Lennie Pearce (1890-1962)
Lennie (Leonard David) Pearce was born in Woodbridge in 1890. His father had been a wood sawyer and then became a dealer, first in potatoes, then in furniture and old iron, and then antiques, moving his large family around a lot and changing locations every couple of years until settling in Woodbridge for twenty years, then finishing up in nearby Wickham Market.
By 1911, Lennie had joined his father’s business. then in Wickham Market. He married in 1915 and by 1921, he and his wife Beatrice had moved back to the Quayside in Woodbridge, living with his older brother Frederick William, who had established his own businesses there and was living at 1, Quay Street, where Lennie continued to live and work for the rest of his life, dying in 1962.
Amongst his close family were wood sawyers, cabinet makers and antiques restorers – all good skills for building a dulcimer, which is he is reputed to have done at the age of eleven – certainly early in the 20th century anyway.
His dulcimer playing and all round entertainment skills brought him to the attention of the local press in the 1930s: ‘The funny songs, stories and tricks by Mr Cooper and Mr Pierce caused much fun, while selections on the dulcimer by Mr Pierce were greatly enjoyed.’
Another report from a Dennington WI event in the same year mentions his ‘humourous songs and patter’ and goes on to tell us a bit more: ‘The versatile entertainer, Mr L. Pierce, then delighted the company with selections played on the dulcimer, an instrument rarely heard in these days of guitars and saxophones, and which was, on this occasion anyway, undoubtedly popular [ … ] Then Mr L. Pierce returned to sing some popular songs in true Suffolk style, the two favourites being Wait for the Waggon and The Farmer’s Boy’.
The mention of the song Wait for the Waggon in Dennington is particularly interesting, as the tune for this song went on to become a staple of Dennington melodeon player Dolly Curtis’ repertoire (and from her to me!), and is now thought of as a traditional Suffolk tune.
Crane Bros & Pearce Woodbridge Band
In the 1970s, when Keith Summers was carrying out his investigations into traditional music in Suffolk, he found that Lennie Pearce was mostly remembered as part of the ‘Crane and Pearce’ band which used to travel around the nearby villages playing for socials. These memories (published in Sing Say or Pay! weren’t dated, and could have been from any time from the 1920s to the 1950s. The other members of the band were Geoff Crane on banjo-mandolin, Fred ‘Eely’ Whent on fiddle and a Mr. Heffer on piano. Lennie Pearce played dulcimer or drums. Geoff Ling of Blaxhall recalled that his brother-in-law often used to drive the band round in his taxi, but one night, it wasn’t available and so he borrowed a fire-engine (which he also drove) with the band members all clinging onto the sides! Eely Whent recalled that they played ‘all them old time dances, veletas, waltzes, two steps, quicksteps’ that were in demand at the time.
Research in local newspapers has revealed the Crane Brothers and Pearce’s band to have been very active in the late twenties and early thirties. The first mention is in 1927, when a Fancy Dress dance was held in the village of Kettleburgh early in the year at which ‘The Woodbridge Jazz Band, under the direction of Messrs. Crane Bros, and Pearce, kept the company in high spirits until the early hours of the morning.’ The Woodbridge Jazz Band had actually been going since at least 1921, and in 1922 got a big booking in Framlingham, where the publicity commented ‘The Woodbridge Jazz Band, noted for its size and excellence, has luckily been secured.’ A review praised the band, saying they ‘provided excellent music throughout the evening, apparently never tiring, and rendering an infinite variety of tunes.’
From 1927 through to 1936 there are regular reports of the band playing for dancing at community and charity events, having by then dropped the ‘jazz band’ title and operating as ‘Crane Bros and Pearce’s Band’.
Radio fame!
In March 1955 Lennie Pearce’s playing reached an even bigger audience when he was featured on a national radio show, the hugely popular Have a Go presented by Wilfred Pickles, in an edition broadcast from Woodbridge. A newspaper report reveals that he played Silver Threads Among the Gold for Pickles’ wife Mabel, who also appeared on each show.
His dulcimer case had ‘Mr L. Pearce – radio and TV artist’ inscribed on it, and it seems he also travelled to the BBC studios at Lime Grove to record for another Wilfred Pickles show – ‘On Pickles’.
In 1994, the East Anglian Daily Times ran a piece reporting that his nephew, Eric Pearce, who had inherited the dulcimer, was going to donate it to Woodbridge Museum. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
Lennie Pearce’s dulcimer
It was Lennie Pearce’s old bandmate, Eely Whent, who stated that Lennie had made his own dulcimer – ‘when he was eleven or twelve’ in an interview with Keith Summers in the 1970s.
The Daily Herald newspaper article (10 March 1955) also tells us that he used beech wood and a selection of recycled materials to build his dulcimer: ‘a brass stair rod, old piano wires and boot nails.’ It’s difficult to tell much more about it from the poor quality photos existing, but it appears to have about 20 bridges and perhaps 2 or 4 strings per course.
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