Author: Glen Berd

Three boys who fled Nazi Europe on Kindertransport and found refuge at a Lancashire school Many were told they were 'going on an adventure', expecting a short term trip. The truth was far more horrifying by Rachel Smith Court reporter of Lancashire Life Gerd Haag fled Nazi Europe on Kindertransport and found safety at Rossall School in Lancashire As the threat of war hung over Europe in the late 1930s, three children boarded the Kindertransport, looking for safety in England. The scheme saw unaccompanied Jewish children leave behind their parents - and everything they knew - to flee the peril they faced in Germany, Austria and Czeckoslovakia. Many were told they were 'going on an adventure', expecting a short term trip. The truth was far more horrifying. They were being saved from the holocaust which took the lives of the families they left behind. Between 1938 and 1939, around 10,000 children came to Britain through the unaccompanied minors scheme. Jewish pupils Gerd (Geoffrey) Haag, Robert Augenfeld...

Ronnie Scott (1927-1996) “All That Jazz” by Peter Beyfus During my younger days, in the sixties, I used to enjoy listening to jazz, both traditional and modern. I was lucky enough to be taken by my boss, when I worked in London, to Ronnie Scott’s club in Firth Street, Soho. The club was a magnet for emerging British musical talent. From its humble beginnings, in 1959, in a basement in Gerrard Street, to becoming world famous for its artistes and venue for celebrity, the success of the club says a great deal about Scott’s entrepreneurial ability and his virtuosity on saxophone. Ronnie Scott, born Ronald Schatt, was of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardi origin; his father, Joseph, was of Russian descent, while his mother’s family were members of the Portuguese synagogue, close to Bevis Marks. His father left the family when Ronnie was four. He was brought up by his mother and grandmother. His mother Sylvia remarried, and it was Ronnie’s stepfather, Solomon Berger, who recognised his musical ability and gave him his first tenor saxophone. By...