MADGE Horswood admits to not being very good at remembering dates, but she vividly recalls the meeting that changed her life.

She said: "I think it will have been in the 1960s. A man I knew at the Futurist asked me if I would be interested in dressing acts. I said I had never done that before, but I thought I would give it a whirl and I had some very, very happy years there."

Scarborough born and bred, Madge attended Gladstone Road School and the now-defunct Central secondary school for girls.

Her father, Henry Tate, was a master plasterer and a keen pigeon fancier, while her mother Ethel, who was originally from Leeds, stayed at home to look after the family.

She said: "I had good parents and remember having a happy childhood. I have happy memories of how Scarborough used to be.

"I don't like change – I wouldn't even know how to switch a
computer on! So I think the town lost its way 15 to 20 years ago when things started to alter. But I realise and accept that you have to go with the times."

Madge was the middle child of three sisters and her younger
sister, Eileen Gledhill, still lives in Scarborough.

After leaving school, Madge worked at H.O. Stationers in Westborough, before meeting her late first husband Charles Peter Radford, of Rillington, at a dance at the Royal Hotel.

"I went out to live in Rillington and we had a 100-acre farm. But there was a foot-and-mouth outbreak and I moved back to Scarborough after that," she said.

The couple had two children, Christine and Stephen, before divorcing after an amicable separation.

Madge's fondest memories are of her time at the Futurist.

The world famous Black and White Minstrels show came to Scarborough every year from 1960 to 1981.

"They used to go on tour all over the country but they would always come back to Scarborough," she said.

Although the show has since become considered politically incorrect because of its portrayal of blacked-up characters, at its peak, audiences regularly exceeded 18 million viewers.

Its theatre show was also recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the stage show seen by the largest number of people.

Madge said: "The Minstrels used to stain their shirts because their face-paint would run – the wardrobe mistress was never still because she was washing their clothes all the time."

She credits the man behind the Minstrels' success, flamboyant impresario Robert Luffe, with the ascension of the Futurist.

"He bought the theatre and made a lot of improvements to it," she said: "He was quite an astute businessman because he set up a deal where people could stay at the Royal, which he also owned, and could go to the theatre in the process. It was very successful. He used to arrive at his venues in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud."

She added: "Everybody has got happy memories of the Futurist. There used to be huge queues outside and Scarborough was buzzing.

"Those people that are retired now and still live in Scarborough must often think what has happened to everybody."

Stars who Madge met during her time at the Futurist include Lulu, the Bachelors, Ken Dodd, Danny La Rue and Charlie Williams.

She said: "It was exciting to meet these people. We used to have our own bar where we could congregate with the performers."

She also got to learn a few of the more unusual superstitions in the theatre world. She explained: "You can't whistle in a dressing room because it's considered unlucky. If you do that you have to go back out, turn around three times, knock on the door and ask to come in again."

Madge retired when Mr Luffe sold the Royal and the Futurist in the late-1980s.

She was also a volunteer with Scarborough Samaritans for 25 years, having originally wanted to become a nurse. She also harboured ambitions of being a missionary abroad.

Madge married for a second time, to local man Vic Horswood, but the couple separated.

Now a great-grandmother of three, Madge spends much of her time in the company of her beloved chihuahua Gemma. Madge beamed: "She is my pride and joy."

Last year Madge suffered a stroke while playing bingo, which affected her vision, but has made a good recovery.

She said: "I think I am very, very lucky because I could have been paralysed or totally blinded but I am not and I am just trying to make the most of my life.

"You go through a stage where you have to accept what has
happened to you. Accepting that is a big thing but, when you get over that, you think life is not that bad after all.

"There is no use feeling sorry for yourself. There were other
people in the hospital that were in a much worse condition than me."

Madge has attended several reunions with the members of the Minstrels, including one only last month in Shropshire.

She said: "It was lovely to see everybody again. I had an
invitation to go last year but couldn't go because of the stroke so I told my daughter to give them a ring to let them know.

"There were 90 people there and when I arrived they all came up to me and made such a fuss. I have been on a high ever since."