A 92-year-old former London costume maker has finally been able to enjoy a show at the Marlowe after 15 years of being unable to visit the theatre due to poor health.
Alan Ayres, from Palm Bay, attended Miss Saigon last week thanks to help from carer Donna Burdock.
Alan’s 12 year stint in Covent Garden saw him making outfits including an evening dress for Cilla Black, cybermen for Dr Who and costumes for 1970s actor Keith Michell when he starred as King Henry VIII.
Alan said: “(Keith) would have to come in every couple of weeks so I could make (the outfit) bigger!”
Alan learnt his skill as a tailor from his mum before entering the RAF on national service where he found himself tasked with altering and making uniforms.
He said: “My mum taught me how to sew when I was young, we had an old treadmill machine. At the end of the war I sat there for hours making red, white and blue bunting.
“I went to do national service in the air force and when I went to join up I had an interview with a sergeant to find something that would suit me in the air force.
“I didn’t want to be a pilot. At the bottom of the form it had a space for interests so I put tennis, swimming and sewing. I said I liked making clothes and he asked if I had thought about being a tailor.
“Then he said he was sending me for a trade test and I went to this big hut full of ladies altering uniforms.
“I was asked can you shorten trousers and sleeves and can you work a power machine and I said yes and became a tailor.
“I’d had all my vaccinations to go to Aden (in southern Yemen) and I was excited as I’d never been abroad before but I had the trade test and ended up going to Norfolk for two years.
“It was interesting and I got sent to Hampshire for about six weeks to alter all the uniforms for the Queen’s coronation.”
After national service Alan started a career as an air steward but gave it up to come home and look after his poorly father. It was then that he got the costume making job in Covent Garden.
He said: “I was making the stuff for Dr Who and for celebrities in the summer season and that kept me going for a long time until the firm I was working for closed down.”
During his time in London, Alan was an avid theatre fan. He said: “I loved it. I was going to the theatre all the time in London. I used to go and see as many shows as I could afford. I think I liked Les Misérables best as it was really good and very clever.
“I used to also see The Crazy Gang, that was a long time ago.”
After the firm closure Alan moved to Margate and ran a guesthouse across the road from the Winter Gardens and also ran his shop Needleworld and Harlequin Costumes in Northdown Road. He retired at 65, some years after the loss of his long-term partner.
Then a chance spotting of a notice requiring ballroom dancers became the start of a new adventure aboard the cruise ships.
Alan said: “I used to be a competition dancer and ended up on the QE2 and other ships going around the world and I was dancing with all the single ladies until I was 80. By that time my sight was gone so I had to give it up but I have had such a varied life.”
Sadly, health problems stopped Alan enjoying his theatre shows for the past 15 years. But carer Donna decided she was determined for him to enjoy it once more.
She said: “Alan is such a lovely man and I have been looking after him for three and a half years now. He has really been through the mill but he is such a warrior.
“He constantly talks about the theatre and said how he would love to go again. I had been promising him we would go but he did not think he’d be able to manage it.
“But, I bought the tickets for Miss Saigon at the Marlowe and we went. He was in awe of it and sat there crying, it was so beautiful.”
Alan said: “I didn’t think we would do it but we got there and although I could not see the stage, the music and the singing was lovely.
“Now we are going to see what else comes up and give it another try.”
Miss Saigon is running at The Marlowe until this Saturday: https://marlowetheatre.com/shows/miss-saigon/
