Bob Cleveland's Recollections
October 1997
In 1973 we did one performance in a farmhouse opposite Mo Ogg's house in Coleby. Perhaps it would help to talk to Mo's Mum who lives in Winteringham; she tends to keep records, and sometimes writes for the parish magazine.
We performed in the Lord Roberts' bar, in those days women were not allowed in there. No one seemed to pick out Jan Oliver as a woman, but there was a few strange looks at Martin Simpson (The Lady).
Also in 1973 we were dogged by TV. Cameras, Anglia TV caught us at a school somewhere, and Granada and BBC were jostling for position in the precinct. When the interviews were broadcast in the evening, Mo was giving forth with his great North Lincolnshire accent and his mum said, “I thought you would have spoken a bit nicer to the telly-man."
I think we had tea at John Walker’s house. We did the Jag at the Wortley, and the Berkeley, and I think we got changed at John Walkers the first year, but for many years after we tended to use my house.
My daughter Ginny would be about 6 at the time and vividly remembers Plough Jag Day. Lisa Walters, the little girl next door, had nightmares about the characters.
We did the Jag at Berkeley Junior School one year, and we were in the back room, ready to enter the Main Hall, all the kids were quiet, the Jag bell tinkled a little, and I heard Ginny, my daughter, say “It’s the Plough Jags."
I remember doing the Jag at the house Inn in East Ferry (now the Emerald Arms), in a little room lined with old bus seats. (That was the Lounge by the way.) The bottle of 'Wiff Waff ' was a bottle of Milk of Magnesia at that time; someone gave it a shake over Martin Simpson, and the top came off. It didn't do much for Martin's Hairdo.
We have had some great people acting the parts over the years, each adding his, or her, special bit to the play, some have been retained, others have fell by the way. I think Carl Hamilton first introduced the Horse manure.
One year we were accused of stealing the Haxey Hood.