Sunderland's Saturday morning cinema clubs. Over to you for memories

The town had three of them back in the day and they were the Gaumont, Odeon and ABC.

Philip Curtis, from Sunderland Antiquarian Society, takes us back for a day at the pictures.

There were more than a thousand children’s cinema clubs across Britain in the 1950s and they all put on matinees.

A greetings card on your birthday

Sunderland’s clubs were specifically for children although parents would be permitted if they requested.

You could get free membership at the Gaumont if you were aged five to 15 and it came with a membership card and a badge - once you had filled in the forms, of course.

The ABC club cost three pence but you did get a greetings card on your birthday as well as free entry to one performance, and you could bring a friend along.

The clubs were run by cinema managers with a committee of children to assist.

Their duties included distributing cards and badges, and sending out birthday cards. And during the performances, they would patrol the cinema and supervise the younger children.

Seeing the children safely over the road

Many clubs also had older members who acted as Road Safety Guides which meant they would see the younger children safely across the busy streets after a show.

The Gaumont committee members would wear an armband with CCC Committee on it while those at the ABC used a larger club badge with ‘Monitor’ on it.

Many of the clubs would have extra activities for their members such as football and netball teams, penpal schemes, and road safety and first aid training.

They would have competitions and do charity work and members of the Gaumont would also collect silver paper for the Guide Dogs fund.

The Saturday morning meetings began at 9am at the Gaumont and 9.30am at the ABC with community singing held first.

‘We love to laugh and have our singsong just a happy band are we’

It meant any latecomers could get into their seats before the first film was shown.

As to those songs, the ABC Minors song was;

We are the boys and girls well known as Minors of the ABC,

And every Saturday all line up to see the films we like and shout with glee,

We love to laugh and have our singsong just a happy band are we,

We’re all good pals together, we’re members of the ABC.

Then there was the Gaumont song which went;

We come along on Saturday morning, greeting everybody with a smile,

We come along on Saturday morning, knowing it’s well worthwhile,

As members of the Gaumont Club, we all intend to be.

Good citizens when we grow up and champions of the free.

We come along on Saturday morning, greeting everybody with a smile, smile, smile,

Greeting everybody with a smile.

After the singsong, there would be a cartoon which lasted five or ten minutes before the manager came on stage to make announcements.

Ice cream and lollies

The main part of the programme then followed, with an ‘interest’ film followed by a short break for ice cream and lollies.

Then came the serial which was usually a Western or a Science Fiction adventure.

And then came the main film and the whole experience would normally last for about two hours.

Tell us if you were a member of the Saturday morning club and what you remember most about it.

Email [email protected]

Find out more

Our thanks go to Philip for the article which is included in the latest Sunderland Antiquarian Society newsletter, send out to all members.

You can find out more about the Antiquarian Society by getting along to its Heritage Centre which is open in Douro Terrace on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12pm.

You can also visit the Antiquarian Society’s Facebook page or its website which is at http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org

And to become a member, email [email protected]