VETERAN musician Vic Anstice,90, of Newport, talks to Kath Skellon about his love of the accordion and performing in clubs, halls and pubs around Gwent in the Adelphia Dance Band.

“I WAS one of five children born in Dolphin Street in Newport in 1925, and had two brothers and two sisters.

My father was musical and had an old-fashioned malodeon. That was where my love of music started. I can’t read music but learned to play the accordion by ear and continue to play it to this day. My brother Raymond is a wonderful tenor and my youngest brother Ken sang in a pop group known locally as the Hollymen. Ken emigrated to Australia in the late 60s but sadly died many years ago.

At the age of seven I became a choir boy at St Thomas’ Church in Maesglas. I joined their youth club and that was the beginning of my life-long love of music. Last month I met with Arthur Holwell, also 90, who was a member of that very choir with me. Incidentally, we held a combined 21st birthday party where we met our future wives.

My association with the church continued and in the mid 1960s took on the role of choir master for approximately 10 years.

I took a job at Jones Newsagents in Maesglas delivering morning papers. My round on Maesglas Avenue started at 7.30am. After a while I took on the round for Cardiff Road, Cae-Perllan and Park Drive. I went to school in Maesglas, then Bolt Street, Bellevue Secondary School and would deliver the Argus when I finished. I was paid 12 shillings week.

Most Saturdays we walked from Maesglas via the Old Road to the pictures. We would stop in Adelaide Street and buy a bottle of herb beer in a sauce bottle for one pence. There were two cinemas within a quarter-of-a-mile that had benches to sit on. One was on Bassaleg Road called and The Pavillion.

At 16 I went to Newport Technical College to study commercial typing, shorthand, book keeping and French for two years.

When I finished I started working at British Rail’s Ebbw Junction at Maesglas as a cleaner and became a fireman working on steam engines for 20 years and then progressed to a driver on both steam and diesel’s for which we had to pass exams, and stayed in the job for 26 years. I mostly went to Ebbw Vale, Swansea, Gloucester and Hereford.

One memory that comes to mind was on a Tuesday evening in 1947 when I got to work at 5pm and was told to accompany the driver Ernie Waters as fireman on the snow plough.

This was a small tender steam engine fitted with a snow plough. We were to go off shed to plough the line up to Brynmawr and had a fitter and inspector on board.

On arrival at Aberbeeg Junction there were two engines waiting to assist us to Brynmawr. They were attached to the rear of our engine and we proceeded to plough knowing that was the hardest.

It was between 8pm and 9pm when we ploughed towards Abertillery then on up to Nantyglo.

When we arrived we realised we were in trouble and came to a standstill at around 11pm.

We had no option but to dampen the fires and secure our engines before abandoning them.

Twelve of us walked back to Nantyglo Station in the cold. There was a plate layers’ cabin on the end of the station so we got inside, lit a fire and an old oil lamp and settled down until daylight.

We found a box of haddock on the platform which we shared and cooked in our tea cans.

When morning came we gathered our things and decided to walk back as far as possible.

The wind was blowing the snow all around us as we got to the road and started to make our way to Aberbeeg.

It was slow going but we made it to Abertillery where there was a passenger train which was stationary but luck was with us as it was heating the coaches so we bedded down for the night.

The next morning the train was still snowed under so we decided to walk to Llanhilleth where we caught a two-coach train home to Park Junction at Newport before walking to Ebbw Junction three days after we left.

I left a message at the Argus office for them to print a letter from us thanking them for kindness and help at Abertillery. The Argus responded with an article and headline; ‘Newport Railman Stranded in the Arctic Waste of the Western Valley.’

Whilst working at Ebbw Junction we formed the ‘68 Motor Club’ and permission was granted to erect a garage which included a pit and tools. The members were able to use this to maintain their cars. We had a membership of 150 and as social secretary I would organise dances for members and their wives and families to raise funds to support the club. It ran for many years but sadly folded when the depot moved to High Street Station.

As a teenager I formed a band with three others and began to play dance music. We had two accordions, a piano and drums and were known as the Adelphia Dance Band.

Myself, Margie Wynne and Bill Barkus wanted to play music that people could dance to and played all kinds of music, including two years of barn dancing.

For many years we played at social clubs, halls and hotels and ran our own dances at the Ladies Hall in Maesglas Crescent. We didn’t do too badly and gained a lot of experience.

That’s how we met Harry Polloway. He was a great MC who helped us a lot with the band work and went on to become a great friend. He is best known as Newport’s civic toastmaster. We also had Danny Taylor perform with us as a bass player when we needed a five-piece.

People asked us to perform at parties, everything from Christmas to birthdays. As a band we performed at Newport venues such as The Westgate and The King’s Head where they held dinner dances. I remember one New Year’s Eve in the 70s where we played at The Westgate for five hours. The manager asked us to walk to the square to see in the New Year so we took our accordions and played for the people celebrating outside.

We met some fabulous people. It was great fun and something we did for the next 40 to 50 years.

Harry once booked us to play on a ferry to Ilfracombe in North Devon. My wife Cynthia didn’t want me to go because there was a storm but we did and it was the first time I saw people green with sea sickness. We played in the bar to take people’s minds off it but as the boat rocked the drums would sliding along the floor and in the end we had to tie them to the chair. The boat got halfway across the Bristol Chanel and it was decided to turn back. I’ll never forget that trip.

I married my late wife Cynthia at St Paul’s Church, Newport in 1949. We had a very happy life together and she always encouraged and fully supported my interest in music and the band.

We lived in The Gaer before moving to Christchurch and finally to Allt-yr-yn and had children Sue and Phil. I am a grandfather to Sara, Mark, Bethan and Huw and great-grandfather to Dylan.

I taught Sue to play the accordion when she was four and we played together for many years at things like charity do’s and for the family at Christmas and Easter.

I retired from the railway after 46 years and gradually the band stopped performing. I continued to play the accordion and also paint as it is a wonderful hobby and keeps me fit. For decades I have raised funds by performing for various charities and entertaining groups such as the association for the blind, OAP clubs etc and last Christmas Sue and I entertained the elderly patients at St Woollos Hospital.

Five years ago I appealed in the Argus to find former band member Danny Taylor 15 years after we last played together. As a result we were reunited days later and had plenty to talk about, that was a great day and brought back many memories.

I celebrated my 90th birthday surrounded by my family in May and still believe music is a wonderful hobby that keeps you fit.”