THE ORMISTON SHIELD                                            

The SCTBF placed  Collecting Boxes in cinemas and renters offices throughout Scotland  for the use of the staff.  In order to  'encourage greater interest in the contributions through these Boxes' a Shield was presented in 1934  by  Fund's  President Mr Thomas Ormiston  -  'for Competition.'   A  large handsome silver trophy it was awarded annually to the cinema whose staff collecting box showed the highest percentage increase over the year.

First awarded in  1935  the Shield was  in competition  for over  fifty years.

Thomas Ormiston was a key figure in the founding of and the success of the  SCTBF.

Motherwell born, he was a solicitor by profession, entering the cinema trade in  1911 with the opening of the Picture Theatre Bellshill. He built up one of the largest independent circuits in Scotland in the post war era, with 22 cinemas at its peak, and booked the films for all his cinemas. He enjoyed a parallel career as a renter,  running  Jury's Pictures (Scotland) Ltd, with offices in Dixon Street Glasgow when they were established in 1915, and becoming a founder member and later Chairman of the Scottish Film Renters Association.  He served two terms as President of the Scottish Branch of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association and in  1925 was elected President of the CEA of GB.  He is credited as the architect of the report that recommended introduction of a quota  system to get  British films on screen, in order to support an ailing film industry, a report  that ultimately formed the basis of the infamous 'Quota  Act'  aka   the Cinematograph Films Act 1927.

In a fulsome  obituary  in Kine Weekly  (21 January  1937)    for Thomas Ormiston,  his friend and industry colleague  Bert Green declared that   'nearest and dearest  to his heart was his work for the Scottish Cinema Trade Benevolent Fund which since its inception has raised over  £40,000.'

 A founder member of the Fund in 1917 and its President  for over 20 years, it was in this context that Ormiston gifted the silver Shield to the Fund.

In 2014  the Shield was donated by the fund to the cinema collection at Summerlee Museum in Coatbridge.

                        Winners of the Ormiston Shield:

1934  Coliseum Glasgow                1961 Regal Dunfermline

1935 Hippodrome  Bo'ness            1962 Regal Dunfermline 

1936 Alhambra Dunfermline           1963 Regal Dunfermline

1937 Elder Govan                            1964 Playhouse Ayr 
      
1938 Alhambra Dunfermline            1965 Playhouse Ayr 

1939    Plaza Govan                         1966 Playhouse Dundee

1940 Princes Springburn                 1967 Dominion Edinburgh 

1941 Princes Springburn                 1968 La Scala Edinburgh 

1942 Princes Springburn                 1969 Odeon Coatbridge

1943 Regal Shotts                            1970 Odeon Coatbridge

1944 Grosvenor Glasgow                1971 Odeon Film Centre Glasgow 

1945 Grosvenor  Glasgow                1972 Odeon Film Centre Glasgow

1946 Grosvenor Glasgow                 1973 La Scala Glasgow 

1947 Grosvenor Glasgow                  1974 La Scala Glasgow 

1948 Tudor Giffnock                           1975 La Scala Glasgow 

1949 Tudor Giffnock                           1976 La Scala Helensburgh

1950 Tudor Giffnock                           1977 Odeon Film Centre Glasgow 

1951 Tudor Giffnock                           1978 Odeon Film Centre Glasgow

1952 Tudor  Giffnock                          1979 County Cinema Cumbernauld

1953 Tudor  Giffnock                          1980 County Cinema Cumbernauld

1954 Synod Hall Edinburgh               1981 County Cinema Cumbernauld

1955 Wellington Palace Glasgow     1982 Regal  Saltcoats

1956 Synod Hall Edinburgh               1983 Salon Hillhead

1957 Synod Hall Edinburgh               1984 Regal Saltcoats

1958 Synod Hall Edinburgh                1985 Regal Saltcoats

1959 Picture House Mosspark           1986 Glasgow Film Theatre

1960 Regal Dunfermline                      1987 Glasgow Film Theatre