He apologises for the poor quality of the photos which were taken on a very small digital camera under difficult conditions.

Here is the first shot, taken in the main lobby looking up to the Royal Circle Lounge. Note that the balustrades have been removed, along with the decorative ceiling fittings upstairs.

This is the Grand Staircase up to the Royal Circle Lounge. The ornate handrail has been removed along with the substantial ceiling pendant fittings.

This is screen 2, which is the rear stalls to the left.

The dividing wall between screen 2 and screen 3 has been removed. This is standing in screen 2 looking across to screen 3.

A piece of projector debris in a stairwell on the way up to screen 1.

Up in screen 1, the circle of the original auditorium. Note the stacked chairs and the partially removed wall sconces.

Looking to the right hand wall. The screen can be seen, which is mounted in front of the original proscenium.

Looking back towards the upper Circle.

At front Circle, looking across to the left wall

Centre circle, looking towards the (damaged) screen

One of the ornate cast seat row ends, with integral aisle downlighter

A view into the auditorium from one of the projection room ports.

Another port view towards the screen.

In the projector room access stairwells each side, there is a large Paramount mountain stylised metal screen. This is the view looking out.

One of the control panels for lighting, screen masking and Tabs.

The Cinemation unit- the automated system for running the show, as well as most of the building electrics.

The projection room, with one of the Victoria 8 machine plinths moved out of the way, probably to ease dismantling. (The mechanism and lamphouses were taken to Doncaster Odeon backstage for storage after the Cinema closed)

After the Cinema was quadrupled, the upper circle lounge was converted into a licensed bar. This stencil is in one of the sofa niches and the decoration was carried out by the Cinema staff.

Once again, a massive thank you to John Matthews of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society for agreeing to let these photos be shown. Many of us will be delighted to see them, and saddened by the removal of the fixtures.

Geoffrey and John visited the former screen 2 and 3 on the ground floor, now with their separating wall removed, (probably because of the asbestos insulation used in the 70’s conversion) and now returned back a single space as it was when first opened, then upstairs to screen 1, the largest which still could seat over 1000 patrons at the time of closure in 2002.  Some of the original ornate metal side cheeks which graced the row ends were stacked awaiting removal along with other remnant of the auditorium seating. The highly ornate decorative fixtures above the lighting columns which were also original fittings when the cinema was opened in 1931 by Paramount have all been removed. The last part of the tour was at the top of the building in the projection room where, apart from some electrical control units, nothing remains.

It seems that anything which could be taken has been taken, which of course as owners of the building at the time Cinven were perfectly entitled to do. However the fact that the Society had submitted a document to the DCMS providing additional information to substantiate our request for them to return the Odeon’s Grade II listed status,  and it was therefore still “under consideration” we still feel it was a cynical act of wanton destruction by the owners. It took the DCMS seven years to respond to this report despite numerous letters and telephone calls from the Society as each time we were told “no decision has yet been made”.

The Society believes that the DCMS’s record in this sad affair has been lamentable and wish to see the new Government resurrect the proposed Heritage Bill (quietly dropped by the Labour Government a year or so ago) which would remove the DCMS (and its transient Ministers) from the equation and allow English Heritage to be the final arbiter in listing and delisting decisions. We are well aware that the Minister at the DCMS at the time was heavily lobbied by the previous owners Rank and venture capitalists Cinven (the new owners of the Odeon and ABC cinema and theatre estates), (including a former Government Heritage Minister) and rather than accepting two separate reports from English Heritage recommending the Odeon’s protection and Grade II listing, she preferred to accept a professionally commissioned report from the owners on appeal. Cinven went on to sell off the Odeon /ABC to other cinema chains but sold the most valuable sites on to developers (including the Newcastle site) which is why they lobbied strongly to get listed status removed.

The Society’s concern is that if this can happen to the Odeon, which at the time considering its age was remarkably intact and certainly worthy of listing, other buildings are therefore potentially at risk. As owners (and councils) see no commercial advantage in retention, other buildings which currently have listed building protection could be at risk if they stand in the way of new development. They could have their listed status challenged and subsequently removed in the same way as the Odeon on appeal to the DCMS. In this way we could loose other important fine examples of art décor 20th century architecture on the Pilgrim Street site  Carliol House and the Magistrates Court, a group of buildings which including the Odeon are arguably as important historically to the architectural heritage of Newcastle as the much valued Grainger Town.

To end on a more positive note, Brookfield have provisionally agreed an offer of financial support to capture all of the available information, be it photographic, written or spoken memories relating to the Paramount/Odeon over it’s 80 year lifespan; and to assist in the creation of an exhibition somewhere in the city, possibly leading to finding a permanent home for any memorabilia we can obtain from former employees and members of the public. We are certainly in agreement with Brookfield that IF the building must be lost to future generations, its sad demise MUST be recorded in a professional and complete manner. We have lost too many buildings in the past without proper studies being carried out. It is the least this fine historic building deserves. The Northumberland and Newcastle Society have offered our assistance in this initiative.

A more complete history of the Societies campaign to “ Preserve the Paramount” will be complied by John Matthews who was Chair of the Tyneside Committee at the time of the Odeon’s de-listing and will be posted along with his series of black and white images of the Paramount in 1931 in the near future.”

(From John Matthews)

This was taken by Ian Meyrick in September 2009 at the CTA Archives. Ian describes Mervyn as being very engrossed in items from the Tony Moss Collection. This is possibly the last known photo of Mervyn before his unfortunate demise the following month.

Mervyn Gould

Former stage manager and writer of books on cinema history, Mervyn Gould has died at the age of 62.

Mervyn Stockbridge Gould was born on December 14, 1946 and, having been fascinated with technical theatre from his early teens, Mervyn landed his first paid backstage job aged 17 in 1963 as ASM (and props) for a two-week run of Babes in the Wood at Boston Regal, touring into Crewe, Buxton and Leek. He remained a casual showman at the venue (and number two lime boy) until moving to London in 1965 to study history at Marjons in Chelsea.

Having had the foresight to join the National Association of Theatrical Television and Kine Employees, he was able to get work in numerous West End theatres, although it impacted on his degree, as he just scraped through the finals.

After several years of touring, residences and even walking Schnorbitz – a period he described as “the painful death throes of variety” – he spent three seasons at Sunderland Empire as CD operator, then a year as deputy chief engineer at the Palace Theatre during the run of Jesus Christ Superstar.

He joined Loughborough University English and Drama Department in 1979 as a technical tutor, which gave him the opportunity to gain an MA and still work occasional summer seasons or pantos. He remained there for 17 years before taking early retirement due to ill health.

As an author, he wrote four books on cinema history as well as numerous articles for the theatrical press, including The Stage, Tabs, Cue and Cueline.

In 2007, he was interviewed for the Theatre Archive Project and his colourful memories can be found online at www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/gouldm.html

He died peacefully at home in Loughborough on October 29.

(This is currently online on their website here).

MINUTES of the EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

held at the Cottage Road Cinema, Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 16 January 2010 at

11.30 a.m.

1. Apologies, quorum and proxies: Present: Kate Taylor (in the chair), Derek Atkins,

Dave Biscombe, Johnnie Cliff, Victor Alan Edwards, Gerry Glover, Ian Grey, Martin Hall,

Ian Houseman, Colin Jeffrey, Ian Meyrick, Charles Morris, Shaun Richardson, Harry Rigby, Edwin Robinson, Jim Schultz, Paul Smith, Colin Sutton, Derek Todd, Kathy Todd,

David Williams. (21)

Apologies/proxies: 75 proxy forms had been received from those apologising for absence.

The total of those present and proxies (96) was more than the 10% of the 210-strong membership required for the meeting to be quorate.

2. Introduction: Kate Taylor welcomed members to what was a sad, but – because of the attendance – also rather a gala occasion. She thanked members for coming and expressed particular gratitude to Charles Morris for hosting the venue.

3. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 12 December 2010 were circulated. One typo was corrected to confirm there was NO immediate need to relocate the archive or stock. Subject to this amendment, the minutes were approved.

4. Matters arising from the minutes:

4a Odeon Putney: Kate Taylor had written to the Odeon management and to the projectionist thanking them for hosting the AGM and showing us the projection facilities.

4b Archives and Stock: It was confirmed that the archives remained at Mervyn Gould’s home and that the bulk stock was stored securely in Doncaster. Some stock was held by the Chairman and Sales Officer at their homes.

5. Motion to Wind Up the Society

Kate Taylor, from the Chair, proposed the motion That the Society be wound up in accordance with the details set out in the Constitution.

She said that she was not happy to present the motion, but knew it was necessary.  It was a momentous and sad day; the Society had existed for 30 years and had many notable achievements to its name. Amongst these were persuading the Charity Commission to accept that MCS was performing a public service and was not just a private club, and obtaining a £5000 grant from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts.

Our publications stand as our great achievement.  Through Rosemary and Chris Clegg, then Brian Hornsey and herself, and for the last 15 years with design, typesetting and editing by Mervyn Gould, over 40 books had been produced. Mervyn’s voluntary work had enabled MCS to continue to produce books at a viable rate which would not otherwise have been possible.

We had been unable to find people with the combination of skills, time, the technology and the will to continue with our book and Bioscope publication programme; without these, we had nothing to offer our members.

Our membership of 210 was the highest we had been able to achieve, despite good publicity and excellent press coverage for our books, especially Coventry Picture Palaces, which had already sold out.  Comments on proxy forms had also underlined the aging profile of our membership.

In an email received from the Cleggs, Chris had written that it was sad, but we had to be realistic.  Looking at the past 30 years, he said that we could be proud that so much information had been published and so much achieved.

The Chairman concluded by saying we should close on a high note of success, rather than gradually fade away and on this basis she placed the motion before the meeting for consideration.

In discussion, it was suggested that we try and find a way in which we could get people to move over to the CTA (if not already members) in order to ensure continuity and to keep the name of Mercia CS alive in some way.  Kate Taylor said that this was one of the issues which would be discussed with the CTA Committee in due course; offering to give Mercia members a year’s CTA membership and perhaps ring-fencing some money for publications, with acknowledgment to Mercia, were two ideas we may put forward.

The Treasurer confirmed that Life Members would have any ‘unexpired’ portion of their subscription returned, and that there were sufficient funds available to meet all MCS debts.

The motion was put to the vote:

*including 2 votes left to the decision of the Chair

The motion was therefore carried with the necessary two-thirds majority required by the Constitution.

6. Any other Business

6a Charles Morris, a former Treasurer, expressed thanks to Kate Taylor for holding the Society together for so many years, which had included some very difficult times.  Members present warmly applauded his words.

6b At the AGM, members had appointed a Committee to take the necessary actions to wind up the Society subject to the outcome of the EGM; and to engage in discussions with the CTA over transfer of assets.  Kate Taylor asked if this were still the will of the members, and whether anyone wished to put forward other suggestions for potential recipients of funds, which would have to be disposed of in due course in line with the constitution.

No other suggestions were made, and the committee membership was ratified unanimously as below:

Chairman:                     Kate Taylor

Vice-Chairman:              Ian Meyrick

Treasurer:                      Ian Grey

Sales Officer:                Martin Hall

Committee members:    Johnny Cliff, Gerry Glover, Frank Manders, Paul Smith.

6c The Chairman closed the meeting by thanking all those past and present who had served the Society in so many ways over its 30-year life. She also thanked Charles Morris for allowing us to meet in his cinema.

The meeting was followed by the opportunity for members to visit the projection facilities of the Cottage Road Cinema.

MINUTES of the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2009

Held at the Odeon Cinema Putney on Saturday 12 December 2009 at 11.15 a.m.

1. Apologies, quorum and proxies: Present: Kate Taylor (in the chair), Johnnie Cliff, Edwin Gilmour, Gerry Glover, Ian Grey, Martin Hall, Ian Houseman, Ian Meyrick, Ian Patterson, John Pilblade, Philip Roberts, David Simpson, Cathy Stevens, Ian Van Ryne, Sebastian Weber, Nigel Wolland (16). Apologies/proxies: 66 proxy forms had been received from those apologising for absence.

This was more than the required 10% of membership for the meeting to be quorate.

2. Chairman’s welcome: Kate Taylor welcomed all present and introduced herself and committee members present.

3. Mervyn Gould: Members stood in silence as a tribute to Mervyn, the Society’s long-serving and immensely dedicated administrator, who had died on 28 October. A number of members had been able to attend his funeral service at Loughborough Crematorium on 13 November and the Society had sent flowers.

4. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 13 December 2008 had been circulated in Bioscope (no. 110, February 2009). They were approved as circulated. There were no matters arising.

5. Officers’ Reports:

5a. Chairman’s Review

Kate Taylor said: Whilst this has in some ways been a most successful year, it has also been somewhat fraught with problems and has ended very sadly with the death of our Administrator, Mervyn Gould, on 28 October.

Membership has grown slightly with 23 newcomers against the loss of 19, and stands now at 210. The four quarterly Bioscopes have all been rich with interest, issued in excellent time, and, thanks to Mervyn’s skills and dedication, splendidly designed and illustrated.

We have again published two books, Frank Manders’s Cinemas of North Tyneside, and Coventry Picture Palaces from a manuscript written originally by the late Gil Robottom which has been updated and extended by Ian Meyrick and Mervyn. Both have been well publicized, with highly complimentary reviews in a range of papers and journals, and both are selling well.

Whilst we have continued to fulfil our objects in terms of promoting research and continuing publication, quite splendidly, we are also experiencing a deteriorating financial situation in terms of immediately available money although we have, of course, increased assets in the form of book-stock. Income from subscriptions and donations is barely adequate to cover the costs of printing and posting the Bioscope and our other running costs.

Our long-serving Sales Officer, Stuart Smith, resigned at the end of our last financial year and prolonged ill health has meant the loss, too, of our Publicity Officer, Derek Atkins. However, at the Committee Meeting in March of this year we were able to co-opt Martin Hall as the new Sales Officer, and Johnnie Cliff and Gerry Glover as joint Press and Public Relations Officers. We were grateful to them all for volunteering.

Unacceptable behaviour – at least in the view of the Society’s officers – by CCLA Investment Management, the body that handles the Charities Official Investment Fund, in seeking to identify our Membership Secretary, Colin Sanders, by searching for personal data on the internet, and a remarkably inept letter from them about his lack of any ‘financial footprint’,  led to Colin’s resignation from the membership role in August although he stayed on to provide the necessary data and labels for our November mailing. Our Treasurer, Ian Grey, has offered to add the role to his portfolio as an interim measure.

For many years the Society has benefited financially from our association with Fuchsiaprint, the one-man enterprise run by our member, and one-time editor, Brian Hornsey. Brian has given us the full income from sales of his numerous small books. There have been difficulties, however, in recent months resulting from a Committee decision not to advertise Fuchsiaprint books which seemed to compete directly with our own publications, and on Brian’s part with the greatly increased costs of printing and postage.

We learned only after last year’s Annual Meeting of the death a short while earlier of Committee member Frank Wright.

We have continued to deal with requests for information from students and from the media and some of us remain in demand for talks.

Our experienced team of officers has remained dedicated to furthering the interests of the Society, giving much of their time. They have met again as a committee once, in-March, in Birmingham and members have remained in contact regularly otherwise by telephone, letter and e—mail. We are most grateful to them.

Ian Grey has maintained our web site and richly extended it and has added a PayPal facility so that our books can be ordered on line.

And we are grateful, too, to Philip Hollins for again examining our accounts.

As I write this report, however, I take the view that without Mervyn’s superb commitment and immense voluntary work, the Society cannot continue. I have discussed this with other members of the Committee and shall put a motion to the annual meeting that it be wound up. It is for members to make the decision in accordance with the Society’s rules. I myself would wish to stand down as your Chairman if members vote for the Society to survive.

5b. Treasurer’s Report

Ian Grey introduced the audited accounts, which were circulated.  He highlighted that cash had reduced to £9,800 due to increased investment in publication of books and the reduction in bank interest rates. The subscription was very low compared with the value of receiving four editions of the Bioscope each year and having access to Mercia publications at a discount. Should the MCS continue, a rise in subscription level would be inevitable.  He confirmed the cost of producing Bioscope was £275 plus postage, a total of approximately £400 per issue.

The report and accounts had been approved by the Committee, and were unanimously accepted by the meeting.

Grateful thanks were recorded to the Honorary Independent Reporting Accountant (Philip M. Hollins FCA) for his continuing (voluntary) work.

5c.Membership Report

The current membership stood at 210, 22 new members having been recruited but 19 lost; we are often not aware of the reasons for the latter, although it is often through death.

75 members pay by standing order, and there are 9 Life Members.

5d. Sales Officer’s Report

Martin Hall reported that 514 books had been sold since he took over in April. Of our latest books, Coventry was now out of print and North Tyneside had sold 183. Borders, the booksellers, were in liquidation and owed us for 20 copies of Coventry. We have yet to hear from the administrators. The remaining stock of Cinema on a Roman Wall had been sold to the Forum at Hexham.

5e. Bioscope Editor’s Report

The Bioscope had continued to be published on time and to a very high standard; issues had been produced in February, May, August and November. Kate Taylor said that Mervyn Gould had played the major part in its production, soliciting articles, providing illustrations, undertaking the design and typesetting, and carrying out the distribution.

6. Motion to Wind Up the Society

Kate Taylor, from the Chair, proposed the motion That the Society be wound up in accordance with the details set out in the Constitution.

Introducing the motion, she said that the Society had been operating for 30 years, originally with the enthusiasm and skills of founders Chris and Rosemary Clegg.  Then had followed a period of chequered fortunes until in 1993 Mervyn had taken over as Secretary (later redesignated Administrator). Since then, he had worked almost fulltime for the Society, pulling us together, insisting on quality, efficiency and punctuality in publications.

The recent appeal for officers had produced some welcome offers and help, but it remained that no one had come forward with the knowledge and skills to design and produce Bioscope and Mercia’s books. Without such a person, the Society could not continue; in addition, many of those responding to the notice of the motion had stressed the aging profile of our membership. It was with great sadness that she proposed the motion and invited comments from the floor.

Main points made by members in discussion were:

• A hope that we could have carried on, but felt after hearing the explanations, it looked pretty bleak and does seem inevitable;
• Totally agree that finding a replacement to undertake all these duties would be impossible.
• What was the position over archives and stock? Ian Houseman, Mervyn’s Executor, confirmed to the meeting that both stock and archives were securely held and that there was no immediate need to relocate them.
• Could we go on as a corporate entity, with a willingness to aid publishing by providing funds?
• A number of members had suggested a merger or handover of funds to the CTA, but  some members might not wish to join CTA, and therefore should be given the option. This point was agreed.
• It would be a shame to carry on if we couldn’t hold the quality of our publications.

A vote was taken as follows:

The motion was therefore carried.

Under the Constitution, an Extraordinary General Meeting must be called as the next stage in the winding up process.

This was set for Saturday 16 January at the Cottage Road Cinema, Headingley, Leeds, by kind invitation of the proprietor, Mercia member Charles Morris.

7. Election of Officers and Committee

In view of the vote detailed above, a Committee was appointed to oversee the winding up process.  The following were unanimously elected:

Chairman:                     Kate Taylor

Vice-Chairman:              Ian Meyrick

Treasurer:                      Ian Grey

Sales Officer:                Martin Hall

Committee members:    Johnny Cliff, Gerry Glover, Frank Manders, Paul Smith.

Edwyn Gilmour proposed and John Pilblade seconded the motion that The membership would wish to give the Committee authority to discuss future association with the Cinema Theatre Association with CTA representatives.

Carried unanimously.

8. Any other Business

There was no other business.

The meeting was followed by the opportunity for members to visit the projection facilities of the Odeon Putney.

(From left to right: David Williams, Ian Meyrick, Charles Morris, Martin Hall, Paul Smith, (?), Ian Grey, Ian Houseman, Johnny Cliff, Derek Atkins, Gerry Glover)

This photo was taken by Kate Taylor.

Kate Taylor paid tribute to all of the current and former members who had played an active role in the society over the last thirty years.  Particular thanks were given to former Membership Officer and Treasurer Charles Morris who had generously made the Cottage Road Cinema available to us for the meeting.

The Committee will now work towards an orderly winding up of the Society accounts and assets in line with the constitution.

No further Memberships will now be accepted and Members who pay by Standing Order are requested to cancel such arrangements in the interim period whilst the bank account is still active to avoid unnecessary administration.

Shadows of the Evening Steal Across the Sky

Mervyn Gould

“Yes, I’ve been around a bit,” said the faded old pro, hitching the bar stool closer to the bar, settling in the corner. “In fact, I nearly made it. For a time I was nearly up there with your Roger Friths, your Francis Reids, and your Jim Lawses. Before your time, of course, before you were born, in fact.” The eager young student interjected a question. “Of course, a pint, though, not a half.”

“More than thirty-five years ago, now. In one week I had my lighting at both dates in a city, No. 1 tour date and major rep. – I thought they’d beat a path to my door. Still here, waiting, dear boy.” The student asked another question.

“Well, we didn’t have all these courses and qualifications then. We just did it. No ‘hashes’ – real Pattern numbers. Of course, we weren’t an Industry then, we were just in ‘the Business’. I didn’t actually carry stuff from the railway station, but all the rest, lad. Hand-fed carbon arc limes, resistance dimmers on shafts, using a foot, both arms, and nose if necessary, lad. Counting to 5, or 7, or whatever the fade was. All good stuff, you know, with F.o.H. lanterns in metal housings so that bits wouldn’t drop onto the stalls, and some places even had the new Strand stuff with pre-focus lamps in. None of this multi-lantern complexity we used to read about in Fred. Bentham’s editions of Tabs, though, for us.”

“By the way, I’m ready for another. Yes a great thirst, dear heart. Well, it was the heat, you know, standing in a badly-ventilated lime box with two d.c. arcs going, using last week’s box-office card for a fade or strobe effect. Or on the board with 70-odd resistances therming away behind the metal front. Scratching around for odd scraps of gel. – and back then some theatres still had a box of real gelatine colour sheet. Digging around in the LX store to find a rusty old tin box still with a lens to rig as a special for the walk-down. Having the manager on the house ’phone about the Maximum Demand Meter at a Full-Up Finish. Changing the gas mantles on the secondary lighting. And twice nightly, sometimes. It drove you to it, really it did. And it was useful to fill the liquid dimmers when they boiled nearly dry.”

“Weekly rep. took it out of you (only once did I do twice-nightly), but then so did touring. What a way to earn a living. All those hours on the A1 in the scenery wagon because the trains wouldn’t get you to the next date in time for the get-in. Doing the get-out up the ramp at Aberdeen H.M.’s in a snow-storm. The cloth battens bouncing over the icy cobbles after coming down the cloth chute at Leeds Grand. Arguing the contra. At least the pro. pubs had lock-ins in the afternoons, so you were all right when there wasn’t a matinée. Whilst Stage Management were re-setting or propping, LX would be replacing the body fluids.”

“Summer seasons were your holiday, if you fixed for good digs. Get the four programmes on and you were away. No matinées, if you were lucky. Except Butlins, of course, where it was a sod getting lamps and spares, and you were forced to maintain the Hawaiian Bar Mount Vesusvius LX with fork lightning and water ripple effect. All that water around certainly made you wary of the lash-up behind the set.”

“Well, how kind, certainly another one.”

“I think it was panto that was your mainstay. A solid three or even four months work, then. At places like Nottingham, Birmingham, and Sunderland we ran till the end of February or into March. A bugger at the beginning, with two shows a day and three on Saturday, and on Christmas Day as well in Scotland, but after the New Year pro party with other companies, when old enmities flared and new alliances were made, you settled in to find a shop for your spring tour and summer season. Bit short-handed on matinées, of course, when your local firemen or dockers or ambulancemen were on shift, so no limes, and LX even had to muck in with the hairy lads of the stage department, but, like all pros., you gritted your teeth, swore lustily, and said to yourself it was all part of the glamorous side of show-biz. “

“Another? I don’t mind if I do.”

“Well, once it all died – by 1980 it was virtually all gone, the bottom had dropped out of it – what could one do? I’m empty, dear heart, isn’t it time you got your wallet out?  I thought, be clever about this, and went on to tell youngsters about the all the skills one needs to get a show in, up and on – tipping the resident staff, arguing with the M.D., thumping the mercury arc rectifier to get the striker to bounce, twitching relay contacts on motor-driven dimmer banks, trimming your arc gap, throwing and tying-off a cleat line, putting PAR38s in your battens – then along came steel-framed sets, par-cans and moving lights, and knocked the bottom out of the business. Not to mention Health & Safety fussing around. Tour dates rebuilding with the lottery, not the same world.”

He settled more comfortably in the corner; a snore came. The student crept away, possibly gladder in the heart, but certainly lighter in the wallet, as the late Tony Mulvihill once said of the subject.

The rest is silence….                                                                                                                                           ENDS 922 words.