My grandmother, Violet Bowden, worked as a usherette at the Orion. I used to love the Saturday afternoon matinee shows that gave sweets as prizes. Towards the end of the cinemas time my friend Robert Constable and I were watching a film when the manager asked us if we would mind coming back another day as we were the only customers and he wanted to close!!

This is the view I remember as I went up to bed when I stayed at my grandparents' house as a child. There was a window on the turn of the stairs that overlooked South Pond. At night the street lamp outside the white house on the right, then an antiques shop, threw a silvery light over it which was reflected in the (...Read full memory)