HUNGERFORD ARCADE – “ARNOLD LOXAM”

Hello Again.

One of things that always fascinates me is how we all find things which if we had been on the opposite side of the sliding doors we would have missed totally.  This happened to me the other day when Caron and I were travelling back from Kent.

 

We had planned to catch a certain train from Paddington, but a tube hold up delayed us by a few minutes and we missed our connection. This meant that we would need to change at unlovely Reading to get to Hungerford, but fate struck again as for some reason, our train ran slowly and we missed our second connection of the day.

 

This left us with an hour to kill and as Reading Station resembled a Soviet ghost town, we were forced into the city centre (it was either that or counting bored pigeons).

 

Marks and Sparks were open and the long queue nearby indicated that Primark had reopened, but there was nothing to interest me.  That was until I walked passed the Harris Arcade which is on the way back to the station.  My wife suggested that we should not linger as the storm that hit Berkshire that day had already sent out its violent outriders.

 

We disagreed.  So whilst Caron walked to the railway station in reasonably light rain, I decided to shelter in the arcade and await the full force of the storm.

 

It was whilst I was there that I noted that the collectables shops were open for business.  As we are currently in the throes of moving and had promised each other that under no circumstances would we purchase non essentials, I decided that I would just look at the retro records which were outside of one of the shops.

 

I expected to find the usual rubbish and was not disappointed, that was until I found a signed Arnold Loxam record which dated from 1974.  This was an exciting find as it was a blast from the past and brought back memories of seeing Arnold playing a Wurlitzer Organ when I was very young.  I cannot remember exactly where I saw him as the Boer War had just finished, but I think it may have been Clacton.

 

As punishment for being good and not playing with the gong at the guest house, my parents who liked listening to Arnold’s music, decided to drag me along to a concert even though I protested that I would rather go to a gulag in Siberia.

 

My brother and sister were looked after by Mrs. Savage’s rottweiler and off we went on a particularly cool June evening to the Winter Gardens or wherever else it was held.

 

I can remember that the auditorium was rather too warm and the chap in front of me was shortening his life by chain smoking menthol cigarettes.  And it was here aged seven, that my life changed, as I really liked Arnold’s Wurltizer music and was humming some of the tunes all the way back to Stalag Nine and Three Quarters.

 

Unlike today, recordings were not at our fingertips although, I can remember my parents purchasing a couple of Arnold’s records which I proudly kept next to my Sex Pistols collection.

 

However like everything else, things changed.  Mafeking was relieved and I sadly grew up and in a way, forgot about this long lost treat.

 

Arnold had replaced Stalin in my affections, but that was because I was now a grown up brat and not a child anymore. But what of Arnold, who in my view is almost totally forgotten, although he only died in March 2010.

 

He was born in Wibsey on the outskirts of Bradford in 1916, the youngest of the three children of a textile overlooker.  When he was three, his father and his brother Percy, taught him to play the tunes of hymns on the piano using one finger and by the age of nine, he regularly took part in Chapel Concerts.  He made his first appearance at the keyboard of a Wurlitzer theatre organ in September 1930.

 

I am told that Wurlitzer organs reflect the style of the organist and Arnold was known for his bounce, style and his frequent glances over his shoulder whilst playing.

 

In a way, this has all disappeared just like the Will Hay films and is now considered very old hat.

 

By 1948 Arnold was working for BBC Radio and this brought his considerable talents to a much wider audience.  He also travelled overseas and when in the USA, always wore his Union Jack socks during concerts.

 

He also worked with Granada during the early days of commercial television.  But he never forgot his roots and could often be found performing at the Beck Hill Working Men’s Club in Bradford.

 

My record has a 1968 photograph of Arnold and his Wurlitzer organ at the Odeon Theatre in Headrow, Leeds on its cover.

 

This is where this recording took place with favorites such as Jeepers Creepers and Over the Rainbow featured.  Sadly, like many other venues, the Odeon Theatre no longer exists and has been replaced by a dreadful Primark store. But happily, the organ was saved which is fantastic and I am reliably informed that in many cases when these much loved buildings were bulldozed the Wurlitzers were saved and still exist today.

 

I have just played my record and it took me back many years to when as a young child there seemed to be no ills in the world and the slow summers lasted six months.  Unlike much of the rubbish you hear today there seemed to be an organic feel to Arnold’s music.

 

It was a double slice of luck really as on that stormy June day, I not only found this lovely record by chance (if the trains had run on time then I would have missed it as I tend to avoid Reading like the plague) but it was also autographed.

 

Arnold would have not thought his autograph that special as he was a modest down to earth man.

 

But to a grown up seven year old it was very special.

 

Happy Hunting

 

Stuart Miller-Osborne