The Jewish Club as it was known was based at premises at 8, Mornington Villas on Manningham Lane, Bradford. It was established in the late 1920′s, and is now the Bradford Bridge Club.

During it’s heyday it played host to a number of visiting Jewish celebrities who we’re passing through the city as they starred in various productions or solo shows. These included Nat Jackley and Stanley Black, who stayed at 227, Bradford Road in Frizinghall, according to Leeds Natural healer Ruth Kaye, who also remembers, “people at the bar, dancing and playing billiards and snooker.”

8 Mornington Villas, The site of the former Bradford Jewish Club, now the Bradford Bridge Club.

Here Esther Rothschild who was born into the Bergson tailoring  family, and is the mother of Rabbi’s Walter Rothschild, his sister Sylvia Rothschild and their sister Joyce, looks back on her memories of the Bradford Club…

“We used to have big Chanukah parties there and somewhere I have a photograph of me there in 1933. Wonderful parties with a concert at the end in which we were all encouraged to take part. The star of the show was always a boy called Stanley Brown who later became a dentist.

My involvement began in 1946 when the extinct dramatic society was revived. The person who can give you more detailed information is Sydney Levine, who now lives in Hove.  Sydneys. Brother in law Len Solity was very involved with the running if the club and though he died some years ago he had a son from his first marriage.

We were repeatedly told how good the earlier one had been, but we also made our mark. Our first production was a trio of one act plays and I won the silver cup for my role as an elderly lady in a play called “Where Every Prospect Pleases”.

Over the years we did many plays and my sister and I wrote some of them. One was called “Treasurers Report” and I cannot remember the plot but I played opposite Sydney in it. Our main achievement was one we wrote for a festival based on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The festival was organised by Maccabi and we took it to Manchester where we won the first round. Then great excitement; we all went by train to London and put it on for one night in the West End. I think it was the Phoenix Theatre. Our producer had been professional pre-war and one of the cast had been an elocution teacher so with wonderful lighting, miming, choral speaking and some excellent actors of whom Teddy Nathanson and his wife Doris were outstanding. We did well. We rehearsed in the afternoon and the show in the evening and John Slater a well known Jewish actor adjudicated and though we did not win we received an excellent criticism. There were just two societies taking part. Another of our plays which went to London was called “Rosies Shop” and based on our memories of shopping with our mother in Leeds in a delicatessen shop on North Street. Soon after my sister went to live in London and took the script and it was performed at many amateur dramatic societies raising money for Jewish charities.

Please do not ask me where all those scripts are now, long lost. But we had a lot of fun and from all that grew a debating society, a rambling society and Sunday evening dances. I dropped out after I was married but it continued.

The festival play was called “Our Tale Of Two Cities”.

 I hope all this will be helpful. My sister was very involved and was chairman for many years but is now 92 and with poor memory.

When I look at that early photo, we had a large number of young people. Joe Bergson, Dianas late father was involved in those social activities. I believe there was a tennis club pre-war.”

Esther Rothschild, May 2013.