A REMARKABE STORY FROM CHAILEY REPAIR CAFE
Fiona St Denis recently brought this very unusual tablecloth to us at Chailey Repair Café as the hem needing attention. She told us that the tablecloth had belonged to Fiona’s late mother-in-law, Beryl Melville, who was part of an acrobatic act and toured the world appearing at music hall venues including the London Palladium. As she travelled, she collected signatures from famous people of the day who she came across in the course of her work.
The tablecloth dates from around the late 1940s to the early 1950s. There is a date and motif in the middle saying “South Africa ’51 – ‘52”. Some of the celebrities who signed the cloth are still well-known today – Frankie Howerd, Jack Warner, Michael Bentine, Josef Locke, Sophie Tucker to name but a few. Others would have been fellow novelty acts Beryl met on her travels
When the tablecloth arrived at Chailey Repair Café, it was in very poor condition. There were about 10 motifs which had been expertly pencilled in by Beryl in readiness for embroidery. If the cloth had been washed all this prepared artwork would have been lost. Fiona asked our expert fabrics team how she should go about washing it and they gave her the name of an excellent soap-free cleanser that the team use on antique teddy bears when they arrive in a grubby condition. She also asked if there was anyone at the Repair Café who might be able to complete the embroidery. As it happened Marilyn, one of the team, was about to go into hospital for a replacement knee operation and would be out of action for a few months. She very kindly volunteered to finish the work started by Beryl Melville so many years ago.
Marilyn really enjoyed embroidering the remaining motifs and kept in touch with Fiona as to what some of the sketches meant and how to tackle them. She also volunteered to clean the tablecloth as soon as it was finished. As a surprise, she embroidered “CREATED BY BERYL MELVILLE” along one of the hems so that future generations might like to know who came up with the fun idea of a Memory Tablecloth. Fiona is planning to frame the work so it can be displayed in her home, where it will become something of a family heirloom and provide a lasting memory of a remarkable lady and the famous folks she encountered don her travels around the world.
Do you have a family heirloom which needs the Repair Café treatment? Contact us at chaileyrc@gmail.com and we will see what we can do!
