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Find Sammy Squirrel…<br />
For how to join the search see page 113<br />
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Yours magazine, Media House,<br />
Peterborough Business Park,<br />
Peterborough PE2 6EA<br />
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A<br />
recent survey revealed some<br />
fascinating answers to the question<br />
‘What are the little things that make<br />
you happy?’ (see p5). Interestingly a good<br />
night’s sleep came top. I suppose it’s not<br />
surprising we value good quality sleep so<br />
highly when you realise recent YouGov<br />
research found one in three of us say we<br />
regularly sleep poorly.<br />
I too have found shuteye eluding<br />
me recently – especially in last month’s<br />
heatwave – so I was fascinated to read the Good Sleep Menu (p37)<br />
which reveals which foods contain ingredients that<br />
encourage better sleep quality. There are<br />
some tasty-looking recipes to try and the<br />
chance to win a top-of-the-range bed (p41).<br />
I’m also pleased to say our 2020 edition<br />
of the Yours Annual is on sale now – packed<br />
with a year’s worth of reading.<br />
Grab a copy before it sells<br />
out (p82).<br />
Get in<br />
touch<br />
…only when<br />
you subscribe<br />
See page 88<br />
See you next issue…<br />
Email<br />
yours@<br />
bauermedia.<br />
co.uk<br />
I’ve been taking<br />
this supplement<br />
for a few weeks<br />
and my nails<br />
definitely seem<br />
stronger and my<br />
feels hair shinier.<br />
£16.99/60 capsules<br />
hollandandbarratt.com<br />
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Yoursmagazine<br />
editor’s choice<br />
My pick of the products for<br />
healthier skin, nails and hair<br />
I’ll be dashing<br />
down to Aldi once<br />
its Lacura Miracle<br />
Cream is back in<br />
stock on August 29<br />
– it really does<br />
work miracles!<br />
£3.99<br />
www.aldi.co.uk<br />
It seems the bed is<br />
someone’s happy place<br />
Sharon Reid, Editor<br />
Join us online…<br />
yours.co.uk<br />
I’m excited to try<br />
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from new brand<br />
Ethique which<br />
promises to be kind<br />
to a sensitive scalp<br />
– and less waste.<br />
£12.99<br />
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Inside this issue…<br />
Real life<br />
6 70 years of<br />
National Parks<br />
22 Soldier dogs:<br />
‘It’s a joy to reunite<br />
old friends’<br />
24 Taking the cold<br />
water plunge!<br />
26 ‘I want to give people<br />
confidence’<br />
Star chat<br />
12 Cover ‘Mum’s words<br />
still inspire me’<br />
14 Cover Life lessons<br />
with Arlene Phillips<br />
16 Cover Countdown to<br />
Bake Off 2019!<br />
28 Alison Steadman<br />
128 Our pick of the best TV!<br />
Your best life now!<br />
32 Cover Food intolerances<br />
35 The pelvic floor challenge<br />
37 Cover The good<br />
sleep menu<br />
41 Cover Win a bed!<br />
42 Cover Steal her style<br />
44 Cover Miracle masks<br />
Good to know<br />
44<br />
47 Seven ways to save water<br />
48 Keep your home safe<br />
51 Changes to rental law<br />
57 Lawnmowers tested<br />
Nostalgia<br />
80 Blackpool illuminations<br />
83 Fragrant memories<br />
85 The show must go on!<br />
Leisure time<br />
62 Cover Classic dishes<br />
made healthy<br />
66 Toys to treasure<br />
71 Heat-loving plants<br />
100 Cover Dip into Devon 71<br />
102 Cover Make memories<br />
in Mexico<br />
Your favourites<br />
8 Meeting Place WIN<br />
75 Short story<br />
a fish<br />
86 Roy Hudd<br />
tank!<br />
89 Free for every<br />
p117<br />
reader offer<br />
91 Friends of Yours<br />
106 Carers in touch<br />
113 Puzzles to test you<br />
& prizes to win<br />
130 Horoscopes and<br />
what’s in our next issue!<br />
6<br />
12
feeling great<br />
a Tight<br />
Keep those little<br />
leaks at bay by<br />
taking the pelvic<br />
floor challenge.<br />
These simple<br />
exercises will<br />
strengthen your<br />
muscles and help<br />
you feel more<br />
confident<br />
By Rebecca Speechley<br />
pics: ruth jenkinson<br />
Stress incontinence<br />
happens when<br />
your pelvic floor,<br />
a set of muscles<br />
supporting your<br />
bladder, uterus and back<br />
passage, becomes weak.<br />
“If the muscles aren’t<br />
strong enough any<br />
downward pressure<br />
(a cough, laugh or<br />
sneeze) could lead to an<br />
accident,” says Jessica<br />
Kostos Consultant Pelvic<br />
Health Physiotherapist<br />
at APPI Health Group<br />
(appihealthgroup.com).<br />
National guidelines in<br />
the UK recommend that<br />
we should all be doing<br />
at least eight pelvic floor<br />
contractions three times a<br />
day. There’s even a handy<br />
NHS app ‘Squeezy’ which<br />
you can download onto<br />
your smartphone for free to<br />
remind you.<br />
Challenge yourself to do<br />
these exercises for six-toeight<br />
weeks and see if you<br />
can stop (or at least lessen)<br />
leaks. “The exercises are<br />
designed to progressively<br />
challenge and strengthen<br />
your pelvic floor muscles,”<br />
says Jessica. “Once you feel<br />
confident with the first<br />
exercise, progress onto the<br />
next at your own pace.”<br />
Lying down<br />
n Lie on your back with your knees bent and eyes<br />
closed. Take a few big breaths to relax your whole body.<br />
n Tighten around your back passage, vagina and<br />
urethra as strongly as possible and pull forward in the<br />
direction of your pubic bone. Your abdominal, leg and<br />
glute muscles should stay completely relaxed while<br />
you isolate your pelvic floor. Hold for 5-10 seconds.<br />
When you relax your muscles, you should feel a<br />
definite ‘letting go’ as the muscles drop back down.<br />
This may take a few seconds to relax fully.<br />
n Repeat up to ten times or until you feel your<br />
pelvic floor muscles fatigue.<br />
Seated<br />
n Sit on a chair with your<br />
feet on the floor.<br />
n Tighten around your<br />
back passage, vagina and<br />
urethra as strongly as<br />
possible and pull forward<br />
in the direction<br />
of your pubic bone. Hold<br />
for 5-10 seconds.<br />
n Repeat up to ten times.<br />
Add weights<br />
n Standing, hold small<br />
weights (1-5kg) with your<br />
palms facing forwards.<br />
n Keeping your pelvic floor<br />
muscles relaxed inhale and<br />
as you exhale lift your pelvic<br />
floor muscles as strongly as<br />
possible while simultaneously<br />
Keep your leg, bum<br />
and stomach muscles<br />
still and relaxed<br />
Sit to stand<br />
n Begin seated, with<br />
your pelvic floor muscles<br />
completely relaxed.<br />
n Inhale and lean forward<br />
preparing to stand. As you<br />
exhale, push through your<br />
heels and activate your pelvic<br />
floor muscles to stand up tall.<br />
n Inhale to return back to<br />
the seat and relax your pelvic<br />
floor muscles.<br />
n Repeat 10-20 times.<br />
After completing all the<br />
exercises, have a rest<br />
then repeat for 2-3 sets<br />
curling the weights upwards.<br />
n Inhale as you lower the<br />
weights and simultaneously<br />
relax your pelvic floor muscles.<br />
n Repeat 10-20 times or until<br />
you feel your pelvic floor<br />
muscles fatigue.<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
35
Much-loved actress Alison<br />
Steadman, currently starring<br />
in BBC1 sitcom Hold the<br />
Sunset, chats to Yours<br />
By Alison James<br />
Alison Steadman is busier than ever.<br />
She’s filming two TV projects backto-back<br />
– new BBC drama Life by<br />
Doctor Foster writer, Mike Bartlett,<br />
and the eagerly anticipated Gavin<br />
and Stacey Christmas special. And of course<br />
she’s on TV at the moment in the second series<br />
of the popular sitcom Hold The Sunset.<br />
But being busy isn’t a problem. “Work – in<br />
my case acting – does keep me feeling young,”<br />
she says. “I don’t think about age when I’m<br />
working. You turn up, go into make-up and<br />
costume, and go on set to do your job. You’re<br />
mixing with all kinds of different people of all<br />
ages, loving the work and having fun. It’s lovely.<br />
With each role, you’re taking on new challenges,<br />
learning new things and that keeps you young,<br />
too. I never sit back and think, ’Oh yeah, I can<br />
do that!’ I have to step up to the plate every<br />
time and that keeps me fresh.”<br />
So retirement isn’t an option then? Does<br />
she ever think about it? “No,” is Alison’s<br />
reply. “I’d hate it. I love having time off and<br />
‘I love wildlife, visiting animal<br />
and bird reserves to which I<br />
always take my binoculars’<br />
thoroughly enjoy my life outside work.<br />
I love wildlife, visiting animal and bird<br />
reserves to which I always take my<br />
binoculars. I love walking and visiting<br />
galleries. Whenever I’m in a new city, I<br />
make for the galleries. They’re like my<br />
comfort blanket in a way. And then<br />
there’s my lovely little grandson who<br />
I see as often as I can. But, I’ll work for<br />
as long as I possibly can. Actors are<br />
lucky. We can carry on for as long as<br />
we are able to, and dip in and out. It’s<br />
not 9-5, 48 weeks a year and that’s<br />
wonderful.<br />
“A friend of mine – a headteacher<br />
– retired at 65 because that tends<br />
to be the way it is for people in<br />
that profession. While she<br />
enjoyed the break to begin with<br />
because it had been a very<br />
responsible job, later she felt<br />
‘Having<br />
fun helps<br />
keep me<br />
young’<br />
28<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
star chat<br />
Alison with John<br />
Cleese in Hold<br />
the Sunset<br />
sad because she’d loved it so much.”<br />
Alison is of course currently on our<br />
screens on BBC1 in Hold The Sunset.<br />
The story follows the lives of two<br />
pensioners, Edith played by Alison<br />
and Phil (John Cleese), a pair of old<br />
friends whose plans to get married<br />
and move abroad to a place in the sun<br />
are disrupted when a grown-up son<br />
unexpectedly moves back home.<br />
Filming took place over a six-week<br />
period late last year. “It was great,”<br />
says Alison. “The comedy is about two<br />
people finding love again in later life – a<br />
good premise which appeals to lots of<br />
people my age. But there are younger<br />
characters to balance it out.”<br />
These primarily being Edith’s<br />
children – Sandra (Joanna Scanlan) and<br />
Roger (Jason Watkins). They’re in their<br />
50s yet continue to be highly reliant on<br />
their mother – Roger in particular, who,<br />
having left his wife, Wendy, moved back<br />
in with Edith in series one. Series two<br />
and he’s still there! “Yes, well we live in<br />
an age where grown-up children move<br />
back into the family home, don’t we?”<br />
says Alison. “The children can’t afford<br />
to get their own places. That’s not the<br />
case with Roger, of course, but Edith is<br />
his mum – and she’s a very kind, loving<br />
mum. Once a mum, always a mum<br />
and when grown-up kids come back,<br />
I imagine that most mums say, ‘Aww<br />
– yes, of course I’ll make the bed up’,<br />
even if they don’t always agree with<br />
what the adult child is doing. Edith<br />
continues to be torn. She really cares<br />
for Phil but her children are still<br />
her children, whatever their age. It<br />
is quite complex.”<br />
But it’s also very funny, though. “It<br />
is a nice, gentle humour,” says Alison<br />
(72). “There’s not lots of outrageous<br />
shouting and screaming. Hopefully it<br />
comes across as real and is something<br />
that people can relate to – although<br />
as it is comedy, it has been tweaked a<br />
bit. John’s character, Phil, certainly isn’t<br />
like Basil Fawlty! Phil can be caustic but<br />
towards Edith, he is very gentle<br />
and romantic.<br />
“At its core, Hold the Sunset is about<br />
two people trying to move together<br />
into a new phase in their sunset years.<br />
It is lovely to be in a show like this<br />
where John and I get to play leads who<br />
are around our real ages. It is a great<br />
cast with everyone pulling their weight<br />
and getting some really funny lines.”<br />
n Hold The Sunset is on BBC1 on Friday<br />
evenings. You can catch up with previous<br />
episodes on BBC iPlayer<br />
It’s fab being Alison’ s<br />
daughter-in-law!<br />
Actress Rosie Cavaliero who<br />
plays Wendy, Edith’s needy<br />
daughter-in-law, ex-wife<br />
of the hapless Roger, says<br />
having Alison Steadman as<br />
an on-screen mother-in-law<br />
is a dream come true.<br />
“I adore her,” says Rosie.<br />
“I grew up watching her,<br />
longing for a career in any<br />
way like hers, and wanting<br />
to be her!” she laughs. “Quite<br />
simply, she’s fabulous. She’s<br />
like a chameleon – she<br />
changes with every role she<br />
plays. We got to know each<br />
other working on a radio<br />
drama by Hilary Mantel that<br />
was quite dark – nothing<br />
like Hold the Sunset.<br />
Alison’s so positive and<br />
tells great stories. She’s a<br />
very funny, warm person to<br />
be around.”<br />
Rosie says that Hold<br />
The Sunset is a very happy<br />
production. “As you’d<br />
expect, John Cleese is<br />
hilarious. He’s a comedy<br />
legend and I never ever<br />
dreamed I’d one day work<br />
with him. He only has<br />
to give you a look and<br />
you burst out laughing.<br />
Beneath the humour,<br />
though, he is a very kind,<br />
caring man.”<br />
And Jason Watkins is an<br />
old friend. “We’ve played<br />
husband and wife about<br />
three or four times and<br />
sparring against him is<br />
great fun,” says Rosie.<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
29<br />
PICs: solo syndication/bradley page, bbc
As the world-famous<br />
illuminations switch<br />
on later this month,<br />
Lorna White celebrates<br />
the spectacular light<br />
fantastic<br />
The incredibly bright light<br />
was nicknamed ‘artificial<br />
sunlight’ by visitors<br />
PICS: getty images, alamy stock photo, © visit blackpool<br />
80<br />
For generations, Blackpool<br />
has been a mecca for<br />
visitors who come to<br />
marvel at the dazzling<br />
illuminations that line the<br />
seafront from late summer through<br />
to November. This year marks the<br />
event’s 140th anniversary since the<br />
very first bulb along the promenade<br />
was switched on. To celebrate the<br />
iconic event, we look at the history<br />
of Blackpool Illuminations and how<br />
they have stood the test of time.<br />
Leading the electric<br />
light revolution<br />
The first illuminations took place<br />
in 1879 when Blackpool council<br />
invested £5,000 to make the change<br />
from gas lighting the promenade to<br />
make it one of the very first streets<br />
in the world to be illuminated by<br />
electric lights.<br />
Around 100,000 visitors from<br />
across the country flocked to<br />
see the switch-on of the original<br />
eight arc lamps. Over the years,<br />
the illuminations continued to<br />
grow bigger and better. Then, in<br />
1912 Queen Victoria’s daughter,<br />
Princess Louise, visited Blackpool<br />
and, to mark the occasion, 10,000<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
bulbs were used to create a large-scale<br />
permanent light display – it was a<br />
runaway success.<br />
The place to be<br />
Blackpool became a mecca for<br />
holidaymakers and, whether staying in<br />
a caravan<br />
or with a<br />
battleaxe<br />
Busy Blackpool seafront in<br />
the Sixties and right, the<br />
superbly illuminated ferris<br />
wheel in the Fifties<br />
The<br />
of<br />
br ght l<br />
BLACK P<br />
landlady a visit to Blackpool wouldn’t<br />
be complete without seeing the<br />
Illuminations.<br />
Lots of us saw the bright-lights<br />
for the first time on a work’s outing;<br />
travelling by coach armed with flasks<br />
of tea and sandwiches wrapped in<br />
greaseproof paper.<br />
We could tuck our<br />
skirts in our knickers<br />
or roll up our trouser<br />
legs and have a paddle<br />
in the cold North Sea or,<br />
for a few pence, hire a<br />
deckchair and soak up the<br />
last of the summer sun.<br />
We’d enjoy the thrills<br />
of the Pleasure Beach then<br />
grab a stick of Blackpool<br />
rock to enjoy on the tram<br />
ride back along the prom in<br />
time to marvel at the light<br />
displays – then back on the<br />
bus for the long journey<br />
home.
etro favourites<br />
l ghts<br />
POOL<br />
In autumn<br />
the lights<br />
were even<br />
more<br />
spectacular<br />
because<br />
the nights<br />
are longer<br />
but then<br />
you had to<br />
contend with<br />
those bitter<br />
coastal winds and<br />
ferocious tides!<br />
In 1933, Health<br />
& Safety was<br />
unheard of as<br />
workmen replaced<br />
the bulbs on<br />
Blackpool Tower<br />
The big switch-on<br />
Witnessing the lights being switched<br />
on by a famous face was an event not<br />
to be missed, in a tradition begun by<br />
Lord Derby in 1934. Over the years,<br />
well-known stars have been invited to<br />
pull that all-important switch including<br />
Gracie Fields, George Formby, Ken Dodd,<br />
Shirley Bassey, Danny La Rue and even<br />
Kermit the Frog!<br />
Towering<br />
centrepiece<br />
Inspired by the Eiffel Tower<br />
in Paris, Blackpool Tower,<br />
completed in 1894, is a<br />
major Blackpool attraction<br />
all year round but during the<br />
Illuminations it takes on a<br />
special role with a stunning<br />
sea of light and colours<br />
projected on to the iconic<br />
building.<br />
When the lights<br />
went out<br />
During the First and Second World Wars<br />
(and for a few years after) the lights<br />
were turned off due to cost and national<br />
security. Located as they are on the<br />
seafront, the light displays can be<br />
badly damaged by harsh storms but<br />
today, a team of 28 staff are on hand<br />
to maintain and make sure they are in<br />
perfect condition.<br />
Today, a trip to see the Illuminations<br />
isn’t complete without a ride on an<br />
iconic Blackpool Heritage<br />
Tram. The first five<br />
trams appeared in<br />
1897 to celebrate<br />
the Diamond<br />
Jubilee of Queen<br />
Victoria. Since<br />
then, they have<br />
been decorated<br />
using various<br />
themes and with<br />
patriotic red,<br />
white and blue<br />
slogans to mark<br />
royal occasions. One<br />
of the most iconic was<br />
the Gondola in 1925 which<br />
carried a small orchestra up<br />
and down the promenade while they<br />
played music!<br />
The lights<br />
today<br />
The most notable<br />
change to the lights<br />
in recent years has<br />
been the shift to<br />
greener electricity.<br />
The Illuminations are<br />
now powered solely<br />
from renewable energy sources, combining<br />
wind power, hydropower and bio-gas. This<br />
includes two wind turbines introduced on<br />
the South Promenade directly linked to the<br />
Illuminations’ supply. Also new for 2019 will<br />
be a Northern Lights display using the latest<br />
technology to recreate the earth’s natural<br />
phenomenon.<br />
Make the most of<br />
the Illuminations<br />
This year the lights run from August 30<br />
-November 3. During the October halfterm<br />
there’s also a special event called<br />
the Lightpool Festival featuring a mix of<br />
free live performances and light-based art<br />
installations. Sounds like a good time to<br />
take the grandchildren to visit...<br />
n To find out more, visit<br />
www.visitblackpool.com/illuminations<br />
In numbers...<br />
1 million bulbs are used<br />
£2 million is spent staging the lights extravaganza<br />
4 million people are expected to attend this year<br />
500 scenic designs and features will light up the seafront<br />
22 weeks are spent erecting the lights and<br />
9 weeks dismantling them<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
81
Take<br />
a trip<br />
Exotic<br />
B ri tai n<br />
Dip into<br />
Devon<br />
Love to spend holidays by the pool? If you’re looking to make a splash<br />
this summer, stay put in the UK and make Plymouth your next port of call<br />
Situated on Plymouth’s historic<br />
waterfront, the Tinside Lido is the<br />
perfect spot for soaking up the last<br />
rays of British summertime. Built in<br />
1935 and Grade II listed, it’s far from<br />
your average outdoor pool, boasting a semicircular<br />
Art Deco design.<br />
The 50m-wide pool has a shallow and a deep<br />
end as well as fountains to frolic in. It is filled<br />
with fresh, unheated seawater, making for a<br />
bracing swim. Each year, this sparkling pool<br />
gets a deep clean and a fresh lick of paint,<br />
ready for another season of swimmers to<br />
take the plunge.<br />
After taking a dip, they can dry off on the<br />
sun terrace, which commands a spectacular<br />
vantage point overlooking the sea and<br />
Plymouth Hoe – the perfect spot for enjoying<br />
an ice cream in the gentle coastal breeze. If<br />
you simply want to bask in the sun, there are<br />
sunloungers and deckchairs available for hire.<br />
Come sundown, the Lido transforms into<br />
an open-air cinema, with regular screenings<br />
taking place throughout the summer months.<br />
Tinside Lido<br />
is open between<br />
May and September.<br />
Call ahead for opening<br />
times and a schedule<br />
of current film<br />
screenings<br />
catch of the day<br />
A trip to the coast wouldn’t<br />
be complete without<br />
sampling some freshly<br />
caught seafood. Perched<br />
on the quay by the<br />
water’s edge, The<br />
Harbour Seafood<br />
Restaurant is where<br />
diners can watch<br />
bobbing fishing boats and<br />
swooping seabirds go by as<br />
they tuck into a slap-up<br />
fish and chip supper.<br />
You can sit inside<br />
the glass-fronted<br />
restaurant, or dine al<br />
fresco in the outside<br />
seating area.<br />
As well as<br />
haddock and<br />
cod, the daily<br />
specials menu<br />
offers delicious grilled<br />
monkfish, whole crabs,<br />
lemon sole and turbot<br />
for more adventurous<br />
palates.
Saltram House, has beautiful views over the River Plym<br />
and is a house ‘full of treasures, stories and intrigue’<br />
Fancy a<br />
tipple?<br />
Dating back to the<br />
early 1400s, Black<br />
Friars Distillery is<br />
the oldest working gin<br />
distillery in England. Situated<br />
in the heart of Plymouth, it is<br />
said to be where the Pilgrim<br />
Fathers spent their last night<br />
before setting sail in the<br />
Mayflower to the New World.<br />
Take a guided<br />
tour and learn<br />
about the art<br />
of making the<br />
world-famous<br />
Plymouth Gin,<br />
enjoy a tasting of<br />
the range and then<br />
relax in the Refectory<br />
cocktail lounge.<br />
A National Trust bolthole<br />
Just a 15-minute drive from<br />
Plymouth’s harbour, Saltram<br />
House and Gardens feels like<br />
a different world. Perched<br />
high above the River Plym,<br />
it has magnificent views<br />
across the estuary, 500 acres<br />
of landscaped parkland,<br />
peaceful gardens, blooming<br />
meadows and an enchanting<br />
woodland.<br />
A step inside this Georgian<br />
mansion will whisk you back<br />
in time to life in a country<br />
house through the centuries,<br />
with collections of Chinese<br />
wallpapers, period ceramics,<br />
classical portraits and fine<br />
china to admire.<br />
Outside, the garden<br />
offers something of interest<br />
all year round with an 18th<br />
Century orangery and a<br />
number of follies to explore.<br />
Did you know?<br />
As you stroll around the estate you may<br />
find the setting looks familiar as Saltram<br />
House was a location for the<br />
1995 film Sense and Sensibility, starring<br />
Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet<br />
A head for<br />
heights<br />
Standing tall on the verdant<br />
green expanse of Plymouth<br />
Hoe, Smeaton’s Tower<br />
is one of the city’s most<br />
recognisable and well-loved<br />
landmarks. Admire its red<br />
and white stripes from the<br />
ground before climbing up<br />
the 93 steps on the circular<br />
stone staircase where you’ll<br />
need to brace yourself for a<br />
gusty 360-degree panoramic<br />
view from the top. Look out<br />
After wandering along its<br />
scented pathways, treat<br />
yourself to afternoon tea in<br />
the Chapel tearoom or enjoy a<br />
game of croquet on the lawn.<br />
Should you visit with<br />
the grandchildren, there’s<br />
plenty to keep them<br />
entertained, from dressing-up<br />
in historic costume to family<br />
trail packs available from the<br />
Welcome Centre.<br />
Handy contacts<br />
n Visit Plymouth –<br />
www.visitplymouth.co.uk<br />
n Tinside Lido –<br />
01752 261915<br />
www.everyoneactive.com/<br />
centre/tinside-lido<br />
n The Harbour Seafood<br />
Restaurant – 01752 228556<br />
www.harbourbarbican.co.uk<br />
n Saltram House –<br />
01752 333500 www.<br />
nationaltrust.org.uk/saltram<br />
n Black Friars Distillery –<br />
01752 665292<br />
www.plymouthdistillery.com<br />
across the Plymouth Sound,<br />
with the hills of South Hams<br />
to the east and the Cornish<br />
countryside to the west.<br />
On the way up, you’ll<br />
get to see what life was<br />
like for an 18th Century<br />
lighthouse keeper and his<br />
family, passing a kitchen<br />
and tiny wooden beds, until<br />
you reach the lantern room<br />
at the top with its original<br />
candelabra.<br />
compiled By gabrielle albert; PICs: alamy stock photo<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
99
time of our lives<br />
Les Jobson tells<br />
how he attracted a<br />
dazzling array of stars<br />
to a little theatre in<br />
the north of England<br />
Returning to a small<br />
northern town after<br />
the war years, I never<br />
imagined I’d end up<br />
running a theatre that<br />
became globally famous. Seeing<br />
Music Hall and Variety shows at<br />
the Eden Theatre, County Durham,<br />
originally run by Stan Laurel’s father,<br />
ignited a lifelong love of theatre.<br />
As secretary of the Billingham<br />
Association Of The Arts, I worked<br />
hard to get acts up north. In the<br />
late Fifties I took a chance on an<br />
unknown 18-year-old, the guitarist<br />
John Williams. I sold just 24 tickets<br />
for one of his first performances, but<br />
the rest is history.<br />
When I was made director of<br />
the new Forum Theatre in 1968,<br />
inheriting a resident repertory<br />
company run by the actor Timothy<br />
West, I was determined that northern<br />
audiences would have their fair<br />
share of culture and secured many<br />
famous stars of the day, plus the great<br />
European orchestras, the RSC, D’Oyly<br />
Carte opera and Sadlers Wells theatre.<br />
The Forum also had magnificent<br />
workshops and I quickly realised<br />
that building sets was the key to<br />
the future – also that joining forces<br />
with a West End company could get<br />
us the stars! Working with London<br />
impresario Duncan Weldon we built<br />
sets and produced shows to a very<br />
high standard, which then toured<br />
85<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
the country. We launched 15 West End<br />
shows, 50 national tours and a raft of<br />
careers.<br />
Many shows went as far as the<br />
USA, Canada and Hong Kong and as<br />
the reputation grew, stars arrived in<br />
‘I was determined northern<br />
audiences would have their<br />
fair share of culture’<br />
Billingham such as Donald Pleasence,<br />
Deborah Kerr, Penelope Keith and John<br />
Mills. Great ideas were born there, from<br />
a young David Jason accidently getting<br />
his tie trapped which proved such a<br />
hit with the<br />
audience it was<br />
Les with his wife Jean and<br />
Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane.<br />
Right: Adam Faith as Jingle<br />
in the musical Pickwick at<br />
Billingham Forum theatre<br />
The show<br />
must go on!<br />
incorporated into the play, to inventing<br />
a way for a famous actor to escape the<br />
tabloid journalists.<br />
Edward Woodward was here<br />
when an alleged affair hit the national<br />
headlines, attracting clambering<br />
photographers. He was trapped until<br />
I realised that huge pieces of scenery<br />
were leaving the loading bay, so I had<br />
the idea of hiding him behind one so he<br />
could escape!<br />
My wife and I always tried to give<br />
the actors a few home comforts and<br />
visitors to the house included David<br />
Kossoff, Wilfrid Pickles, Peter Ustinov<br />
and Leonard Rossiter. My daughter Ann<br />
recalls having the whole of Dad’s Army<br />
arriving for dinner and encountering<br />
Adam Faith on the stairs, a reality most<br />
teenage girls could only dream of!<br />
In the early Eighties I worked as<br />
a company manager on shows such<br />
as Hi-de-Hi and the star-encrusted<br />
pantomime Cinderella at the Richmond<br />
Theatre, featuring the likes of Patsy<br />
Kensit and Lionel Blair.<br />
Now aged 96, I appear in front of the<br />
curtain instead, sharing my showbiz<br />
memories and will continue until my<br />
body, or my audience, cries... ‘enough!’<br />
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT<br />
85<br />
pics: topfoto, shutterstock editorial