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Mr.H.J.Hayward of Carshalton in Surrey spent his boyhood in Alcester, which he left in 1906,when his family moved south. He remembers with great clarity the kind of entertainments provided for the Edwardian residents of Alcester. ‘From time to time various entertainers came and hired the Corn Exchange to present one or two—day shows: sixpence admission for adults, twopence for child ren. in one, a fully-dressed young woman was put in a coffin er ected against a wall and was then securely fastened in it. What looked like an X ray lamp was shown on the enclosed coffin and the wom an appeared as a skeleton. Gasps of amazement from the audience. I have since thought that it was an illusion due to trick photography. About twice a year cinema films, known as “living pictures”, were shown by travelling exhibitors. We boys sat on wooden forms about 20 ft. from the screen and cheered lustily when a St.Bernard dog was shown swimming from the bank to rescue a “little girl” floating down the stream.
Buffalo Bill’s circus was a yearly treat with plenty of
rearing horses and gun-battles between cowboys and Indians. One Friday afternoon an
unusual performance was staged in the infants’ school. The cast acted a scene from
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, bringing tears to the eyes of most of the children.
Occasional outdoor diversions took place around the Town Hall. German bands of four or
five brass-instument players were accepted as nothing unusual, coming as they did half a
dozen times a year. Occasionally, a large, hairy Russian bear, standing on hind legs, gave
what its owner described as a “dancing display”. The most distressing
performance that I saw was after choir practice one evening when a boy of my own age stood
on his hands, with feet in air, and pulled pins out of a velvet cushion on the ground with
his eye-lids! His father gave him a thrashing for having left one pin still in the
cushion.
On one Sunday afternoon in the summer an annual service was held in the parish church
under the auspices of local branches of the two most highly-esteemed national Friendly
Societies, the Oddfellows and the Foresters. Everyone turned out to see them; about a
hundred, wearing their coloured silken collars and scarves, marching up the street behind
the town band. Although my parents were church-goers, that did not preclude my attending
“Band of Hope” in the Baptist schoolroom once a week. This was a semi-religious
occasion with the emphasis on the perils of alcohol in any form, including cider: we were
pressed to give a written promise on a printed form to become a “Total
Abstainer”, a stronger term than “Teetotaller”. Here also were staged once
a year by members of their congregation “Mrs. Jarley’s Waxworks”, where
those taking part dressed up and remained stationary till the curtain fell.(Madam Tussauds
in reverse.)’
© Alcester & District Local History Society 1985