Image: The Empress Cinema, the Parade. Movies at this cinema kept up morale during the Second World War and were well-attended. (ref 262)
Reproduced with the permission of Sutton Coldfield Library
It was a beautiful day when war was declared. Suttonians had gone to church in larger numbers than usual that Sunday morning, 3 September 1939. Now, at 11.15 am, the children of the town were playing in the sunshine in their gardens, blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation. In their kitchens and sitting rooms their parents waited anxiously for the broadcast to the nation by the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. When it was over five minutes later, they had heard the news they did not want to hear but which most of them must have expected. Britain was at war with Germany.
In Sutton Coldfield, as in every city and town across the country, steps were taken to prepare inhabitants for this new situation. A blackout was enforced to make it more difficult for German bombers to find their targets. The shops in Sutton that sold curtains, brown paper and blackout paint did a good trade. Within a fortnight local magistrates found themselves fining eight people who had broken this restriction, six of them householders and two of them motorists. They decided deal leniently with these early transgressions, imposing fines of between 10 shillings and two pounds. It now became necessary, under government regulations, to obtain a licence to sell any items of food in the town; butchers, bakers and grocers had to submit application forms for their licenses to the Food Control Office at the Council House. Within months, the rationing of food was to be introduced. An overseer of fuel was appointed to supervise the distribution of house coal in the town.
Arrangements were made for civil defence. About 2,000 local people came forward to serve as ARP wardens, fire watchers and first aiders. Almost all of these were volunteers, with only 229 being paid. Advertisements were placed in the newspapers to recruit female ambulance drivers, either full time or part time. Those employed full time were paid £2 a week whilst those who worked a few hours each week were volunteers.
With the declaration of war, the schools of the town closed until air raid shelters were erected. This task was not completed until November 1939. However, the children did not miss out on their lessons in the first few months of the war. Small classes were held in about 150 houses in Sutton, with teachers supported by parents. At Highclare School arrangements were made to evacuate some pupils to Maer Hall in Staffordshire – though classes continued at the site in Wylde Green for those whose parents did not wish their children to be evacuated.
Anderson air raid shelters, made of corrugated iron sheets, could be bought for £7, but many middle class Suttonians chose to buy their own stronger structures. Safa Constructions Ltd, a business based in Sutton, offered for sale three types of shelter – concrete, concrete and brick and gas proof. Streathers Ltd of Four Oaks provided air raid shelters from £30.  For those who felt in need of a pet at this stressful time, Wellworth Kennels began to sell Scotties at half price – a bitch cost one pound and a dog £1 15s.
In many ways life went on as normal. James Ogley was re-elected mayor in November and the mayoral parade to Holy Trinity went ahead. Seven hundred inhabitants took part, though on this occasion wartime constables and members of the ARP also joined in. At Maney Hall dancing and dancing lessons continued to take place. Very importantly, the cinemas stayed open.
There were two cinemas in Sutton. The Empress in the Parade was the longest established, and by this time was capable of accommodating almost 1,400 people. The Odeon, on the corner of the Birmingham Road in Maney, had opened three years before the outbreak of war and could accommodate 1,700 people. These cinemas opened their doors from 2 pm until 10 pm, with four showings of two films. They were regularly packed. ‘Come early, please’, the Odeon requested. On the day that war broke out the people of Sutton were able to forget about it all by going to see the comedies Café Society and Tom Sawyer Detective at the Empress. In subsequent months they could escape to the Empress to see James Cagney and Pat O’Brien in the gangster film Angels with Dirty Faces and Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Meanwhile, at the Odeon during these months films included The Four Feathers, an adventure film starring John Clements and Ralph Richardson, and Three Smart Girls Grow Up, a musical comedy featuring Deanna Durbin and Nan Grey. To remind the civilian population what they were fighting for Professor Mamlock: The Real Story of the Nazi Terror arrived at the Odeon, a shocking story about a Jewish surgeon murdered by the Nazis after operating on one of their number.  At both cinemas collections were made for charitable purposes – for example, for buying boots and clothes for evacuated children and for presenting at Christmas ten shillings to each family with a man serving in the armed forces. It was patrons of the Odeon who raised the largest amounts, suggesting that was the cinema of choice for the more comfortably off.
Stephen Roberts, February 2021