The final resting place for some of the Magna 'rubble' Placed along the byroad just past Foston.

In earlier days, before coach travel, this byroad was part of the road to London via Northampton. It can still be traced through Arnesby, Shearsby, and Knaptoft it then re-joins the existing road to Husbands Bosworth before the Kilworth turn.

 

From the dumped pile of bricks and other pieces, it was obvious that some of it had come from the cinema projection room. The photographer sorted though and found a 'ten minute' film reel. He also found some 'reel arms' and, using a stack of bricks, constructed a 'look-a-like' cine projector as a memory of Magna’s golden days. It is worth remembering that a full-length film seen on the screen downstairs would be made up of a series of ten or twenty-minute separate cans of film.

 

The projectionist's task was to present them to the audience in the correct sequence, and with no visible 'jerking' , or interruption. This was carried out by using at least two side-by-side projectors. You were never aware of any of this as you sat back in your comfy seat licking your way through a choc ice. In the top right-hand corner of the picture on the screen, there would appear a series of visible cue signs; the first one was to tell the projectionist to start up the second projector, the second would indicate the precise second when the change over from projector one to projector two should take place.

 

The reason you never noticed the change-over was because the film editor would have arranged it to take place during a less sensitive moment, such a character passing out through a doorway, or in a close-up scene where actor one, full face on the screen and talking changes to actor number two, then full on screen takes up the conversation - switch over and no one will notice. But I've done a bit of projecting, and if I'm not riveted by the story I might watch for the change-over cues in the corner of the screen to see how well the switch-over works out.