CINEMA came to life to children from two St Albans primary schools when they took part in the Odeon Journey project.

Year Six children from Camp Primary and Year Five pupils from Mandeville took part in the schools’ part of the project which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to collect memories, preserve the history of the Odeon cinema in London Road and permanently archive them at the Museum of St Albans.

The children learned about the history of the local landmark building which is being restored by cinema entrepreneur James Hannaway as well as watching silent films made by pioneer film-maker and St Albans cinema builder Arthur Melbourne Cooper.

They also created their own mini-movies in response to hearing memories from former Odeon workers and customers.

Then to round off their contribution, the children had a red carpet event to watch their “premiere”.

Year Six teacher at Camp JMI, Charlotte Davies, said: “The children really enjoyed the project. They found the silent movies fascinating and look forward to the cinema reopening.

“The project helped them develop their understanding of our local area further and of drama skills as they thoroughly enjoyed all of the role play sessions.”

The children’s work will feature in the Odeon Journey exhibition at the Museum of St Albans in Hatfield Road next May.