Today’s speaker was Patti Gold, a very well-known entertainer in her day, and the wife of Stuart Atkins, a speaker and presenter who has entertained us previously with talks and presentations.
As a 3-year-old, she made her first public appearance, and was soon seen in various pantomimes etc. winning awards for her singing and dancing. As she grew up, she toured the country with a version of “The Army Game”, and appeared at the Leeds Grand Theatre in “Goldilocks”, alongside John Hanson and David Whitfield.
Her school careers master despaired when she told him that the wanted to be a professional entertainer, especially when she told him that she was at the time earning £9.10 shillings per week in pantomime, probably more than he was earning!
She soon tired of panto, however, and formed her own 3 girl group, “The Deb Set”, appearing at Batley Variety Club for a 2-week booking alongside Frankie Vaughan. They did expect to be given the push at the end of the booking, but much to their surprise, were kept on, and spent 2and a half years learning their trade under the watchful eyes of Jimmy Corrigan, the club owner. She met her future husband, Stuart Atkins, when playing the Sheffield City Hall, at which time Stuart was MD for the Batchelors, and well known in the business.
They signed a 3-year summer contract with Bernard Delfont to appear alongside the likes of Mike and Bernie Winters and Lionel Blair, and they changed their name to Cool Breeze to appear in a 22-week run in Blackpool with Bernie Winters, who by this time had split from his brother Mike. They even did a performance in Armley Jail for “Workers’ Playtime”, an experience they were not too eager to repeat!
She became good friends with Gracie Fields, and, during a trip to Italy, was able to visit her at her home on Capri.
She eventually turned solo, formally taking the name of Patti Gold, when she performed in the Isle of Man, and she and Stuart have toured the world since, performing alongside the likes of Freddie Starr, Jim Bowen, Frank Carson, and Les Dawson, who, apparently could never be trusted to deliver the right lines in stage shows, even if he knew them in the first place!
Frankie Vaughan was apparently very superstitious, and would never appear on stage in anything other than a brand new, out of the box, white shirt.
One of her memorable experiences was appearing on the stage of the London Palladium, and is still amazed that when she looked out of her porthole window from a ship in Spitzbergen, Norway, she remembers quite clearly saying, “It looks just like Barnsley”.
After traversing the globe some 4 or 5 times, Patti retired a number of years ago, but with Stuart is still very much involved in show business, and is keen to present her experiences to all who will listen!