Family of Newcastle pub pianist 'over the moon' to see lost clip

BBC News

10 hours ago

Matty Gray had been scrolling on Instagram when he came across a video he had been trying to find for more than 30 years.It was an old TV report of his late grandma, Peggy Fullerton, playing the piano and being interviewed by BBC Look North in 1981.Mrs Fullerton was a well-known pub pianist in Walbottle, in the west end of Newcastle, but all of her family had missed the original broadcast.After she died in 1995, Mr Gray, 51, said they had been searching for any footage of her playing, and to find one randomly was "absolutely mind-blowing".
The clip was posted by BBC Archive on Tuesday.Mrs Fullerton had been on the regional TV news programme after being nominated as one of the UK's best pub pianists. "We knew the film existed, but we never found it," Mr Gray said. "Then all of a sudden, there she is in all her glory playing the piano."It was absolutely mind blowing."
Mr Gray said his Granny Peg was a musician and played in the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during World War Two where she entertained the troops.After the war she had a dance band and would play in pubs and working men's clubs where things like Go As You Please parties were held, seeing her being asked to play a song while someone sang."So if she knew the song that was great, if she didn't she would get them to hum it," her grandson said.He said in the 1980s, him and his sister would hum songs from Top of the Pops at his grandma and she would be able to play along, but had to pour her a whiskey and water first."It was absolutely superb," he said.
In the clip, Mrs Fullerton said her family had wanted to be a concert pianist but getting claps from the audience meant more to her "than all the money in the world"."She was a really talented musician, she was only ever happy when she was playing a piano," Mr Gray said."I'm not saying she was a miserable old so-and-so, but she was more confident and more happy sitting on the piano stool."He added that his dad - Mrs Fullerton's son Bill - was "over the moon" to finally see the footage.
Not only did the video allow Mrs Fullerton's family to hear her play again, it also gave them the chance to hear her voice."It's dead funny because obviously we want to hear her play, but hearing her voice after 30 years", Mr Gray said."Having said that, that was one of her voices, that was her television or plain voice, that wasn't her 'at home voice'. "That was definitely Peggy two voices there. But still, it was nice to hear that voice, all the vowel sounds had been a bit poshed up."
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