Savoy Cinema

Leslie and Lucy Ward lived at 24 High Street, Tibshelf between The Crown Hotel and The Royal Oak Pub, where they had a general grocery shop, close to The Tibshelf Picture Palace built in 1912/1913. Leslie was a bioscope operator and ran the Picture Palace until he enlisted in the army in 1916 when Lucy took over to keep it going. She would transport the reels of film to and from the train station in the baby’s pram and recalled receiving instructions to show a ‘newsflash’ at the next performance. She lit candles and collected smoke residue on a sheet of glass and wrote backwards “Zeppelin over Nottingham.” If a film had “risque” sections such as a glimpse of stocking, bathing costume etc projectionists would cut out a frame (to make a saucy photograph) and then stick the film tape back together. As a film would have been around many towns and cities before reaching Tibshelf, this would have happened numerous times. This caused these sections of film to “jump”, arousing ribaldry in the Tibshelf audience. After the end of WW1 Leslie remained in France in the army of occupation, running XIX Corps Travelling Cinema, schedule for Jan/Feb 1919 - Bavinchove, Zuytpeene, Hondeghem, Terdeghem, Steenvoord, Abeele, Poperinghe, Ypres, Bailleul, Morbecque, Aire. Leslie was demobbed in November 1919 and returned to Tibshelf.
He oversaw the change from silent movies to ‘talkies’ and the cinema was renamed The Palace. People would come to the cinema by bus and buy their sweets for the evening at the shop on their way in. Leslie Ward died in May 1942.