SOMBRE may have been his surname but Jack Blackman brought light, colour and cheer to the Worcester scene for more than a-quarter-of-a-century as a dance band leader, compere and comedian.

Then came Jack's lengthy public service to the Faithful City as a councillor, alderman and First Citizen. He was Mayor of Worcester in 1971-72 and was also chairman of the South West Worcestershire Water Board during its comparatively short but effective life.

I knew Jack Blackman well in his city council days when I was local government reporter for the Evening News, and I am obviously happy to pay homage to him again here today. He was amiable, generous, a sharp wit, hospitable, sometimes blunt and direct, and never really lost his London accent.

Recently, my colleague Mike Pryce wrote a super piece on the Big Band leaders of yesteryear in Worcester, but Jack Blackman's daughter, Mrs Josephine Climo of Ombersley Road, Worcester, has pointed out the omission of her father.

In fairness, Jack's was not really a Big Band having usually been of four to six musicians.

Even so, Jack Blackman and his Westenders was an extremely popular dance band for more than two decades. It was formed in the 1940s and continued playing until the early 1960s.

Regular venues included the Guildhall, Shirehall and the Public Hall in Worcester and the Malvern Winter Gardens. The band also played at numerous dances, hunt balls and private parties in hotels and at other locations all over Worcestershire and as far afield as Cheshire.

Mrs Climo says the Westenders mostly lived in the north of Worcester, like Jack himself whose home was in Ombersley Road. The band's regular members were Horace Miles on piano, Ivor Gethin (tenor saxophone) and Teddy Bowkett (drums and vocals). The Westenders first drummer had been Bill Barber who lived in Malvern and had his own fish shop.

After a while, Jack was to be regularly seen playing a double bass he inherited when American servicemen at Blackmore Camp, Malvern, had to leave their musical instruments behind on being deployed to the Normandy Landings in 1944!

Other musicians also joined the Westenders from time-to-time including pianists Ruth Merry and Bill Bailey, trumpet player Reg Turrell and saxophonists Ken Bruno and Al Beechey.

The last two later had popular dance bands of their own, and Bill Bailey will be remembered as owner of a hardware shop in Pump Street for many years.

Three of Jack Blackman's five children also appeared with the Westenders during his band's final years. Daughters Josephine and Catherine sang vocals while son Anthony played trombone.

Jack Blackman was born in 1914, at Camberwell, London, the son of George Blackman who, as George Grogie, was a well-known comedian who appeared on variety bills and in end-of-pier seaside summer shows. Jack's mother, Mary, had been on the staff of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle prior to her marriage.

After leaving school in north London, Jack had a number of jobs, including book-maker's clerk, before moving to Malvern, in the early 1930s when his father became assistant director of the Festival Theatre.

Five years later, however, Jack moved with his widowed mother to Worcester and began working at Archdales factory. He sought to join the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the Second World War but was turned down as he was in a reserved occupation.

Instead, he became an air raid warden and was also soon in demand for his talents as a comedian and compere.

When allied servicemen returned from Dunkirk in 1940, many thousands were sent off all over the country by the train-load, some arriving at Shrub Hill Station, Worcester, and being transported to the Scala Cinema at Angel Place for food and rest. A lot had no shoes nor full uniforms.

Jack was called out from Archdales to organise shows for them - and thus began his new side-line career as an entertainer, soon with his own wartime concert party.

Also in 1940, he married Anne Grimbaldeston, a state registered nurse at Worcester Royal Infirmary, and they went on to have five children. Chris has been a local businessman for some years. Josephine (Mrs Climo) worked in her brother's firm for 20 years. Anthony is a doctor in Dudley, West Midlands. Catherine (Mrs Ryan) is a chemist in Lancashire. And John, who is handicapped, lives near Droitwich.

Jack Blackman eventually left Archdales and for a time in the 1940s was manager of the Westminster Hotel in Malvern.

This became one of the venues for Jack Blackman and the Westenders when the dance band first got into the swing.

Jack's brother George saw active service in the Second World War but occasionally appeared as a comedy double act with Jack during the 1940s. George was in the Fire Service at Worcester after the war but moved away from the city in the early 1950s.

Jack was elected to Worcester City Council in 1951 and continued to represent St Stephen's Ward until his death 22 years later. From the start, it meant not only serving the citizens of Worcester conscientiously and unpaid, but also running his dance band and working hard for his growing family.

He went into catering, first selling ice-cream at The Slip, a stretch of riverside meadowland at Northwick, then very popular with fishermen and day trippers from The Black Country.

Next, came a tea stall at Bromwich Parade, another busy riverside location, to be followed by his purchase of the City Snack Bar in Foregate Street. He finally took over the Deansway Restaurant, and not only ran this successfully but also had a small building company and acquired the Worcester School of Motoring where the principal instructor was fellow musician Ken Bruno.

The Deansway Restaurant, a distinctive mock black and white building, was eventually pulled down to make way for the Technical College.

As a city councillor, Jack had a particular interest in education, serving on the city education committee throughout and being its vice-chairman for seven years. He was also a governor of three schools and chairman of the St Mary's Convent School Appeal Committee.

He was elected for terms as City Chamberlain and High Sheriff, became an Alderman, and was appointed chairman of the South West Worcestershire Water Board having been involved in the Clwydog Reservoir Project in Wales, as a member of a joint authorities committee.

But the pinnacle of his public service was reached in 1971, when he was elected Mayor. Towards the end of his year of office, Jack and the Mayoress, his wife Anne, were invited by the Mayor and Corporation of Worcester, South Africa, to visit their town but, alas, while on this so-called trip of a lifetime, Jack was taken ill and had to receive hospital treatment for what turned out to be terminal lung cancer.

I well remember visiting Jack in bed at his home on his return from South Africa. He had a plaster on his chest, marked with a cross for his appointments at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham for radiography treatment. Unfortunately, his health deteriorated and he died at home in March 1973.

As daughter Josephine rightly summarises, Jack "always loved an audience".