Chester Chronicle - Cheshire Memories

Royalty Theatre entertained audiences for 80 years

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:15:35 +0000

CHESTER historian David Ellis remembers the city's other playhouse, the Royalty Theatre, which provided entertainment for more than 80 years.

David writes: "Many people in Chester will remember the Royalty Theatre, which was built on the site of the Prince of Wales Theatre on City Road, which had seen better days."

"The Royalty, which was advertised to opened on December 23 1882, opened on Boxing Day 1882 instead. The first production to be seen on the 27-foot stage was Aladdin, written by stage manager John Bannister."

David describes the theatre as being designed in the Elizabethan and Queen Anne style with two ornate wooden balconies shaped in swan's neck curves. Two statues graced the side walls representing music and drama.

David goes on: "In 1900 the theatre was purchased from James (Jas) Carter by Milton Bode. Bode ran the 1,000-seat venue until it was taken over by Edmund Keyes.

"It closed for extensive alterations on February 4, 1957 and reopened on July 8 that year with a production of Meet Mr Callaghan.

"Dennis Critchley joined the Royalty team in the 1950s as manager. He directed many of the productions, and occasionally performed. In the 1960s, following her father's death, Ursula Keyes took control. Ironically, the last pantomime was Aladdin starring Miki and Griff, a popular duo of the time."

Other famous names to play at the Royalty included a young upcoming Liverpool band - The Beatles.

According to David said the Royalty was eventually converted into a cabaret club called the Theatre Royalty club which also played host to bingo, wrestling and skateboarding.

He is sad that Chester no longer has a theatre.

He said: "It is sad that a city that once boasted having several cinemas and the resplendent Royalty Theatre no longer has a venue for staging touring productions.

"The Gateway was a fine replacement for the much-loved Royalty, playing host to famous names and staging many fine plays and musicals.

"As the Northgate development is some way off it would make sense to make full use of the building. Hats off to Tip Top Productions. They are using part of the theatre and are helping keep alive live entertainment in Chester."

Not all of the Royalty is lost to Chester. In January 2002 Roger Shone, a cinema and theatre enthusiast, with a couple of friends, Chris and Robin Smith, saved the plasterwork that decorated the arch-shaped proscenium. Roger also salvaged other items including the statues and a 1930s Strand Electric spotlight illuminated by carbons.

Walking in a winter wonderland

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:02:36 +0000

TEMPERATURES are below zero and the city's suburban pavements are like ice rinks. But Chester's skating fraternity have not yet had to sharpen their blades to get out on the River Dee for a swift race from Eccleston down to the weir.

Ducks have been seen grappling to keep their footing on blocks of ice floating down the river but temperatures haven't quite dropped to levels observed in the 1960s.

Back in 1963, the river completely froze over and Cestrians were out and about walking on water and The Chronicle has unearthed some photographs of this frosty phenomenon.

In one, a couple are larking about just below the Queen's Park suspension bridge and in another, an onlooker takes a risk as he tries to snap a flock of swans swimming up a small channel of water.

In 2004, The Chronicle was sent a photograph taken in 1963 by Mr E H Roberts of Hoole. The colour slide shows Mr Roberts' late wife Flo in the foreground and in the background a couple of nuns crossing the frozen expanse.

Do you have any memories or photographs of the River Dee when it froze over? If so, email jo.henwood@cheshirenews.co,uk

Remedies from bygone times

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:45:32 +0000

DID you know that cobwebs were once used to heal cuts? Or that the Victorians believed that allowing mice to run up the spine would cure a bad back?

Or perhaps you remember layers of goose grease, a red flannel and a liberty bodice to ease coughs and colds?

Chester Grosvenor Museum's new exhibition - Kill or Cure: Medicines & Remedies - which runs until February 22 takes visitors back in time to explore the medicines and remedies of bygone times, be they strange, sensational or perfectly sensible.

Try and imagine a time without newspapers, television dramas set in hospitals or neatly packaged medicines.

It was a time when ignorance and/or illiteracy meant most people failed to understand exactly what made them ill, never mind what could make it better.

Add in the serious diseases of history, be they the more distant plagues or more recent influenza epidemics, and you get a climate of fear and uncertainty and a willingness to try almost anything to protect that precious commodity of good health.

Using original objects, fun interactives and oral histories, this exhibition explores the often astounding but always ingenious ways that we have sought to cure ourselves of our ills.
Entry to the exhibition is free and the gallery is fully accessible.

Tears and laughter at the glorious Gateway

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:48:55 +0000

PEGGY WOODCOCK looks back on 40 years of Chester's inimitable Gateway Theatre.

I remember the Gateway stage rippling with water for a stunning production of Pinter's emotive play Betrayal.

On the same stage I once talked to acting legends Pauline Collins, of Shirley Valentine fame, and John Alderton, currently in BBC's Little Dorrit.

These hugely successful actors memorably made clear the value they placed on small venues like the Gateway, and their determination to give support.

I remember children squealing and laughing through Charlotte's Web, Jungle Book and other Christmas productions, some of which went on to other theatres.

There was the youthful Hamlet writing red graffiti on dazzling white walls. Not for me, but, away from the classroom, a teenage audience was actually enjoying Shakespeare!

The Chronicle campaign is rightly focusing on the present, pressing for a re-opened Gateway as a way of redressing the dire situation existing for the arts in the city centre.

The strong case is being argued on these pages. Maybe some snapshots from the past will help to bolster it, to remind everyone what an asset the Gateway was to the city.

I helped report the Gateway from the early nineties, when the theatre created its own productions of wide-ranging plays like the shocking, brave, gay Torch Song Trilogy, the happy Yorkshire-set Second from Last in the Sack Race, the passionate Wuthering Heights, the thriller Night Must Fall.

Artistic director Jeremy Raison, now at Glasgow Citizens Theatre, attracted talent like actor Patrick Robinson, Ash in Casualty and then the first black Heathcliff in Chester. He went on to Stratford, is now in the TV drama Survivors.

Raison brought in household names, like Michael le Vell, Coronation Street's Kevin Webster, making his first foray into theatre as the sinister Dan in Night Must Fall.
It brought the national press to the Gateway as, later, did heavyweights Dennis Waterman, Patrick Mower and the late Ned Sherrin, when they made our theatre the first stop for their scriptwriter comedy Bing Bong.

The theatre commanded respect within the industry and helped talent grow.

And it entertained as Raison upped audience figures to more than 84% and brought a prestigious regional theatre award to the Gateway. He gave us rock and roll summers with great shows like Three Steps to Heaven, which twice went on to national tours.
I remember the relief of crucial Arts Council funding and the welcome arrival of pink seats from the Mayflower, Southampton - second-hand but such comfort! - and of Deborah Shaw, a talented director who made a success of the recent mammoth Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival in Stratford.

Passionate about the Gateway, she promised "the best of theatre, what Chester deserves and should have" and delivered with treats like a delightful Alice in Wonderland, a clever Vanity Fair and a lively version of the Hitchcock thriller Marnie.
Sadly the Gateway ceased as a producing theatre but went on delivering entertainment as a venue for visiting companies, stand-ups and other performers.

I remember laughter with Maria Gibb as a comic Joyce Grenfell, Aussie Caroline Reid, naughty as trolly dolly PamAnn, and Rodney Bewes, a delight in Three Men and a Boat.

And the fun of Hull Truck's nightclub Bouncers and football Perfect Pitch.
Colin Baker boomed through The Haunted Hotel and Rula Lenska shocked, well, some of the audience, in The Vagina Monologues.

I remember the pathos of Trestle's masked Stoneheads and the drama of death, bagpipes and Edinburgh Castle on stage for Tunes of Glory.

Soap stars came: Steven Pinder (Brookside) in Dial M for Murder, Chloe Newsome (Corrie) in Pride and Prejudice, and Scarlet Johnson (Eastenders) as Daisy Miller.
Rani Moorthy cooked curry on the same stage where, years earlier, Sunny Ormonde, as Shirley Valentine, had memorably fried chips and egg.

So many local societies entertained with opera and musical theatre, like Tip Top Productions, now keeping the Forum Studio alive.

It was here I watched school kids engrossed in a dark, mini Macbeth, and the marvellous Iestyn Edwards reduce his mini audience to tears of laughter as ballerina Madame Galactica.

You will all have your own memories of the Gateway, of productions that have made you sad, made you laugh, made you think, enriched your life.

But like me you will remember arriving to a crowded foyer buzzing with anticipation for the entertainment ahead, whatever it may be - this same foyer where once, earlier in the day, you may well have had a coffee or a sandwich lunch.

Great days. Let's get them back!

Who were these young May Day revellers?

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:55:15 +0000

THIS photograph taken of Boughton St Paul's primary school taken in the late forties may jog a few memories.

Mrs Jean Wells, Glamis Close, Vicars Cross submitted the black and white picture taken after she found it lying around the house.

Mrs Wells hopes that former classmates may recognise themselves and help her solve the riddle of the people in the picture taken 60 years ago.

She said: "Does anybody recognise themselves in my picture? It was taken in Boughton Chester 1948-49 I think it was possibly a May Day celebration but I am not quite sure. She added: "My name was Jean Graham in 1949."

If you can identify any faces or have any information about the photograph contact The Chronicle on 01244 606416

Heart of the community

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:59:33 +0000

Tackling rowdy behaviour, disorderly conduct and the alcohol abuse is high on the Government's agenda at the moment.

And it was just the same for residents living around Upton Village Hall during the Second World War.

In 1942, four residents living near the hall, on Mill Lane, complained about the disorderly conduct of certain people attending late dances and the consumption of intoxicating drinks on the premises. The correspondents suggested imposing a closing hour of midnight on all users of the hall.

Despite complaints, the majority of local people seem to have appreciated the facilities.
Upton Village Hall celebrates its 80th anniversary this month, having been officially opened in December 2008 by Lady Arthur Grosvenor.

The hall's history has been chronicled since the early 1920s and a scrapbook containing circulars, programmes, notices and press cuttings up until 1984 was lodged with Cheshire and Chester Archives.

An inventory of gifts was kept, including a kitchen geyser from Mr A Crompton, the first chairman, a gramophone and records from Mr W Clayton and five dozen teaspoons engraved 'UVH' from Mrs C Newport.

Phil Pearn, chairman of the village hall committee, said: "Unfortunately all the spoons are missing so if anyone has one in a drawer at home please could they let us know."
Other titbits from the minutes include, in June 1931, the cricket club agreeing to give a length of matting to the hall in return for two free nights for dances.

Maintenance of the hall didn't come cheap and a minute from 1952 records the purchase of a vacuum cleaner costing £25. With the average salary just topping £100 per annum, it would be the equivalent of spending about £5,000 of today's money to keep the place clean.

In 1953 the conduct of the youth club was considered to be unsatisfactory and the vicar was to be informed.

Earlier this year local resident George Bolton confessed to getting into dances free back in the 40s and 50s.

One of his gang would get in on a ticket and then let the others in through the window.
The village hall underwent a major refurbishment during the 1980s under the chairmanship of Nancy Turton, described in the minutes as a 'young, ambitious, enterprising, energetic and keen chairman'.

Nancy is still a trustee of the village hall. The hall has recently undergone another refurbishment, in a project named 4-SCORE and it now boasts a new kitchen and bar area, a new side entrance with toilet giving better access to the meeting room, increased storage space and a new sound system.

An exhibition celebrating the 80 year history will be mounted this Sunday, December 7 from 2 - 5pm at the village hall.

The famous day all peace broke out

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:29:49 +0000

A FOOTBALL match played this week held historical significance for those who gave their lives in the 1914-1918 Great War.

Thirty officers and soldiers from the Chester-based 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh (Royal Welch Fusiliers) played a football match in Frelinghien, France, to commemorate a brief time of peace that occurred on the first Christmas Day of the First World War.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers met their German opponents, the Saxons of the 133 Infantry Regiment and the Prussians of the 6 Jager Battalion, in no- man's-land for an impromptu game of football on what was a rare day of peace on Christmas Day, 1914.

Captain C I Stockwell, who was present at the original Truce, wrote an account of the events on "one of the most curious Christmas Days" he had ever experienced.

He describes the singing, cheering and the exchanging of beer that took place. However, after this one night of peace and festivity, the fighting was resumed the next day.

Captain Stockwell recalls: "The German captain and I both saluted. He fired two shots in the air, and the war was on again".

The football match this week was played on the site of the original Truce game. The opposing team comprised members of the German Army's Panzergrenadier Battalion 371, formed from the Saxon Infantry, who originally played in 1914.

British soldiers attended the unveiling of a Christmas Truce Memorial in the town. This Memorial displays the badges of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the Saxon infantry and the Prussian Jager. They also took part in a Service of Remembrance before the football match, taking part in a two minute silence.

The Commanding Officer of The Royal Welsh 1st Battalion, Lt Col Nick Lock, said: "We are delighted to be taking part. The Christmas Truce illustrated the basic humanity of the men from both sides engaged in that terrible conflict."

Airfields in the front line

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:33:01 +0000

Cheshire airfields had a massive hand to play in the Second World War, according to leading World War II historian, Aldon Ferguson.

At the height of of the Second World War, Cheshire had nine operational airfields, with six of them purpose-built to aid the war effort at Calveley, Stretton, Poulton, Cranage, Little Sutton and Tatton Park, while airfields at Ringway, Hooton Park and Woodford were already in existence.

These nine airfields were used by the Royal Air Force and many war-time fighters and bombers were built, while thousands of pilots, navigators and paratroopers were also trained according to the book Cheshire Airfields of The Second World War.

The book explains in depth what has happened to all nine of the airfields since the war, with only two of the sites, Ringway and Woodford still operating.

The other seven have been built over or returned to the quiet fields that they once were, with a corner of the old Cranage airfield now lying under the M6.

Detailed research takes the reader through the action during the conflict that took place at the airfields during the war, including the construction of an aircraft that was amazingly assembled in just 24-hours, before having a successful test flight within just 45 minutes.

The book also describes how the airfields helped to protect Manchester and the docks at Birkenhead and Liverpool and how training at the airfields directly affected the D-Day Landings.

Mr Ferguson has also obtained access to several interesting photographs which help the reader to picture what the airfields looked like in the early forties.

Newtown Remembered exhibition

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:02:25 +0000

PHOTOGRAPHS OF Newtown including this image of Christ Church school (above) are jogging a few memories.

The photographs form part of an exhibition called Newtown Remembered at Chester History and Heritage Centre until November 29. It features pictures and memories of the area, from the 1920s onwards.

Christ Church School, which opened in 1842, is now home to Chester Little Theatre.

If you have photographs or memories to add to the exhibition, e-mail Elaine Pierce Jones at Chester History & Heritage at e.pierce-jones@ chester.gov.uk or telephone 01244 402110.

Golden couple are still in tune

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:19:47 +0000

A GOLDEN couple are looking for some of their old friends.

Ray and Brenda Harper were married on November 15 1958 at Holy Trinity Church in Chester (now the Guildhall) and will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary next month.

They have sent The Chronicle this picture, taken after their wedding, with the combined choirs of Holy Trinity Church and St Chad's Church, Blacon (now Holy Trinity Without-the-Walls).

Ray was organist and choirmaster at Holy Trinity and Brenda sang in the choir at St Chad's. Brenda also sang in the Chester Ladies' Choir and is now the longest serving member of that choir. Ray is now principal organist at St Werburgh's RC Church in Chester.

The couple, who now live in Highfield Road, Blacon are keen to hear from any of the choir members who sang on their special day.

They know that two of those pictured have sadly died but if you recognise yourself or anyone in the photograph please reply to this post.

School's on the move

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:30:24 +0000

CHESTER'S last city centre school is on the move. St Mary's Nursery School, on St Mary's Hill, will up sticks in December and move from its site within the city walls to a new site in Handbridge.

Past pupils, parents, staff and friends are invited to celebrate the school's history on Thursday, October 23, from 4-7pm at the St Mary's Hill site.

Headteacher Ken Jones said: "We look forward to celebrating the part this building has played in our community and then 162 years of history will be packed into our bags and moved across the river."

From January the nursery school will be rehoused on the site of Overleigh St Mary's CE Primary School in Old Wrexham Road.

The school was established in 1846 to provide religious education for the poor of the large inner city parish of St Mary's. A reorganisation of city schools in 1972 meant St Mary's became a nursery school and it has provided pre-school education for three and four-year-olds across the city since then.

It has an active PTA group, called the Friends of St Mary's Nursery School, which regularly raises money for extra curricular activities including school trips, equipment and the annual Fair Day in May.

In 2002, the group organised a "street" party for parents to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

The celebration will include an exhibition of the history of the school and organisers are keen to hear from anyone with any photographs or memories.

Alternatively visitors on the day will be able to add their memories to a memory book.

There will be light refreshments, provided by the Friends of St Mary's, and at 6pm, there will be speeches, a cake and a toast to mark the past and look forward to the future of this school.

Snapshots of Christ Church School found in attic

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:30:33 +0000

A PHOTOGRAPHIC record of an old Chester school has been unearthed in Newtown.

Roland Waite was clearing out his attic in Talbot Street when he found a photograph album in the rafters.
Put together by the Scholastic Souvenir Company in Blackpool, the album captures life inside Christ Church School in Gloucester Street, which closed in 1960.

Roland, 70, said: "The album is in pristine condition and if I could find out who it belongs to I would gladly give it to them."

Roland's wife Shirley, 57, who has lived in the house for 25 years, recognises a number of faces in the photographs. This dates the album to the 1950s.

The photographs now form part of an exhibition called Newtown Remembered at Chester History and Heritage Centre until November 29. It features pictures and memories from the area from the 1920s onwards.

Christ Church School, which opened in 1842, is now home to Chester Little Theatre.

If you have photographs or memories to add to the exhibition, e-mail Elaine Pierce Jones at Chester History & Heritage at e.pierce-jones@chester.gov.uk or telephone 01244 402110.

New Zealander in search of his roots

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:03:43 +0000

A FAMILY researcher got in touch from the other side of the world for information on his Cheshire relatives.

Martin Donson, of New Zealand, said: "On my grandfather's side I have very little knowledge and I wanted to connect with relatives on his side.

"Although my grandfather passed away in the 1990s and my grandmother last year, I have recently become aware that he may have a brother who may still live in the area.

"I would dearly love to be able to get hold of him to learn more about this side of the family, which is a complete mystery.

"My grandfather was John (Jack) Shields and his wife was Nellie Shields and they resided in Little Sutton.
"I want to be able to get hold of any surviving relatives or anyone who can help with who John Shields' brothers and sisters were.

"I am also interested in learning about anyone who is related or knew a George Francis Dorrington and Jean Dorrington as there is some family connection with them that I have been unable to ascertain."

Contact Martin at martin@style-sense.co.nz or call The Chronicle on 01244 606415.

Lollipops from the lollipop lady

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:50:49 +0000

A CHESTER lollipop lady was surprised to see a photograph of herself in a recent Nostalgia feature on Boughton St Paul's School.

Mona Concannon, known as Monica, spotted the photo in our feature on the history of the school which closed in July as part of Cheshire County Council's Transforming Learning Communities.

She was lollipop lady at the school when it was on the corner of Hoole Lane and what was Richmond Terrace.

Monica, who turned 80 in July, has fond memories of her time at the school and of headmistress Miss Cornelia Graham.

"It was a wonderful school and I loved the job," she said. "Every holiday time I would give every child a little present.

"At Easter it would be an Easter egg, at Christmas time a bag of sweets and in the summer a lollipop."
At the time Monica lived in Newton with her husband Michael and three sons.

She now lives in Handbridge and has six grandchildren and great grandchildren, one of which is due mid-August.

"I used to be invited to go on school trips and remember a lovely day out at the zoo," she added.
She even helped the children learn to swim on a Saturday morning at the City Baths.

"Every Friday on the way home from school the children would say: 'Mrs Concannon, will you be at the baths tomorrow?' and I would be there."

Monica originates from County Clare in Ireland and moved to Chester when she was 21. She worked at Williams and Williams on Liverpool Road before getting married.

Chester Zoo's wild start chronicled in book

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:25:34 +0000

Today, Chester Zoo is the jewel in the crown of the city's tourist attractions, but a new book has revealed the storm of protest and legal wranglings that threatened its creation.

Reared in Chester Zoo tells the story of June Williams, née Mottershead, whose father George founded the zoo in 1931 when June was only five.

Now 82, she has set the record straight on the troubled history of her father's creation in the book, written by Crewe-born author Janice Madden over the past two years.

Janice now lives in Australia but made two journeys to Chester to meet June, as well as speaking to her regularly on the phone.

June tells how, having established an aviary and zoological gardens in Shavington near Crewe, Mr Mottershead set his sights on a picturesque, 11-acre site which included The Oakfield House.

But after paying £3,500 for it in 1930 and announcing his bold vision, Mr Mottershead faced fierce opposition from residents and councils.

Local children would even throw stones at June as she walked home and a petition was handed to the council containing the signatures of hundreds of local residents.

After hearing from people who feared the arrival of wild tigers, lions and "people of mixed types" in then rural Upton, Chester Rural District Council and the Chester Town Planning Committee refused to consider the proposal.

Mr Mottershead promptly hired a barrister for an appeal at Chester Town Hall on February 6, 1931.

Under cross-examination from the town clerk, he responded to fears Upton would be overrun with visitors.
"If people came in hundreds and thousands, I would raise the entrance fee," was his astute response.

As the hearing continued an estate agent, Colonel Brown, was asked if he thought the zoological gardens would benefit Chester as an attraction.

He replied: "Oh, I don't think you could expect a very large number of people coming to Chester because of The Oakfield."

After hearing numerous representations, the town planning authority and the rural district council concluded The Oakfield was not a suitable place for a zoo and aviary.

The president of Upton Women's Institute and the chairman of Upton Parish Council also gave evidence against the application.

Mercifully, the Ministry of Health granted the zoo permission to open on March 13, 1931, subject to conditions agreed upon with the City of Chester which further delayed the opening until June.

Chester City Council drew up the conditions, including one barring signs advertising the zoo. Only one sign could be erected and that was to be at the entrance.
June says they found ways to get around the legislation.

"Because council workers weren't working during the holiday, we put signs out at the start of the bank holiday and took them down the night before they came back to work," she explained.

"The biggest thrill for many years after was when you saw 'Chester Zoo' on signposts."

The zoo failed to make a profit until 1944 when a lion enclosure was opened.

"We were just getting on our feet and it was getting established, then war started in 1939," adds June.
Mr Mottershead went on to buy three farms and 26 houses as the zoo expanded to its present 500-acre site.
June says: "My father bought as much land as he could to stop it being used for urban development."
He was made president of the International Zoological Society in 1962 and in 1963 the zoo achieved its first million visitors over a year when the tropical house was opened.