Born four the stage

THERE are four girls spread over four generations of one family.

But this quartet of lovely lasses have more than their blood line in common – all of them have been showbiz stars.

Young Rachael Kenney, aged 21, is in the lead role in a season of musicals being performed in hotels across Majorca this summer.

And that means she’s following in the singing steps of great grandma Florence Harrington, nana Dorothy Porter and aunt Debra Porter who all trod the boards for a living.

But it seems while the basic concept of show business has remained the same down the decades – “getting everyone on the edge of their seats,” says 78-year-old Dorothy – plenty has changed since Florence became a Tiller Girl, aged just 17.

“It’s strange to think these days” says Dorothy, of Gaunt Drive, Gleadless Valley. “But back then Florence had to sign a contract saying she wouldn’t show any leg or say any profanities.

“They were told they had to wear thick tights under their skirts and even saying ‘damn’ was a sackable offence.

“It was a bit different by my day. Then we’d all be wearing short skirts.

“I met Cyril, my husband, because he came to our show in Sheffield and made no secret of the fact he liked my little outfit.”

And now in the limelight is Rachael, a former Eckington School pupil, of Ravencar Road, Eckington.

“Performing gives you such a buzz,” she says down a phone from the holiday island. “I was never pushed into doing this but it’s lovely to think I’ve got an aunt and a nana to go to for advice.

“I was so pleased to win this part but hopefully it’s just the first step in a long career.”

So, obvious question: How can one family produce so much talent?

“Perhaps it’s in the blood line,” says Debra, aged 40, who toured the world performing to the British armed forces while a club singer.

“Mum always had a little makeshift stage at home for me and my sister – Rachael’s mum Kay – and her mum had the same so maybe it’s just what this family is destined to do.”

Certainly that seems to be the case.

Florence, also known as Tolly, was born in London in 1898 – herself the daughter of a dancer called Rosena.

Along with sister Cissie, the youngster joined the Tiller Girls, a troop whose high-kicking, precision-timing routines were a huge hit with audiences across the country and saw them perform at prestigious venues like the London Palladium.

Florence city and county councils at crossroads with new hotel ...

FLORENCE, SC(WMBF) - A new development project bringing a new hotel and restaurant to downtown Florence is on hold. Florence City Council has approved a $425,000 grant for the new development and the county council is on board, but both councils are in a disagreement about a tax break incentive.

Developers are investing $5.6 million into this new project and are asking for some incentives. Some of these incentives include exclusion from the tax increment financing (TIF) that all of the downtown businesses are under.

TIF is the extra amount from increased property tax gained that is given back to the city and used for further development of the downtown area.

City council is for this deal, with an understanding that this new development will be in the TIF after seven years, but county council is against this deal. The county council wants the TIF to be lifted from all downtown businesses, but some people think that it's to extreme.

"The problem is that county wants to remove the entire TIF district which will be devastating because we, the city will not have any money to build up our existing businesses," Florence Downtown Development Manager Ray Reich said.

Councilman Ed Robinson also agrees saying,"with the TIF we can help those who are down here-not everybody-but a great number of them."

Local businesses think that the new development being left out of the TIF is unfair and that local merchants will run out of business without the extra money that new business would bring in.

" I want this business to happen, I want downtown to explode, but it needs to happen fairly," said Robinson.

Reich says that those incentives may seem unattractive for local businesses but without it, developers would not be interested in the area.

"If they don't get those incentives, there will be no hotel, no restaurant and we'll just be where Florence has been for the past 30 or 40 years with the decaying central business district," Reich said.

No deal will be made until city and county council members can come to a consensus on the TIF issue. Reich says the attorneys are working to come to an agreement and this deal could be finalized by next week.

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