When my dad was an accountant all three of these entertainers were his clients.  He was very discreet about his clientele so we children didn’t know about this until he retired.  Tommy Cooper died on stage at a young age, Bruce Forsyth had a long and distinguished television career and Ken Dodd continued to be an old style variety entertainer until 2017 and died yesterday aged 90.  When I spoke to mum this morning she told me that she had met Tommy Cooper when dad introduced them at a Ladies Night dinner and when he stood up (he was a large 6 foot 4, heavy set man) she felt like a midget.  She also gave Ken Dodd and his partner Ann Jones a lift to the station one evening after they had a meeting with dad at his office and needed to catch a train back to Knotty Ash. Sadly, when Ken refused to provide dad with adequate financial papers, they parted company.  All these performers as well as Morecambe and Wise managed to make people laugh without resorting to swearing and families could sit and watch their shows together.

Here, at The Gables, the lambs and ducks make us smile on a daily basis, quacking and baaing and never, ever swearing!