Also remember the Stephan Grapelli evening. Amazing, you couldn't move. I think John Barker made the most of it by selling far too many tickets! But that's the way it was in those far-off pre Health & Safety days. A few people complained but most of us just enjoyed it for what it was – great entertainment.

One of the funniest moments involved the aforementioned beer crate stage. Over time and much beer spilling by performers, the crates became rather sodden. The inevitable happened one night when someone got up to sing and their foot went through one of the crates. Quick as a flash, Barry Laing, who was MC that evening, jumped up and announced, "It's OK folks, don't worry, it's just a stage he's going through". Boom-boom!

Funny story number 2, which I learnt years later from one of the surgeons at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. Landlord Danny Sheridan-Bolton fell out with a few of his regulars and they decanted to one of the other pubs in the village. They became known locally as 'Bolton's Wanderers'.

By the way Richard, I think the Sunbeam Talbot belonged to Barry, not John Barker.