27 December 1915; Monday

Walked round town in the morning. In the afternoon went with Blaikie and Willie to the Victoria Hall pictures, but there was something the matter with the lighting kit. So went on the car1 to the Mill2, but it was closed. Went with Willie and his father to the Havelock House3 new picture house. Very nice place, but poor subjects for pictures. Alf and Ada to tea and supper – and Aunt Mary, – and played ping pong at night.


  1. “On the car” means on the tram car. 

  2. “The Mill”: Hendon Paper Mill, where ALL had been employed as a clerk before volunteering to join the RAMC. Evidently the Mill was closed for the Christmas holiday? See also Sunderland map. 

  3. “Havelock House”: The Havelock cinema opened on 16th December 1915, only a few days prior to this diary entry, on the former site of  the Havelock House drapery store, itself famously destroyed by fire in 1898 – purportedly the worst fire in the history of the city. The Havelock cinema was still in use well after WWII. It became the Gaumont in 1950 and closed in 1963