Photograph of the visit of singer Robert Earl and organist Peter Day to Penylan Home for Aged Jews, Cardiff, 1950s-1960s

Description

A black and white photograph of the singer Robert Earl and organist Peter Day on their visit to Penylan Home for Aged Jews, who are pictured with a number of residents and people connected with the Home. On the front row, from left to right is Rebecca Cohen, 94, Mr Levitt, 92 and Mrs Levitt, 88. On the back row, standing, from left to right are Peter Day, Mrs Jacobs (Superintendent), Mrs Isaacs, Joe Walsh (Hon. Secretary) and Robert Earl.

Peter Day was a resident organist at Tito's, a night club in Cardiff and Robert Earl was performing in Tito's that week and both briefly visited the Home to perform a number of songs for the residents. Robert Earl was an English traditional pop singer, most popular in the 1950s and 1960s. He had an operatic style, likened to David Whitfield and David Hughes. Tito's was a nightclub in Cardiff which was situated on Greyfriars Road.

Pencare (formerly known as 'The Trustees of Penylan House') is a charity, which offers care for elderly people of the Jewish faith and is currently based in Cardiff, although the catchment area for the home covers South Wales and the West of England. Pencare has been working with Linc Cymru to redevelop their care home, Penylan House, to ensure high quality care to Cardiff's elderly Jewish community and extending the care to elderly people not of the Jewish faith.

Mr Henry Silver and other members of the community had originally founded a Home for the Aged in 1946 in Canton, which then moved to Penarth, its official opening being 5 December 1948, to provide a larger space for its large number of applications. Despite the beautiful surroundings, the Home in Penarth was quite isolated so the difficult decision was later taken to move the Home to Penylan Road in Cardiff, meaning many residents were now closer to their friends and relatives. Residents moved to Penylan House in 1959.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Earl_(singer);
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/gallery/clubs-cardiff-beyond-you-probably-9349175;
http://opencharities.org/charities/243968 http://www.housingcare.org/downloads/facilities/generated-brochures/134508-penylan-house-nursing-home-cardiff-wales.pdf;
Cajex, Magazine of the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men and Women (Cardiff), Vol. IX, No. 1, Ninth Year - March, 1959, pp. 60- 65.

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.