“Don’t put your daughter on the stage” …… seven years of the Chorlton Repertory Club ... part 1

The Chorlton Repertory Theatre Club is one of those half-remembered stories. 

Enjoying the theatre programme for January 15th-20th, 1951

It was where some of our well-known actors and comedians first strutted the boards including Avis Bunnage, Joan Sims, Harry Corbett and Ronnie Barker and over the years was at home in both the Lloyds Hotel and the former Conservative Cub

Cast of All The Year Round, April 7th, 1951

And here I am indebted to Ida Bradshaw who first told me of its existence, offered up a short history of the club and preserved fifteen theatre programmes from 1951-52.

She told me the “club was established in 1946and although it had no theatre of its own, offered up a weekly repertory performed by a professional company.  Initially it used a large room connected to the Lloyd’s Hotel and then moved to Chorlton Conservative Club.

It was the brainchild of two actors.  James Lovell and Arthur Spreckley.  The club played to full houses in Chorlton.  However, problems pre-empted by the sacking of Lovell began to mount and by 1951 the club was making a loss.  Membership was dissolved and blame was laid at the door of television and bad weather.  But Alan Bendle observed that ‘of the 1952 performances, perhaps only six of the 52 were successful’

A professional producer was employed in 1953 who immediately gave the company notice.

In 1954 the Chorlton Theatre Club became home to Piccola Theatre Company, which brought to Manchester  a group of young actors, designers and directors, many of whom were to leave their mark on the world of theatre.

For two seasons productions included The Women Have their way [ Frank Dunlop] and Maria Marten in the Red Barn [Richard Negri] provided an early opportunity to assess the talents of individuals who were to become more familiar to Manchester audiences”.

Drama off stage, February, 1949

And there is much more.  

The Manchester Guardian carries 131 references to both theatre companies, and it makes for fascinating reading because amongst the reviews of performances, there is the starling announcement that the club committee had “terminated the contract of the manager producer …. Mr. James Lovell”.

And if that wasn’t enough of a dramatic turn worthy of its own drama productions, just a month later  “the management committee …. was yesterday voted out of office at a special general meeting it had called to secure a vote of confidence” to rebut a call by 283 members of mount an investigation of the said committee..**

A thank you, October 29th, 1951

Now I have to say it all sounds very exciting with “some seven hundred people attending the meeting at the Princess Ballroom, Chorlton-cum-Hardy”, the revelation of huge financial losses and the possibility that the “spring programme ‘would lead to insolvency in four to six weeks’”

All of which was compounded by accusations that committee was pursuing a vindicative policy.

And with tensions mounting the Committee declared “that there was another booking of the hall and the members had to clear the furniture before leaving” , a challenge met by shouts of no confidence in the committee, a demand for a vote to replace it with a new one.

All of which I didn’t know when I began leafing through the 14 programmes, looking for references to local companies who provided props, smiling at the problems of fuel shortages and impressed by the planned  theatre improvements.

Introducing a viper, July 16, 1951

And along with various Christmas socials and fund raising activities there was the raffle for a “Beautiful Television, which may just have been a viper introduced by the club with its promise of varied entertainment in front of the fire with no recourse to a trip out on wet cold night.

A play a week, October 29th, 1951

There is so much more, but sadly I fear the Club has all but moved  out of living memory.

But if the grownups are now in short supply there may be a few of their children who went along to performances of “Christmas in the Market Place” which promised to be “A most delightful and happy Yuletide play for young and old” which were to run from Boxing Day 1952 through to January 3rd 1953.

So there is much still to do.  

Starting with the stalwart cast listed in each of the programmes, looking through all 131 references in the Manchester Guardian along with more from other Manchester papers, and finally tracking down a scrap book and perhaps the records of the club.

And as a start I know that Jean Parry the star of  All The Year Round in 1951 came from Salford was born in 1925 and died in 2005, and I have three pictures of her cast member Jean Ryder from 19159.

It's a start.

Theatre Comfort, October 29th, 1951

Location Chorlton

Pictures; selection of theatre programmes of the Chorlton Repertory Club, 1952- 1953, from the Ida Bradshaw Archive and extracts from the Manchester Guardian, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Chorlton Repertory Dispute, Manchester Guardian, February 8th, 1949

**New Repertory Committee A Chorlton Vote, Manchester Guardian March 1949

Wilfred Pickles, the Chorlton Repertory Theatre Club and a whole new set of stories

Now you have to be a certain age to remember Wilfred Pickles, Mabel and Have Ago.

For most of us this will be at the edge of our growing up and will forever be linked to the Light Programme  the wireless and the catcphrases, "How do, how are yer?" "Are yer courting?" "What's on the table, Mabel?" and "Give him the money, Barney."

In 1954 it transferred to the television under the title “Ask Pickles.”

I can’t remember much about the show but I know it was very popular with a weekly audience of over 20 million, and featured ordinary people who were the sort you stood at the bus stop with, listened to in the shops and could be your friends.

That made it very different from the at TV show “What’s My Line" with its panel of well bred well behaved people with their plumy voices.

So I am not surprised that the Chorlton Repertory Theatre Club would ask Mr Pickles to be their President.

Over the years there were plenty of amateur dramatic groups in Chorlton and as early as 1910 one was listed in Kemp's Almanack and reflected the fact that as the township grew many of these were the “middling people” with jobs that allowed them time at night to explore all sorts of cultural and sporting interests.

Where many of these groups performed is lost, but some will have used the Public Hall which was part of the Conservative Club and others may acted out their dreams in church halls.

So Sally’s find is quite a find and while I don’t yet have a date it opens up a whole exciting new set of stories and will I hope set memories running and perhaps will also stir up comments on Mothers Pride.

Well we shall see.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; advert for the Chorlton Repertory Theatre Club, date unknown, from the collection of Sally Dervan

Chorlton-cum-Hardy's Amateur Dramatic Societies another story from Tony Goulding

Chorlton-cum-Hardy is home to a large number of non-professional thespians with three thriving Amateur Dramatic Societies; Chorlton Players, Manchester Athenaeum Dramatic Society (M.A.D.S.) and Theatre M21, (Formerly Manchester Road Players).

A programme from April, 1978

The oldest of these but a relative newcomer to the district is M.A.D.S. which formed in the Athenaeum Club on Princess Street, Manchester in 1847.

The Athenaeum Club, Princess Street, Manchester

It lays claim to be the oldest society of its type in the world. 

However, the company only began performing shows in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1973, when Chorlton Players, who were then known as St. Werburgh’s Amateur Dramatic Society, offered to share the use of the church’s hall on St.Werburgh’s Road. 

The society which became Chorlton Players first entertained the local populace in 1963.

This leaves the clear winner as the longest surviving amateur theatre in Chorlton-cum- Hardy as the Theatre M21 / Manchester Road Players which has its origins in the group set up by the Methodist Church on Manchester Road in the 1930s. (1) 

Although their name has been altered, to distance themselves from its religious associations, they still produce all their shows in that church’s, old Sunday School. 

St. Werburgh's Church Hall

This building now houses the Edge Theatre which also hosts professional shows. In recent years the venue has seen a great deal of redevelopment.

From the 1930s until 1963, Manchester Road had a rival acting group operating from the Primitive Methodist Church on High Lane, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. For simplicity’s sake they were known as the High Lane Players. (2) Their venue is still standing and is now a Buddhist Centre.

During the 1950s both societies productions were regularly reviewed (on occasion not very kindly!) in the “amateur stage” column of the Manchester Evening News.

Ex-Church Hall of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church

There has in recent years been an addition to the three established societies. Chorlton Good Neighbours now regularly runs Drama Workshops. Several short plays have been presented, some of which have been performed on stage at Home, Manchester. 

This groups latest production will feature in this month’s Chorlton Arts Festival, at St. Ninians Church Hall, Wilbraham Road on Thursday 12th May, 2022. (Curtain up at 10-30)

Pictures: - All from the collection of Tony Goulding, except Manchester Athenaeum Club - By Stephen Richards, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21611722

Notes: -

1) I have a long-standing link with this group. A good friend, David, has both acted in and produced/directed many, many shows over half a century. Another friend, Paul has appeared in numerous productions, a one-time Secretary and still active on its committee. Also, my late brother, John, was credited as the Stage Manager for a number of shows during the 1980s.

2) My friend David’s father, Robert, was a member of this group and was responsible for at least one of its productions, “Mr. Pim Passes By” by A. A. Milne. A review in the Manchester Evening News of 3rd April, 1954, commended him for “a thoughtful and obviously well-rehearsed production”.