THANK YOU, Mrs Oakendon, for bringing back warm memories. Who will ever forget the purple-uniformed commissionaire at the Odeon with his “Two seats in the one and nines”? In my early teens, I belonged to a group that specialised in “sneaking in” to watch the films.

The Odeon was the easiest as the exit door around the corner didn’t close properly and we would wait in the gents before going in to watch a film. The ever-watchful usherettes would fish us out with their torches, but now and again we got away with it.

On Sunday nights the Maindee was easy too. When the main programme got under way, the usherette disappeared, and we could just walk in.

One of the group used to shout out comments from the back of the stalls, or ‘the gods’, and usually brought the house down. For example, during a Bob Hope comedy someone fell overboard from a yacht. Floundering in the water, they yelled, “Help, I can’t swim.” The voice from the darkness said, “Well, don’t panic – walk along the bottom.” When Jose Ferrar as Cyrano de Bergerac came on sporting his long nose, we were informed: “In the summer he cuts it off and goes boating.” Ah happy days!

Tom McCarthy, Gaer Park Parade, Newport