大象传媒

This story is submitted by volunteer Sarah Key on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

I was 15 years old when war broke out and had been learning drama both at school and privately - turning my hand to a few public appearances when I could. During that time I met lots of people in the Bristol area who were involved in entertaining and when I was about 16, some of them approached me to be part of something called the Bristol Wartime Entertainers.
The whole thing had been thought up by the editor of the Bristol Evening Post, John Bennett, to try and reach small units of troops in the local area who were stuck in the middle of nowhere, often only with a radio for amusement. He gathered together a host of artists who all pulled their friends in - we had to keep numbers up as many of them were called for national service or moved on to ENSA or the 大象传媒 Singers.
For the first couple of years a bunch of us, musicians, comedians, actors, you name it, would all travel out to often muddy fields to perform. We'd get there in either normal vehicles or army trucks - that was until Mr Bennett persuaded the Bristol Omnibus Company to donate a coach.
Then things really got professional!! They took the first four rows of seats out and put in a stage, with green velvet curtains and a mini piano. I loved that coach so much and when I turned up at the Evening Post Building in Colston Street to be told where we were going I'd always wish to be performing in it. Not least because if you went out in it, you'd get to do two shows a night.
It was a real whirl and extremely exciting. We would perform for large audiences or small, and go anywhere we were needed. Because the BBDC entertainment unit had relocated to Bristol during the war, we would often find ourselves working alongside some of the professionals - who could actually be a complete pain as they tended to Lord it over everyone.
Most of the time it was the stalwart of the Bristol Wartime Entertainers out in the field. There were only about six men to actually perform to, mind you, but it was worth it because they really did have nothing at all.

The Bristol Wartime Entertainers has a particularly special place in my heart as I also met my husband Peter Heazle there. He was a stand-up comedian and his partner Clifford Hensley went into ENSA and ended up working with the actor who became the policeman in Dad's Army. Peter didn't go into ENSA and joined the RAF instead, but still contined with stage work where he could. The pair stayed firm friends, however, and Clifford even travelled back from Inida, where he was posted with ENSA, to be the best man at our wedding.

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