Encore for a great theatre

Posted by Digital Editor on September 28, 2007 9:01 AM

SUNDAY marks 70 years since the curtain first went up at Southport Little Theatre.
And, catastrophe aside, said curtain has been in regular use ever since.
Southport Dramatic Club, which grew from the St Andrews Old Girls Dramatic Society, was formed in 1920, but it took another 16 years for the group to have a permanent home, when the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society agreed for land at the back of their Hoghton Street offices to become the site for the Theatre we all know today.

A scene from Dear Brutus - Southport Dramatic Club’s first production in the Little Theatre

Miss Margaret Hill was five years old when the foundation stone was laid on October 24, 1936 and is now a vice president of Southport Dramatic Club.
Margaret remembers: “It was at the back of the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, where the theatre car park is now.
“I don’t remember if I gave my bouquet to the Mayoress or not, but I remember being cross that there were three other children there who got to go to the front when the photograph for the newspaper was taken and I had to sit at the back on a young woman’s knee!
“I’ve been involved with the Club ever since. In my twenties I was a member of the chorus for the potted pantomimes.”

The successful Trojan Women production of 1949

Almost a year later, on September 30, 1937, amateur theatre supporter and former Governor General of Canada, Lord Bessborough, officially opened the brand new building, with JM Barrie’s Dear Brutus the first ever play performed by SDC in their new home.

A vintage performance of You Can’t Take It With You

Throughout its history, Southport Dramatic Club has adhered to founder Elsie Leivesley’s principle: “... to put on sound, well presented plays and to give contributions to charity.”
When war broke out, the Theatre did more than just that, offering a temporary home to Sheffield Repertory Company after the government ordered the closing of all major theatres for audience safety during air raids.
This meant that future television actors Cyril Luckham (The Omega Factor, Doctor Who), Lesely Barrett (Emergency Ward 10), Jessica Dunning (Z Cars) and Lally Bowers (Play of the Month, Up Pompeii, A Fine Romance and many, many other shows) all appeared regularly at the Little until the autumn of 1946. The esteemed group never forgot their time in Southport, and returned for a reunion in 1979.

A Flea In Her Ear from 1971

A couple of firsts were achieved in 1960, when Stephen Foster became the very first musical staged by the SDC. It proved a success and was followed by others, including Salad Days in 1963, the only show in Little Theatre history which received a week’s extension due to 100 per cent audience capacity.

Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband from 1969

The Southport Little Theatre story, which includes phoenix-like comebacks from two major fires and the threat of losing the venue forever, continues in next week’s LookBack.
Do you recognise anyone from these production shots of past SDC performances? If so, leave your memories below.

The 1966 programme for Everybody Loves Opal

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Out on the town - do you recognise these partygoers?

Posted by Digital Editor on September 28, 2007 9:00 AM

THERE were good times aplenty in Southport clubland in the ‘90s – and Visiter photographer Gareth Jones caught many on film. What we are missing is the names of these two revellers and the venue. If you know and want to share your memories, let us know below.

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History lesson lest we forget

Posted by Digital Editor on September 21, 2007 9:00 AM

Bruce Hubbard at his book signing with Tony Higginson of Pritchard books Formby

SO often they are glanced over like any other piece of street furniture, but each name on the hundreds of war memorials throughout Britain carries a story.
Former Head of History at Ainsdale Hope, Bruce Hubbard has taken the opportunity to have a closer look at the First World War memorial that sits on Ainsdale green.
An idea that began as a way to engage his pupils with life in the trenches between 1914-1918 has culminated in a book that tells of the lives of each of those Ainsdale men – and one woman – who fell during their service to Britain.

Ainsdale War Memorial features the names of the local people who died during World War I

Bruce, 54, told LookBack: “Year 9 do a project called Life in the Trenches and I came to realise the events of 90 years ago were about as relevant to them as those of 900 years ago. So I decided to make it more relevant by making at least one aspect local.
“Rather than asking them to read a social history of Ainsdale, two or three summer holidays were spent wandering around France and Belgium taking photographs in obscure cemeteries.
“I brought those back and each pupil was given a name off the war memorial.
“I tried to do it in a way, with plenty of information, so that somebody would get a soldier who lived in their street, their neighbouring street or a house they pass on the way home, so they could think on their way home or when they’re at the war memorial that that’s where he lived.
“It seemed to work and engage them.”
Armed with a plethora of raw information, Bruce decided he had the making of a book and so contacted publishers.
The finished text, simply entitled Ainsdale War Memorial, is now available to be purchased from Broadhurst’s on Market Street, plus Waterstones, Pritchards in Formby and internet retailer Amazon.

Ainsdale’s RAF hero William Hodgkinson’s name on the memorial

The father-of-two’s favourite story relates to a William Hodgkinson, one half of a hotshot flying duo who scored numerous hits on German fighters. The only RAF man on the memorial, Hodgkinson was the observer in two-man Bristol planes and after his success was offered the opportunity to train as a pilot.
It was an offer he refused, preferring to remain with his partner, Captain Campbell and the pair were subsequently shot down by the famous German pilot, Paul Baumer, just above the French settlement of Preseau.
Villagers were excited to take their first glimpse of fallen Allied pilots and rather than contact the British authorities, they clubbed together to pay for a burial in French soil, where William Hodgkinson remains to this day.

The memorial commemorates Ainsdale’s World War I heroes

We’ve got five copies of Ainsdale War Memorial to give away! Just answer this simple question:
What was the name of the German pilot who shot William Hodgkinson’s plane down?
Answers on a postcard to LookBack Memorial Competition, 26-32 Tulketh Street, Southport, PR8 1BT. Closing date is next Wednesday, September 26, 2007.

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Were you among this happy bunch on a nightout?

Posted by Digital Editor on September 21, 2007 9:00 AM

TAKING a delve through the Southport Visiter’s archives reveals some interesting photographs of days of yore.
The Visiter’s very own Gareth Jones took this photograph of a happy bunch enjoying a night out on the tiles. But who are they, where are they now and what were they celebrating?
If you know, leave your comments below ...

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A Full Life - June Ellis rediscovers a Southport past

Posted by Digital Editor on September 20, 2007 6:36 PM

We recently featured in our news pages the quest of local genealogist June Ellis to piece together the missing links of a family heirloom.
Here June delves deeper into her family's past, showing how first appearances of ancestors can be deceiving...

Researching family history is fun. Even more enjoyable is putting flesh on the bare bones of family skeletons.
On the spear side I come from a long line of Balls and Rimmers and deep into the nineteenth century son followed father into farm labouring or smallholding. They showed no imagination as to male names, William Ball would begat John Ball who in turn would begat another William and so ad infinitum.
Not much fleshing to do on those bare bones.
I don’t wish to appear feminist (I do really) but some of the women who joined the Ball family were far more complex than their menfolk and came from more interesting stock.
In her late years I loved my grandmother Sarah Louise Ball dearly but remember her as a rather dried up dour old lady and have a picture of her that confirms that impression.
However - and this is what set me searching into her background - I found a fragmented photograph of her taken about a hundred years ago when she was about twenty.
I pieced it together and found a beauty! A wide mouthed, lustrous tressed, bold black-eyed beauty! Even the all encompassing dress of the period cannot disguise her slim waist and attractive figure. She is carrying a cabinet photograph of another pretty girl. Possibly this is her sister Eva.
This was so different from the rather acidulous old lady I knew that I was inspired to investigate her background and what a rich vein I struck!
She was born a Lanceley. This little offering concerns her father William Pritchard Lanceley. The more I discovered about him the more fascinated I became. He had a life full of incident and excitement and died as he had lived.
He was a Liverpudlian born in 1859. He went to sea as a twelve year old and in 1875 he was cabin boy on the ‘River Boyne’ a cargo ship carrying coal on a voyage from Liverpool to Valparaiso, Chile. This was before the Panama Canal was built and meant rounding the fearsome Cape Horn.
At the most southerly point of the voyage near the Diego Ramirez Islands just North of Antarctica the mariner’s most dreaded enemy struck. Fire!
An account written by Charles Allcot the mate of the vessel and the ship’s log can be examined at Liverpool’s Maritime Museum and what fascinating reading it is. I give a shortened version.
A dense volume of smoke and fire in the hold that seemed unstoppable. The captain ordered the hatches battened down and steered towards the mainland hoping to find sanctuary before the ship either sank or the decks blew up.
It was an epic journey. Night fell. It was bitterly cold. There was a stiff gale with heavy snow and sleet squalls. The smoke was causing constant vomiting. At last after Herculean efforts the ‘River Boyne’ rounded Fals Cap de Hornos (False Cape Horn) and anchored in a small bay surrounded by high snow covered mountains.
The crew took to the boats and fought the fire from these. The carpenter cut holes in the deck and sea water was pumped on to the burning coal. It took four days to extinguish the fire and by then the ship was waterlogged and quite unseaworthy. The captain takes special note of William Lanceley’s part in fighting the flames.

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Do you have memories of a stuntman?

Posted by Digital Editor on September 18, 2007 6:00 PM

LIVING in Manchester for the first ten years of my life (1929-1939), I have some quite cherished memories of Saturday or Sunday visits to well-known seaside resorts on the west coast, including Southport where I never saw the sea.
I once saw a small plane climb very high (or so it seemed) and from it came a (stunt) man who eventually opened, certainly two, if not three, parachutes before he landed in front of us on the sand. His name I believe was Clem (or Clemm)-son.
This must have been an organised event as so many people were watching.
Later, he died performing this feat and I can remember the prominent headlines in our daily newspaper.
The date could be any time between 1934 and 1937, give or take a year or two either side.
Are there any readers of the Visiter who might remember this event so that I may be more specific in the writing of my memoirs?
PATRICIA M. EVANS
Salisbury,
Wiltshire

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Back in 1916 it was just not done to 'say cheese'

Posted by Digital Editor on September 14, 2007 9:00 AM

The class of 1916 with their teacher Mr Jump. The picture was printed in the Southport Visiter about 40 years ago

OUR search for Southport’s Greatest Teacher brought back memories of life in the classroom for generations of former pupils.
We named teachers you nominated from schools across the resort and crowned Tony McCoy from St John’s School, Crossens, winner of our primary competition.
Southport Visiter reader Kate Bond congratulated Mr McCoy and the happy, smiling year six pupils whose picture appeared in the Southport Visiter last month.
She said: “What a contrast to the photo of the class of 1916 with their dedicated headteacher Mr Jump which was printed in the Visiter about 40 years ago.
“My father, Bob Blundell, was one of the boys in the photo and contrary to how it would appear, he always assured me he did indeed enjoy his years at the Crossens School, as did we all!
“St John’s has a good reputation for turning out well educated, well balanced pupils and long may it continue.”

Classmates revealed

THE story and photograph as it appeared in the Southport Visiter around 1965.

WE KNOW people were straight-faced in photos in the old days and maybe the photographers of those times were right not to say “cheese” because we don’t normally go round with grins on our faces. But these children’s schooldays were obviously not the happiest days of their lives. Anyway, there is an elderly lady in Churchtown who was a girl on this photo of classes five and six at St John’s School, Crossens about 1916, and can still remember the names of all the pupils in this group. She prefers to remain anonymous, although she has given her name among the others in the following key. Back Row: Robert Blundell, Elsa Hollinworth, Alice Wareing, Molly Dodd, May Wilding, Alice Halsall, Mr William Jump (headmaster). Second row: Fred Todd, William Wareing, Albert Abram, John Smith, Henry Cartwright, Charles Watkinson, James Aughton. Third Row: Joe Sadler (ex-Visiter chief photographer), Angus Watkinson, Ellen Gregson, Frances Watkinson, Ruth Blundell, Alice Smith, Ada Robinson, Edith Nolan. Bottom Row: Edward Dodd, Ernest Lockwood, William Wareing, Robert Cropper, Togo Herbert, Leonard Wilkinson. More than half of these are still alive today, she says, and they will no doubt recognise themselves.

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Exhibition features hotels' history

Posted by Digital Editor on September 14, 2007 9:00 AM

The Royal Clifton Hotel’s owner Tim Timmerman, right, and general manager Stephen Hopkins with The Clifton Hotel’s flag – part of a new collection of artefacts from The Promenade establishment’s past

THE history of Southport’s oldest hotel on The Promenade is being honoured with the creation of a permanent display of artefacts.
The growing collection takes pride of place in the lobby of The Royal Clifton Hotel, which was created in 1977 with the amalgamation of the long-standing neighbouring hotels, The Clifton and The Royal.
Already, hotel owner Tim Timmerman has collected items, including The Clifton’s flag, which probably dates from the 1950s, and a range of menus from the 1930s and serviette rings.
The move to create the display followed a meeting between Mr Timmerman and members of the Archer family, the original owners of The Clifton from 1906 to 1977.

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Players perform old favourite

Posted by Digital Editor on September 7, 2007 9:00 AM

The Gondoliers was an early Hoghton Players production in 1956

HOGHTON Players have been bringing the sounds of Gilbert & Sullivan to Southport audiences for more than 50 years.
On Monday evening, they welcome all interested parties to their latest meeting as preparations get underway on their production of The Gondoliers at Southport Arts Centre in the New Year.

A programme for the 1956 performance of The Gondoliers, priced threepence

WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan worked together on 14 operettas between 1871 and 1896, meaning the Hoghton Players have presented a number of versions of each work – except the pair’s unpopular final collaboration The Grand Duke – over the years.
Mary Brocklehurst is the current President of Hoghton Players, joining the group when it was based at a church where Owens bar and restaurant now stands.

The Gondoliers was the Players’ first production at Southport Arts Centre in 1961. Graham Bailey is pictured here with Barbara Wright

She remembered: “I joined in about 1952, when Barbara Wright was the chairman. In those days, groups were formed to give young people something to do, as there were no nightclubs as such. It all started off when someone said we could do Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeoman of the Guard at the church.
“We all thought, ‘why not?’, so we did.”

Another image from the 1961 production

When the church closed in 1961, Hoghton Players moved their productions to the Little Theatre across the street and Mary clearly remembers her father, Jack Brocklehurst, pushing the piano across the road from one venue to another.
The self-financing group prides itself on being a friendly organisation which welcomes newcomers, as well as taking their productions seriously.

The Players brought The Gondoliers to the Arts Centre again in 1974

Director and producer John Hilton joined in 1969, almost as soon as he moved to Southport.
He said: “I was dragged to a rehearsal by a colleague after I mentioned I liked Gilbert & Sullivan, and I have been going along ever since.
“As well as the big productions, we do around four or five charity concerts each year. We did one at CHET for Oxfam, where the actor Colin Firth allowed us to use his photo for one of the ladies to swoon at!
“We have also performed a marathon of all Gilbert & Sullivan numbers, one after the other, ending in a performance of the Mikado. That began at 7am and went on until 10pm, raising about £6,500 for charity in the process.”

A production atSouthport Arts Centre in 1989. From left, Bernadette O'Keefe (Gianetta), Charles Cowling (Marco), John Clarke (Guiseppe), Caroline Hodgson (Tessa)

As the 21st Century marches on, and Gilbert & Sullivan’s work long out of copyright, the Players are determined not to get caught up in tradition.
The first example of this is last year’s production of Iolanthe, were student Andrew Mackley adapted the 1889 text - rich in satire of the time – with references to the current political and celebrity climate.

The Gondoliers was last at Southport Arts Centre in 2000. From left, Ian Mackley (Guiseppe), Diane Mackley (Gianetta), Helen Bennett (Casilda), Helen Pritchard (Tessa), John Baldwin (Marco)

Chairman Caroline Grindley said: “I know some of the more traditionalist members weren’t too sure what to think, as the costumes were more outlandish than we usually have, but the feedback we got was very positive.
“I think that’s one of the best things about being in the Hoghton Players, the fantastic atmosphere at the meetings and the rehearsals. It can be a really good laugh.”

Hoghton Players’ reworked version of Iolanthe from 2006 was a success with Gilbert & Sullivan fans old and new

The next meeting of the Hoghton Players is on Monday, September 10, at Scarisbrick New Road Baptist Church, at 8pm.
Anyone interested in becoming part of the Hoghton Players, either onstage or behind the scenes, is welcome to get in touch.
Contact secretary Diane Mackley on 01772 815508.
Accompanying these Hoghton Players memories are photos from previous productions of The Gondoliers. Do you recognise anybody? Let us know by calling 01704-398273, e-mailing visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or calling in at our Tulketh Street reception.
Or simply leave your memories by clicking 'comment' below.

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