CARDIFFREMEMBERED How the mayor mixed with the rich and the famous

A FORMER Cardiff Lord Mayor’s visitors’ book has provided an intriguing glimpse into life in the city in the 1920s.

The book which covers the years 1926-27 – which had belonged to Alderman William Grey – was kindly loaned to me by Cardiff Remembered reader Adrienne, his great-granddaughter.

Packed with photographs and press cuttings from the years he was in office, it is a fascinating read.

It tells of the famous people he entertained and the events he attended during his year of office with the Lady Mayoress Mrs FJ Jenkins, who was in fact his daughter.

One of the press clippings tells how, at a London garden party, the Queen and Princess Mary chatted with the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Cardiff.

Her Majesty is said to have spoken with charming appreciation of the enthusiam shown at the recent royal visit to Cardiff, and she told them: “We greatly enjoyed our recent visit to Cardiff and I think the new museum is most beautiful and a credit to Wales.”

The museum the Queen was referring to was, of course, the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff’s civic centre.

During their time in office, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress met many well-known people. And with Cardiff City winning the FA Cup in 1927, they had plenty to celebrate.

However, the one story I was particularly interested in reading was of the visit to Cardiff of Miss Betty Balfour, who was a guest of the Lord Mayor at a tea party in the City Hall.

Miss Balfour, who was known as “the British Mary Pickford”, was a popular actress in the 1920s.

In the year she came to Cardiff she was named by the Daily Mirror as the country’s favourite movie star.

During the tea party she told the Lord Mayor: “During my career as a film artist I have visited some particularly fine cities and towns, but I must say that Cardiff is indeed fortunate in possessing a magnificent civic centre.

“The City Hall is most impressive, so free from the noise and bustle that municipal buildings have to contend with in other cities.”

Betty Balfour made her stage debut in 1913 in Medora at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square.