19 December 1958: A London dock strike features in Dick Whittington at ready-to-wear clothing manufacturer John Barran’s, Leeds
Norman Harding. 2005. Staying Red. London: Index Books. Reproduction by kind permission of Index Books. Get it:
.Unedited excerpt
If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.
Every year the workforce at Barran’s put on a pantomime the weekend before Christmas. Thursday night was for relatives, nurses from the local hospitals, pensioners and so on. Friday night was for the employees and the management. As near as I can date it, in 1958 the production was to be Dick Whittington. As usual, many of the chorus and townspeople were members of the Communist Party. At a point in the proceedings Baron Fitzwarren had a shipload of merchandise that had arrived at the docks. At this time there happened to be a much publicised dock strike in London. The producer Len Waite thought that it would be good idea to be up-todate and introduce this into the panto. The Baron called all the townspeople together and announced that there was a strike at the docks and he would need volunteers to unload his ship. As soon as the townspeople took a step forward to follow the Baron to the docks, I stood up and shouted from the audience ‘Don’t cross the dockers’ picket line! They are your brothers! Don’t be scabs!’ Geoff Emsley and Les Dixon took up the cry from the stage: ‘I will not cross the picket line.’ The majority of the townspeople went off stage left instead of stage right. Loud applause from the audience, except from the two front rows that were occupied by the Barran family, board of directors and management. The curtain was closed to allow a clean start to the next scene.
There was always a do after the panto. The usual dancing along with a bit of Christmas cheer and youngsters hiring out their bike shed key, half a crown a time. There were always one or two humorous moments. Gilbert Taylor (who was still shop steward at the time) fell asleep on the train, missed Micklefield station and ended up in Hull. Frank Stockdale made a number of attempts to mount his bicycle and finally managed to get his feet on the right pedals and went off down Chorley Lane. He turned left on a short cut that took him into Victoria Square and had the misfortune to fall off his bike right outside the police station. He was late home. I shared a taxi with Dick Whittington’s cat and Widow Twanky. I was obviously put off at the right place on the corner of Poole Road and Cross Gates Road, where Mr Atkin, the father of my friends John and Marion, spotted me attempting to count the stars in the sky. He escorted me round the corner to 93 Poole Crescent and saw me safely inside. Anyway that’s the story I was told.
Comment
Comment
Dock strikes were frequent in London at the time, so I haven’t yet managed to confirm whether this was 1958.
Something to say? Get in touch
Tags
Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.
- Alcohol (drug) (62) W/G ·
- Alcohol intoxication (28) W/G ·
- Barran and Sons (1) W/G ·
- Bicycle (2) W/G ·
- Cat (4) W/G ·
- Christmas and holiday season (1) W/G ·
- Communist Party of Great Britain (1) W/G ·
- Corporate entertainment (1) W/G ·
- Cross Gates (1) W/G ·
- Dick Whittington and His Cat (1) W/G ·
- Dockworker (1) W/G ·
- Harding, Norman (1929-2013) (3), trade unionist and tenants' leader who worked for the Workers Revolutionary Party whilst in London W/G ·
- 📌Leeds (249) W/G ·
- London Docklands (1) W/G ·
- London (84) W/G ·
- Pantomime (3) W/G ·
- Port of London (1) W/G ·
- Ready-to-wear (1) W/G ·
- Sex (12) W/G ·
- Strike action (9) W/G ·
- Strikebreaker (4) W/G ·
- Taxi (1) W/G ·
- Textile manufacturing (60) W/G ·
- Trotskyism (2) W/G ·
- Widow Twankey (1) W/G ·
Comment
Comment
Dock strikes were frequent in London at the time, so I haven’t yet managed to confirm whether this was 1958.
Something to say? Get in touch
Similar
9 April 2021: The Singing Organ-Grinder sees his new home of Leeds from the M62, and a terrible memory surfaces
Comment
Comment
Allbutt’s full article, “On Brain Forcing,” recapitulates the eternal debate between schoolteachers and physicians and was published in the inaugural issue of Brain (Allbutt 1878/04).
Hansard quotes the bishop thus: “I should say it would be better that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober.” But Hansard is (still) not always a faithful record, and “Better a nation of free drunkards than a nation of teetotal slaves” may be nearer the truth.
Something to say? Get in touch
Search
Subscribe/buy
Donate
Music & books
Place-People-Play: Childcare (and the Kazookestra) on the Headingley/Weetwood borders next to Meanwood Park.
Music from and about Yorkshire by Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder.
RSS feed
Bluesky
Extwitter