Cinema find like Tut's tomb

I was delighted to see your full-page feature on the Harts Hill Limelight cinema and to read the account of its history and eventual removal to the Black Country Museum.

However, I was surprised to read that Carole Round claims to have discovered the cinema in 1993, eleven years after her family had acquired the property while expanding their business.

I was invited to visit the cinema by Maud Revill, the original owners' daughter, in January 1982, just before the premises were sold to the William Round firm.

I was very impressed with what I saw and Maud's detailed account of the cinema's history. Immediately after visiting the cinema I wrote to Ian Walden, the director of the Black Country Museum to ask about its possible preservation.

During my visit I took the photograph that appears at the top of your feature, and later in 1982 the Limelight was featured in my book "Cinemas of the Black Country".

The photograph is certainly not a picture of the Limelight "in its heyday" as your caption states! Cinema historians would love to see a picture of the place while open during the 1920s.

During 1982 I talked to Carole Round about the cinema her firm had acquired, and I believe some negotiations took place regarding its removal to the museum. It is certainly true that matters then went into some kind of "limbo" and no progress was made until the 1990s, but throughout that period I am sure the Round family was very well aware of the cinema's existence.

Whether it was "discovered" in 1982, when I felt rather like Harold Carter entering Tutankhamun's tomb, or in 1993 when the Round family decided to clear the site, the important thing is that the Limelight was saved, and once again Maud Revill's story has been told.

Ned Williams, Westland Road, Wolverhampton.