THE Women's INSTITUTE has played a vital part in the village life of Ambridge during the past twenty-five years. Way back in 1951, when Letty Lawson-Hope wife of the Squire of Ambridge was President, we broadcast a scene of the local WI meeting. Naturally, we started off the meeting with the singing of 'Jerusalem,' using the female members of the cast. Following the broadcast, the letters poured in, saying the singing was beautifully authentic, but 'oh, that piano.' I was taken aback by this, because I had used the grand piano in the studio which, as I remember, had been tuned just before the recording. This, of course, was the trouble! No village hall piano would sound as good as the one that was used. Most of them would apparently be out of tune !There were numerous invitations to go out to village halls to record not only the piano, but a complete typical meeting. So off we went, armed with very heavy recording equipment, as it was in those days, to a village in Worcestershire where we were given tremendous co-operation in getting the right sound effects for future use.
This was the start of building up one of the largest collections of authentic sound effects for any one programme. It led eventually to one of the most successful scenes ever recorded on location in'The Archers.'Yes, you have guessed it, the wedding of Phil Archer to Grace Fairbrother in 1955. This took place in the village church at Hanbury. My original intention was just to record the village organ pumped by hand as I remember so that we would not make the same mistake as we did with 'Jerusalem,' but when I discussed this with the Vicar, we decided to record the entire wedding service with the cast in the church. I was worried about the congregation, but the Vicar who was most helpful suggested that I left that to him. Little did I know at the time that his intention was to announce the news of the recording at his Sunday Morning service the previous week, and some how the Daily Mirror got to hear about this and invited their readers to attend. Consequently, coach loads of 'Archer' fans arrived from all over Worcestershire, and when we arrived we had great difficulty in getting the cast and equipment up the narrow lane to the church, in spite of help from the local police. The Vicar's plan turned out to be a great success, both spiritually and financially, for he had a silver collection in aid of the church roof, and the congregation responded magnificently! Following this, I received numerous invitations to talk to local WI meetings and large group meetings and the back ground of the programme, as it had aroused so much interest among members. I discovered that most WI members were very interested in the continuity side of the programme, so I decided to enlist the help of Valerie Hodgetts, who was then continuity girl to 'The Archers.' Together we travelled all over the country, explaining what happened behind the scenes of the programme, with Valerie playing recorded inserts illustrating perspective, the use of sound effects, and general production technique. Naturally, for a female audience, the highlight was always the inserts used from Phil and Grace's wedding. The audiences were most attentive and interested, and always asked very intelligent questions, although we did have some funny moments. Like the time an elderly lady fell asleep with her dog on her lap, and only woke up when I was explaining how we dealt with topicality in the programme. Mind you, I had been warned by the President that Mrs X would sit in the front row with her dog. The dog would yap for a few minutes, but 'not to worry, they would both drop off to sleep and cause no more trouble!' True enough this happened, but just as I was explaining that although the programme was recorded three weeks ahead of transmission, if Winston Churchill were to die suddenly in the morning, it was possible for 'The Archers' to be talking about it that evening. Suddenly she shot up with a start, the dog fell off her lap, and she said ' what's all this, Winston Churchill dead?' and I had to repeat my explanation all over again to calm her downs She was very disgusted, said it was all wrong to say such things, picked up the dog, and promptly went back to sleep!
Unfortunately, owing to pressure of work, I had to give up these talks, but nowadays Kay Hudson (who plays the part of Mabel Larkin), and Mollie Harris (who plays Martha Woodford) are both WI members themselves, and carry on the good work of talking to meetings all over the country. Over the years, the programme's association with the Women's Institute has gone from strength to strength. A delegate from Ambridge always goes to the AGM in the Albert Hall, and we have also had Laura Archer attending a course at Denman College. We have tried to reflect the WI in various ways, Keep Fit Classes, talks on a wide range of, subjects, such as the making of corn doilies, the organisation of a scrapbook to preserve a contemporary picture of village life today, the Ambridge choral section got through to the regional finals in Solihull in 1969, and - right up to date in November 1975, Peggy Archer was elected President at the annual meeting, by general ballot.
As we approach the twenty fifth anniversary of the programme, we look forward to continuing help and support from the W], and we in turn will do everything possible to reflect the true picture of the WI and the vital part they play in any village community.
There are likely to be some changes down at the Bull when Leo The Great Dane joins the cast of the Archers. For Leo arrives with a new temporary barmaid. , . and confusion reigns. Today Leo was welcomed to the cast by (left to right) the licensees of the Bull, Sid and Polly Perks (Alan Devereux and Hilary Newcombe) and the barmaid Caroline Bone (Caroline Hunt), outside the BBC Pebble Mill centre In Birmingham. In real life Leo Is Solomon, a nine-year-old veteran of television appearances on the Pebble Mill , programme and Midlands Today.
He belongs to Gerry Hynes, head of the BBC's Asian Unit.