A trip to the cinema became a cherished treat. The thrill of the lights dimming, the swish of the curtains parting and the beam, emanating from the gods, filling the screen. The audience suddenly silent in anticipation of the entertainment to come in a format that never changed. Trailers for the coming films; a supporting short film; Pathe News; the feature film and finally everyone standing for the National Anthem.

It wasn't always like that for me. My very first visit to see Walt Disney's full-length animated classic "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at the Town Hall in Wellington (Shropshire) became my last for many months. I got so upset, my mother had to take me home before the film ended. To me it was so frighteningly real that for several nights after I couldn't sleep. I have never watched another full-length animated film since.

I eventually did get over it and became an avid film fan. In Wellington, where we were then living, there were three cinemas - The Town Hall, The Clifton and The Grand - but it was The Clifton that became the place to be on a Saturday morning.

It had a juniors' Clifton Club and for sixpence (2.5p) you were provided with two hours of 'suitable' films. There were the super heroes, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Superman and Batman; the cartoons, Donald Duck, Micky Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck; the comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Abbot & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Jewell & Warris; Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 'Road to' films; and my favourites, the westerns - Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Tex Ritter, Tom Mix.

We cheered and clapped the goodies, booed the baddies. Most were in serial form with cliff hanging finales so that only a national disaster would make you miss the following Saturday. What memories they recall. The best 'sixpennorth' of entertainment you could buy. Even after I moved to Devon I always received a birthday card and various film paraphanalia from the Clifton Club.

The Plaza and other cinemas

When we moved onto The Camp at Millwey Rise the Plaza (now Axminster Guildhall) became our cinema, especially the Saturday matinee beginning at 2-15pm, the first of the day's three consecutive performances (sometimes by devious means I even watched a second showing at 5pm).

The afternoon session was very popular with youngsters and families. If I remember correctly the entrance fee for children in the front stalls was normally ninepence (4p) but reduced to sixpence for Saturday's matinee. I never did get into the more expensive balcony seats until my teens, normally to impress and get to know the young lady who accompanied me, but always wary of the usherette's torch beam sweeping the rows.

Programmes were available listing films for the coming month which left you in high anticipation of the treats on offer. The only threat to our enjoyment was the censor's certificate. If a film was certified U we were OK. If it was given an A we had to be accompanied by an adult and X was adults only. Luckily U was the most common category, although looking at the programme for April1959 there were 10 Us, four As and one X'' (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof). We could usually get into an A film by closely following an adult and saying we were with them, but an X certificate was a complete no-go.

From the The Camp to The Plaza was around a mile which for us was no distance at all to walk, except after a late performance on a dark winter's night. Once we had passed the hospital, and unless the Moon was shining, there was little illumination on our walk home. My imagination would then conjure up all sorts of fantasies especially when passing the menacing edifice of Hilary House or the cemetery wall beside Chard Road.

A truly wonderful sight

The unpolluted night skies of that time made for some brilliant star-gazing and once, for the one and only time in my life, I saw, what I later found out to be the Northern Lights dancing in the skies over Cloakham woods. They were truly a wonderful sight but a little frightening because I was totally ignorant of what they were. I'm certain I began thinking it was an invasion of extra-terrestrials.

After my father purchased our first car (an Austin 7 and another story) we broadened our viewing experience taking in The Regal at Seaton, The Regent in Lyme Regis and The Cerdic or The Regent in Chard. It gave us the opportunity to see the latest big screen releases that may have by-passed The Plaza.

Four films of totally different genres stand out in my memory from these years - 'Rock Around The Clock' with Bill Haley and his Comets, 'Sands Of Iwo Jima with my hero John Wayne; 'Bridge On The River Kwai' with Alec Guiness; and 'Calamity Jane' with Doris Day, the woman of my boyhood fantasies.

When I was at Colyton Grammar School I remember we were taken to The Plaza for a local schools' showing of the epic adaptation of Shakespeare's play. 'Julius Ceaser' with Marlon Brando, James Mason et al. When we returned to school we had to write our thoughts on the film and the actors portrayal of their characters. On another occasion we were bused in to see a film of the Queen's Coronation in 1953.

Occasionally a mobile film show visited The Camp. A van would arrive, normally unannounced, its rear doors opened exposing the screen. A loud-speaker notified everyone it was about to begin and we would gather round the back of the van to watch. The subjects would normally be public service announcements or information films usually with cartoons and occasionally a short film. Its main attraction? It was free.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, it is now so easy to sit in the comfort of my home and watch the latest films and events unfolding before me though I doubt they will ever generate the same excitement I experienced sat in the front row of The Clifton on a Saturday morning.