Cherie Davies and Clive Bennett
welcome you to their personal  details page

Cherie Davies and Clive Bennett
welcome you to their personal  details page



Cherie [nee Hayes] was born in Craven Arms, Shropshire in 1942 but grew up in Dolgellau, Merionethshire where she attended Dr. Williams' School for Girls and the local Technical College. She was a keen musician and outside school studied the piano attaining the Royal School of Music Grade 8  After living for a number of years in and around Chester, where she worked as a secretary at various times for Cheshire County Council, Sir Alfred McAlpine - Civil Engineers and two solicitors, she became secretary/personal assistant to the Managing Director of Dixon Bates [Light Engineers]. In 1987 she moved to Sussex where she worked for 12 years as secretary to the Senior Partner at the Brighton office of Wynne Baxter Godfree and Selwood Leathes Hooper, one of the areas largest solicitors, after which she changed departments working on clinical negligence and personal injury claims. Early in 2000 she left Wynne Baxter's offices to take up a secretarial post at Premier Medical, a specialist company producing medico-legal reports for solicitors. When, in 2003, that company decided to re-locate the work to Ludlow in Shropshire, she joined the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton as a medical secretary in the Cellular Pathology Department. She has a daughter 'Tracie' and granddaughter 'Stephanie' living in Plympton, Devon and her hobbies include travel, reading, hand-crafts, and naturally, music - both classical and pop.

Clive was born in 1934 in Barley, a small village in north Hertfordshire - mentioned in The Domesday Book - set on a hillside at the edge of the East Anglian Heights, and moved to Sussex in 1952  A keen footballer in his younger days, he made his debut in senior football in 1949 at the age of 14 playing in a league match for the village team, having been captain of the boys side for the previous two years.   When not playing he was an avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspur but has now, for many years, been a season ticket holder at Brighton and Hove Albion. He attended King Alfred School - www.kingalfred.org.uk - [based in Royston 1942-46] and Letchworth Grammar School [1946-50] followed by Cambridge Art School [now the Anglia Ruskin University]. Moving to Sussex in 1952 he then spent two years National Service in the Royal Air Force stationed in the Suez Canal zone of Egypt. During the skiffle era of the late 50's and early 60's he became interested in folk music and was co-founder of Brighton's first Ballads and Blues Club in 1961 and similar clubs in Worthing 1962 and Shoreham by Sea in 1963  During the mid 60's whilst working in Kent he founded Folkestone's first folk song club and then the acclaimed Pilgrims Way Folk Club in Canterbury. After returning to Sussex in 1967 he was involved with running a number of folk song clubs in Worthing, Brighton, Eastbourne [Merrie England] and more recently Seaford. In 1965 he was a founder member of the British Federation of Folk Clubs and served on its National Executive for 10 years including Vice Chair 1967-70 and Chairperson 1971-75  He served on the English Folk Dance and Song Society's National Executive from 1973 to 1979 and on both Sussex [1963/4 and 1969/73] and Kent [1965/6] District Committees of the Society. From 1966 until 1969 he was the first Song Director at Broadstairs Folk Show, returning in the same capacity to the Broadstairs Folk Festival for two years in 1976 and 77  In 1974 he was a founder member of the Merrie England Mummers and has been bagman to the group for the past 36 years.

Virtually all of his working life was spent with the South Eastern Electricity Board and much of that time as a Procurement and Contracts Officer. In 1977 he was admitted to the now Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply [MCIPS] and in 1992 gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree [BA] in Social Science from the Open University. An active trade unionist he spent many years as a NALGO, and its successor UNISON, Branch Officer and was the South Eastern Electricity Branch Chairperson from 1985 until his retirement in 1993 and Branch President from 1994 until 2007  

Hobbies include folk song, ritual drama [Mumming], philately, photography, travel and sport in the form of lawn bowling where he made his County debut in May 2008 playing for Sussex against Surrey followed by a game against Berkshire in 2009 and another against Surrey [again] in June 2010 when he was awarded his County Badge. In 2009 he was elected Assistant Secretary of Sussex County Bowling Association in addition to being a Divisional Controller of the County’s Vice Presidents [appointed in 2007]. He has also served three years as President [2007-09] and six years as Secretary [2003-08] of the Brighton, Hove and District Bowling League http://brightonandhovebowlsleague.webs.com  together with two years as Captain [2004-5] and three years as Secretary [2006-8] of his local bowling club [Hangleton]  www.hangletonbowls.fsnet.co.uk

At the end of 2010, on medical advice, he had a coronary quadruple by-pass at Brighton Cardiac Unit from which he has now made a full recovery.

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PHOTO ALBUMS:
CHERIE’S ALBUM :

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At the piano c1956;                            driving the family car c1961;               c1986                                    c1990                                    and 1996

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Cherie, Tracie and Steph.- Gutersloh, Germany  1994    Cherie - Hotel receptions, Zanzibar 2004 and Egypt 2009     Hove 2010                       Mexico 2011

CLIVE’S ALBUM:

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Barley, Hertfordshire 1942,   Royal Air Force, Manchester 1952,   R.A.F. 107 MU Kasfareet, Egypt 1954,   Football, Worthing 1958 & At home - Sussex 1962

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   ‘The Beachcombers’ - Horsham folk festival 1962,        Worthing Folk Club 1973,                  Hove, Sussex 1983                            &   OU Degree Ceremony 1992
  
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       President: UNISON SE Electricity Branch 1994-2007,        Folk Club, Seaford 2000          and  President: Brighton, Hove & District Bowling League 2007

Hangleton Bowling Club: [see also Lawn Bowling page]
[1] . .      [2] . .    [3]..      [4]..

     [1] Tyro Championship [ Winner ] 2003,    [2]  Club Captain 2004 & 2005     [3]  Awarded County Badge 2010     [4]  Club Competitions Finals Day 2010

[5] ..    [6] . .   [7]  .
[5] Gosling Memorial 'Fixed Jack' Cup [ Winner ] 2004 ; [6]  Viv Hibberd '2 wood' Cup [ Winner ] 2005; [7] Cyril Buckland ‘Pairs Championship’ [Winner] 2006 .

[8]  ..     .[9]..     [11]..

  [8] Viv Hibberd '2 wood' Cup [ Winner ] 2009;  [9] Viv Hibberd '2 wood' Cup [ Winner ] and [9] Gosling Memorial 'Fixed Jack' Cup [ Winner ] - both 2010

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In March 2000 "HAT RECORDS" released "The Roving Journeyman" : HAT CD 021  featuring Clive singing and talking about 24 of his favourite traditional folk songs then, in 2002, Country Books published "Sussex Folk" a book written by Clive covering the evolution of folk song clubs in and around Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne and Lewes from 1961 to 2001 with a foreword by the acclaimed folk singer Shirley Collins and over 200 illustrations. [For further details on contents and availability follow the Navigation Bar Link : Book - Sussex Folk or see either:

We both enjoy travelling and have visited many countries around the world which, beyond Europe, include: Russia, China, India, Thailand, Borneo, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Gambia, Tunisia, Australia, Peru, Mexico, Canada, U.S.A. Jordan and Cuba.   Click here for our holiday page for photos and more details.
Home. Clive & Cherie. Our Holidays. Holidays: Clive's Top Sites. Book 'Sussex Folk' & CD. Maine Coon cats. Sport - Lawn Bowling. Mumming - ritual drama.

. . Page created 28 Dec 1999   Last Updated 2 December 2011