Ron Drew's Music Page -
Activities
Chapter
3 - Highlights, News and Gossip
THE
PUBLICITY TEAM
[This
article is reproduced from the programme for the 1991
production of "HELLO DOLLY"]
It's easy to appreciate
the efforts of the cast towards making a successful show.
The efforts of the workers behind the scene are not so
obvious, yet many people give many hours of their year to
"the show".
 |
(From L. to R.) Margaret Wood, Bill Scott,
Moira Milburn, Ian Johnson, Sylvia Johnson, Geoff Ramm, Brenda Davison. |
Among them are the seven members of the Publicity Committee who direct their voluntary work
towards promoting the Society's productions. And with the
overheads today in mounting a large-scale musical,
especially at a top professional theatre like Sunderland
Empire, that's no mean task.
[The photograph shows
the team with the Rose Bowl - The
Bob Robson Trophy (qv)- received for
the 1990 souvenir programme for "My Fair
Lady"]
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PROGRAMME COMPETITION 1987
[This
article is reproduced from the programme for the 1987
production of "THE KING and I"]
The competition is
sponsored by NODA and has two categories
- the Souvenir Class and the Standard
Class. The first prize in the
Souvenir
Class is the Bob Robson Trophy
- a crystal
rose bowl.
For the competition
year ended 1st March 1987, the Souvenir
Class for the area was awarded to the SSAOS. The presentation, at the AGM
of the NODA (Northern Area) Conference,
was made by the Councillor for the Northern
Area, Harry W. Low, the Chairman
of South Shields G & S Society
(whose own programme that year came 3rd.) Pictured is Margaret Wood (qv) receiving the bowl on behalf
of the Publicity
Committee.
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PROGRAMME COMPETITION 1999
For the third time in
recent times, the Bob Robson Trophy
(qv) - a crystal Rose Bowl) was
awarded to the SSAOS for the best souvenir programme
of the year. This was produced for the 1999
production of "West
Side Story"
Moira
Milburn, the Society's publicity
co-ordinator said - "We are absolutely delighted to
have won the trophy again. It is a credit to the
organisation who have worked really hard throughout the
past year."
In the summer of 2000 it was announced
that this programme had also won the Owen Peacock Trophy for the
best Souvenir Programme in the NODA NATIONAL COMPETITION. This
follows the successful souvenir programme for the same trophy in 1993
for the 1992 production of "The
sound of Music"
THE OWEN PEACOCK TROPHY
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DREW FAMILY
RECORD
A Theatre-goer's Record
Evelyn
DREW holds the record for a patron seeing
the most shows presented by SOUTH
SHIELDS AMATEURS- a total of 73! (up to the end of the
century).
.Evelyn
saw her first show at the age of 11 When her mother took
her, in 1933, to see "THE
DESERT SONG" at the Queens
Theatre in Mile End Road, South Shields. She
went back to the Queens in 1935 to see "RIO RITA".
Since "ROSE
MARIE" in 1950 she has seen every
show, including all the Junior productions:
the only exception was the Amateurs
production in 1953 of "SHOWBOAT".
Throughout that year she was living abroad with her
husband, Ron,
who was working in Malta.
Evelyn's record is quite an achievement. Pity there's
not any gongs for such endurance!
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An Active Record
Ron
DREW joined the Society
in 1951 and has many years of acting with them to his
credit. Other theatrical and musical activities are
detailed in the Theatre
Pages.(qv)
Following his acting days with
the Society,
Ron worked
backstage with them mainly working the sound system at
the Regent, South Shields. When that
venue was no longer available to the Society, and
productions moved to the Sunderland Empire
in 1981, Ron's
backstage work was no longer required. Apart from a brief
return to the stage in 1992 for the 75th year
production of "A
MUSICAL CELEBRATION" he has
supported the Amateurs in
front of house activities.
Another opportunity to serve the SSAOS
was presented to him in 1962
when he purchased a cine camera. This made it possible for
him to record snippets of shows from "THE KING AND I" through
to the 1967 Golden Jubilee production of "KING'S RHAPSODY".
This was then edited into an 8mm featurette, 'GOLDEN JUBILEE'
About 20 years ago this was turned this into a VHS
tape recording, and now that Ron
has the computer facility at his studio to improve the
quality and editing of the tape, he now has an new
updated version of 'GOLDEN
JUBILEE' lasting
about 32 minutes. This featurette video is available by
contacting him [e-mail address rondrew@iee.org].
During the late 1960 's Ron
was responsible for bringing the first live broadcasts of
the AMATEURS'
shows at the Regent Theatre to the
patients in South Shields hospitals via Radio
T.H., the station name of the Hospital
Radio Broadcasting Group based at Trinity House
Social Club, South Shields. At that time he was the
group's Programme Co-ordinator and responsible for
organising relays of cabaret acts appearing at La
Strada and the Latino night
clubs in South Shields, as well as local church services.
The 1967 Golden Jubilee production of
"KING'S RHAPSODY"
by the Amateurs
proved to be quite a difficult show
for him. Whilst balancing the sound output for
transmission to the hospital patients and recording the
show on tape for the archives, Ron
was also giving a commentary to the patients. The
progress of the show had to be given from the side of the
stage opposite prompt corner where the sound equipment
was positioned. This had to be spoken in a voice that was
clear enough for the patients to hear but not too loud to
be heard on stage.
As if this was not enough he had the
privilege of playing on stage the part of 'King Peter of Norseland'.
To this was the added the responsibility of looking after his
14 year old son, Ken,
who was cast as 'The
Boy King'.
Ken was also working as the recording engineer
for the show. Quite a week!
At the AGM of the Society in
2001, together with Margaret Wood
and Marion Bruce, Ron
was presented with a certificate to celebrate the fact that they had
been made a Life Members for giving 50 years of service to the SSAOS
Ron and Evelyn DREW are both proud of their
respective records at the opposite sides of the
footlights!
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LOCAL BOY MAKES THE BIG
TIME
DALE MEEKS
is the younger son of Pat
and the late Ted Meeks. He
made his debut with the Society in 1981 as one of the children in "Showboat"
and then had 6 years experience with the Junior
SSAOS. With them he appeared as Will
Parker in "Oklahoma" and
then as Jesus in "Godspell"
In the senior team he played Barnaby in "Hello
Dolly" followed by
Billy Lawlor in
"42nd Street".
With this experience behind him he took a degree
course at Sunderland University in Media Studies and whilst there was
often in the cast of a national young people's TV
series "Byker Grove" produced locally on Tyneside
He quickly found his feet on the professional
stage and shortly after graduating from Sunderland
University he landed a part in "Downtown" a
big-screen thriller set on Tyneside.
Further TV roles followed in 2 Catherine Cookson's TV plays
"The Wingless Bird" and "Tilly Trotter"
and followed this by appearing in "Badger", "The
Bill" and "Heartbeat". He didn't neglect
the Theatre and was in "Kes" at the Playhouse,
Leeds. Future work is with Robson Green in his new TV series
"Close and True".
From
26th September 2000 he appeared, from its opening at the Cambridge Theatre in London,
in the new Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Ben Elton musical "The
Beautiful Game", a story about football
fanaticism during the Ulster troubles. In
it he plays Greg (the sweet-natured, Ginger-haired
fatty who has just had his first kiss) but is tortured and murdered
before the curtain on Act1. However Dale
gets the opportunity to sing the reprise of the hit song
of the show "Don't Like You". Frank Grimes
has the lead as Father O'Donnell, other leads are taken by
Josie Walker and Hannah Waddingham .
It was interesting to see "The South Bank Show" on
September 1st, 2000 when for an hour Melville Bragg took us
through the history of "The Beautiful Games" with
interviews and excerpts from its conception, rehearsals and background
right up to the time of the celebrities arriving at the Cambridge
for the opening night. It was good to see Dale
in rehearsal with the director and the two writers, Andrew Lloyd
Webber and Ben Elton.
According to Ray Spencer, the
Director of South Shields Customs House, who had seen a preview of the
show, Dale is superb in the part and can see him possibly making
progress further in musicals.
Dale Meeks was
also a founder figure of "Boyle Yer Stotts" Production
team at the Customs House. Together with Iain Cunningham
they have written a play "Babies" for the
company which will present its premiere at the Customs House in October
2000. August and September must have been busy months for Dale!
Dale continued his acting career
in the London production of Lloyd-Webber's "The
Beautiful Game" for its entire run.
From 2002 Dale Meeks was to
be seen in the popular television series of "Emmerdale" as
Simon - the suave and personable frequenter of the pub
selling fish to customers and getting involved with an on/off love
affair.
See also Pat Meeks (Dale's mother)in Personalities
NOSTALGIA -
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY IN THE PRE-WAR YEARS.
Most readers will not have met any of these stalwarts of the Society
but no doubt will have heard some of their names mentioned through the
years. The following photos are from the 1938 and 1939 programmes and
information about the shows of these years can be read from the index page
of "Shows"
|
Barrie Cameron
Producer 1934-36, 1938
|
 |
Percy Thwaites
Musical Director
1933-39,
1952, 1954
|
|
|
Harold L Clunie
Chaiman1934-49
Secretary 1950
Producer 1954 |
 |
A A Hall
(Tanker Hall)
Mus. Dir.
1925-30
Ernest Evers
Hon. Sec.
1921-1930
|
|
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SOUTH
SHIELDS REGENT - THE THEATRE FOR THE SSAOS for 30 years
 |
These notes
were drawn from the programme of the 1980
show "CAMELOT"(qv)
- the last show to be staged at the Regent (Mecca),
South Shields, the Society
having used the hall - originally a cinema
and then a bingo hall - as a Theatre
for their yearly productions since 1950.The Regent
was taken over by Mecca Ltd in September
1966 and extensive alterations were made to the
interior of the hall to convert it into a
bingo 'casino' - latterly 'social-club'.The
changes presented the Society
with problems which had to be overcome each
November as we transformed the hall into a Theatre
for our one week occupancy.On the other hand we
appreciate the inconvenience caused to Mecca Ltd
by this disruption and the resultant annual
financial loss. |
|
Programmes
of Regent Shows over 30 years |
"Over the 14 years of our
association, the directors have gone out of their way to ensure
that our contribution to the social and cultural life of the borough
be allowed to continue and we are indebted to them for their interest
and assistance.
"The time has now come when the
hall must be altered to bring it up to the modern concept of a Social
Club and the proposed seating arrangement is not suitable for our
purpose, We are parting on the best of terms with the company
which is being most gererous in its offer of financial assistance
to help us over a difficult period.
"At local level, we would express
our sincere thanks to the Regent Staff who, for one week each
year, become part of the Society
and in particular we are greatly indebted to Ernest More
and Jim Allen for their invaluable helpover the years..
"This may be the end of an era but
not the end of the Society.
Contracts have already been pencilled-in to enable us to produce "SHOWBOAT"
in November 1981 at, we hope, Sunderland Empire. This is a big bold
step which will need a lot of thought and planning by our committee
but we are confident that you - our loyal patrons - will support us in
our attempt to keep alive our contribution to Amateur Theatre and to
the standards of production we have built up over the past 63 years."
|
THE LAST YEAR AT THE
'REGENT'.
Stage Manager,Harry Halliday
and the stage crew in 1980
|
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[It is hoped to add to these pages as time goes
by. Any contributions or comments would be appreciated,
Send to rondrew@iee.org
]
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Copyright (c) 1998 - 2000 Ron Drew.
Last revised:
January 04, 2005.