Olympia Cinema

An early vintage photograph of the Olympia Cinema:
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I visited this hall several times in the early 1960s to undertake holiday relief sessions.The hall seemed to have a different manager every time I was there. Two of the managers that I can recall were a Mr.Northcott and a Mr.Derrick.
Mr. Northcott, who was in his mid sixties at this time, used to temporarily surface in many of Jackson Withers Cardiff and Valley halls.I never saw him in the Swansea area. I believe that he did nothing but relief managing on a short term basis. Mr. Derrick was quite different.He too was probably in his sixties but was the exact opposite to the dour Mr. Northcott. I can recall seeing Mr. Derrick at a number of the Cardiff and Rhondda Valley halls where he functioned as a relief manager.Mr.Derrick was one of the most knowledgeable people, where cinemas were concerned, that I ever met.He had managed and operated a number of halls and knew the business backwards.Where ever he was working, he would always visit the box in the mornings both for a cup of tea and because he just enjoyed talking cinema.He was a good friend of Bill Dempsey a Withers relief chief projectionist.These two gentlemen had worked together at several cinemas in the West of England.