A BLACK COUNTRY TENOR.
The associated website--“Black Country Bookmakers”-- recalls the rather colourful story of the
progression from Chainmakers to Bookmakers of the Sidaway family from Cradley Heath, from the 1920’s
through to the 1970’s
My Dad, Albert Thomas
Sidaway (Tom Sidaway) was
the eldest of the brothers that ran the betting shops
in Cradley Heath
and Reddal Hill until his death in 1977
There was however
another “string to my Dad’s bow” and this was bought sharply into focus by the
discovery of a 1930 letter from the BBC
The letter was addressed to a Miss Pugh who was a sort of “talent
spotter” for the BBC
Her Father was himself a well-known tenor in the early 1900’s
Many readers will be
aware of the poverty that existed during the global economic meltdown in the
1930’s
and the following
should serve to remind them and also to draw a comparison with the recessions
of more
recent times
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My parents married on April 19th 1930 at
the height of the worldwide recession when Dad,
a chainsmith, was “on the dole” together with millions of
others.
Mom quickly became pregnant,
she carried on working—dipping tin baths in the galvanising vats
at Ernest Stevens, Cradley Heath---almost until I was born in February the
following year and Dad
would often walk the
fourteen miles to Longbridge and back to try to find
work at “The Austin”
In a very bad week Mom’s wedding ring would be
pawned on Monday and redeemed on Friday,
dole payment day
Apparently however we were much better off than
most with Dad supplementing his income with
singing engagements and
with some help from his Dad they were able to move into their own house
This was on the banks of Mouse Sweet Brook (a
tributary of the River Stour) and I’m told that
one day at the age of
two I somehow slipped out of the house and wandered down to the brook.
I was found sitting in it up to my neck!
Pictured at the bottom of Granny Shaw’s garden and on their honeymoon at Blackpool in April 1930
As a child Dad had a remarkable singing voice, a powerful well modulated voice, and not a “boy soprano” type
voice so that when his voice “broke” he developed naturally into an adult singer
His range was
remarkable, from rich baritone to tenor—top C was sung effortlessly
His Dad—Sandy Sidaway—somehow found the money for singing lessons and in the 1920’s, singing teachers
were few and far between so that Dad had to travel to the end of the Hagley Road close to Brum, a long way
in those days,
The singing teacher was a Mr Blurton, he was well known in Midland music circles and was also organist
at Halesowen Parish Church
Dad’s reputation as a
singer was spreading even though the profession was remarkably snobbish in
those days,
and later in the year he was auditioned by the
BBC at the relatively tender age of twenty-three
Following the
audition, he was contracted to sing two songs for a fee of three guineas, a
small fortune in
those days
On the day, he was
stony broke and had to borrow the tram fare to town for Mom and himself but,
later, he
planned to celebrate at Yates Wine Lodge with his
three guineas fee
He had to arrive
several hours before the broadcast and with the relatively basic audio
equipment available
in those days, coupled with his very powerful
voice, he spent a long time in front of the microphones as the
engineers tried to get it right.
The mikes finished up
several feet away from him
With that ordeal and
some nerves, he claimed that he wasn’t at his best but Mom always said he sang
well
as did most of the population of Cradley Heath—no
competition from TV in those days!
To his dismay, the
fee was paid by cheque!
He’d never even seen
a cheque in his life let alone had one but off he went and handed it in at the
large and
salubrious branch of Barclays and asked for the cash!
He might as well have
asked for the moon!
“Do you have an
account with us Mr Sidaway?”
No! Then sorry we
can’t cash it!
Dad tried to argue
his case but the clerk was adamant
The Manager got
involved and Dad said, in his Black Country accent, that he’d just sung on the
BBC.
He was looked at in
total disbelief but to his credit the Manager consulted his Radio Times and
agreed that
there was a Mr Sidaway,
tenor soloist, on that day, so:
“Do you have
evidence of your identity Mr Sidaway—a business card,
a driving licence?
In those days, what
chainmakers had a business card or a driving
licence!!!
So Dad did the only
did the only thing open to him to prove his identity
He took a step back
and sang the opening verse to Mom’s favourite song, a song that I’d heard him
sing many
times, the words go;
You are my hearts delight
And
where you are I long to be
You make
my darkness bright
And like
a star you shine on me
They
gave him the money!
Eventually
he did have a business card
The address, at
Silverthorne Lane meant that it must have been printed later than 1937.
Before that we
lived at Plant Street in Old Hill
I was six when we moved from Plant Street and the house there reflected
the improvement in the family fortunes,
It had a lounge (front room) as well as a living room and kitchen and a
very imposing staircase and landing
My lasting memories of Plant Street are gazing in awe at Dad dressed in
his evening suit as he prepared for
one of his singing engagements and the day my
brother was born in 1936
My Brother Derrick, a National Service
Infantryman pictured in 1957, aged 21.
Shortly before he had broken a British weightlifting record
He
died tragically in 1969, aged 33 years
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Subsequently Dad was
engaged as lead tenor in operas at Birmingham Town Hall—I don’t know the name
of the
operas but he had to have sword fighting lessons
for one lead—in spite of this, he said that he was more at home
wielding a chainmakers
2lb lump hammer than a rapier
Following on, he was
offered the job of lead tenor at Ripon Cathedral at the princely salary (not
wage) of £250/year.
He would only have
had to work for three days a week with a guarantee of concert work
Dad would have
accepted the post but Mom said no
.
With nine
siblings, she was very much a family person and Ripon must have seemed a long
way away however,
I have the
feeling that she was apprehensive about how she would fit into the very middle
class background
of one of the County’s leading Cathedrals
So he turned down the
offer!
However, his singing
engagements grew and he became extremely well known in the area.
Then along came the
War, this effectively put an end to his professional singing career and then,
after the War,
his other love—bookmaking—slowly got the upper
hand
Mom with Dad in his Crombie
overcoat, in later and more affluent times
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As a child and youth I was privileged to hear my Dad sing on numerous occasions.
The earlier parts of the story are anecdotal and are pieced together from conversations with my Parents
and other members of the Sidaway family and family friends
Dad never had formal piano lessons although he could read music and we always had a piano in the house.
He was however self taught to the point where he could accompany himself by playing chords and my lasting
memory is of him accompanying himself with the “flattened” index finger of his right hand moving up and
down the keys.(see Black Country Bookmakers)
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end