Doreen Roberts who was born in Longton in 1930 and spent much of her childhood going to cinemas in Longton, Normacot and Meir before venturing further afield to Stoke and Hanley in her mid-late teens.

"I was about seven when I saw my first film. It was a Shirley Temple, at the Alhambra, Normacot. I, along with a group of local children, walked the one and a half miles to get there. It was 3 pence, and we got an orange, to eat inside, after waiting in a long queue to get in, on a Saturday afternoon. Although it was lovely to see Shirley Temple, who all the young girls loved, it was a shock to my young system to be amongst such a lot of noisy, unruly kids. What a job the ushers had in those days! ..."