Ged Jones
-
Clubs – Part 2
—
by
Read more: Clubs – Part 2In post #29 of this series I talked about Derann’s regular involment, enjoyment, not to mention profitable, time we had from putting on film shows at numerous working men’s clubs in the West Midlands. We had as many as three teams working up to four or even five nights a week, with two workers in…
-
Staff
—
by
Read more: StaffIn 1975, our premises were at 171 Stourbridge Road, Holly Hall, just a hundred yards from our first shop (at 169), and only a few minutes from the much larger building (an old car showroom, that at various times in its life had been a chapel and a butchers, complete with its own slaughter house),…
-
Mountain – Part 2
—
by
Read more: Mountain – Part 2If you thought that my ‘Mountain’ post ended abruptly that’s because when I’d finished typing, it was so long I decided to cut it in half… so here’s that second part. Peter and Aubrey were like chalk and cheese…. Peter was generally very talkative and would have a constant stream of information concerning new releases…
-
Mountain
—
by
Read more: MountainOur (Derek and myself) trips to London generally followed a regular pattern. We would travel down in Derek’s car, arriving at around 7.30am, park as near to West Central Street as possible and take a short walk to a cafe to have breakfast… always the same small cafe. It would give Derek chance to stretch…
-
Hammer
—
by
Read more: HammerAs I joined Derann, Derek was about to sign a contract for ‘The Adventures of Captain Marvel’ a 12 part serial, ‘Gullivers Travels’, ‘Hoppity Goes To Town’, ‘Wake of the Red Witch’, ‘Copacabana’ and ‘Kronos’, with Ivy Film of New York. Upon their release they proved to be popular and sold very well, especially the…
-
Newsletters
—
by
Read more: NewslettersOne of the very first jobs that Derek passed over to me was the printing of the newsletters, that most important link with all our customers, whether renting or purchasing films. Derann possessed an ancient AB Dick offset printer and I was shown what to do and put to work. That machine could sorely try…
-
Elvis
—
by
Read more: ElvisAs my life progressed it reached a few important junctions and here’s one of them. Elvis Presley entered my life in 1963 when I saw the film ‘It Happened At The World’s Fair’ at my local ABC. It wasn’t that I was unaware of his music, his 45s were always being played on the radio,…
-
Clubs
—
by
Read more: ClubsI’ve already mentioned the film shows at the working-mens clubs in #24 of this series, they were extremely popular and the right film could fill a large venue and the more crowded the hall, the happier the manager(s) of the club. Word of the cash in the coffers of some of those clubs must have…
-
Bourton
—
by
Read more: BourtonMy strict father and the lessons I’d had at university about always cleaning up as you work in a kitchen have meant that I’m more than a little house proud. The curtains have to hand straight, sofa cushions must be neat and the Gtech cordless carpet sweeper is constantly in use. This also meant that…
-
The Talbot – Part 3
—
by
Read more: The Talbot – Part 3I’m hoping that this post will get the Talbot Hotel out of my system, so without further ado let’s get on with the show. The two KP’s (Kitchen Porters), had started work at the Talbot when they were young boys, both coming from the same children’s home, they had already been working there around 16…