Entertainment
in
the Ballroom often consisted of a piano or organ and drums, the musicians living
and working locally. One Drummer as
young as 15, given his chance to take part proved highly popular. Lloyd Griffiths lived and taught in the “Old
School.” He was known amongst many to
have played the organ at the Institute.
John
Scully came to the local area to sell organs in Oakdale. Accompanied by Keith Parry on drums, he
played all types of music on Saturday nights at the ‘Stute in the late 1960’s
and 70’s. His party piece was to
produce the sound of a train whistle for the “Chattanooga Choochoo.”
At
this time John was teaching Kathryn Holley.
Accompanied by a drummer and
saxophonist, Kathryn went on to play the organ on weekends for over twelve
years in the late 1980’s and 90’s. Earlier she had played in venues around the
valleys, with the Terry Davies Sound, a five-piece dance band She comments
how cold the ballroom was. There were wall
heaters, but expensive to run, their use was very limited.
Another
wonderful organist, John Smith, held the position between John Scully and
Kathryn. Married to Hazel Lewis, he also
played the accordion. Hazel is
remembered for her ‘comedy numbers.’ Hazel’s
father, Tom Lewis played the accordion at the Institute, probably in the 1950s.
Gladys
Dean’s accordion band, from Abertillery, and Gladys Williams from Glandwr,
Aberbeeg, also played organ at the ‘Stute.
The Rachel Simpkins Dance Troupe
Tap
Dancing lessons for 10 and 11 year olds were organised by Gail Evans around
1950, and this was followed by the The Rachel Simpkins Dance Troupe, unofficially
known as the Big Girls’ Ballet. It was
formed around 1953 and consisted of around a dozen children. The nearest existing dance troupe was in
Blackwood, which was difficult to get to, so Rachel saw a need for something
local. Dancers ranged up to 10 years of
age. Angela, Rachel’s daughter, was 5 when she
first performed. The Troupe was open to anyone, and children
from “The Fields,” flocked to join.
They practiced in the ‘Stute and the Godwin Hall, and performed mainly
for pensioners. Sometimes they
performed at concerts which would include the male voice choir. The group’s success over several years was
due to Rachel’s love of children and her flair for organising as well as her
dancing talent.
Rachel,
although not professionally trained, loved to dance, and continued to ‘tap’
around the kitchen floor, and attend dance groups well into later life. With other mums from the group she made
all the costumes and outfits for the concerts, and had a flair for making
wedding dresses.
Joe
Phelps, whilst acting as Master of Ceremonies, would sometimes dress in a top
hat and play a fiddle to accompany the organ, but the fiddle had no
strings. Their act would culminate in
Joe throwing his hat, his bow and then his fiddle at the head of John Scully who
continued playing whilst dodging the missiles.
On
one snowy evening the artist failed to arrive and people started to drift
home. Joe sat at the organ and began to
play to the remaining crowd. They knew
him well and were unaware of his expertise at the organ. They were amazed, until they realised the
joke. John Scully was crouching below
the keyboard and playing whilst Joe sat on the music stool and pretended he was
playing.
Although
not an organist, Joe Phelps played the euphonium in the local Brass Band and
was known for playing drums around the valley clubs and pubs.
A Blaina Comedian
One
comedian from Blaina would appear as a tramp in the audience whilst another act
was on stage.The Master of Ceremonies would shout “You can’t come in here dressed
like that. Leave now.”The audience were
stunned into silence, watching what would happen.
Up
to 150 people would attend a Saturday night dance. Everyone wanted to go to the Saturday
Dance. 4pm the queue would start
outside the ‘Stute. By 5pm it would
extend over the railway bridge and the doors wouldn’t open until 6.30pm. Everyone tried to look smart, and wore their
best outfits. Spot prizes would be
awarded for the best dancers.
Many
people, some known nationally, others locally, came to perform at Llanhilleth. Here are a few:
Acts
Theatrical
Agencies supplied the Institute with artists and the archives holds lists of
singers and entertainers. Whether many
of those named actually appeared at the Institute remains unproven. However, locally and internationally famous
acts did appear, including those below.
Although the dates of performances are often hazy, they have lasted in
people’s memories.
Edmund Hockridge (1919 –2009) – “He sang for Kings,” and was a well-known Canadian baritone and actor who performed in musicals, operas, concerts,
plays, and on radio for many years. He
became a West End musical star in the 1950s and performed in such shows as Guys & Dolls, the Pajama Game and Carousel.
Los Paraquayos (formed 1950) a group including musicians from Paraguay. The group has featured many singers and
musicians during their career, playing guitars, bongo drums and a Paraguayan
harp. They are most famous for Guantanamera, and La Bamba. Having retained their popularity, they have
sold many albums throughout the world to the present day.
Eric Delaney (born 22
May 1924 in London,) an English drummer and bandleader, popular in the
1950s and early 1960s In 1954
he formed his own band and later signed with the Pye Record label. He made
three Royal Variety Show appearances, the first in 1956. Delaney
specialised in up-tempo dance hall and rock n' roll music. Delaney remained active, touring mainly
UK holiday resorts during the 1970s.
George Melly (1926 –2007)
came to Llanhilleth as a jazz and blues singer. From 1965
to 1973 he worked as a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on
art history. In later life he reverted to his roots as a
singer, appearing on TV and touring. He
cherished his welsh heritage and gave two charity concerts at the Institute raising
much needed funds for the 1984 miners’ strike.
Billy Fury, (1940 – 1982) a singer and heartthrob who died aged 42. He had to use the back steps on arriving and
leaving to avoid screaming girls at the front of the Institute building. Probably most famous for his hits Halfway to Paradise and Jealousy, he appeared regularly on the
TV show Oh Boy.
'He opened the door to our
future' - Sir Paul McCartney
'He was the James Dean of
rock 'n' roll'- Sir Cliff Richard
Gerry Monroe was a pop singer, popular in the early 1970s. He came from South Shields, and was spotted on Hughie Green's Opportunity Knocks TV show, the forerunner of the current TV programme Britain’s Got Talent. He
had a high and distinctive falsetto voice, probably recognised from
his version of Its a Sin to Tell a Lie.
Nat
Mills and Bobby were comedians with distinctive whinning voices, often heard on
radio. They made their debut in 1939 and
the act ended in 1955 when Bobby died and Nat retired.
(Note: Many of the short bios above were taken from Wikipedia.)
Margery Ralf and her all-girl accordion band. Margery always played a red and silver
mother-of-pearl accordion on stage. Her
band consisted of about a dozen young ladies and they played the popular music
of the day. Margery was a daughter
from the Ralf family who owned Ralf’s Buses, a local transport company who ran a regular service through the eastern
valleys on a daily basis.
Emile Ford (born 1937 in West Indies), His career started in the late 1950s. His most well-known song What do you want to make those eyes at me
for?
Stan
Stennet MBE FRWCMD has toured as a musician,
appeared in Pantomime in Cardiff’s New Theatre and on TV in Casualty and
Coronation Street.
Marianne
Gill, another local artist, won many
eisteddfod prizes for her piano playing became an Associated of the London College of Music (ALCM)
in 1932. She also trained as a fashion model (mannequin
in those days), at the Delarouche Academy in London.
Marianne,
later became married and became Marianne Gill Evans and took over the dancing classes
at the Institute from Joan Bettridge.
Ann
Mason, when only three years of age, performed with Marianne on stage at the
‘Stute. I have more of Ann's memories which may be included later in this blog. Marianne wrote and
produced several reviews for annual performances at the Institute. It would often be a pantomime, but always
based around the performers she had available. Accompanied by her uncle on the piano, she also directed and produced
these reviews.
Examples: Babes in the Wood 1956
Goody
Two Shoes 1957
Both
Marianne and her father were gymnasts, Marianne becoming the Keep Fit Champion
of Wales,and they held regular sessions using vaulting and pommoll horses,
Indian club swinging, and precision marching.
She held classes and appeared with her troupe of girls, performing
figure and sequence marching, skipping, and club swinging with Indian Clubs.
The
Lesser room was used as a dressing room for the young chorus, the older girls. principals using rooms leading off the back
stairs.
Working
not only with the community at the ‘Stute, she regularly took groups for exhibition
performances to halls around the area.
Groups toured on buses to Chain Bridge, Abergavenny, Llandenny,
Cardiff.
In
1952 she conducted the “Ladies Deryn Choir.”
The
Waywards
were a local pop group in the 1960s and performed at the Institute in 1961. People were by then dancing to records as
well as live music and a bouncer would have been stationed on the door to keep
order.
Other names include;
Roza Rae, Sonny Fagan, Valerie Guy, are
mentioned in the Swansea archive, but I
have been unable to trace their details.
There were Variety Shows, Hypnotist, magician, children’s parties amateur
boxing, Women’s craft classes.
After
WWII, Dr Barnardo's had a touring variety show that came to the ‘Stute. I
have been unable to ascertain any further details.
(Should anyone remember any of these acts I would be glad to hear from them.)
Tailing off
When the Institute was
built in 1906, there was little other entertainment in the area. Compulsory deductions were taken from
miners’ wages to repay the loan to the coal owners, Partridge Jones & Co., who had loaned £4,000 to help build the Institute. Miners felt the building belonged to them. Membership meant they could have their say in
its management and stand to be elected onto the Committee.
But during the late 1950s
with motorcars more accessible, and television broadening people’s outlook,
people travelled further afield for their entertainment. Locally, there was competition from the
Royal Oak, the Llanhilleth (Top) Hotel, the Central Hotel, the Conservative
Club, the Walpole Hotel (Rugby Club), all licensed to sell alcohol on a daily
basis, and provide occasional entertainment.
The Institute was becoming a little dilapidated and ‘old hat.’ Although snooker was still
played downstairs, the rooms on the other two floors became almost empty.
The
committee realised action was needed to save this building and increase its
membership. A special meeting was
called to discuss the motion of becoming a Social Club. The premises would become licensed and women
allowed in. With even a 'women's lounge.' This took a while to pass
through the courts, but was eventually granted.
Registered Club 1964
In 1964 the
committee set about a modernisation scheme.
The top floor of the Institute changed to the Miners Social Club,
and an alcohol licence obtained. The
first Bar Stewards were Elwyn Williams and his wife. (The Social Club Committee Room is now the
current Head4Arts office.)
Richard
Rice, a magistrate was Chairman of the Institute and Chairman of the Colliery Lodge which held meetings on the
premises.
False
ceilings were installed to reduce the height of the ballroom, and reduce heat loss. Bright
coloured paintwork covered the dark browns and greens, giving it a more modern feel. The full-sized stage was removed and a much
smaller one constructed in one corner of the room, to provide more of a cabaret
atmosphere.
Hiccough in the Alcohol Licence
The
drinks licence issued to the new Social Club in October 1964, was for
a provisional twelve months only. Unfortunately,
Committee members failed to request to renew this licence early enough at the end of the following
year. The Clerk of the Court refused to
grant the new licence. Several times
the application was submitted, and several times it was refused as not all the
‘i’s had been dotted or all the ‘t’s crossed.
The Institute remained closed from October 1965 until four days before
Christmas. During this time they lost
business. But they still paid musicians booked to play on a regular
basis, for fear of them moving to the competition. In those days good local musicians were highly sought after.
Circa
1965 the Institute became a member of the Workingmens Club and Institute Union
(WCIU).
Membership
in 1967 cost 1/6d. (7.5p) a week for employed miners, but the unemployed and
non-miners were charged only 15s. (75p) a year. These non-miners were not allowed to vote or
take a place on the committee. Miners
had other perks over non-miners, these are mentioned elsewhere in this blog.
