Considering I lived in my home town of Wolverhampton for the first 18 or 19 years of my life, I don’t have many memories of this sprawling and busy town, a town which in 2000 would achieve City status. As a youngster I was often taken to the East Park, as we lived just a three minute walk away. First as a child in the playground and better still its fairly large outdoor paddling pool, which I really enjoyed (I understand that this is now drained and very rarely used due to vandels smashing bottles and the broken glass causing painful injuries to the feet of the unsuspecting bathers), and as I grew up and entered into my early teens I discovered the mini golf. The Town had a second larger recriational area, the West Park, which housed a Victorian style conservatory and had an extensive boating lake, a lake where my mom would occasionally let me fish with a net in the hope of catching a few Sticklebacks and if I was very lucky one with a red colouration which we used to call ‘Red Butchers’. I only ever made one trip to Molineux Stadium, the home of the Wolverhampton Wonderers and that was only under some pressure from my father, I was not impressed at all…. neither was my dad who vowed never to take me again, due to my lack of interest. I was a keen train spotter for many years and Wolverhampton had two stations The high level (The London Midland Railway), and the Low level (The Great Western Railway), so it was a challenge dashing from one to the other to catch the numbers. As a youngster I often visited the Heath Town Baths for a swim, it was a large Victorian building that was always very busy. Heath Town did not have a very good reputation (still doesn’t I’m told), but it was within walking distance. The place has changed a great deal and I’m not sure if it’s still standing. The Royal Hospital was only a short distance from my secondary school, and it was here that my mother had been for some time following serious surgery. One of my teachers at St Joseph’s told us not to believe all we read and pointed out that the words above the entrance to the Royal were untrue! They read “Supported by Public Donations” and it was quite obvious that the entrance was supported by four vast pillars! The teachers name was Mr. Critchlow and it turned out that he had been in the same class as my mother when he was a youngster and remembered her well…small world.
When my passion for films was kindled by my various Monster Magazines, I for the first time, took notice of the cinemas that the town had to offer. I only knew of four. The ABC, The Clifton, The Odeon and finally the Gaumont which was a big cinema, and as far as I recall the first cinema I remember visiting… a trip to see ‘The Song of Bernadette’ with the rest of the class from my junior Catholic school. There had been at least ten more, but by the time I began my regular visits they had all closed their doors, some were still standing, but most had been demolished. I will give you a peek at these cinemas over the next few posts which I hope will give you a better and more comprehensive understanding of these haunts. As I grew more adventureous I would venture to various cinemas located outside the centre of the town, like the Penn Cinema, or travel to nearby Walsall, Willenhall, Dudley and Birmingham.
Leave a Reply