Historic Harwich, confined on its isthmus between the river Stour to the north and the North Sea to the east, has a long maritime heritage. Although now overshadowed by Felixstowe on the far shore, Harwich was the port from which The Mayflower sailed in 1620 and the town was granted a Royal charter in 1318. A walk around the old town is like stepping back in time and there is much to discover for anyone interested. The low and high lighthouses, the treadwheel crane, the Redoubt Fort, the (former) Navel shipyard, the Ha’penny Pier and museums.

One site not to miss is the Electric Palace. One of the oldest, purpose built cinemas still in use in the UK - the EP was first opened on Wednesday 29 November 1911 and built in just 18 weeks for a cost of £1,500. 'The Battle of Trafalgar & The Death of Nelson' was the first film shown (this was a silent film with live sound effects and musical accompaniment - 'talkies' - films with a recorded soundtrack, did not arrive until the late 1920s). Tickets for the best seats originally cost one shilling for adults and sixpence for children. Many features like the ornamental frontage, ticket box & entrance lobby are original and the interior has been lovingly restored to its former glory.

Its heyday was the 1920s to 1940s. But it was the East Coast floods of 1953 that began to spell the end. The auditorium was under eight feet of sea water and never really recovered. The mid 50s also saw high cinema taxes and the blossoming of television. It closed in 1956 after 45 years and stood derelict until 1972 .

Restoration began after the cinema was threatened with demolition to make way for a car park. After nearly a decade of hard work and grant funding, the Palace re-opened on 29 November 1981 ­ the cinema's 70th anniversary.

Electric Palace now operates as a community cinema (Harwich Electric Palace Trust) run by volunteers and screens the best of contemporary movies, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent art house films every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The auditorium has been fully refurbished, seating for 200 with full disabled access.

Barbara and I recently went to see a film called My Summer of Love. We knew nothing about it and went with the expectation of seeing something about hippies and 1969 and all of that! How wrong! A contemporary film, My Summer of Love is about a close friendship that develops between two adolescent girls from very different backgrounds over one summer. Here is a film that is not big budget, does not have an all star cast and did not use special effects and yet, for two days, we found ourselves discussing what was really going on in the minds of the principal characters. How cleaver!

My Summer of Love. (2004) - 1hr 30 mins - Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Performers: Nathalie Press, Emily Blunt, Paddy Considine, Dean Andrews
BBFC classification: 15
URL: http://www.mysummeroflove.co.uk/

Electric Palace. www.electricpalace.com

- Source: Potters Bar Cine and Video Society Newsletter No. 1, 2005

Page updated on 21 March 2008

Authors' views are not necessarily those of The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers

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