Did you take part in Marge! at Greenhill School in 1979?

The original vinyl soundtrack of Marge!

Did you take part in Greenhill School’s production of Marge! in 1979?

Dan Smith, who runs Hebden Bridge Records, unearthed the original vinyl soundtrack, which was recorded in Huddersfield, on 21 April.

He said: “I was going through a collection of my own records and found the soundtrack for Marge! - I’m sure this will bring back some memories and be nostalgic for someone.”

Marge! was first performed at Greenhill School in Rochdale (now Falinge Park High School) on 12 December 1979. The story was devised by John Rowe with Jim Wilkes writing the music. Dot Wilkes also helped write the lyrics.

The musical is set in a Pennine town in the four days leading up to Christmas 1957. School has ended for the holidays and the pupils are celebrating (It’s A Holiday). Marge and her friends prepare their Youth Club for its end-of-term Dance, while Marge’s younger sister Judith, bemoans the fact she is too young to go (On The Shelf).

All the club members are excited at the thought of the dance (Going Out Tonight) but then disaster strikes. The club is invaded by a hostile bike gang, who interrupt the celebrations with some music of their own (Cha Cha’s Out). The chairman of the club is so enraged by the behaviour that he proclaims that the club will be closed from Christmas Eve unless the gang return to apologise before then- a decision which is enthusiastically supported by the club’s management committee (A Down On Youth).

Marge decides to go to see the gang alone at their hang-out, a dilapidated coffee bar out at the edge of town on the moors road. When she arrives, some of the bike girls are entertaining the rest of the gang (Leather Girls), and Marge gets a hostile reception, especially from the violent and unpredictable Mick. However, the leader of the gang, Terry, tells her that he will think over what she has said. When Marge has gone, Mick accuses Terry of having fallen for Marge – a taunt that is taken up by the rest of the gang (I’ll Be Reformed).

The second half of the show opens with the parents lamenting the fact that their children seem to have grown away from them (We’re Disillusioned Now).

Meanwhile, Marge and Terry are both wandering around the town, lost in dreams of their growing love for each other (Margery) when they suddenly and unexpectedly come face to face. Despite their initial shyness and embarrassment, they make a date to go to the pictures together, and Terry promises to come to the Youth Club to apologise on behalf of the gang.

Again the fates are against them. Marge’s mum has seen her talking to Terry, and, instantly disliking the look of him, refuses to allow her to go out, saying she should take an interest in respectable boys (A Man Like Your Dad). Marge, in desperation, phones Shirley, who agrees to go to the coffee bar to tell Terry what has happened.

When Shirley gets there, however, Terry is absent and Mick is in the process of persuading the gang to help him steal some motorbikes from a store in town. Shirley overhears this, and is chased off by Mick, who pretends to her that he is terry, and tells her that he wants to hear nothing more from Marge.

Soon after Terry has returned, two policemen arrive at the coffee bar. There has been a bad accident in town, a girl is injured and blood is urgently required from the hospital in the neighbouring town. It’s a desperate night and all the roads over the moors are blocked by snow. The policemen have given up trying to get their car through and are returning to town.

On hearing this, Terry urges the bike gang to help him fetch the blood. They know a shortcut over the Moors, which they may be able to cross on their bikes. All the gang agree, except Mick, who, left alone, shows his fury and contempt for the others (Mick Rules).

The next evening, at the Youth Club’s Christmas Eve Party, everyone is miserable. The Club is to be closed at ten o’clock, and Marge is heartbroken at the message Shirley has brought her from ‘Terry’. Her friends tell her to put him out of her mind, but she cannot (Forget Him).

At this moment, the club president arrives. It is his daughter who has been injured in the road accident and he tells the club how her life was saved by a bike gang bringing the needed blood over the moors to the local hospital. Marge realises that it was Terry and his gang, and to her delight, the President says that he has persuaded the gang to come along to the club to receive his thanks and to make up for the damage they caused four nights earlier. The club chairman is at first furious, then penitent, but Marge and Terry are reunited, and the club members look forward to Christmas and the rest of their holiday (reprise of It’s A Holiday).

The titular character was played by Joanne Duggan, with her little sister Judith played by Gillian Harvey. Pamela Woodward played the role of Shirley. Terry was portrayed by Mark Highley and Mick by Steve Collins.

Janet Ogden (née Minchin), who played Marge’s mum in the production, said: “I remember it being great fun. I would love to find someone who has a video of the actual production.”

Gail Hibbert said: “I so remember this being done. I have to say it was brilliant but I was a little naughty to go in it, but I remember it well. It brought back lots of happy memories.”

Approximately 350 pupils and staff were involved in the staging of Marge!.