Finding Aisha Ahmed (Miss Jacey) Taltler News / Jacey Cinemas

[Kate Bham]

Hello,

I'd like to track down Aisha Ahmed (Miss Jacey). Any ideas where to start?

Jacey Cinemas (previously Tatler News Theatres)
"We also created 'Miss Jacey' to represent our company at various events, Aisha Ahmed was an usherette at our news theatre who had won a beauty contest, she was lovely and had a nice personality and with my mother's guidance she became a great success, the press loved her! jncohen.net/JaceyGroup"

Jacey Cinemas and Miss Jacey, by John Neville Cohen

Jacey Cinemas and Miss Jacey, My Life's Experiences and Business Ventures, by John Neville Cohen

www.jncohen.net

Flatpack Festival organised Wonderland last year; an exhibition about Birmingham's cinema history. The project is ongoing so establishing contact would be very worthwhile personally and from an archive perspective.

Many thanks,
Kate

 

[Pedrocut]

Mercury Girl 1959, Contestant Aisha Ahmed, Kings Heath.

November 1958, Sunday Mercury.

 

[MWS]

Possibly married a David J Howchin in 1964. He possibly died in US in 1996.

Her mother died in 2001.

 

[Kate Bham]

Thank you, how did you find this out?

 

[MWS]

Just from the Ancestry sites.

I think David probably died Dorset not US, sorry.

And sadly, if Aisha married David, it looks like Aisha died in 2019.

 

[Pedrocut]

Aisha came third in the contest. The Mercury describes her as Birmingham-born but half Arab, King's Heath area winner. She will be 17 in a month’s time.. Dressmaking Machinist.

 

[Pedrocut]

Her address is given as Eastwood Road, Cannon Hill. Her father came from the Yemen.

 

[Pedrocut]

The Weekly Mercury in June of 1959 reports that the dusky Indian Aisha Ahmed was chosen as "Teenager of the
Year.”

In September was selected as "Miss Cinephone" and was looking after the booking arrangements At the Cinephone.

July 1961 appears in a monkey cage at Belle Vue Zoo to promote the film "Caged."

 

[Kate Bham]

Thank you everyone. What's the likelihood of getting in touch with her family? Does it say if they had children?

Sad to hear she may have died.

 

[MWS]

There doesn't appear to be any children registered. Aisha had a brother but his name was Mohamed and he possibly died in 2005.

 

[Kate Bham]

There doesn't appear to be any children registered. Aisha had a brother but his name was Mohamed and he possibly died in 2005.

Thank you for checking. Did Mohamed have children? Making contact with any living relatives will be worthwhile.

 

[MWS]

Sorry, from what I can use there's no way to tell, his name is too common.

The only other thing I can say with reasonable certainty is that her father in law was living with her, possibly until he died, aged 100. That's no help though.

 

[Kate Bham]

Sorry, from what I can use there's no way to tell, his name is too common.

The only other thing I can say with reasonable certainty is that her father in law was living with her, possibly until he died, aged 100. That's no help though.

That's interesting thank you. Wow 100.

 

[Kate Bham]

@MWS apparently Aisha did mary in the late 1960s. Does that correlate?

 

[MWS]

The marriage was registered 1964, so not quite late 1960s but the age given on her possible death registration matches her birth year.

 

[Kate Bham]

Hello, I've learnt from John Cohen (grandson of Joseph Cohen, Tatler/Jacey Cinemas), ex-colleague and friend to Aisha Ahmed that she married Robert Wills and sadly Aisha passed away in 2019 after a battle with cancer.

 

[MWS]

That ties in with the other info I've seen. There was a Robert Wills listed with her on the ERs and with your info I can see now that she was also listed as Aisha Wills in 2012. And I now see that her death was registered under both Howchin and Wills.