Our 48th meet and a packed and extremely busy one. Among the newbies this time were Monica Bane, Peter Houghton and Yvonne Ellis. Monica was talking about The Disc Jockey record shop to Andre Martin, also The Posh Club and being the current old town Sea Queen. She had loads of cuttings which she was showing to Nigel Sinden and happy memories of when she was Hastings carnival queen in the 1970. Pete had with him a very impressive collection of hundreds of signed autographs and photos, including Chuck Berry, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock and many more. Mick O’Dowd was surprised to see one of him on stage that he has never seen before. Peter also had a full list of bands that he saw on Hastings Pier, Strawbs signed flyer and Nutz pier gig ticket. As well as a signed photo of Paul Rodgers which got Pete Prescott talking about when Paul Rodgers was recording his album ‘Now’ at Parkgates Studio in Catsfield. Pete and Carol were reminding people of Beatles Day 20 is not far away and is on Sunday 7th April and now with 4 stages. Lol Cooksey said his band The 6Ts are really looking forward to playing. Yvonne was reliving happy memories of Scalliwags and Saturdays night clubs and chatting to Graham and Wendy Weaver about the folk music nights at The Cock Inn in Peasmarsh. Tim McDonald was talking about the Decca Records reunion and Barry French had the bizarre item of the day with a platform ticket for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and Around The World In 80 Days on Ice ticket from Wembley in 1964! He also had a pile of albums from Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Roy Buchanan. Gerry Powell had with him Cliff Richard and The Shadows music book from 1962 and Radio Caroline Last Of The Pirates book which he produced. Colin Bell had a pile of gig tickets from various shows he has seen over the years and was in conversation with Jon and Julie McCallion about happy memories of The Vampires who featured Jed Stacey on drums. Phil and Ann Gill arrived with an album of photos of the groups that Phil has been involved in, over the years. Clive Richardson was talking about Wild Turkey when one of the gigs was changed to Aquarius and believes that Bob Knights had doubled booked the pier that night with a Masonic event. Sarah Harvey and Tony Davis were talking about the forthcoming Hastings Rock Fest 2019 taking place on Sunday 26th May at The Carlisle. Roger Carey was looking forward to the Steeleye Span tour which starts shortly. Sorry I didn’t get chance to speak to everyone and this is just a very small bit of what I remember, anyone who wishes to add anything interesting you were talking about, then please feel free to do so.
Mick O’Dowd… Wonderful as usual. Nice to see some newbies. What a collection Peter Houghton had! I was also talking to Nigel (The Mayor) about when The Pier might re-open as it is now March, but he had no news.