P.T.Millington Collection (1972, H.Hyde)


Main Variant

Transcription

HEANOR - GUYSERS PCAY

Written down by Mr. H. Hyde, of "Westering," 120 Ilkeston Road, Heanor,
Derbyshire, DE7 7BP, on the 15/1/1972, for Peter T. Millington.

THE LETTER: -

Dear Sir,

Regarding the column in the E & K Advertiser, headed "Out goes I Saint
George," I can make one little contribution to your collection. I
remember one verse, when 'Beelzebub' comes in:-

  "In comes ow'd Beelzebub,
  On my back I carry a club,
  In My hand a frying pan,
  I think myself a jolly ow'd man.
  If you don't, I d|"

The frying pan usually had a big hole in it, and all the actors
had blackend faces except Saint George he had a whitened face (done with
chalk or flower.) They required plenty of room to perform.

Yours faithfully

H. Hyde

P.S.

Last man (boy) in came with a broom and swept out all the actors, and
stayed to take the collection or contribution.

They used to knock on the door and shout, "Do you want Guysers?"
If the answer was "Yes" - then in came the first actor and all the others
would follow. It used to go down very well in the 'pubs.'

H. H.


NOTE:- It will be noticed that the informant did not state the town in which
this version of the Guysers was performed. It is assumed therefore, that
since hls address is Heanor, that this is the town from which it came.
The description of the proceedings is very sinilar to that from Langley
which is near Heanor, so the above assumption is probably valid.