Memorial to a modest man

This morning I went tothe gym then art before going to F's house for lunch.

This afternoon I went to the memorial get together for one of F's neighbours.  His wish was to be cremated with no-one there but a friend arranged a memorial afternoon.

Collin was the epitomy of a real gentleman.  He was in his 80s when he died and we only knew him in his later years when he moved to Oswestry.

He was a very quiet and modest man and he never spoke about his young life so the memorial was a real eye opener. We hadn't realised that he was a professional dancer and singer and his collection of scrapbooks were on display for us to see.

In the 1960s he had danced in countless musicals and variety shows on stage and TV. He danced at The London Palladium including at the Royal Variety Performance in front of The Queen and also performed at The Talk of The Town and other famous venues.

He performed with so many famous performers and the scrapbooks contained messages and signed photos of many of them. I can''t remember anywhere near all of the stars but they included Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Cilla Black, Bob Hope, Frank Ifield, Charlie Drake, Eartha Kitt, Jimmy Edwards,Mike and Bernie Winters etc. etc. 

We really wish that we'd asked him about his young life but he was so modest that he might not have wanted to talk about it.

It was lovely to talk about him and his interesting life with his friends and neighbours and to see his fascinating memorabilia.

I have made a collage of some of the souvenirs from the scrapbooks.  The portrait was painted of him when he was rehearsing and was apparently painted in a very short time.  He didn't have it on display but it will now hang on the wall of his best friend's house.