Moviegoers are being asked to tell the story of their visits to Alton’s Palace Cinema.

Memories of the Palace Cinema Alton is an oral history project led by Abbe Fletcher, an Alton resident and senior lecturer in the film and photography department at Kingston School of Art.

Abbe is looking for participants to share their stories of the Palace Cinema, either in writing or in person. She can record sound-only or on film.

Abbe said: “We are interested in which films you saw, when you went, how often you went and what it meant to you to have a cinema in the town.

“Cinema-going has fluctuated a little over the past decade. There is a sense that streaming platforms are affecting cinema-going. On the other hand, industry figures show audiences being maintained, new cinemas are being built and community and independent cinemas are thriving.

“We would like to capture both the historical aspect of cinema-going but also examine the generational attitude to cinema-going in Alton.

“The main aim with this oral history project is to build an archive to document the history of the Palace Cinema and to collect local residents’ stories and memories for posterity. We aim to store this archive at the Curtis Museum in their local history collection.”

The Save Alton Cinema group will be at the All Things Local event in the Public Gardens on Saturday. The memories project will be launched with a free event at Alton Community Centre on September 24 at 7.15pm.

To take part, email [email protected] and/or complete the online questionnaire at https://tinyurl.com/56rap5jf