Saturday Morning Pictures

A Memory of North Cheam.

I lived in Caversham Avenue in the 1960's near Janet, Heather, Pauline and Lorraine. I used to go to Cheam Park Farm Infants School and also Cheam Park Farm Juniors. Each Saturday morning my sister Frances and I would walk up to the Granada cinema via the sweet shop in London Road. We would get about sixpence worth of penny chews and then we would go to the Saturday Morning Pictures. It cost sixpence to get in. All the children had to settle down for the National Anthem to begin with. And if there wasn't any silence - the films wouldn't begin. If we all made too much noise, the manager would come out and tell us all off. Then you had to all sing the "Granadiers" theme song. If you didn't join in, the films wouldn't start. Each week we had an episode from a serial, (I remember Captain Marvel) then a cartoon followed by the main feature. On your birthday the Granadiers' would give you a free ticket and a bag of sweets with some novelties too. Once I won a raffle prize at the pictures - but I was sick with excitement. You had to go up to the stage to collect your prize. And my legs were like jelly. I remember that there was a sweet shop attached to the cinema called "Miss Candy's". If you peered inside, on tip toes, through the pink and white striped shop front, you could see 'Miss Candy' serving - she always seemed so glamorous. But we never went into the shop because it was 'too expensive' for little kids like us!