On Friday afternoon Tenby will come to a standstill as ‘the man with the music shop’, Laurie Dale makes the final short journey from his home in High Street to St Mary’s Church as family and friends gather to celebrate his long life.

IT’S hard to believe that a man so irrevocably linked with Tenby was not actually born within the five arches, yet Laurie Dale’s first breath was drawn not in the town he loved, but on the other side of the world, in Australia.

His parents had moved to the country and did not return to Wales until Laurie was two years old when his father began work as a piano tuner and put in place the foundations of a family business which was to last almost a century.

As a young man Laurie joined the family firm, working alongside his father, initially selling pianos and musical instruments from premises in Warren Street while continuing to tune the pianos of Tenby.

Always a keen music fan, it was when a young Laurie, with an eye to the future, convinced his father to expand the traditional side of the business by adding a section selling records when the store relocated to its current High Street premises in the 1950s, that the place of Dales Music in Tenby history was secured.

It was this eye to the sharp end of his industry which contributed to the success of the shop and ensured that generations of Tenby residents were counted as customers.

Despite his forward vision, Laurie never lost his love of the Tenby of his formative years which was very different to the bustling tourist town of today.

As a young man Laurie had married his childhood sweetheart Marian Hall and he spoke fondly of his youth and of the days when the town was car-free and gas-lit and of the hard work, which set the young couple on their feet.

After his father’s retirement, Laurie took on the business, combining long days behind the counter, of the now thriving shop, with running a bed and breakfast and later a small hotel alongside Marian.

Before starting work at the shop each day Laurie would cook breakfasts for the guests at Harbour Heights, returning to the hotel in time to help with dinner.

Despite this early success as an hotelier, it is as ‘the man with the music shop’ that Laurie Dale is best known, not only in Tenby but all over the world, thanks to the shop’s loyal following...and in part his own eccentricities.

While many remember the vast record collections, the huge array of pin badges and the stock of guitars and ukuleles everyone remembers Laurie, who when he wasn’t dispensing advice from behind the counter, or warning over-enthusiastic customers not to ‘bend the vinyl’ could be found perched on a stool outside the shop, usually shirtless and often sporting the ‘skimpiest pair of shorts imaginable’.

“Bamps loved to sit outside the shop, ‘topping up his tan’ and watching Tenby pass by,” said his grandson James Chiffi.

“I’ve travelled all over the world and whenever I say I’m from Tenby someone will mention ‘the man with the music shop’. Being featured on the documentary and book Last Shop Standing certainly added to his fame,” he continued.

“Since news of his death broke we’ve had cards from all over the country and Europe and even further afield,” added Linzi, Laurie’s daughter.

While music was a passion, it was as a performer that many Tenby people will remember Laurie not only for his work with the famous Tenby Gang Shows which are still talked about today, but as a stalwart of the Tenby Players, and later Stagestruck, in which he worked not only alongside his wife Marian, but also his life-long friend, musical director Pauline Allen.

“Everyone talked about the Gang Shows,” explained James. “Bamps was always front and centre in the productions and they were always sold out and even featured in a BBC documentary.

“Alongside the Gang Show, the Tenby Players was an amazing group as well. Some of the shows they did just couldn’t be repeated these days. The sets and costumes and production were amazing - it was as close to a professional show as an amateur company could get.”

With his professional life and his performing life hugely successful, heartbreak struck Laurie in 1991 when his beloved Marian lost her long battle with illness. Since their marriage they had been an inseparable team, performing together in plays, musicals, poetry readings and even touring the area with their popular stand up comedy routines.

“After my grandmother’s death my grandfather set about living his life in her memory,” said James. “Everything he did led back to her because she was his life-long love.”

“In the late 1980s my grandmother had set about raising funds to get St Mary’s Church flood-lit after thinking it looked a bit sad at night and after she died my grandfather used to open the blinds above the shop so he could see the lights and feel closer to her,” said James.

Despite his grief Laurie carried on performing, often with Pauline Allen at his side as they recreated the act he and Marian had perfected.

A born entertainer he led the festivities at Tenby’s annual senior citizens’ Christmas dinner for more than 30 years and was a frequent visitor to local nursing homes where he sang for residents.

This love of performing never left him and even during his last stay in hospital he left his sick bed to entertain fellow patients.

“He really would sing at the drop of a hat and loved making people happy. He carried on entertaining even when he was quite ill because he never wanted to let anyone down,” smiled James.

“He could on occasion be sharp - especially with those who came into the shop to browse and not buy, but he was a man who loved to help and look after people.

“We always said that with his family, he was our biggest fan but our sharpest critic.

“Ultimately he would move heaven and earth to help anyone, especially in the shop.

“Everyone knew him and he was the ‘emergency contact’ for so many people, and was always on hand to help out in a crisis.”

It was one of these emergency calls which led to one of the most enduring relationships in Tenby’s history, when Laurie ironically found himself on the end of a 999 call.

In an effort to help a friend who had been locked out of her house, Laurie slipped and found himself impaled on a row of sharp metal railings.

With a long stay in hospital ahead of him he realised he would need some help in running the shop and ‘drafted in’ a teenaged Richard Westmacott.

The two quickly became inseparable with their vast knowledge of different genres of music making them the perfect team behind the counter.

“Their relationship was absolutely pivotal to the success of the store because they really were the complete musical package,” said James.

Such was their acclaim that Dales became central to the music scene in Tenby and further afield, with queues often forming up the street outside the shop as keen teen fought to get their hands on the latest new releases.

With Laurie’s link to the the theatre scene the shop was also the box office for many local shows and events.

“Bamps absolutely loved Tenby and was a proud champion of the town wherever he went. He was a great traveller and went to London regularly and holidayed in Ibiza or the Canaries every year, but you can guarantee wherever he was he would end up at the piano singing and talking about Tenby,” said James.

“A few years ago he went to New York where his son Charles was appearing in a show on Broadway. After the show he ended up in a bar and sure enough it wasn’t long before Bamps was up and singing all the Sinatra classics....and telling everyone to come to Tenby!”

“Perhaps one of the nicest tributes we’ve had to him came last week after his death when we played his own CD out of the window of the shop and someone said how lovely it was that we were playing Frank Sinatra music out of the speakers.

“He would have been very happy with that,” added James.

• Laurie Dale will make his final trip around Tenby on Friday (December 17) when his coffin will be carried from his home above the shop to St Mary’s Church for the service at 1.30 pm.

The funeral cortege will leave St Marys Church at approx 2.15 pm travelling to Tudor Square, The Harbour, Crackwell Street, White Lion Street, The Parade, Esplanade, Victoria Street, Park Road and onwards to Parc Gwyn Crematorium, Narberth for anyone who wishes to pay their respects.

Laurie passed away on Thursday, December 2 at Tenby Cottage Ward, Park House Court. He is pre-deceased by his wife Marian and survived by his sister Jennifer, daughter and son-in-law Linzi and Richard, son and daughter-in-law Charles and Sara, grandsons James and Laurie, great grandchildren Tom, Kaia and Leo.