The Vesta Times The news-sheet of the Vesta Tilley Society

Editorial

Hello, and welcome to the first ever

Vesta Tilley news-sheet, the first

edition of the ‘Vesta Times’. The

Committee of the Vesta Tilley

Society is aware that it has not been

very good at getting news out to the

membership, so this is our first

attempt at something other than the

website. Not everybody uses the

internet, so hopefully this will be

another way to ‘spread the word’.

One of the main aims and purposes

of the Committee is to raise the

profile of Vesta and to be honest, it

is an up-hill struggle. Many people

in Worcester have heard of her but

outside the County, very few.

Despite being one of the most

successful music hall stars of all

times, on both sides of the Atlantic,

she seems to have been largely

forgotten. We are all working hard

to correct the balance and the story

on the right hand side of this page

gave us all a real boost.

Vesta was a truly remarkable

woman and deserves to stay in the

collective memory of this country.

Chris Jaeger

Chairman, Vesta Tilley Society

BLUE PLAQUE CEREMONY IN HOVE

In August, the VT Society was contacted by

Hove Borough Council to say that it was putting

up a blue plaque on a block of flats to

commemorate the fact that Vesta used to live

there. They asked if we could send somebody to

attend and to make a short speech. I went and

did just that. (Actually, there were two plaque

ceremonies at the same building on the same

day as Dame Clara Butt used the live there, the

alto for who Elgar wrote ‘Sea Pictures’.)

It was a splendid ceremony attended by about

40 people led by the Deputy Mayor. The speech

about Vesta was warmly applauded and I had

the pleasure of being shown round her actual

flat, which was huge and with spectacular views

of the sea.

The champagne and canapés were equally

spectacular and all in all, it was a great day. A

big thank you to everybody involved. The

address should anybody want to visit is:

St. Aubyns Mansions, King’s Esplanade, Hove,

‘VESTA’ – THE SHOW starring CLAIRE WORBOYS

Since its world premier at the Swan Theatre, Worcester, to a full house, the show has been

available for bookings. So far this year, it has been back to the Swan for two nights, and has also

played the Rose Theatre, Kidderminster, the Market Theatre, Ledbury, the Artrix Studio, Bromsgrove,

the Palace Studio, Redditch, and it is due to play the Everyman Studio Theatre, Cheltenham on

October 24th

, 25th

, and 26th

. (Please come and support if you can!).

The show, written by Chris Jaeger, is a tour-de-force by actress Claire Worboys. She sings 12

songs and does all the character/costume changes on stage in full view of the audience (with of

course due Vesta-style modesty!) and of every occasion so far has held the audience spellbound

taking it through Vesta’s life. (Scripts of the show are available from the Society at the price of £4.99

and DVDS of the show at £10).

Whereas it has proved relatively easy to sell ‘Vesta’ in Worcestershire, it has proved virtually

impossible to sell it outside the county. We thought that Music Hall interest generally would

generate interest in the show but apparently not. The Society is intending to apply for a Heritage

Lottery grant, however, to have the show adapted for schools’ performance and have the new play

toured to every junior school in Worcestershire. Watch this space!

The Vesta Tilley Bridge

The VT Society has been trying hard for some months

to have the name of the new Diglis foot-bridge in

Worcester changed to the Vesta Tilley Bridge. It

would have cost nothing and would have guaranteed

saving Vesta’s name for perpetuity in the City of her

birth. Despite hundreds of signatures and support from

the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Faulkner of Worcester,

and over 50 organisations including many of the

schools and colleges, Worcester County Council

refused to countenance the idea. Nor did we manage

to get the Worcester News on side, mainly because

one member of the Ball family and one member of the

de Frece family objected to the idea. No doubt they

The Vesta Tilley Statue

It is still the intention of the Vesta Tilley

Society to try to get a statue erected somewhere

in Worcester as a permanent memorial to the

great lady (assuming not too many of the

family object!). Realistically, we will never be

able to raise the money for it and it is doubtful

if City Council will every have enough spare

money to do it. Therefore, we are dependent on

some of the ‘public art’ money becoming

available, which often goes hand in hand with

building permission for commercial projects.

We try to bring as much pressure as we can but

we are in competition with organisations like

VESTA TILLEY SOCIETY COMMITTEE

Chris Jaeger (Chairman)

Paul Griffith MBE (Treasurer)

Lucy Hodgson (Secretary)

David Nash, Dr. Adrian Gregson, Professor Judith Elkin, Miriam Harvey,

Georgia Smith, Iain Rutherford, Lesley Hart and Ray Sturdy.

SOCIETY LONG-TERM PLANS

As well as the general aims of trying to get a statue built in Worcester,

and raising the profile of Vesta generally, we are planning a big

celebration of Vesta’s anniversary in 2014 (150 years since her birth).

We don’t know what form those celebrations will take yet and if people

have ideas, please feel free to get in touch and make suggestions.

Otherwise, watch this space!!

Thanks to the generosity of Paul Griffith MBE, we still

have free post cards of Vesta available(see above). If

you would like the two cards, please send a stamped-

addressed envelope to VT Society at the Swan Theatre.

‘Vesta’ DVD

At the premier of the

‘Vesta’ show, a very

good video was filmed.

These are available

price £10, cheques

payable to ‘On A Role’

from the Swan Theatre.

Highly recommended!

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Quite a large number of people will have just had, or will soon be

getting, membership renewal letters. You may even be getting one with

this newsletter. We do hope that you will feel able to rejoin and support

the Society. Also, please remember to tick the tax box on the form as it

means we can claim gift aid which is a useful sum of money.

All money from membership goes towards running the Society and

raising the profile of Vesta Tilley.

Membership Library

A reminder to members that

as a ‘perk’ of membership,

we have a small library from

which books can be

borrowed.

We have ‘The Recollections

of Vesta Tilley’ by Lady de

Frece, ‘Vesta Tilley’ by Sara

Maitland, ‘The Great Little

Tilley’ by Gwynedd

Sudworth and the Vesta Box

CD with 15 original tracks

by Vesta.

If you would like to borrow

anything, just get in touch

with Chris Jaeger at the

Swan Theatre.

The Vesta Tilley Society

c/o/The Swan Theatre

The Moors

Worcester

WR1 3ED

www.vestatilleysociety.net

Vesta Tilley Talks

Ray Sturdy, who is a member of the Committee, does

an excellent illustrated talk on Vesta Tilley. It is ideal

for groups and societies. He can be contacted at

ray.sturdy@talk21.com

Vesta Tilley was born just

off Wylds Lane in

Worcester. There is a plaque

to commemorate

her birth on the Pink

Garlic Indian takeway

Restaurant in Wylds

Lane. It is a very

attractive reminder of

Vesta, and well worth

a visit. The take-away’s

good too!!