cinema history; a local history day in Walthamstow

Everyone welcome at a meeting of Leyton & Leytonstone Historical Society on Wednesday (11th March), 7.30pm at Leyton Sixth Form College 'From Magic Lantern to Multiplex'. Our speaker Richard Gray will take us from the Victorian forerunners of film, through the invention of the ‘movie’, to the first purpose-built cinemas. He will describe the great heyday of cinema construction between the two world wars (the 'movie palace' era), post-war decline due to TV competition, and finally the rise of today's multiplex. He will point to examples in Leyton, Leytonstone and surrounding districts. Richard Gray has lectured on this subject from India to the United States. He is a former English Heritage Inspector of Historic Buildings, the author of 'Cinemas in Britain: 100 Years of Cinema Architecture', and is Chair of Casework at the Cinema Theatre Association. (We ask non-members to contribute £ 1.50 towards the cost of meetings.)

Our local history survives in documents and photos and by far the largest and most important collection is at Vestry House Museum. It is absolutely essential that the Council continues to recognise the huge importance of these archives. One of the ways to reinforce this is for local
history societies to have a strong relationship with the Borough's Museum and Gallery Service. We are working together on a Local History Day on Saturday 16th May at the Vestry House Museum. The staff there will be hard at work providing family activities and tours of the Local
Studies Room on top of their normal responsibilities. Volunteers will lead walks around Walthamstow Village and have stalls of publications etc. People are invited to bring an old photo or object for comment by a local expert. The oral historian and broadcaster Alan Dein will talk about the closure of Walthamstow dogtrack. We aim to make it an enjoyable event.

http://www.leytonhistorysociety.org.uk/