LAST week we published a picture of the old Queens Picture House in Orford.

The cinema, which opened in the early 1900s, was a popular haunt during its near 60-year existence, attracting audiences to come and see a range of famous pictures.

And Betty and Kenneth Clarke were no exception, with the couple visiting the venue – albeit not together – in 1940 to watch a horror film.

No matter what happened on screen that day, the events in the cinema and the way things unfolded afterwards was surely even more spooky.

Sylvia Clarke, the 74-year-old daughter of Betty and Kenneth, recalls: “My mother got scared at the film so went to grab what she thought was the armrest of her chair.

“What she actually got hold of was my father’s arm, breaking his watch in the process.”

Despite her embarrassment, Kenneth was fully understanding about the incident, consoling her afterwards and suggesting the two met again the following week.

And the rest is history, with the pair hitting it off immediately and going on to get married at St Margaret’s Church in Orford the year after in 1941.

Betty, who died aged 72 in 1995, was brought up in Sydney, before moving to Liverpool and then Warrington in 1939.

READ > The lost cinemas of Warrington

Betty’s father was a construction worker who helped build the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the 1920s and 1930s, receiving a medal for his contribution.

In her spare time, she was an avid knitter and dress maker, also undertaking a range of charity work that was able to fund her buying an incubator for babies at Warrington Hospital.

Kenneth, who died in 1983 aged 61, was born and bred in Orford.

He was a keen gardener and sports fan, following horse racing and rugby league with great interest.

As a couple, they enjoyed to travel, regularly going on European holidays together.

Sylvia, one of the couple’s four children who tells the Guardian the story of how her parents met, is a retired primary school teacher who has worked in South Africa.

Although closed in May 1960, the Queens Picture House will always remain the venue where Betty and Kenneth met in the most haunting of circumstances.