TAMESIDE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL A TRIBUTE TO KATHY STAFF Blue Plaque unveiled on 11 March 2011 By Roy Barraclough MBE Introduction In celebration of the life and achievements of Kathy Staff, the latest Blue Plaque is to be located at Kathy’s local church in Dukinfield, St. Marks, where Kathy was a lifelong member. Early Life Kathy (born Minnie Higginbottom) was born at 243 Astley Street, Dukinfield on Thursday 12 July 1928 into a Christian family. She kept up her faith and connection with St. Mark’s Church, Dukinfield throughout her life. She attended St. Mark’s C of E Primary School with her sister Constance and went on to Lakes Road Secondary School where she became Head Girl. Kathy wasn’t interested in academic achievement as her one ambition was to be an actress. From a very early age she appeared in productions at church and later with local amateur dramatic and operatic societies. This helped to fuel her ambition, although when she left school at the age of 14, she was made to learn shorthand and Kathy Staff as a young child typing as a backup – just in case the need ever arose! Kathy embarked on a professional acting career in 1949, changing her name to Katherine Brant and headed up to the wilds of Aberdeenshire where she joined the Kinloch Players. There she honed her acting skills by playing a different show each night, touring around local villages. Later that year she was pleased to move on to weekly repertory with the International Players in Llanelli, South Wales. It was while she was working here that she met John Staff and they were later married at St. Mark’s Church, Dukinfield in August 1951. Kathy then took a break from acting, when her shorthand and typing proved useful as she joined Johnson and Nephew Wire Manufacturers as a secretary. Kathy and John set up home in Denton and in December 1956 their first child, Katherine was born followed by Susan in March of 1959. Soon after the birth of her children the family moved to Crescent Close in Dukinfield to be near Kathy’s seriously ill father. The children not surprisingly started Kathy Staff (left) with her Mother (middle) their education at St. Mark’s C of E Primary and sister Constance (right) School. Television Career A chance meeting in Manchester with an actor friend from repertory days, Gerald Harper, persuaded her to have a stab at television work. This was preferable as it would involve working during the daytime as opposed to being on stage in the evenings and John, now a schoolmaster, could collect the girls from school at the end of each day. This meant starting as an ‘extra’ at the BBC, Granada and ATV in Manchester. Her breakthrough came when her Manchester agent, Mrs EVM Mullings, got her the part of Thora Hird’s neighbour in the avant-garde film A Kind of Loving. In 1962 small television parts started to turn up, notably in Coronation Street at Granada TV amongst others. Kathy was offered a role partnering Roy Barraclough in the year long soap Castle Haven for the newly formed Yorkshire TV. They played the parts of a feckless husband and wife living in the bottom flat of a Whitby boarding house. Her next break came when she was booked by Yorkshire Television to work on comedy shows with comedian Les Dawson. The real breakthrough came on 5 June 1972 in an interview at the BBC, Manchester with a producer looking for a large, overbearing woman to be a neighbour to Compo played by Bill Owen, in an episode of Comedy Playhouse. In Holmfirth on 20 July, Kathy spoke the very first line of the trial episode which was to become the world’s longest running comedy series, Last of the Summer Wine. Nora glowers down at scruffy Compo ‘They’re tekin ‘is telly again!’ Roy Clarke had written a winner. It became the life blood of her acting career, turning up each year for outside filming in West Yorkshire, followed by studio work in London. There were stunts to be performed, but she never had a stand-in. In one episode, the script had her riding a bicycle, so she borrowed a modern one to revive skills long forgotten. When it was time to film, a rusty sit-up-and-beg ladies bike with front basket was produced. ‘Action’ involved a push start. Then she is startled by Compo, falls off and pelts him with vegetables from the basket. Hoping it would just be done in a single take, she decided to make it a really good tumble first time round but the director had her repeating it a few times so they could get shots from different angles. Her agent was very cross as she was due to appear in Copyright©BBC Coronation Street and may have been injured and Kathy Staff as Nora Batty (bottom, unable to take the part. right) in the Last of the Summer Wine Life overflowed for Kathy from then on. She worked with Ronnie Barker as Mrs Blewett in Open All Hours for the BBC, and then Doris Luke turned up in Crossroads for Central TV. In one scene she turned the collars of the shirts of the little Scottish chef. Soon after a viewer sent her some of his saying ‘Please could she do them for him?’ The producer sent them back to the sender. When Doris was ill in the story line, viewers sent Kathy get well cards not realising she was away working on another project. Crossroads and Last of the Summer Wine were long runs and she had to intertwine her work on them. Copyright©BBC Kathy Staff as Nora Batty Pantomime, Theatre and Films In 1982 she was invited to be in her first Pantomime playing the title role in Mother Goose at Norwich. To reach Norwich for a promotion day, she flew from Leeds Bradford airport prepared to arrive as Nora Batty. In the last few minutes she put on her apron, wrinkled her stockings and fitted her rollers. The other passengers, mainly business men and women on an internal flight didn’t say a word, perhaps thinking she was about to clean the plane ready for its return flight. Then as they left the aircraft they all walked past a panto reception committee on the runway, comprising a Goose, a Dinosaur and Bernie Clifton on his ostrich without batting an eyelid. In subsequent years she went on to appear in a further seventeen pantomimes, all very energy sapping, particularly when having to give three shows a day. Over the years she found time to appear in shows in London’s West End; When We Are Married at The Whitehall and As the Flying Fairy Godmother in Two into One at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Cinderella at Blackpool 1990/91 There were also tours as far apart as Swansea, Inverness and Plymouth to name but a few. Throughout her life Kathy appeared in a number of films starting with A Kind of Loving in 1962, as well as appearing in The Dresser in 1983, Camille in 1984, Little Dorrit in 1988 and Mary Reilly in 1994. But wherever they found themselves at weekends, Kathy and John would always try to travel back to Dukinfield for church at St. Marks. Later Life Kathy had hoped to be in the finale of Last of the Summer Wine but that was not to be. Sadly Kathy died of cancer, peacefully, in the early hours of 13 December 2008 in Willow Wood Hospice, Ashton-under-Lyne. This plaque today and the place where it is to be mounted are reminders of the faith she held and the God to whom she always looked for guidance. Memorial Service A further memorial is planned for installation in St. Mark’s Church, taking the form of an oak screen supporting a stained glass centrepiece of a welcoming Christ with outstretched arms. An inscription is to read ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’. Kathy Staff 12 July 1928 – 13 December 2008 Acknowledgements Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre John Staff and family BBC The Tameside Blue Plaque Scheme For a comprehensive listing of all Blue Plaques in Tameside, please contact: Tameside Arts & Events Email: [email protected] Tel: 0161 342 4144 Or visit our website: http://www.tameside.gov.uk/blueplaque 70611 .