Bill White, the Southampton family historian, captivated members of the Winchester Group of the Hampshire Genealogical Society with his memories of cinemas in the county's towns.

His life-long passion for picture palaces has resulted in an encyclopaedic knowledge of local cinema history and a marvellous collection of photographs and memorabilia.

Memories of courting days in cigarette smoke-filled cinemas came flooding back when he showed slides of the Winchester Ritz, Netley Abbey, Eastleigh Regal, Romsey Plaza and many others with equally exotic names.

Long queues of servicemen and women in uniform waited patiently for admission to Southampton Odeon in the Second World War, perhaps the heyday of the silver screen. Other nostalgic slides recalled organists with famous names and the popular Saturday morning children's shows with their diet of comedies and westerns.

Bill's research embraced the names of owners and even the smartly dressed usherettes and uniformed commissionaires. Some cinemas had colourful nicknames like the Black Shed and the Flea Pit and one illustration showed the familiar scented spray used to improve the atmosphere. There were also behind-the-scenes shots of projectionists at work.

Also featured was the spectacular architecture and auditorium artwork of Bill's "Dream Palaces".

* See the launch of our new monthly genealogy column in Section 3 this week (June 27th).