Troc -Ette Tower Bridge Road

Hi Joe

Yes I remember well the saturday morning picture club - queing outside with the sixpence clutched tightly - especially all the boys shouting, standing and waving of ams when the cavalry arrived !! My favourites were Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey.  I can only ever remember being taken to the Trocette once (when it wasnt for sat morn pic club) and that was when me dad took me to see Charlie Chaplin in Limelight.  We seem to go to the Globe in the Old Kent Road alot more with mum - we saw all the Norman Wisdom films there whilst she did her knitting in the dark !!!

Sorry i cant help you with the words to the song

Bett

Hi Joe,

The Trocette, yes I remember it. but the song oh! no! strangely when I saw your post headline the tune went through my head.
  I could remember most of the first verse but the second, did it start with,

 As members of the A B C
 we all come here to see
 de dun de dum
 de dum de dum
 la la, le la, le la,

 then reprise.

 Not very good I know but I do remember sometimes if we had a few Penny's going to Edwards to 
 have one of their wonderfull doughnuts, fresh from the oven on those big trays,  in all that  
 lovely sugar, I can here that shushing sound they made in the tray as they were shaken back and
 forth.
 We did bunk in round the side sometimes by getting someone to open an exit door.

  Rod.

Hi Joe

Could it be.

We come along on Saturday morning, greeting everybody with a smile;
We come along on Saturday morning, knowing it's all worthwhile.
As members of the Trocette Club we all intend to be
Good citizens when we grow up and champions of the free.
We come along on Saturday morning, greeting everybody with a smile… smile… smile;
Greeting everybody with a smile (followed by shrieks and cheers).
The Odeon Promise:
I promise to tell the truth, to help others and to obey my parents;
I promise to be thoughtful of old folks and to be kind to animals and always to play the game;
I promise to try to make this country of ours a better place to live in;
I also promise to come to the cinema lots.

I remember Saturday Morning Club at the Elephant ABC as well, they sang this or a similar song there.
I think you could also have your name called out and go on  on the stage if it was your Birthday.

Bermondseyboy

Yes I think you have it

Jo

Hi Joe and Bermondseyboy.

I don't think I went to the picture club that often, sixpence was quite a lot of money, there was also lots to do on saturdays. I have to admit I'd forgoten about the promise, perhaps I got fed up with it and left. Those doughnuts at Edwards beckoned to.

 Rod.

i can remember being allowed in the trocette on rolloer skates with some mates ,but we had to promise to stay in the front section ,cause they had wooden seats there.

We are the girls and boys we're minors, minors of the ABC, and every Saturday we line up, to see the films we love and shout aloud with glee, we are the girls and boys we're minors, such a happy band are we, we're all friends together, we're minors of the ABC. I think this was the song that was sung at the Elephant ABC. I also used to go to the Trocette, but I cant remember that song at all.
.

I do remember the Saturday morning pictures at the Trocette, but I only went if one of my mates had a birthday, because if you had a birthday you got free admission for yourself and one other!  What a scrounger I must have been!
By the way did anyone out there live in Crosby Row flats?  I lived there from 1945 until about 1951. I remember someone (name's gone now) whose grandparents lived in one of the cottages on the corner of Crosby Row and Snowsfields. They had a grape vine growing around the street door - tasty and juicy while you waited for someone to answer the knock.

Pat

i remember the trocette well we used to bunk in the side door using a bit of bent wire to slide in and open the door, imost of the time went to the globe because i lived in abberdour street and it was nearer,any one remember rock around the clock at the abc at the elephant it must of been in the fiftys in later years we used the outdoor cafe outside to stop for tea and meat pies on the way back from the west end

Wouldn't it be good if we could see some footage of the inside and the outside of the Trocette!!?

Phil.

I remember many years later when it was closed and disused, the "T" on the sign on the roof had fallen down and it was the "Rockett"

I went to the Trocette Saturday morning club a few times.  Around twelve noon, "all-e-out" time, we often came out into the sun with a bouncing headache but went back the following week.  Can only remember Hop-along Cassidy and Roy Rogers  with Trigger.  It was somewhere for the kids to go from getting under their mum's feet for a couple of hours.  We found that Edwards' doughnuts soon got rid of the headache!!
So Trocette, headache and doughnuts - not a bad way to spend Saturday morning.

It's rather nice how many of us have the same memories, Trocette, and Edwards. How did Edwards ever go out of business.                                     
, The best doughnuts in the world let alone the apple slice and other great things. Hop-along Cassidy
and Roy Rogers, there must have been many others but I can't remember them either.

Rod

Does anyone remember in about 1946/47 the Trocette use to have a talent show some Saturday mornings when children  could get up on stage and do their party piece and win a prize if they got the most applause from the kids in the audience? 
Milly

To  Bermondsey48 and everyone else.    

Re the ABC cinema song   ' Boys and Girls'   not  ' Girls and Boys'  HaHa!!

I think it went something like this:   (As near as i can remember - 54 years ago , when i was about 8 years old )

We are the Boys and Girls well know as  ,    Minors of the ABC
And every saturday  morning we line up
To see the films we like to shout about with glee
We like to have our sing song , a happy band are we
We're all friends together , we are the  Minors of the ABC     Hooray.

I used to go to the ABC in the Old Kent Rd ( not far from the Astoria) so the words might be slightly different.

Love to all Bermondsey People

Purpleronnie.

Heh,wow memories came flooding back at your photo..thank you .PR...I was Ivor Cummings first GFriend and we got 'engaged at19'  but he went on to marry an divorce another,then worked in Sidney Australia..as a photographer,I last saw him in 1977 he came on a visit and looked me up, arrhhh...young love in Tower Bridge 'Fair st,me being called 'Ivor the Engines missus'...June

i used to go to the trocette on sats,  but i had a piece of cheese wire  very good for opening doors

Hi Done_it

Check out Tommy Steele and Things Video, he does the same with a piece of wire.
Well worth a watch.

Bermondseyboy
Steve.

Lovely cinema. It was a treat to be met from school (Bacons Grange Road) and watch films like Jail House Rock. Later when it was closed we used to climb up a drain pipe, get inside and swing on the chandelier from balcony to stage.