My neighbour Clive Borrow, who has died aged 85, was an amateur actor and entertainer who trod the boards from his schooldays until just a few years before his death.
Over the years, Clive performed in 76 shows for the Cottenham Theatre Workshop in Cambridgeshire. He also directed 26 productions for the group, starred as a dame 19 times and wrote 17 pantomimes. As a sideline he also appeared as Mr E, a magician, at local children’s parties and in primary schools.
Clive was born in Soham, Cambridgeshire, the only child of Ivy (nee Lawrence), a housewife, and her husband, Reg. The family moved a short distance to Cottenham when he was six, and he lived there for the rest of his life.
He first appeared on stage at Cottenham County primary school and continued with his theatrical interests at Cambridgeshire high school for boys in Cambridge. He left there at 16 and after studying engineering at Cambridgeshire Technical College began his working career in 1958 in radio communications at the Pye Group in Cambridge. In the mid-90s he moved to Newmarket Microsystems in Suffolk, as a human resources manager, remaining there until taking early retirement in 2001.
His serious theatrical career began in 1967 when he took part in Waters of the Moon at Cottenham Village College. Thereafter he appeared in many productions for local groups such as the St Ives Music and Drama Society, the Festival Players, the Pye Amateur Dramatic Society and the St Neots Operatic Society. He was among the many who attended a meeting in his village in 1977 to create a revue for the Queen’s silver jubilee – a venture that gave birth to the Cottenham Theatre Workshop.
Clive met Vivienne West, a secretary, at a local amateur dramatics group in the early 70s. They married in 1974 and their daughter, Wendy, was born in 1975.
Vivienne died in 2020 and afterwards Clive had his bungalow in Cottenham altered so that Wendy, her husband, Matthew, and their two children could live with him. In his final years he was regularly seen driving his motorised scooter up and down the high street.
He is survived by Wendy and by his grandchildren, Evan and Leo.
