We are great grandparents with a great granddaughter in college!

However, we are very sorry that we can not be with you tonight. We both hit 92 this year and celebrated our 70th wedding anniversary, so we cannot claim to be spring chickens. Not too mobile either, Mrs. M is severely held back with arthritis and my old war injuries are quite a handicap. Rambling around mountains is no longer on the cards, but we can sit in our front room and look at them. Twenty minutes drive and we are in them. We can sit by a lake at the foot of Snowdon and at this time of year the only sound is the wind, and being in Wales, the bleating of sheep. Yes, I am still driving.

Looking back………….If you have the time and patience to spare, that is what I'd like to do.

Where did all start?
Actually the seeds were sewn in January 1928. This is the date that my school in Bangor changed from Monoux to Friars.

Here I met an English teacher with a deep love of drama, modern stuff. He carried an annual school play which was performed in a local theatre. I got involved and my first performance was in "Ambrose Applejohns Adventure" which I later reproduced at Markhouse. Remember the second act pirate ship with all the gore?

He taught me that there was far more to it than just going on stage both from practical and educational viewpoints. When I left school, I shunned University or college as I hankered after the Army and that's just where I headed. Thought I'd got away with further education-some hopes!! In due course I found myself studying at the military college of science, taking a subject that no Grammar school would have provided. EXPLOSIVES!
Consequently, that was to be my future. NO DRAMA.

The war, of course, intensified the need for this and finally in 1945, I found myself carrying out battlefield clearance which meant finding which should have gone bang and hadn't gone bang and making them go bang without too much damage. Great Fun!
In the last few months I was given a German Ammunition depot in a large forest to dispose of, so I left my mark in Germany in a pattern of craters around the countryside. Eventually, the Army realised that they could get along without me and (in view of my injuries) decided that I had better become a civilian.

What to do next? That was the question. I had spent so many years now in a destructive background, perhaps something CONstructive would be an improvement. So up loomed the subject of teaching and in due time I passed through the Teachers Emergency Training College and having been approved in the subjects of English (with Drama) and Light Crafts, I entered Markhouse. It was all very stilted. Drama meant little more than reading Shakespeare in class. Then along comes Mr. L.A. Smith who also saw drama as a plank in teaching. So it wasn't long before I was given much freedom, and the Upper Hall was converted into a reasonable theatre. It soon became a big thing with the annual productions. Props and scenery were made in the Craft Room and school disrupted with rehearsals!

Then, when Markhouse School was brought to an abrupt end in 1966, Marsh Street Youth Centre came to the rescue and took over. They gave us a free hand in the Upper Hall and supported us with finance, and I must say, we were a success.

Had winning ways too. Debate competitions with "Women-the superior sex".

One Act plays, such as "Passion, Poison and Petrifaction"

Remember! It was all a great success because of YOU. Everyone played their part whatever it might have been. On stage or off stage.

Drama in school to my mind teaches self-confidence, projection of ego and the worth of co-operation. I'm going to give myself a pat on the back now. I think I succeeded.

You were a joy to work with, but by the time we closed down I wasn't sure whether I was running a Drama Club or Marriage Bureau!

Have a great time. I'd always be pleased to hear from any of you.
I hope I haven't bored you too much and good luck for the future.

Cyril M.

I’m so glad that we contacted him and invited him to this re-union.
Although he couldn’t make it, at least he knew that after all this time he was still thought of and respected and loved.

Sadly, Cyril passed away on Wednesday 15th October 2008 aged 93.
The funeral was held at Bangor Crematorium on the 22nd Oct 2008.
David Morgan, Peter and Margory Kett and myself attended the service and I also had the honour and privelidge of playing the organ.
I was asked to play something as the congregation was leaving, to remind everyone of Markhouse. I decided on "Listen to the Wind" which was a production at Markhouse in approx 1958. Everyone thought it appropriate.

Mrs. M. and Cyril were happily married for over 70 years.