Luxram Electric; Luton Girls Choir

Thank you for an encouraging reception to my Blog. I hope to maintain your interest.

With so much to choose from my greatest difficulty is deciding which photographs to use,  so let's kick off with some that I have accrued information on whilst planning another book.

This shows a staff outing in 1949 from Luxram Electric that were based in Knight Road Strood. The name of the Company pretty much explains what they manufactured - electric lamps, fluorescent tubes, lamp-making machinery, and they were electronic engineers.

The Company was founded in 1932 and a foundation stone was laid in 1947.

I believe I read somewhere that the building burned down in 1969.

As a matter of interest the coaches are on hire from Pilchers Coaches who were based in Beacon Road Chatham, moving in 1983 to Whitewall Road Strood after a change of ownership.

There is a publication featuring their story, written by Malcolm John.

If not available in Baggins Book Bazaar, Rochester, there are some available on Amazon.

Here is one of the ladies operating a bulb testing machine at the factory in 1955. I wonder if she, or a relative, is reading this??

One thing leads to another, and The Starlights were pictured playing at a Luxram Electric social in 1955. I know nothing about the members,

but maybe someone else does?

The famous Luton Girls Choir performing at the Central Hall in Chatham in November 1957.

(now familiar as the Central Theatre but formerly the first Bank in Chatham, the London and County, later belonging to the Chatham Wesleyan Mission - hence the seating arrangements, ideal for getting a good view of the Preacher!)

Their creator and musical director was Arthur Ernest Davies (born 1897), a church choirmaster in 1936 when he developed the choir. It was stipulated that only unmarried girls aged between twelve and twenty-three, and resident within a five-mile radius of Luton, need apply.

The girls were extremely well disciplined and applicants had to accept his methods which resulted in utter dedication. He even devised a technique which took the edge off the girls' local accents, so that words of the songs came across more clearly.

They were not a professional choir, and indeed paid 4d a week for the privilege of being a member. A charitable trust was set up in their name which raised £100,000.

They recorded for the radio between the 1940s and 1960s, and I'm sure I remember them singing 'Nymphs and Shepherds' during a school broadcast in the early 1950s. In 1947 they performed in St. Paul's Cathedral for Queen Mary's 80th Birthday, and the following year they were at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. In 1950 they kicked off a tour with visits to Belfast and Denmark. Two years after this photograph was taken they were in Australia and New Zealand.

After Mr Davies died in 1977 the trustees and the girls decided there would be no choir without him and their ultimate performance was on 5th November 1977, a tribute to the great man who now had MBE attached to his name.



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