SMART coffee meet No 59 report

Our 59th SMART coffee meet and was a very busy and successful afternoon. Among the newbies this time were Dave Jenkins, Trevor Cawley, Elana Tree, Rod Evans and Susan Green. Dave was a roadie for Stan’s Blues Band and Nine Below Zero and had an album of very interesting cuttings and photos of the gigs that did. Trevor was chatting about the many bands he saw at Friars club in Aylesbury. Dave and Trevor are part of the very popular Pevensey Ukulele Group PUG. Elana had some wonderful black and white photos of London which she had taken back in 1975. Rod had an impressive photo album of many groups he has been involved in, including Flying Teapots, Alfie & The Alcoholics, Hot Club, The Fieldstone Boys and many more. Colin Bell had with him an early 1960’s brochure of St Clement’s Caves and Anthony ‘Nan’ Morland wanted to know if anyone remembers hop picking at Guinness’s when a grey van with a loud speaker played pop records of the day. He has happy memories of  hearing Marty Wilde’s Teenager In Love, Elvis A Big Hunk Of Love and many others. Barry French never lets us down and arrived with a Joe Brown Concert Programme from Hastings in 2009, Electric Guitar book by Donald Brosnac, as well as sheet music from Emile Ford & The Checkmates, Procol Harum, Peter Sarstedt and Manfred Mann. Monica Bane had some interesting photos and stories. Including a photo of the Charles Road building collapse in 1965, cuttings of her cousin Carole Hersee who was the original girl on the TV test card in 1967 and it was George Hersee that created it. She also had a photo of Milo’s Restaurant  after the gas explosion in 1963 at the end of George Street Hastings. Simon Falla has found a number of photos from Lazybones Disco including the bouncers and will be posting these soon. Linda Boiling has found an advert leaflet for The Disc Jockey featuring The Teenbeats, I Can’t Control Myself, as well as a Stylus Record bag, completely different to the ones we have seen before. Dave Muriel had a packed photo album which included some great photos of the skiffle group he played with, from Rye Secondary Modern School around 1956/57. Also a photo of Hastings Art School Brassey Institute from 1957 and more images from the Some People film from 1962, when he was the poster boy and interestingly they are still using this image today in a recent Vintage Rock Magazine. This is just a small bit of what I remember, if you have anything interesting that you were talking about then please feel free to add. Sorry I didn’t get round to chatting to everyone.

Lucy Pappas… So lovely seeing a few people after a break! Thanks for organising, Al x

Pete Prescott… Lucy, it was great seeing everyone wasn’t it !

Chris Meachen… Really sad to miss it, been running around all day.

Wendy Weaver… Good to see so many people

Stephen Moran… Thank you so much for organising Alan. SMART meetings are really special.

Lyn Farkley Appleyard… Wish I’d been there….next one all being well!

Mick O’Dowd… Really enjoyed this one. Nice to see some new SMARTIES. Interesting chats.

Vince Ray… I’ll come next time, glad you had fun

John Busbridge… Sorry I couldn’t make it

Mick O’Dowd… Not he best of pics but gives an idea of the informality of The Meet.

Andy Qunta… Sounds like fun! Sorry I couldn’t be there!

Dave Jenkins… Thanks Alan, for a fantastic afternoon , Trevor and myself had a great time especially talking to Dave about Peter Frampton when living in Bromley. Looking forward to the next time all the very best Dave.

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