GLASGOW’S old picture halls figure strongly in Florence McKain’s memories.

In the 1950s, she was an ice cream girl at the Paramount (latterly, the Odeon) in Renfield Street.

Her boyfriend was the projectionist at the Gaumont on Sauchiehall Street.

And in the picture hall on St George’s Road, as she watched Gene Kelly dance through the puddles in Singin’ in the Rain, the love of her life finally popped the question.

“He proposed in the middle of the film,” smiles Florence, who is now 82. “We have been married for 63 years – even though I didn’t much like him when I first met him…”

Florence and Frank – “his real name was Falconer, but everyone called him Frank because that was too much of a mouthful” – were childhood sweethearts.

“We went to the same school and he used to borrow my bike,” she recalls. “I was a bit fed up with him, always coming to the house. But he won me round eventually….”

In 1954, Florence, whose maiden name was Skea, recalls happy days working as an ice cream seller at the famous city centre cinema.

“It was a lovely place to work and I still have a photograph of us all in our uniform,” she says. “There we are – Marie, Anna, Margaret, Mary – who sadly died very young, she had two young boys - me and Isobel. The other girl was Tess, who has since moved down south. I wonder what happened to the rest?

“They were all very friendly. There was a wee room with a deep freeze, in which we’d stack the trays of ice cream and go out at the interval and stand in the spotlight.”

She adds: “I just worked there in the evenings and at weekends. In my day job I was a typist on Hope Street. Frank used to work in the newspaper delivery team on Albion Street.

“He moved to Lochaline in Argyllshire with his family, but he came down at weekends to visit me in the cinema.

“We kept in touch by listening to Radio Luxembourg’s Top Twenty – no mobile phones then, and land lines were very expensive!”

Our recent features on Glasgow’s old cinemas have prompted many readers to get in touch.

Anthony Martin, who grew up in Blackhill, recalls the Rex and the Vogue nearby.

“The Rex was regarded as the more ‘rough and ready’ cinema, whilst the Vogue was ‘posh’ and the attendants much stricter,” he says.

“The Rex had a minors’ matinee every Saturday morning with cartoons, serials, westerns and even local groups and comedians. We would go the local dairy and purchase threepence worth of broken biscuits to take with us.”

He smiles: “When we came out we would charge into Alexandra Park, climbing trees and playing cowboys.”

Anthony also recalls visits to the Carlton in Townhead to see the Ten Commandments, the Casino and the Grafton on Parliamentary Road.

“The Grafton was regarded as a fleapit but I saw some great films there,” he says. “I remember seeing Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap at least six times!”

He adds: “There was a beautiful cinema in Springburn called the Princess, and the Kinema nearby was known locally as the Coffin due to its shape. In the city centre we would often visit the Odeon in Renfield Street, the Cosmo in Rose Street, Curzon Classic in Jamaica Street, the Regent in Renfield Street and the Coliseum in Eglinton Street was a big favourite.”

We would love to hear more of your Glasgow memories – where did you grow up? Where did you work? What are your favourite memories of your old neighbourhood? Can you remember the old theatres, cinemas, dance halls and shops? Which ones stick in your mind?

Through our regular library drop-in events, which have now taken place all over the city, and our letters page and email banks, we are compiling a fantastic archive of stories and pictures, all dedicated to the city we love.

Please write to Ann Fotheringham, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB or email ann.fotheringham@heraldandtimes.co.uk with your stories and photos. Don’t forget to include a contact email address or telephone number.