Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)

Subject: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 10 May 01 - 07:12 AM

I have just recieved this e-mail from Alan Bell (Fylde Folk Festival Director) telling of the sad passing of Sam Sherry.

Hi Pete

I had a phone call yesterday from Sam Sherry's wife Daphne to say sadly that Sam died in the afternoon after a long battle battle with cancer.
Daphne has requested family flowers only, but any donations in lieu to made to English Folk Dance & Song Society.

Sam Sherry was a great inspiration and teacher to all clog dancers and he will be very sadly missed as a performer and friend. Sam was the main instigator of the modern rivival in Lancashire Clog Dancing, through his classes in Preston and Lancaster.

Sam and I revived the Lancashire & Cheshire Clog Dancing Championships in 1976, which are still held annually at Fylde Folk Festival.
As a tribute to Sam the 2001 championship Belt has been renamed this year as The Sam Sherry Belt, in recognition of Sam's great contribution to clog dancing. Sadly, Sam died before knowing of this recognition.

His passing is a great loss to us all.

Can you post this on the web site.

Thank you

Alan Bell

On behalf of The Falcon, Singleton Cloggers, myself, wife and son may we add our condolences to the family - Sadly missed but not forgotten.

Pete, Eileen & Simon

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 May 01 - 07:27 AM

Very sad indeed. I saw Sam many a time at Fylde. He was always helpful and friendly as well as the most knowledgeable man I had met on all things clog and most things music hall.

Well, St Peter and them angels better get those harps tuned to play some fancy step rhytms coz a little thing like this won't stop him.

Rest in peace, Sam

Dave the sad Gnome

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: John J
Date: 10 May 01 - 07:39 AM

How very sad. I last saw Sam at Whitby festival a couple of years ago: he was truly an inspiration. His like will never be seen again I'm sure. John

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: John J
Date: 10 May 01 - 01:28 PM

REFRESH

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 11 May 01 - 05:08 AM

Details of Sam Sherry's Funeral:

Important

Change of day & time for Sam Sherry's funeral.
It is now:
Thursday 17th at 11.30am at Lancaster Crematorium.

Just received this message from his family.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 11 May 01 - 10:35 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 11 May 01 - 10:36 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: John J
Date: 11 May 01 - 12:33 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 11 May 01 - 12:51 PM

Saw him dancing at Fylde FF in 1976, I think was the year, even tried the classe he gave, incredible dancer nice guy too. Definitely lived up to the title of Clever Clogs. JohnB

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 13 May 01 - 09:00 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 14 May 01 - 04:50 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: KitKat
Date: 14 May 01 - 05:31 AM

He was an amazing man. As a former Reading cloggie, I had the pleasure of being in his classes several times. His descriptions of clog dancing with his brothers on top of a moving canal barge were a glimpse of our colourful past and heritage.

Many thanks to him.

Pat

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: KitKat
Date: 14 May 01 - 08:35 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: bobby's girl
Date: 14 May 01 - 02:28 PM

That's really sad news - he taught me and both my daughters at Whitby over the years, and we all loved him dearly. Fortunately, I videod a programme about the history of tap dancing a few months ago which actually featured footage of him and his brothers dancing in the Music Hall days, and an interview with him - very precious footage indeed. What a week, first Douglas Adams and now Sam.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 15 May 01 - 04:59 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: clansfolk
Date: 16 May 01 - 04:45 AM

If you can make it to Sam's funeral tomorrow - 17th try to a little effort to repay the great efforts he made over the years........

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 16 May 01 - 07:52 PM

I should mention that the English Folk Dance and Song Society has been working with Veteran Records recently on a re-release on video of the film Barry Callaghan made of Sam Sherry some 20 or more years ago; Barry tells me that he was talking to Sam only a few weeks ago about taking some new photos for the cover.  It will be available soon, though in sadder circumstances than might have been hoped for.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry - Rest In Peace
From: GUEST,Chris B - Appeal for footage of Sam ...
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 04:35 PM

I am in email communication with Ivan Sherry the great nephew of Sam Sherry. Ivan wants to collect as much footage of Sam dancing as psossible. He knows about the EFDSS DVDs about Sam. There are also some clips of Sam dancing on the Reading Cloggies Festival videos. What we are trying to get now is a copy of the BBC Omnibus programme: Fascinatin' Rhythm: The Story Of Tap, filmed when he was 88 years old.

Ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2001/may/22/guardianobituaries

Please does anyone have a copy on video or DVD? Many thanks.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 05:48 PM

I'm going to post the text of Derek Schofield's Guardian obituary, just in case the Guardian drops it. I'm surprised it is still available after these nine years.

Sam Sherry
Veteran dancer who brought new life to old traditions

by Derek Schofield
The Guardian, Tuesday 22 May 2001 01.09 BST

When Cecil Sharp collected English folk dances at the start of the 20th century, he completely ignored the clog dances from the industrial north and music halls because they did not fit the pastoral folk-dance image. Yet variety entertainer and dancer Sam Sherry, who has died aged 89, found a new and enthusiastic audience for his clog-dancing routines among the folk-dance revivalists of the 1960s, after a successful career as a variety theatre entertainer and speciality dancer.
Born in Nottingham, he was the youngest of nine children. His father was a music-hall artiste, who used the name Dan Conroy and taught himself to dance by watching music-hall entertainers.

In turn, he taught his children to dance as soon as they could walk; by the time he was five, young Sam was practising for an hour a day, and learning, also from his father, the three Lancashire steps, which were the basis of all his subsequent dances. From his brother Jim, he learnt acrobatic dancing.

Sam left school at 14, and joined his brothers in a show called Contrasts. In 1927, with his brother Peter, he toured in a revue entitled This Is It, with an eight-minute act that included a soft-shoe, or schottische, tap dance, a fast hornpipe and acrobatic tricks. Contrasts later changed its name to A Sherry Cocktail, with family members performing as comedians, musicians and speciality dancers, and with Sam's sisters singing as the Sherina Sisters.

With the threat to variety theatre from the "talkies", the Sherrys were always on the lookout for novelty and they formed a show called Pageant on Parade, in which the brothers danced in wooden clogs, with wooden soles with patent leather uppers.

Soon afterwards, the Five Sherry Brothers were formed, an act that included Sam on guitar, and Sam, Harry and Peter performing their acrobatic fiddle dance. They wore tap shoes and evening dress, and made a show-stopping act. Fortunately, some of these performances survive in a 1970 Arts Council film.

After the second world war, Sam and Peter formed a duo, for summer seasons in Llan- dudno and Scarborough, as well as in pantomime, working with Max Bygraves and Hylda Baker. But the work was drying up, and they were finding it hard to make a living. Peter retired in 1956, and Sam burned his clogs and dancing mat before settling in Galgate, Lancaster, where he built up a narrowboat hire and repair business.

He returned to the world of music and dance in the mid-60s, initially as a singer and guitarist at a Lancaster folk club, and then to perform a fast hornpipe routine at a ceilidh organised by the local branch of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS).

Soon afterwards, he was invited to dance at the society's London headquarters at Cecil Sharp House, at the Royal Albert Hall Festival, and at folk festivals and concerts around the country. There was a growing enthusiasm among young folk dancers to learn clog dances, and Sam taught his routines at festivals and local workshops.

His classes in Lancaster and Preston produced the Lancashire Wallopers dance display group, and he was influential on the Reading Traditional and Step Dance Group and the Newcastle Cloggies.

He also appeared on television, including Coronation Street, and in 1984 appeared as a clog dancer in a production of Sergeant Musgrave's Dance at London's Old Vic, alongside Albert Finney and Max Wall. Three of Sam's dance sequences - the jig, waltz and Exhibition Lancashire - were featured in an EFDSS film, and, in 1989, his singing was recorded by the Veteran label. In 1982 he was awarded the EFDSS gold badge.

Sam continued to demonstrate steps in workshops, using what he called his clog zimmer frame, and his dancing was seen for the last time on the BBC Omnibus programme, Fascinatin' Rhythm: The Story Of Tap, filmed when he was 88 years old. His slight fame always belied the energy and excitement of his dancing and he continued to attend folk music events and festivals - as part of the audience.

He is survied by his second wife, Daphne; his first wife, Marjorie, died in the early 1980s.

• Samuel John Sherry, acrobatic dancer, clog dancer and singer, born January 12 1912; died May 9 2001

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 08:23 PM

Maybe we also need to rescue the other obits. for Douglas Kennedy, Nibs / Jean Matthews, A.L.Lloyd, Pat Tracey, Alec Woodcock, Sammy Bell, etc.?

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 08:29 PM

Oh, they're there - at least most of them are. I think it's better for obits to arise when there's need for a discussion of the person, not just refreshing obit threads for the sake of refreshing obits. Multiple refreshes puts the balance of the Forum out of kilter. In general, you should refresh a thread when you have something to add to it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 06:07 AM

That's a good newspaper for you, The Guardian is one of the best!

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Keith Bales
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 11:34 AM

Sorry to hear about this, I am currently going through my fathers autograph book and Sam is the first autograph there.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 11:42 AM

Ah, yes. Sam Sherry. "I want to be a sausage, cos I'm gonna have a skinful tonight"

Never to be forgotten.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Dan Quinn
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 02:27 PM

Chris B.

I Have a copy of the programme you want - not top quality, I'm afraid. if you still want it, write to me via: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rebe.cleveland/hebeweb.htm/Home_Page.html

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 15 May 11 - 03:09 PM

Sam Sherry's Lecture - Reading Cloggies Festival - Oct. 1984

Please find two versions of this recording. One is WMA (quite small but compressed), the other MP3 and quite large (43Mb)

http://www.mediafire.com/?xy56b0u7m0wd6

Lectures by invited guests were always a feature of the Festivals. Sam was recorded by myself. There is no copyright on this one. Others will be uploaded in due course.

The venue was Loddon Hall, Twyford, Berks.

However it was be great to have a text / typed transcript of the lecture if anyone would like to volunteer to do this please!!

Chris B.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 16 May 11 - 07:32 AM

Somehow the idea of Sam resting - in peace or otherwise - isn't the way I like to remember him. Sam Sherry - you think - flying feet!

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 11 - 07:54 AM

Sam used to come along to the Lancaster Folk Stir in the mid-60s - he was running canal boats along the Lancaster Canal in those days - with a little Gibson guitar and sing wonderful songs. He was a lovely man and held in great respect by all who knew him.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 May 11 - 05:03 AM

Blimey - Is it really 10 years ago?

D.

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: Musket
Date: 17 May 11 - 05:16 AM

Once tossed a coin with him at Mick Haywood's house for settee or floor. I won the toss and immediately, he clutched his back waffling on about an old war wound.

I can relate the floor was more comfy than I thought it would be....

Subject: RE: Sam Sherry, dancer - Rest In Peace (1912-2001)
From: GUEST,Ivan Sherry
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 08:28 PM

It may not have been a waffle, Ian . . . when he was in North Africa during the war, two tanks he was in were blown up, ON THE SAME DAY. He never talked about it. However, I was with him in Newcastle for a family wedding in '95 (I believe the last time I saw him), and a few of us were in a pub on the anniversary of VE Day. He raised a toast to his fallen friends and named them, with a tear in his eye. It was an extremely poignant moment and one I shall never forget. He was a gem. I'm so pleased that he is so well-remembered and was so well-liked.

Thank you all.