If you are 'Pill' born and bred you will have heard of the Gem Cinema, if not first hand, then through your parents or grandparents.

Of the nine cinemas in Newport, two of them were in Pill; as with most of the others, they no longer exist.

The Plaza is now a row of new council houses and the Gem is a thriving Indian supermarket on the corner of Capel Crescent.

I was introduced to the Gem at the age of four, and was taken by my four older brothers.

Our first stop was at the Coronation Café, which was directly opposite. The proprietor was Mr Lee and he sold hot meat pies, which he kept on a stove in the back room.

All the kids bought a pie to take into the cinema with them; they cost four pence halfpenny. While standing in the shop, you could hear the film soundtrack from the Gem cinema quite plainly.

We stood in line at the Gem, watched over by Mr Gill, who had on a fur coat and he smoked a large, fat cigar.

He made sure that all the younger children were accompanied by someone older, while in the small window which passed as a box office sat Mrs Gill, also in a fur coat. She was very short sighted and wore heavy pebble glasses.

She would peer at the money you gave her and if it was a shilling, she would feel all around the edges. The five of us went in for a shilling.

Once inside, you couldn't see a thing. It was pitch dark and you had to feel your way to the seats, which were benches bolted to the floor. If you were unlucky you had to sit on the large bolt all through the programme.

Also, if you sat in the front row you were in about 2" of water which constantly flowed from the toilets, one each side of the screen.

The noise inside the cinema was deafening, with shouted conversations back and forth.

"Is that you Moggy?" "Yes, Charlie."

"Have you got your pie?" "Yes, meet you outside after."

The programme consisted of two feature length films and a serial.

The serial was the main topic of conversation in most of the Pill schools for the rest of the weeks, and if you missed an episode, you would plague the life out of anyone who had seen it to tell you "did Flash Gordon escape from Ming the Merciless?" "Who did the clutching hand clutch?"

When the serial was the Lone Ranger, everyone joined in the chorus of "Heigh ho, Silver - away!"

It should have been a three-hour programme, but it was usually about four and a half hours before you came out because of the constant breaking down of the films.

This would be heralded by the shadow of a burning film showing on the screen. Then it would go all pitch black again.

Any object would be thrown at the screen and there would be stamping of feet and shouts of "put a penny in the meter".

This would last until Mushy the projectionist sliced the film back together and started it again.

I can't describe the interior of the Gem, as the lights never came on. It was dark going in and dark coming out.

When the programme was over hordes of children would pour out, blinking in the light, scratching, and shouting.

And those with any money left would make for Gran Thomas's across the street where for sixpence Mr Gran Thomas would pull you a pint of Sarsaparilla or Dandelion and Burdock served in a pint glass, with a handle just like in a real pub.

Most people called the Gem the "BUG HOUSE". It was rough, it was dirty but it was adventure.

Cissy Beal - Pill, Newport - 2002

See our Voices from Pill website for more about this area of Newport.