Help! Everything’s not Yankee Doodle Dandy

WHEN I was eight years old, in 1948, I was a member of a large choir at a church in Swansea. The choirboys attended church twice on Sunday, and Wednesday evening, followed by choir practice. We received a stipend of five shillings (25p) every quarter, usually after choir practice. On one occasion we did not receive our stipend for reasons unknown. The younger members of the front choir stalls were a bit upset about this and so — egged on by the more senior members, and possibly influenced by the industrial disputes of the era — we decided we would not be attending the services the following Sunday. Instead, we would go to the local park and play games. You can imagine the consternation of the congregation when the service started with the front choir stalls empty. Apparently, this was unheard of. The following Wednesday we attended service and choir practice and received our stipend. We young choirboys decided we would go to the local cinema to watch James Cagney in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy as a special treat to ourselves. We paid our shilling (5p) for a seat up in the gods and were enjoying the film when ceiling plaster began to fall on the audience. People started screaming and running and panic ensued. I sometimes wonder whether this was divine intervention for our actions the previous Sunday.

John Steer, Milford Haven, Pembs.