I remember going to the Globe Cinema
to see 'The Wizard of Oz' and the manager coming on in front
of the screen saying the sirens had gone off and would anyone
like to leave. Nobody did. That was the 15th August 1940 and
Croydon Airport was bombed; and when my sister Grace and I got
home there was a very worried mother waiting for us. We did
not realise that bombs had been dropped.
Wednesday the 5th June, again with my
sister Grace: we went to the Odeon, Woolwich, to see'The Road
to Singapore.' The cinema had quite a lot of soldiers in it
but it was not unusual in those days. When it came towards the
end of the film a message went up on the screen for all members
of the army to return to barracks immediately. It was just before
Dunkirk and the battle of France was on. About three-quarters
of the audience got up and started to leave. Obviously they
had been told to go to the local cinemas and to be ready to
leave - they would be on their way to France. The film had continued
running and by the time they left the cinema the end of the
film came up so we did not see how it finished.
Phyllis Townshend
Plumstead Common Road
Martha McCarthy, born in 1904, remembers that at the side of
the Globe Cinema were two or three seats where she and her friend
Gertie, aged 15 or 16, spent time courting with their 'soldier
boys.' Gertie married hers, but Martha did not. On being asked
if the boys took them to the pictures as well, Martha said they
didn't have much money; times were hard.
Thanks to the 
including
Woolwich & Districts