Still devoid of any decent photo, a made a diversion into Guildford on the way back from my friend’s tonight.
This is the Odeon cinema, conveniently situated between the main car park and the railway station. The site was once a cattle market, whose location in recent decades could not have been ideal.

The Odeon chain of cinemas is probably the biggest in the UK, being founded in the 1930’s by Oscar Deutsch. In fact the word Odeon was used as an mnemonic for Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation, as well as being an ancient word for a theatrical hall. During the 1939-45 war, my mother worked as an accounts clerk in their main London Office but soon after the whole operation, mum included, evacuated out to the relative safety of Moor Hall, Cookham, about 25 miles to the west. I remember my mum telling me how Oscar Deutsch himself saw to her getting a personal pay rise and helping finding her own mother accommodation in Cookham Village. I doubt if anything like that happens today!

Moor Hall is today a training and conference centre, and the main buildings are still there. Mum was lucky enough to get a somewhat impromptu tour around the site back in 1999, just before the onset of her dementia.



**Zoomed during exposure**