, it was really good. They thought it was funny when I went home a little tipsy. I remember my parent were not amused. B.M. 

Cycle Calamity: One Xmas, I particularly remember I had a Wendy bike as a present . It was hidden in our house a few weeks before Xmas but my brother Chris told me where it was and he got it out for me. We went to the top of Rock Rd and he assured me he wouldn’t let go of the back of the saddle but I looked round to see if he was still there and crashed into Hollyoaks van parked half way down, smashing the front forks and wheel, so we put it back in its hiding place. It wasn’t much of a present on Christmas Day. C.H. 

Concerts and Carols: Christmas concerts at the Infants School with the large tree in the hall, and carol singers singing outside the house in the dark sounded quite nice. We always had good Christmases, we had lovely presents too and a lovely dinner and could stay up a bit later. D.W. 

White Christmas: I’m sure looking back that there weren’t many Christmases when it snowed on Christmas Day or the snow had already fallen before then. I do remember one year though, possibly 1959, when I had a new bike and couldn’t go out on it because the weather was so bad. When I did finally get to have a ride on it, I cleaned it really well afterwards. About the only time I did though. A.S. 

I only remember two white Christmasses in seventy-one years. J.S.

There have only been four white Christmasses in 104 years. K.B. 

Christmas Shopping Trip: One of my most vivid memories of Christmas was going to Northampton on the bus for Christmas shopping. It must have been very close to Christmas Eve as my dad always came with us, so he must have already finished work, unless it fell on a Saturday. Us kids were always very excited and couldn’t wait for the bus to get to Abington Square where we got off so we could into Poole’s Toy Shop. It seemed massive to us small kids and there was nothing like it in Finedon. I seem to remember there was always a very large toy train layout going around the shop. It was fantastic! After that we would go shopping down the Co-op Arcade on Abington Street and go to see Father Christmas. How our mum and dad managed to buy things without us seeing them must have been really hard work, but they did. Dinner was always a slap-up meal of fish, chips and peas in the BHS Cafeteria, a very big treat. I also remember having to queue up for what seemed ages (to us children) in the old Derngate bus station for the bus home. If we could only get an upstairs seat it very quickly got very warm and smoky due to the cigarette smokers and I remember not being able to see out of the windows because of the condensation. That meant we kids quickly fell asleep and got woken up as the bus pulled up outside Bonham’s shop on Irthlingborough Rd. Lovely memories. R.M 

New lights for Christmas!: My father was a foreigner and we didn’t have much in the way of relations so Christmas was literally a close family affair. Compared to today, when decorations seem to go up earlier and earlier, in our house the Christmas tree only went up on Christmas Eve! (it must have been a foreign thing). It stood in the garden all year round and was potted up a week or so beforehand. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we all decorated the tree and it is hard to believe but lit the tree with small candles. Imagine the delight on our faces the year my dad managed to get some second-hand electric lights (there were only about twelve of them, all coloured) which were about three inches long. We didn’t care one bit, it meant that we could leave them on for much longer, and be much safer than the usual candles. Happy days. A.M. 

A memorable aroma: Although I have never been a smoker, my father and my mother both smoked during my childhood. Looking back, I always feel sad and quite guilty that at Christmas I would receive a nice stack of presents, while my dad appeared quite content with a couple of handkerchiefs, a pair of socks or a new scarf and of course the usual twenty Woodbines. One of my most distinctive Christmas memories immediately returns when I smell cigar smoke. My uncle would always give my dad a cigar in an aluminium tube each Christmas and it would be the only time that my dad smoked a cigar. After Christmas, the empty aluminium tubes were used for fishing floats and as a child I can still remember sniffing the aroma of cigars whilst perched on the riverbank, tackling up with my father. B.W 

Who shot Santa!!: I’m in my eighties now and just after the Second World War, as were many others, we were a very poor family, money was very tight and at Christmas we usually just had a shiny new penny, a tangerine, a few nuts and a handmade toy. One Christmas Eve, us kids were misbehaving so badly, possibly because of being over-excited, my father took a brown paper bag outside, blew it up and smashed it making a terrifying bang! We all suddenly became very quiet, and he returned to tell us that Father Christmas had shot himself and that there would be no presents”. J.S 

An unwanted surprise: My older sister and me shared a bedroom and being older than me knew that Father Christmas wasn’t really real. One year she kept me awake until our parents had gone to bed and then told me to creep downstairs because Santa had already been. I dutifully crept quietly down to the living room where a small stack of presents stood close to the fireplace ready and waiting. They were all labelled for her and my reaction was to run back to bed sobbing myself to sleep. Thankfully, the following morning my faith was restored with a totally different pile of presents just for me. I still like surprises, but that childhood memory taught me once and for all that you shouldn’t cheat. M.W.

Memorable present: One of the favourite Christmas presents that I can remember was a boxed driving game called “Driving Test”. This consisted of a joystick-type controller that moved an invisible magnet within the box that in turn guided a tiny plastic car around a painted cardboard road layout. This kept me amused for ages as I gingerly edged the car around corners and around various plastic obstacles. Compared to today’s advanced computer games this would seem to be from the stone-age, and yet it captivated me. G.N. 

Seasonal produce: Does anybody remember pomegranates? They were a real treat that stick in my memory. Me and my sister shared a half each and sat with a darning needle, painstakingly poking out each individual juicy segment. It seemed to take ages and I think the discarded, half-eaten pieces eventually went black as they dried out before we could finish the job. C.M. 

Painting the ceiling twice: It was a thing in our house that mum always wanted the front room decorated leading up to Christmas, so it was tidy in case we had visitors. Christmas was one of the only times in the year that the parlour, as we used to call it, was used. One year, I would have been about six or seven, my father gave the ceiling a new lick of white emulsion after much nagging from my mother. 

This particular year I’d received a fantastic boxed set of six “Airfix” aeroplanes that needed to be constructed and decorated. These models, among them a Gloucester Gladiator and a Sopwith Camel came complete with stickers and small tubes of paint to complete them to a realistic finish. I was impatient to get them completed but my dad had sternly warned me not to mess about with the small rubber tubes of paint that required their ends to be pierced with a needle in order to access the paint. I am sure that you can guess the rest. While I held the small tube of black paint in one hand I didn’t realise I was squeezing the tube whilst trying to prick the sealed end.
My ears still tingle at the thought of this, a major incident at the time. However, the large blot of black metallic paint that squirted from the tube stayed in pride of place on the front room ceiling until the following July, when my mother once more nagged my dad to touch up the rather obvious stain on the ceiling, before the anticipated reception of visitors for the Finedon Parade Day. J.R. 

Christmas Cards?: Boxing day was one of the few times that we had visitors, or else we were invited out instead. We didn’t have a car, so getting anywhere was quite difficult as the buses were few and far between but I remember once getting a lift to Irthlingborough in my uncle’s lorry. After a traditional afternoon tea, the early evening was spent playing the card game “Newmarket” for money. The stakes weren’t massive 1/2d on a card and 1/2d in the kitty but to my youthful eyes the amount of cash looked a lot but I can’t remember ever being the lucky winner who scooped the jackpot. 

Second-hand recycling: I can’t imagine kids today being happy to receive second-hand toys for Christmas but some of mine were. I can remember my first electric train that my parents bought from our next-door neighbour whose son had outgrown it. One of the best presents ever that train. I wish I still had it. B.D 

Christmas Construction: I still have my original Bayko building set. It’s in a wooden box that dad made to hold all the different pieces. I do have the original instruction book (well used). S.E. 

Cheesy surprise: “My dad did some gardening for some well-to-do people who lived in a big house with a big garden. One year, just after Christmas, I can remember him coming home with a crust of a big blue stilton cheese that had been hollowed out but still had quite a bit of cheese left in it. My mum used it to melt on baked potatoes or make stilton and vegetable soup. It was lovely while it lasted. A.H 

A posh box!: For a few years around the early 1960’s a Christmas hamper, in just a plain cardboard box, would arrive prior to Christmas, filled with tins and packets of the most unusual food that didn’t normally eat in our weekly shopping. I remember things like pressed Ox tongues, Scottish shortbread, a tin of salmon and an exotic pate, which would remain in the cupboard for weeks until they were eventually tried and more often than not sent to a bring-and-buy sale. My mum and dad weren’t big drinkers but the hamper always included a bottle of sweet Sauternes, which they would insist on opening and serving with the turkey and trimmings instead of with the Christmas pudding. As they say, ignorance is bliss! J.R. 

Burnt Bear: I remember my little brother sitting on my mum’s lap near the fireside holding a new teddy bear that he’d had for Christmas. In a flash the bear was on the open fire and by the time my mum had put him out of the way to rescue the bear both its paws were badly burned. For the rest of its life it had a couple of hessian type material patches on wither paw. D.S 

Lighting-up time: Does anyone remember when the Christmas Tree lights used to be quite a bit bigger than they are now and much more trouble to get to light up. For a start, it didn’t matter how carefully they had been put away the previous year, they were always a bird’s nest of a tangle when you came to put them up. Then if they didn’t work first time, dad had to tighten every one up to see which one was stopping all the others from working and where the fused one was so he could replace it. Happy days! 

A Christmas collaboration: The first Christmas I can really remember was 1944. I was seven years old, and presumably things were very scarce, especially toys. I was given a box to keep my sewing things in. It was entirely home-made. The box was made by Mr Cooper who lived down Church Street. The legs of the box were made of two cotton reels sawn in half. My mother made a padded lining for the box with some green satin. The box was painted green and (wonder of wonders) on the top there was a painting of a lady in a crinoline dress, standing in a garden of flowers. This was painted by Dave Keillor who lived in the same row as us in the High Street. He was newly married and made friends with all the row. I loved that box and indeed I still have it. Unfortunately, I grew out of crinoline ladies and I painted the box black. I still keep my sewing things in it and to me it is a true testament to people who were in strange times (like now) pulling together and doing their best. R.P. 

Under the weather: I had mumps at Christmas. I was really poorly. I remember lying on the settee on Christmas Day but all I remember of the day was having a tube of chocolate sweets which ended up melting inside the tube because I’d left it inside my makeshift bed. I do still have my teddy bear and I do remember it being snowy one Christmas time. J.F. 

Christmas heirlooms 

The last surviving bauble from over 70 years ago. 

We also had nursery rhyme lights on the tree and every year it was a search for the one that was not working as one out all out. 

Wish I had some photos of Christmas when I was a child they were so magical and the excitement of a Capon for dinner and finding a sixpence in the pudding. A.F. 

I still have my Teddy. Had him for Christmas when I was about four. J.E.

I still have my first Christmas lights shades. They have nursery rhymes on them. V.B.E and J.E. 

I still have a manicure set my Mum bought me when I was thirteen for Christmas. I am now eighty-one years old! W.T. 

A girl’s best friend: The dolls were called Pedigree walking dolls? I remember having one I called Susan, and I combed her hair that much, she was nearly bald, and Aunty Beatty bought a wig for her! I also remember us having dolls we could feed with a bottle. Here’s a photo of me with Susan (when she still had hair!) J.S and C.J.