Family takes its cue from the limelight

It has been on the amateur entertainment scene, and primarily through Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society, that the Wyatt family has made its distinctive mark on local life and brought pleasure to many thousands of people through the decades.

I've been discovering the full story of the remarkable Wyatt dynasty from Bruce Wyatt who, at 46, has already appeared in no fewer than 50 productions of the Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society.

He has thus emulated his late father, the widely popular Billy Wyatt, who notched up at least 50 roles in WODS shows between 1931 and 1980. Freda Wyatt - Billy's wife and Bruce's mother - also appeared in many productions.

Bruce is the current president of WODS and proudly completes a triple achievement by the family.

His father was president from 1967 to 1969, and so was his mother from 1975 until 1978. Obviously, it's a record for WODS, and probably unequalled in most such societies natiowide, to have had a father, mother and son all, in turn, as president.

The Wyatt family tree has so far been traced back to the mid-1700s and to a Thomas and Mary Ann Wyatt of Old Swinsford, but the theatrical line doesn't appear to have started until late Victorian times with John Wyatt, great-uncle of the present Bruce Wyatt.

He was born in 1866, and regularly appeared as the Minstrel Prince with the Worcester entertainment group of that era, the Bijou Minstrels, who presented an early form of the Black and White Minstrel Show.

Great-nephew Bruce possesses a Bijou Minstrels' programme for 1898, listing his forebear among the principal performers in a show at Worcester Theatre Royal and under his stage name of Bruce Wyatt.

His was a comedy act but he later also became the manager of the Bijou Minstrels. His great-nephew has another souvenir programme noting him in his managerial post at the start of the company's 15th season - 1904-5.

Alas, John Wyatt suffered 10 years of failing health and died in 1926, at the age of 59. His obituary in Berrow's Worcester Journal said of him: "To the older generation he was known as 'Bruce' and gained great popularity in the Bijou Minstrels and as a public entertainer. For a long period he used to take up all the up-to-date comic songs and also delivered stump speeches full of nonsense and mock enthusiasm. These made him very popular in the city and the countryside."

John Wyatt spent his working life away from the footlights as a GWR employee on the railways at Worcester, first in the engineering sheds where he lost the sight of one eye in an accident, and afterwards as a clerk.

His home was at 66 Somers Road, Worcester, and it was there that his daughter, Miss Marjorie Wyatt lived until her death in 1995. She was then in her 80s and left to the present Bruce Wyatt a superb collection of Bijou Minstrel and other old programmes.

John Wyatt was one of 10 children, and his brother Thomas, born in 1882, was to continue the family contribution to the local amateur entertainment scene.

He joined WODS about 15 years after its formation in 1892, and grandson Bruce has a WODS programme for 1908, showing Thomas Wyatt among the principals in the society's production that year of The Vicar of Bray.

It is not known how many more WODS shows Thomas appeared in, though it may well have been several.

Thomas lived at Hafod House, a large black and white property at Hawford and married Dora Hatton, who came from the same family as the leading Hereford artist Brian Hatton, who was killed in the First World War at the age of only 29.

Some of his paintings are still to be seen at the Hatton Gallery in Hereford.

Thomas Wyatt was an antiques dealer and ran his business for many years from the historic King Charles House in New Street, Worcester, later moving to a quaint black and white barn which is still to be seen alongside the A449 near Hawford. In his younger days, Thomas was a keen oarsman and became captain of Worcester Rowing Club in 1907-8.

His wife Dora died in 1946 and he survived her by 24 years, dying in 1970 at the age of 88.

Their son, born in 1913, was christened Gordon Cowtan Wyatt but came to be known widely by his nickname, Billy, apparently earned from a role he played in one of his earliest appearances on stage locally.

Billy, who was brought up at Hafod House and educated at The King's School, Worcester, very much followed in his father's footsteps. He joined him in his antiques business and soon developed an active interest in rowing and in amateur theatricals. In fact, son Bruce wonders just how much time Billy devoted to working in his father's antiques business in view of the two all consuming passions of his leisure hours.

"He could never have been at home either!" added Bruce.

Billy was clearly a fine oarsman and became captain of Worcester Rowing Club from 1939 until 1942.

He joined WODS in 1931, at the age of 18, and would dearly have liked to take up a professional career on the stage, but was firmly discouraged from doing so by his mother. From the day he became a member of WODS, Billy Wyatt began amassing scrapbooks packed with every programme, press report and photograph relating to each and every WODS production.

There were even page cuttings from the Daily Mail which, in the late 1930s, carried photos and reports on the annual WODS' productions, placing the society in the national limelight.

Billy's weighty scrapbooks are now among the proud possessions of Bruce Wyatt, who keeps them up-to-date with the latest productions. The scrapbooks clearly form an invaluable archive. Billy also left a collection of original Worcester Theatre Royal play bills dating back to the 1700s and souvenir programmes from the many shows he "took in" on visits to London.

Right from the start of his days with WODS, comedy was to be Billy's forte, and he was nearly always cast in comic roles. He will be remembered, above all, for that very husky voice which became his distinctive trademark.

"It was apparently caused by a nodule on a vocal cord," explains Bruce "but my father adamantly refused to have it removed. His attitude was always - 'if it's not a health problem, leave it alone, it's part of me'. "

Billy began his principal roles with WODS during the 1930s, and it was not long before one of the society's best dancers, Freda Parker caught his eye. They were married in 1941 and set up home in a cottage at Hawford, later moving into the long-established Wyatt family residence at nearby Hafod House.

During the 1930s, Billy developed a sideline as a hugely entertaining and amusing after-dinner speaker - according to a 1939 Malvern Gazette report, "having no local equal".

It was something he was to continue over the years, often referring in speeches to the great impact of WODS on his life in providing him "with a wife and a wonderful hobby".

The Second World War disrupted Billy's local amateur dramatics when he was called up to serve in the RAF, though it appears he saw little active service, playing his part in the war effort instead by helping entertain the forces.

His talents were commandeered to become a virtual impresario, organising RAF shows around the UK and, immediately after the war, in occupied Germany. Among the most popular shows he organised was RAF Discoveries, and in 1945 he was appointed the Combined Services Entertainments Officer at Detmund, Germany, based at the city's Opera House.

Throughout the war, Billy also appeared regularly on stage in his RAF shows as a stand-up comedian. In dog collar, he would step forward as a padre and begin in quiet, serious tones, gradually becoming ever more humorous as he warmed into his routine.

Back in Civvie Street, he returned to his father's antiques business but left in the early 1950s to begin 25 years service with GKN, as a sales executive based at Bromsgrove.

Even in this job, however, his past prowess as an impresario was soon called into use in arranging GKN displays and entertainments at annual Motor Shows in London.

He told son Bruce that of all the acts he booked, by far the "most professional" was comedian Bob Monkhouse who, with just a quick briefing, did great personal "send-ups" of GKN bosses.

Post-war, Billy continued his acclaimed annual appearances in comic roles in WODS' productions and also went on stage at the Theatre Royal from time-to-time as "an extra" in professional shows and in roles with a local theatrical group, The Pelican Players. There were also occasional trips up to Birmingham to take part in BBC radio programmes. Bruce still has the BBC contract his father signed.

After her dancing days, Billy's wife Freda took small acting parts in WODS productions and then became the society's wardrobe mistress for about 10 years, also serving on the main committee.

She and husband Billy were made Life Members of WODS and last appeared on stage together in the 1980 production of Bless The Bride. Significantly, Bruce too was in that show, and it was the only time all three were cast together in a production.

Freda died in 1983, at the age of 63, and Billy spent his late years living in an apartment at historic Bevere House, Worcester. He died in January, last year, at the age of 85.

Billy and Freda had two children - sons Ray and Bruce, who both went to Worcester Royal Grammar School and were introduced into WODS at an early age. At just nine, Ray was to make what proved to be his only appearance on stage with WODS - as the Boy King in the 1955 production of King's Rhapsody.

Ray has lived at Stone, Staffordshire, for some years and is a non-acting member of the North Staffs Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.

However, it is Bruce who has conspicuously continued the family tradition in front of the footlights locally with roles in 50 WODS productions so far. He joined the society fully in 1970, at the age of 16.

He has taken a wide varied of principal parts but, like his father, has shown a great talent in comic roles. His "proudest moment" theatrically was to be awarded the Best Comedy Award at the Newport International Festival of Musical Theatre following his sparkling performance in WODS 1990 production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

An equally proud moment for him was obviously his election last year to serve as president of WODS for two years, until March next year. He will be presiding at WODS next lavish production, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific at Malvern Festival Theatre from October 10 to 14.

"I knew my father would be delighted I was to be president like him and my mother before me, but, alas, he didn't live to see me take up the post," says Bruce. "However, news that I had been nominated as president came through six weeks beforehand, and I was able to tell him of it just before he died."

Bruce's wife, Jenny, from the Shirvington family of Worcester, has also appeared in several WODS productions as a dancer and in acting roles.

Like his parents, Bruce, who now lives at Stoulton, is deeply grateful to WODS for having given him "such a wonderful hobby" outside his working career as a contracts manager, based at Worcester, with npower, the electricity company.

But will the Wyatt family tradition in amateur entertainment continue into a fourth generation?

Ray Wyatt's son, Stuart who is 27, regularly works backstage with the North Staffs Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, but has not yet chosen to taken any acting roles.

Bruce's eight year-old son Steven is already on the waiting list to join WODS youth section, and five year-old daughter Joanna may also take up amateur theatricals in due course!

* To avoid any confusion, the theatrical Wyatts of this article are no relation of Worcester coal merchant, the late Bruce Wyatt and his family featured in Memory Lane some weeks ago.