A MAN who is among Llandudno’s most recognisable residents is celebrating 10 years of providing free entertainment to the town.
Sam Peters, 70, is better known as Llandudno’s “Monkey Man”, given he’s often seeing pushing two cuddly toy monkeys in a pram.
Born just outside Birmingham, Sam first visited North Wales when he spent a week in Penmaenmawr each year in the 1950s and ‘60s; he then moved to Llandudno 11 years ago.
He likes to feel as though he, along with wife and co-entertainer Amanda, is “giving something back to the public”, after they helped him – literally – get back on his feet after he had to learn to walk again following a stroke.
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Sam said: “A decade is a long time when you entertain for free for 12 months of the year!
“It was accidental, really. I had a stroke in 1998, and for 10 years, I was in bed for 17 hours a day, and then had to learn to walk again, which took me two-and-a-half years.
“I went to a charity shop in Birmingham one day, and a lady asked if I wanted a toy monkey, who looked a bit lonely, like me. I bought it for £1.50.
“The first monkey was ‘Chloe’; I still have her, but the monkeys I use now, in the push chair, are ‘Rebecca’ and ‘Cameron’.”
Highlights from the last decade for Sam include recording Christmas songs, and having the “biggest wedding in the history of North Wales”.
In the last 10 years, he said, he’s been out entertaining for 1,250 days, and had more than 40,000 pictures and videos taken.
This year, he’s helped open the new charity shop in Craig-y-Don for St David’s Hospice, and was invited to the launch of the town’s new land train.
Sam, who previously entertained in Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon, said: “We’ve met a lot of people from around the world.
“We’ve started entertaining in care homes in Llandudno, which is going really well, because we’re there for them.
“We sing, we sit and have a cup of tea and a chat with them, and they sing for us, as well. I find it beneficial because, when I was ill, it was the public that supported me and got me on my feet by supporting me.
“I was shy and couldn’t speak to anybody, so I’m giving something back to the public. I’ll never charge them.
“The people in Llandudno are fantastic to me. Some have got depression or other illnesses, but I’ve been through all of it myself, so I can talk to them about it, and we lift them.”
Wife Amanda added: “I go out with Sam sometimes, and really do enjoy it. Sam’s got about 80 jackets now!
“The feeling of the people, the outfits that we both wear… I absolutely love it.”
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