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History Detective's brilliant discovery

History Detective, Bernard Kennedy has unearthed another brilliant discovery.

Over the past few weeks the team have been trying to find out more about the four original founders:  Ferdinand (Fred) Caton,  Ben Hall, Christopher Hope and Henry (Harry) Duckworth.  We found their original signatures on an amazing document contained within the theatre deeds.  This Indenture document was handwritten in beautiful script and included the original wax seals of the Empire Electric still intact.

Living Streets Co-ordinator, Bernard Kennedy has been working in the Griffin area on a walking project and came across Christopher Hope the third, the grandson of the original Christoper Hope - now aged 87.

Chris had in his possession several artefacts relating to the history of the cinema including a Shares Certificate owned by his grandfather and then passed down to his father, an original photo of his grandfather and a tiny little red book which gave young Chris a lifetime pass to attend the cinema (Couch Seat no 2 in the balcony).

Bernard Kennedy

Bernard was delighted to borrow these documents which will be featured in the forthcoming centenary publication, ‘The Fall and Rise of the Empire Theatre.' and a year of exciting community events.

 

Release Date: Monday 10 August 2009