Madge Foulkes -

"We never got much money go to cinema, we didn’t go only if we could sneak in. We used to go in back way ... and of course it was three-storey, you know three balconies at the Empire, and we used to get up to what we called the gods, up top, and course there was about six flights of steps you used to clatter down if you tried to sneak in. We ‘ad some gay old times I tell you … When I got a bit older I could afford tuppence, when I’d left school, but before then we used to go to matinees and pay ‘apenny, either ‘apenny or a penny, if you went in plush seats you paid a penny."

Elaine Mulholland (born Longton, 1936) remembers being a monitor in a children’s club, at the Empire in Longton:

"I was in the ABC Minors and I rose in the ranks and became a monitor, had a special badge ... it used to be for youngsters, you used to have to join, you used to have to fill in a form. You were then called an ABC Minor and there used to be Saturday shows for about sixpence and people used to just flock, and if it was someone’s birthday they would go up on stage ... and people would sing and so on and so forth."