Tiller Girls donated blood in Glasgow, 1962

THE reliably glamorous Five Past Eight show at Glasgow’s Alhambra Theatre in late July, 1962, featured Dickie Henderson, Lena Martell – and, fresh “from Sunday Night at the London Palladium” – the precision dance troupe, the Tiller Girls.

At one point during their visit, the girls had an unusual date with the local Blood Transfusion Service “blood bank” at No 82

West Regent Street. It was reported that when they arrived in the city they had intended giving some of their blood to the bank, in gratitude for the blood transfusions that had been given some time earlier to one of their colleagues who had died from leukaemia.

The photograph shows one of the dancers, Jean Fisher (left), giving blood. Awaiting her turn, and watched by their colleagues, is Pamela Wade.

The service dealt with 270 donors in the course of that day, taking 250 pints of blood.

The donations helped put the bank out of the “red”, so to speak, but although stocks were above the danger level, more blood was still needed to give the service an adequate reserve.

Dorothy Nelson, secretary of the service, told the Evening Times the following morning: “The people of Glasgow have done it again. They are a very warm-hearted and generous people.

“Among yesterday’s customers at the bank were a number of new donors, but many were regulars.

“We like to have about five days’ supply in the bank,” she added, “since we never know when there will be a rush for blood.

“We supply hospitals from Oban to the Borders and from Campbeltown to Grangemouth.”

The Five Past Eight show in which the Tiller Girls were co-starring was just one of a number of popular shows in town that week.

Others ranged from The Andy Stewart Show, at the Empire, to The Lex Mclean Show at the Pavilion, and Jimmy Logan in Wedding Fever (“Scotland’s funniest comedy”) at the King’s Theatre.