Liverpool Folk Club 1970

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 29 Oct 09 - 06:53 AM

Has Ken been unearthed and resuscitated yet?

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 29 Oct 09 - 06:49 AM

Hi keith - good to hear from you - we dont get to that part of the world much these days but did manage to get to the Swan at Aughton before it closed. My sisters who live in Maghull remembered the club at St Georges? which I think Ted took on after you and Ken left. You may remember my brother Mike playing guitar from behind closed curtains there? He died earlier this year and a lot of familiar faces turned up at his funeral where maggie and I played. We still play in The Old Trout Band whenever anyone books us and still manage the odd club gig. As you may have determined from the name banjoman, I am well in to making and repairing banjos since I retired and have recently rebuilt the old Windsor which you swapped with me for what I think was your first melodeon?
Ah such memories

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 12:02 PM

Hi Keith,

"Now then Les C,we were busking for Mencap and the pub was the Ship Inn Haskayne run by the County Folk"

True enough The Ship.

"Les whats it worth if I don't sing early morning shanty anymore."

Quite a bit! Then a bit more.

You still playing that fiddle?

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 04:37 PM

Keith, welcome aboard! I still maintain you're a low-key lad, who likes nothing better than a good book and a cat on the lap! - but I'll stop nagging you now. Just keep chipping in bits and pieces of memory dredging! See you next Singers Night.
btw, where's Barbara Snape with more diary extracts? She's gone quiet on us.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Keith
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 02:40 PM

Self-effacing, How very dare you!Hi Pete at long last,no I havn't got a copy of " Love thy docker " [TV prog.] and I hope nobody else has.Thanks for jogging the memory Pete, regards to Maggie.Now then Les C,we were busking for Mencap and the pub was the Ship Inn Haskayne run by the County Folk, anyone remember Trish,Jean,Peter and John.
Les whats it worth if I don't sing early morning shanty anymore.Now will you stop naggimg Clive?

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 11:51 AM

here is a link to Barbara Dickson's This is Your Life. This section deals with her folkie days and features Archie Fisher ( some 6 mins or so in).

Youtube Link

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 11:47 AM

The Barbara Dickson Liverpool connection goes back to her mother who comes from Liverpool, and Barbara used to visit relatives in Liverpool as a child.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 10:36 AM

I see that Barbera Dickson is doing a gig at the Anvil in Basingstoke early next year. I may go just to see if she still does any of the songs I remember her doing around Liverpool. I think that her Liverpool connection was mainly based on a friendship with Willy Russel. I have tapes recorded at the Mitre in Liverpool and I still occasionally "Do" one of the songs from it. An Alan Taylor song called The Morning Lies Heavy.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 08:45 AM

Barbara Dickson's old Edinburgh cohort Archie Fisher used to include Silver Coin in his repertoire. It is such a fine song that I suprised that it isn't heard more often.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 06:18 AM

Yo, Pete (banjoman) I spoke with Keith Price on Sunday - he was aware of this thread but y'know, he's so self-effacing that I don't think he'd ever contribute to any forum! He's a shy lad underneath all that bluster. I don't normally post anywhere myself but this d*mn thing is so absorbing! He rattled off a quick anecdote about the TV appearance with Old Rope and was laughing so much he spilt his drink! I'm sure he'd love a chat with you and Maggie, so give me a call on 0151 924 5078 sometime and I'll pass on his 'phone number.

Anyway getting back to the ahem 'old days,' Les Brown who's a contributor to this thread did "Silver Coin" on Sunday night - the Terry Hiscox (Hunter Musket) song which I hadn't heard in a long while. I looked out a live tape I made in 1974 of Barbara Dickson. It featured in her repertory in the days when you could see her in Liverpool a lot. This was the last time she was at the Bothy (we paid her £20!) and the whole recording through all the crackle and pop is superb - wasn't she great in that heyday? Anyone know if it's possible to clean up and improve the quality of an old cassette recording - just done with hand-held mic at side of stage into old Phillips piano key portable?

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Joyce Jennings ne Bennion
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 04:27 AM

Pete I remember that Triumph Herald. Barry gave me and my sister a lift in it.The floor on the driver's side had a big hole in it and Barry's feet were soaking wet at the end of the journey.
Barry sang that "telepone song". The one that went, "So say who you are love and not hello, if I press button B all my money will go", or words to that effect.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 26 Oct 09 - 08:04 AM

Give Keith our regards and remind him of the messages in this thread

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:40 PM

I do apologise again for hijacking the thread, but just wanted to echo the fond memories expressed by Frank above of the Place, in Victoria Street Edinburgh , where R & B Inc played in the early sixties.

Intimate wasn't the word, I remember listening to Memphis Slim (with R &B Inc backing him) leaning against the back of his piano with my elbows on the lid. Ditto for Champion Jack Dupree who played the following week.

Barry might be able to confirm or not, but one of my other memories of the Place (possibly fallacious) is that the Gents urinals consisted literally of a bank of soil with a rough hewn channel at the base, no plumbing, no tiles no nothing.

I do remember for a fact that all you could buy for refreshment was sausage rolls and coca-cola, but everybody still left the Place on a high, just from the music.

Oh happy days ...

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: LesB
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:36 PM

No different one. Southport lad. By the way just been chatting to Keith Price at the Bothy this evening.
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 01:59 PM

I wonderif we are all talking about the same Barry Walmsley who was a biology teacher in Birkenhead at the time we knew him. No way could I see him playing soft rock or R & B

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Frank Sellors
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 12:03 PM

Murray: Barry has fond memories of living in Edinburgh and R&BsIncs residency at The Place. He has some great stories to tell of the acts that he backed including blues greats Memphis("Every Day I have the Blues")Slim and Sonny Boy Williamson.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM

great to read all that news, Clive.

it needs stressing again that R&B Inc were a band way ahead of their time, they were playing authentic blues long before the so-called blues boom, and playing it with a virtuosity which was imo never approached by any other band of the sixties (and I did see a lot of Liverpool groups, major and minor). Barry in particular was unbelievably inventive and tasteful, absolutely spellbinding both on slow and up-tempo numbers, and all played on a crappy old Hofner with the action half an inch off the fretboard. Alan Menzies was a phenomenal drummer, a bit like Keith Moon on speed.

if you, or Les, bump into Barry, do say hi to him from me, I was the drunken Scotsman who came to Southport for the concert and stayed in his friend's hotel (whose name, sadly I can't remember) where everybody gathered afterwards. This would have been 2004 or 2005, and the concert was in the town hall.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 09:02 AM

Yes gang, Les is right. Barry's still hard at it, (Apoco Music) and playing soft rock and country. Married to Connie for many years (the sister of my old friend Paul Norbury) and Connie's the author of the "Munro The Mole" children's books.
R&B Inc. were having regular reunions a few years back, at the Royal Clifton Hotel. Pete Kelly, the consumate showman, came back to resume vocal duties once and John Conroy was on drums, with Chris Holmes (Music Students, Timebox) on keyboards. Lee Curtis, members of the Undertakers & Dominoes were onstage too. Wonder why they discontinued these events?
Apart from Barry and Pete, R&B Inc had John McCaffrey on bass (My spouse Jean still fancies him!) and Mike McKay on rhythm guitar - I haven't had news of them for years. Alan Menzies the original drummer used to play with The Bootles - maybe still does and lives in Denmark.
Barry's first band was the Diplomats. He replaced George Eccles in R&B Inc. in 1963 and their 'Louie Louie' cover got to no.40 in the charts - we still have a scratchy worn-out copy.
Sorry if this has got away from a 'folk' thread - or has it? Discuss!!!!

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: LesB
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:39 AM

Murray, Barry has a music shop in Wesley St Southport. After R&B Inc he had a band called Inner Sleeve who won Opportunity Knocks a couple of times. ( They also opened my shop for me at about that time). He has also been known to sit it with Mr Blundells Alms ceilidh band occasionally.
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:20 AM

Well, no nudity! Who would go there then

Les

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 07:19 AM

scouse,

Consensus is there's no longer any folking about to be had in West Kirby these days.

However, if you're contemplating a visit to the Wirral, there are alternative venues.


Mondays:

Folk Session,
Farmers Arms, Hillbark Rd. Frankby, Wirral CH48 1NJ 8:30 (01516 484444)

Tuesdays:

Acoustic Night,
Saddle Club, Prenton Dell Rd. Prenton, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH43 3DB . 2nd Tue 8:45 (01516 080888)


Wallasey Session,
Little Brighton Inn, Rowson Street, Wallasey CH45 5AT 9:00 (01516 395781)



Wednesdays:

Bromborough Folk Club,
Bridge Inn, Bolton Rd. Port Sunlight, Wirral CH62 4UQ, 8:00 (01513 340759)

Mr Happy's Come All Ye:
Carlton Tavern, Hartington St, Handbridge, Chester CH4 7BN 9:00 (01244 675860)
Free Butties & Mystery Guest every week!!


Thursdays:

Magazine Folk Club
Magazine Hotel, Magazine Ln. New Brighton, Wirral CH45 1HP 8.30 (01516 373974)


Parkgate Folk Club
Boathouse, 1 The Parade, Parkgate, Wirral CH64 6RN Lst Thu 8:15. (01516 771840)

Hungry Horse Folk Club:
The Rake, Rake Lane, Little Stanney, Ellesmere Port CH2 4HS 8:00 (01516 789902)


Fridays:

Folk Ahoy:
West Cheshire Sailing Club, Coastal Drive, Wallasey, Wirral CH45 3PZ 8:30 1st Fri (01516 533619)


Pensby Folk Club:
Pensby Hotel, Ridgewood Drive, Pensby, Wirral CH61 8RA 8:15 (01516 399350)


Carlton Acoustic Jam:
Carlton Tavern, Hartington St. Handbridge, Chester CH4 7BN 2nd Fri 8:15 (01244 676688)


Sundays:

Folk at The Manor:
Old Manor Club, Withens Ln. Wallasey CH45 7NF Wirral. 8:30 (01516 781962)


Other stuff here: http://www.folkorbit.talktalk.net/


Hope this helps

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: scouse
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 06:59 AM

Thanks Fred, at my age I think I'll give the Black Horse a miss!!
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 06:43 AM

Clive, I think I am correct in saying that you used to know the members of the Southport band Rhythm 'n' Blues Incorporated ?

I saw them playing in Edinburgh in 1963 or 64 and was totally blown away. How they never made it mega I will never know.

I met Barry Womersley, the lead guitarist, a few years back at a concert in Southport, and shared a few memories and a couple of drinks with him afterwards.

Do you have any info as to what the rest of the band are up to these days ?

apologies for slight thread creep ...

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 05:40 AM

The Black Horse, on Black Horse Hill. It's a disco type pub nowadays, with a sign outside which says "No Nudity".

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 24 Oct 09 - 08:25 AM

Did the Hooters run the club in West Kirby? At the something horse?

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 24 Oct 09 - 06:57 AM

I was looking through some old files and came across a phot of the Moon shiners who used to run a club at the Wyndham opposite Bootle Station. I know that their banjo player joined up with Hank Walters but are any of the rest of the group still about. Can' recall their names but they had a fiddle player and a guitarist.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: scouse
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 05:36 AM

Any one know if the West Kirby Folk Club is still going. I'm comin' over for a short visit and the club use to be every Tuesday night. Anyone remember Artie Shaw???
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 05:35 AM

Les - I think Maggie & I were there when this was going on. Barry used to sing in a duo with Maggie and last I heard he had gone to Newcastle although thats about 30 years ago. I sold him my Triumph Herald as I needed the money to buy an engagement ring. I thought it a bit much when he turned up at The Old Fort about a week later complaining that it had run out of petrol. He was a pretty fair guitar player tho' he abhored any instrument with steel strings. I once sold him a banjo but dont think he ever played it.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 03:29 AM

Clive,

once did a charity busk with Old Rope, Barry Walmsley and Ken Chesters in Liverpool City Centre and a Mummers Play that amongst other places visited a club somewhere like Ormskirk. Best wishes to Keith if you see him

Les
Ex Bag End Folk Club Ellesmere Port

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 04:45 PM

I'd like to think Pricey will be at this Sunday's Bothy Singers Night and will ask him!

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 05:57 AM

Thanks Clive - any info on the Old Rope TV show - perhaps Keith has a copy somewhere?

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:30 PM

Nell Flanagan = licensee of Customs House.

The Clubship, what remains of it (a rusting hulk is too kind a term) was and maybe still is, at rest near Bramley Moore dock.

John Kelly is still gigging and remains a modest, unassuming talent
concentrating on his harmonium playing these days. Still wears tight jeans and stack heel boots! (settle down ladies!)

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 11:40 AM

Re Frank McCall - I agree with the sentiments expressed and remember him mainly as part of The Wakes with John Kelly, and Bernie Davies asking him at one club "Frank are you A Wake" to which Frank replied " Not while youre singing that crap"

I mentioned Clubship Landfall a while back - and remembered being on board one night when we were all asked to move to the opposite side of the ship as it was listing badly. I thought it was because I had drunk too much, but a sudden move to Port soon corrected the problem.
Does anyone remember, or have a tape of, Old Ropes one TV appearance. They did a one off with Brian Jaques and Liz. Brian interviewd the then landlady of the Custom House during the prog. Cant recall her name. No doubt someone will remind me.
Pete

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: scouse
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 05:11 PM

Hey Liberty Boy,Thanks for that.Ron's a good mate of mine as well. Love the fella so I do. Love to him and Trudy his lovely lady.
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 04:27 PM

He always sang from the heart and had more emotion in his little finger than Ken Loveless had in his whole body.

True, true

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Joyce Jennings ne Bennion
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 02:41 PM

I was sitting next to Frank mcCall in that workshop and recall that a quiet amount of laughter went around the room like a mexican wave. Good old Frank, he was always honest and never afraid to speak his mind. Also one of the finest folk singers I have ever heard. He always sang from the heart and had more emotion in his little finger than Ken Loveless had in his whole body.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 01:12 PM

I remember a story that Fred Jordan and Ken Loveless once had to share a twin room at Whitby (no doubt, the guest accommodation budget was tight!). If I remember correctly, Fred was a bit disconcerted by Kenneth's habit of walking round the bedroom naked ... Kenneth's comments on Fred are not recorded...
now, back to Liverpool?
Derek

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 10:31 AM

The Rev was amongst those who thought "The Morris" should only be danced by seriously consenting "Men" and sometimes in private.

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 10:24 AM

Ah, dear Whitby memories of the Southport Swords.
The famous wallpaper dance, which Mr Sharp wisely dismissed 70 years earlier as "not of the Folk" took place after an afternoon drinking bout in the Elsinore, and was performed in the adjacent, quiet Silver Street on a garage forecourt. Camerons Strongarm had been taken in quantity - as I mentioned in an earlier post, pubs and off-licences closed at 2.30PM and pint-downing had to be done in fierce fashion over a short timespan. It's what we know now as binge drinking and has never been exclusively the preserve of the 14 year old.
The Rev. Ken was always contentious - he revelled in it and liked to provoke controversy. In one workshop, where he was telling us categorically that no-one should ever attempt to sing in public until they had studied and practised for years at the feet of the great and good, Frank McCall, probably with a cig, stood up and accused him of talking crap! "And who are you," said Ken. Frank, standing on a "earlier-you-get-up-the-better-you'll-become" ticket and incandescent with fury, almost spat out "Francis Albert McCall, and you've been talking crap!" I don't think us young 'uns were supposed to have such disrespect for EFDSS stalwarts especially when they were Rural Dean Of Hackney. There was a collective gasp and then silence! Fortunately no more was said on that topic and we moved on to talking about Mr Kimber's concertina!

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 08:13 AM

I remember Rev, KL going on at some length in one of his own workshops, at Whitby, about the lack of musicianship amongst those of us who enjoyed singing folk songs. One of the audience was Willy Scott, the Border Shepherd, who finally given a chance sang a parody of The Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lommond.

L in C

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 07:46 AM

I remember seeing Southport Swords at Whitby when they had forgotten to bring their swords and persuaded a local DIY shop to "Loan" some rolls of wallpaper which they used. Suffice to say that the car park they danced on was knee deep in paper by the end.
Does anyone remember Rev. K. Loveless refusing to begin his workshop on Carols until I and several others had extinguished our fags.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Liberty Boy
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 02:13 AM

I was talking to Ron Kavanagh at the weekend and he has been to see Mick and says he's improving!

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 05:57 PM

keep the stories coming ... then Clive can edit them all into a book!
Good to see an enthusiastic audience at the Phil - side room, not the main hall - for Jackie oates on Saturday.
Derek

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Joyce Jennings ne Bennion
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 12:54 PM

I remember the club ship landfall. Any one remember Gordon's club, next door to the Customs House? We went there on a Saturday after the sing around at the Customs House and came out just as dawn was breaking. Some right dodgey people in there. The other club was up by Ye Olde Cracke. Forgotten what it was called.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 09:17 AM

Clive Pownceby. "Pubs closed in the afternoon and at 10.30PM."

That didn't stop Pete Rowley getting stoned out of his skull one year, to the extent that he couldn't remember where his lodgings were, and could barely stand upright. We steered him all over Whitby, not an easy task with someone the size of Pete, while he kept shouting, "I'll fall in the harbour".

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: scouse
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:20 AM


Can anyone give me the latest news on how Mick is?? Stuck over here in dear "Clogland as I am.. I don't get to hear a lot of news. I met Mick up at the Tonder Festival more than once when he came along with Ron Kavana. What a Craic those weekends where.
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: banjoman
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 05:59 AM

How long can this thread go on - We went to the Top Lock Club on many occasions and saw some great guests there. Willy Russel agreed to open the Pinehurst Club for Old Rope and was about that time I think beginning to write plays.
How many remember the Clubship Landfall? Maggie had her Hen Night there and it was a loss to the character of the city when it went. I think it was about to sink in the end?

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 05:59 PM

Tony and the tiddleywink: I remember that happening - 1971 - I know because I only went to Whitby once in the 70s and that was it. He was so jubilant that he'd got the tiddleywink in the pint ... it's not as easy as it looks! That was also the year when someone dropped a contact lens in the road late one night. Amazingly, Mike Harding found it ... we said it was because he was closer to the ground than most people! In fact, I got to Whitby that year thanks to Mike. I hitched from manchester, and got as far as York when he stopped to give me a lift. He had a VW beetle, plus wife, 2 children, sister in law and Paul Graney .. then me as well. How did we all get in? Perhaps I've counted too many people.... we couldn't ALL have got in.
Back to Tony Wilson - he was also a train fanatic. One Sunday evening at the Brunswick pub in Crewe when the folk club was upstairs, Tony was standing in the bar ... been on some railway trip (this WAS Crewe...) and had called in for a drink before going home to Liverpool. Must have been mid-ish 70s.
Derek

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Grog
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 05:36 PM

Surprised not to see more mention of the Top Locks Club at the Waterloo in Runcorn. Run by John Kaneen,Willie Russell and Jim Peden. Many a happy Sunday night spent there in the 70's. Barbara Dickson, Archie Fisher, Bert Lloyd (I even think that somewhere I've still got the cassette I recorded that night),Carthy, Nic Jones and many others that the years and too many pints of Greenalls have consigned to the memory bank that's now firmly locked. However, I still cringe at the thought of some of my floor spots there.

Subject: RE: Liverpool Folk Club 1970
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 13 Oct 09 - 04:56 PM

I remember the Wars Of The Roses well, Banjoman. Tony's main claim to fame on that score was, I think, swallowing a twiddleywink in the "first to get a tiddler into a pint of beer" contest! Tony won and in celebration downed his pint in one, forgetting to take the bit of plastic out first. He came to no harm.
Yard Of Ale drinking, race up Abbey steps, and beach cricket umpired by Mike Harding all spring to mind, in what were surely happy times, though the rivally could get quite intense. The Liverpool/Lancs contingent used the 'Elsinore' as its base whilst the Yorkshire crowd (captain - Bob Spray) drank in the 'Star.'
Well there was nothing else to do - we had to make our own fun. The Spa evening concert, and Ceilidh, dance displays and singarounds in the Drill Hall with featured guests were all you got for your weekly ticket money. Pubs closed in the afternoon and at 10.30PM.
We're positively spoilt at Festivals now by comparison. Ah, but are we any happier? Discuss!