More Info →Young New Zealanders Club for Boys and Girls, Regent Theatre in Pahiatua

Young New Zealanders Club for Boys and Girls attending the show "The Sea of Grass" at Pahiatua's historic cinema built in 1940. This club was created by Kerridge-Oden, the Auckland Parent Teachers Association and the Department of Education. The aim was to found a National Cinema Club to mould the character of children by instilling into them such “social qualities as thoughtfulness … honesty, sportsmanship, loyalty and pride in their country”, Memories Magazine January 2003. The club ran from 1946 to 1949 with an inaugural membership of 32,000 children. The Regent Theatre was opened on the 23rd of February 1940, with seating for 600 and was closed in February of 1977. Later that year it was acquired by a local drama society and converted to two auditoriums, one for movies and one for live shows, it is still use today [2012].