Between 2022-2023 a group of volunteers conducted oral history interviews with three generations of club members. The interview respondents told us about queues to get into the club on Saturday nights, meeting their partners, and bringing their kids. They described dressing up in sequinned dresses, singing around the piano on Sunday mornings, stag nights and hen parties, snooker matches, and the difficulties of becoming a member. The members we interviewed also told us about the decline of the club, near-bankruptcy, small-scale corruption, the attempt to sell the premises, and its more recent regeneration.
The interviews have been edited into an hour-long audio recording called Mildmay Stories, plus two extras: ‘May’s story’, which tells of how May Hagan, the bar manager for over 35 years, came to work at the Mildmay; and A Fierce Club Member, a poem written and read by John Hegley.
You can listen to Mildmay Stories here now!
Chapter 1: Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Chapter 2: The Snooker Hall
Chapter 3: Money Troubles
Chapter 4: New Generation
Extras 1: John Hegley Poem
Extras 2: May Hagan’s Story
Mildmay Stories © 2023 by Mildmay Club / Fiona Candlin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Sound editor: Tim Barker; Production: Fiona Candlin
Supported by the Historic England Everyday Heritage Grant scheme.
Mildmay Stories is also available on cassette players in the television room of the members bar.
Photo Gallery
The stories are accompanied by a portraits of those taking part. Click on any of the images below to see the gallery.
Photos by Tom Lombard
Interviewers: Sue Bagwell; Richard Boon; Suzanne Brayley; Mick Brunton; Phil Calwell; Fiona Candlin; Deborah Cohen; Gill Keep; Wayne Minter; Henrietta Palmer; Rebecca Sewell; Richard Vranch; Alan Wood.
Respondents: Bridget Bollister; Ken Bollister; Suzanne Brayley; Brenda Brown; Rickie Burton; James Carlysle; Terri Ciftci; Lauren Daly; Andrea Davies; Jackie Dodds; Charlie Felgate; Tony Grisoni May Hagan; John Hegley; David Hook; Teresa Merrigan; Stefan Muller; Ronald Murphy; Bridget Norry; Jack Norry; Paul O’Callaghan; Paul Rhodes; Raymond Stowell; Trudi Watts.
Mildmay Stories has been made with assistance from the English Heritage ‘Everyday Histories’ funding scheme.