It wasn’t the most realistic of elephants that spent a weekend being led around the streets of Eccleshill just 50 years ago. But it did turn the heads of passers-by as it promoted the grand reopening on October 27, 1958, of the Regal Cinema at Five Lane Ends after a £10,000 refurbishment.

The film was The Wind Cannot Read, starring Dirk Bogarde, the story of the romance between a British officer and a Japanese girl in India (hence the elephant). But before its first screening at the Regal there was to be a firework display, with a supersized rocket launched every minute for 121 minutes to mark the number of cinemas in the Star Group.

Each rocket had the name of one of the cinemas on it. Anyone finding a spent one and taking the stick to the Eccleshill Star Juniors Club at the Regal the following Saturday was promised a personally autographed film-star photograph. The Juniors Club was to be opened by an up-and-coming new comedian from Liverpool by the name of Ken Dodd.

Did you find one of the rocket sticks? Do you remember this grand re-opening? Were you a member of the Eccleshill Star Juniors Club? Are you on this photograph? If you have any memories of the Regal, please send them to the postal or e-mail addresses below.