Regal Cinema

The minor South Wales valley halls of the 1960s owed a great deal to Mr. Sankey who was known to all in the trade as “Sanks”. Most of these halls had antique projection equipment, long out of production but still in daily use.Spare parts were hard to come and it was Sanks who,from a warehouse in Atherstone,supplied the used parts that kept these ancient projectors going.Sanks himself was a lover of Ross equipment. Long after Ross had sunk into oblivion,Sanks was able to supply the odd sized mirrors that Ross’s diabolical Streamlight arcs were always quick to ruin with copper spatter. Without Sanks continuous supply of spare parts many of the small halls would never have lasted as long as they did. The cinema industry owed a lot to Mr. Sankey for the survival of the minor halls into the 1980s.