The Mercia Cinema Society was started by four people in Birmingham (hence the name) in 1980, and since then we have grown nation-wide and become an educational charity (no. 1001524). Our declared purpose is to encourage, promote, and publish research on cinema building history (which includes theatres which have been used for film). In addition we offer discounts on our publications to members. We publish a quarterly journal, The Mercia Bioscope, sent free to all members. We are the largest publisher of books on cinema buildings, the architects, and the owners in the country.

We have previously organised a number of annual “celebration” events forming themed one day conferences about aspects of Cinema history.

Occasionally we issue a free booklet - the one in Spring 1998 was on The Black Family: their circuits and their cinemas by Frank Manders, the author of The Cinemas of Newcastle and The Cinemas of Gateshead. It is available (£2.00 inc. p+p.) from the Sales Officer. The one in February 1999 on The Cinemas of the Weisker Brothers by Brian Hornsey. He has published many ‘cheap and cheerful’ booklets on towns around the country with brief details of their cinemas under his own imprint Fuchsiaprint of Stamford. These are all available from our Sales Officer. Inside The Mercia Bioscope you will find articles on towns, on individual cinemas, multiplex openings, cinema news, book reviews, and the Collector’s Corner, for sales and wants at a very low advertising cost for use by both members and non-members. (Copy for this comes to the Administrator- all else to the Editor.)

CONTACT DETAILS

Should you wish to contact several officers at once, please send all the letters/orders and cheque(s) to the Administrator who will distribute the material, thus saving you postage. We are compiling a gazetteer of cinema buildings nationally, and can send a survey form to copy and fill what you can, for cinema buildings known to you. (The form is downloadable from the Members area).

If you have any questions about the society, publications, functions, cinema and theatre buildings and so on, please contact the Administrator by any of the means listed below. (Please note that, at the moment, if the answering machine cuts in, he cannot receive faxes!). We invite all who are interested in the ‘hardware’ of cinema to join us.

If you want a full book-list of what is available, of our own and any other publications, please write to or ring the Sales Officer.

The annual membership is a very reasonable:

£10.00 by cheque or Standing Order (£15 for overseas members- sterling cheques made payable to Mercia Cinema Society).

Administrator: Mervyn Gould
29 Blackbrook Court
Durham Road
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 5UA.
Tel/fax: 01509 218393
e-mail: Mervyn.Gould@virgin.net

Chairman: Kate Taylor
19 Pinder’s Grove
Wakefield
West Yorkshire
WF1 4AH
Tel: 01924 372748
e-mail: kate@airtime.co.uk

Public Relations: Currently vacant

Sales Officer: Stuart R. Smith
100 Wickfield Road
Hackenthorpe
Sheffield
Yorkshire
S12 4TT
(Mobile Tel: 0777 1554605)

Mercia Bioscope Editor: Paul Smith
32 Summergate Street
Parkinson Lane
Halifax
HX1 3Qf
Tel: 01509 266888
e-mail: paul@smith2004.fsnet.co.uk

Treasurer: Ian Grey
17 Merlin Close
Morley
LS27 8TS
Tel: 0113 252 0662
e-mail: ian@iangrey.org