Month: October 2023

Deep Bayou Jazzband – Hastings Jazz Club 1958

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photo John Powys collection. Supplied by Robin Butler http://www.jazzpilgrims.co.uk

Jazz Pilgrims website says… A visit to Hastings Jazz Club , August Bank Holiday 1958.  Should have been the Terry Treagus Jazzmen but they had just broken up, and this was the reformed Deep Bayou Jazzband from Chatham, with Terry Treagus(tpt) & his clarinettist Tony Richards; drummer Bill Crowley from the Eureka Jazzband Humphrey Mayes on bass taking over from Vic Pitt and Frank and Charlie Webster on banjo and trombone, photo from the John Powys collection.

Alan Esdaile… Anyone remember where the Hastings Jazz Club was in 1958?

Kelvin Webster… Frank Webster is my father, passed away 1987 in Barnstaple, North Devon

Toffs Night Club, Queens Road Hastings – Halloween party 31st October 1978

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Barry Upton… How lovely. We used to go there a lot. Loved the place. Thanks for posting it

Earl Grey… Very interesting.

Mick Knights… Much preferred the place when it was the Astral. I think Toffs started life trying to be a bit exclusive as I remember one of the questions on the application form was what make of car you drove!!

Woolworth In Hastings 1930

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Supplied by Davey Johnson

Davey Johnson… Oh wow… Woolworths in Hastings, 1930! Maaaan I miss that store xx

Colin Bell… I really miss it at Christmas, you always went there for all those bits & pieces under one roof you couldn’t get elsewhere ☺ The one in Kings Road St Leonards was magical when i was a kid, yes, I’m that old i remember it well!

Jaffa Peckham… yes, it was a special treat each Christmas for us to be taken from Bexhill to see the Kings Road lights and to pop into Woolworths to get small presents for each other. One year I got my dad a cheap EP of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller hits (which turned out to be covers by UK studio bands). He was still chuffed with it though!

Merv Kennard… I remember it well, was telling someone who moved to St leonards all about it recently

Joe Knight… I remember those days! Fantastic when birthdays or Christmas

Leigh Mitchell… I can’t make out where this Woolworths is – it’s not the one I remember

Angela Frances Gardner… Leigh, where Sports Direct is now at the bottom of Wellington Square on what used to be Castle street. It was next to Dimarcos (now McDonalds)

Leigh Mitchell… thanks, it is the one I went to but it looks very different in the photo!

Marilyn Spence… I remember the one in St Leonard’s also and loved it at Christmas with the street all lit up Was magical Lived in Warrior Square so not far away As a 16 year old used to get makeup and perfume there Remember using the back door at times Then I emigrated to Australia I’m nearly 77 now and we have Woolworths stores here in Oz

JS Bythesea… It had a little bit of everything, didn’t it? In the 1960s I used to buy a little blue bottle of perfume in the Romford Woollies for my mum’s birthday. It was called Soir De Paris and I think had a drawing of the Eiffel Tower on it. I can still remember the scent.

Tracy Birrell… I grew up with Woolies on Kings Road. Magical Christmas times as well.

Downliners Sect – The Witch Doctor 29th October 1966.

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supplied by  Andre Palfrey-martin collection

Poster supplied by Colin Norton

Colin Norton… I played drums for the Downliners that night. it was a fun gig as I remember… The only rehearsal that I had was the sound check. No, I did not play on any of their records but I did rehearse with them in the spring of 1967 for a tour of Sweden which never happened. Keith Grant is a great bass player and I really enjoyed playing with him. Our friend, Baz Cooper, was the keyboard player for the Downliners for more than a year and played on the “I Can’t Get Away From You”/”Roses” (Pye) in 1967. The other members for the Hastings gig were Don Craine – Rhythm Guitar and Vocals, Bob Taylor – Lead Guitar. Great memories!

Mick O’Dowd… Had their EP “The Sect Sing Sick Songs” and there was a “sick” version of Leader of The Pack on it.

Colin Norton… Yes, “The Leader Of The Sect” :

 

Unabridged Telephone Directory – Regent Hotel Ad.

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Andre Palfrey-Martin Collection

Josie Lawson… Regent Hotel, wasn’t that where the Reades lived, the Scalliwaggers

Kevin Burchett… his was before the Reades took over, Josie

Robert Searle… Great picture

Harry Randall… I’m So Glad, was one that always reminds me of them! Where are they now?

Lloyd Johnson… Dave Johnson ! Remember him well from Ore Youth Club!…he played with Kenny Comfort ,Melvyn & Lynn Grant for a while I think or it might have been The Redcoats …Dave had the newsagents in Westfield in later life I believe he died some time ago….

Pete Millington… Don’t remember Dave playing with The Redcoats Lloyd. Must have been Johnny Smith and the Chevs was really early. The first time I saw him he had his jean jacket draped over his floor to tom to deaden it. That was at the Market Hall.

Lloyd Johnson… Yes! You are right! I can remember him talking with Kenny and Melvyn a lot …Brian ‘Bonzo’ Redfern was Kenny and Melvyn’s drummer…I Loved The Market Hall it was so funny seeing Henry with his nose almost on the Chevs guitarist finger board saying things like “Oh! That’s how you do that” or “No! No! That’s not right” taking the piss and trying to put him off….all in a spirit of camaraderie. Is my memory right in thinking there would be The Talismen set up at one end of the hall and Johnny Smith and the Chevys at the other..I always think of it as a battle ground…’Battle of The Bands’ so to speak…Dave Bishop would get up with The Chevs and sing ‘it’s been nice’ a Marty Wilde ‘B’ side….really liked that song…silly teenage stuff trying to sound tough and grown up…

Pete Millington… Yes it was a feature of the MH to have 2 groups, one at each end, most groups had the pleasure of trying to outdo each other. We (The Confederates) had that pleasure.

Lloyd Johnson… I really liked the friendship and the good humoured pissing taking between the bands…didn’t Johnny Smith keep a milk bottle behind the amp for some reason.. Colin ‘Sid’ Tapp lived in my road…I made a guitar when I was a kid, tried to copy the Everly Brothers guitars, it was black with white binding.When it was built I painted it black and then varnished it…the vanished reacted with the paint and it ended up crackle finish…I sold it to Colin later .He told me it was his first guitar when we met up a year of so back….Barry Goodall and Pete Bailey and his twin brother were in my class at Priory road….

Dave Nattress… Great stories and some unbelievable band names in the last couple of weeks.  As I’ve remarked before, there’s me thinking weird band names only really started in the 70’s, “A Teardrop Explodes” – “Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark” – etc. etc. How wrong was I?  Where did the “Unabridged Telephone Directory” come from?

Colin Fox… they used to shorten their name to UTD, but it sounded like a sexual disease.

May 1968 Advert

Nigel Livermore… Good to see a photo of Dave Johnson: we were at West St.Leonards Primary School together, and then in the same year at HGS. Memories of New Year’s Eve pub crawl with him and Chris Jones (also ex-HGS, later on Obituaries at the BBC). A great character, skilled at writing crude verse, e.g. ‘Ode to a Bog’ which began ‘O to sit on a latrine………’ Toured Germany as a drummer around the same time as The Beatles, living on Currywurst (he said). Also worked on The Ridge as a lathe turner.

Harry Randall… Used to love watching these at “The Regent” gave me huge inspiration!

 

SMART coffee meet report number 69

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SMART coffee meet report number 69

Among the newbies this time were Kerry Watling, Trevor Webb, Jackie Hersee, Tom O’Brien, Jacky Scales and Paul Mulry. Kerry was talking about when she ran the shop Vinyl Countdown in George Street, Trevor mentioned that One Hastings Many Voices have their next event at Lamarina White Rock Hastings next Sunday the 5th November and performers and others are most welcome. Jackie Hersee had a photo book of the group The Town Council and an autograph book with Graham Nash, Bobby Elliot (The Hollies), The Who, Dave Clark, Mark Wynter, The Searchers, The Merseybeats and many more. Tom was talking about his recent success with Fairytale Of New York at The Stables Theatre and he is working on a new play about Liam Clancy of The Clancy Brothers. Jacky Scales was talking aboutThe Rolling Stones and had a copy of ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’  album with the special lenticular 3D cover. Paul was talking about his love of radio and had a copy of ‘The Radio Nordsee International Story’ double LP with him. Mo Elms had some rare Capital Radio posters in mint condition featuring Kenny Everett, Roger Scott and All The Hits and More 194. Anthony ‘Nan’ Morland had a signed Acker Bilk programme from Hastings Pier in 1962 and a Bill Haley & The Comets first tour of the UK in 1957 programme. As always he had some interesting photos of Hastings Secondary Schools For Girls, Ore Village in 1962 with Les Levett ironmongers shop. Also a photo of ‘Nan’ hop picking at Eyelids Hop farm and a large photo of Ore Centre youth club from 1962. Peter Ellingworth had with him a book on Hastings Tramway Centenary 1905-2005, Hastings Trollybuses book  and a very interesting book on Hastings & St Leonards In The Front Line about the second world war bombing. Chris Stovold had a pile of 7” singles, with a number of them very collectable. Ian Marketis brought along his complete collection of Queen CD singles which have reproduced the original 7” singles. Pete Houghton had with him, some autographed posters from The Cobweb and autographed albums from Wild Turkey and The Groundhogs. This is just a small bit of what I remember. If you had anything interesting you were talking about or anything I missed out or got wrong! then please feel free to add or correct.

 

Monica Bane… Enjoyed this afternoon Alan so did my sister in-law

Claire Lonsdale… Thank you Alan , for once again, organising a lovely meeting. Great to see the guys and meet new ones, had some lovely conversations. Xx

Mick O’Dowd… Had a great time Alan. So many interesting people to talk to. Kept you very busy with all the items that were bought along. Well done!  I had that book H& St.Leonards on the front line but I lent it to someone doing research on the subject and never saw it again!

Cris & Merv Kennard… We’re back from our hols, so hopefully we will get to the next meeting.

Tony Qunta… Use to love that album!

Andy Qunta… me too, especially 2000 Light Years From Home!

Peter Ellingworth… Once again many thanks for an excellent meet up, most enjoyable

 

 

Tiah-Teek – The Art of Imperfection

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Dave Mason… A couple of years ago someone was asking after a band called Tiah-Teek who were a Hastings based band in the early 80s and played venues including The Crypt and the Pier.   The band have kept in touch over the years but only Garry King (drums) went on to make a career out of music.  However, it did motivate us to dust off some of our old demo tapes, clean them up and make them available to anyone who was interested.  To celebrate 40 years of our first venture into the recording studio, we re-recorded Sinking Sand earlier this year.  All of the tracks can be found on the album,  The Art of Imperfection, available on all the usual streaming platforms or via https://tiah-teek.hearnow.com/  .   Unfortunately there’s unlikely to be any comeback anytime soon but it was a fun project to memorialise it so thank you to whomever asked the question two years ago,  Hope it is of interest to anyone with memories of that era. The above photo is of the band performing in February 1984 at the White Rock.
Steve Mann… Had the tape, they did years ago which got stolen from my car. Great to have these to hear again now.

 

The Hollywood Killers – Lazybones Disco Hastings 28th October 1976

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Phil Gill… I was there. The only time I got thrown out of a club and barred. There was an altercation, I tried to stop it and got thrown out. To be fair, my behaviour hadn’t been exactly perfect on other Thursday nights in the club, so it it was probably karma.

Terry Pack… There’s a slight chance that I was on this gig. I left the band at exactly this time.

Pam Dor coffee bar Hastings – early sixties photos from Lloyd Johnson collection

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supplied by Lloyd Johnson ‘Original Modernists 1959-1966’.

photo 1: photo of Lloyd, taken by Les Martin, in The Pam Dor Club on his new camera  in 65

photo 2: 1963 or 1964 Les Martin in the grey suit in the Pam-Dor Hastings, This was taken in the first Pam Dor above 8 York Buildings.

photo 3: Lloyd’s friends outside The Pam Dor in Hastings 1964ish…you can see the Hepworth’s window display..the Coffee Bar was on the 1st floor above Hepworths..

Anyone else got any photos from any of the coffee bars in Hastings from the 60’s/70’s?

Gerry Fortsch… That brings back some memories.

Patricia Landamore… Wow, we were there & never stop talking about our wonderful teenage life👏👍The Pam Dor, our meeting place,I worked behind the counter making coffee’s & beef burgers on my Monday off from Sainsbury. From there we walked to the Witch Doctor most evenings & Sunday afternoons, unless we had to stop at the Pier to see the Rolling Stones or other BIG names💋💋. The coach trip to Brighton to see the Beatles was off my teenage scale😁. So glad I was then, amazing👍

Lloyd Johnson… That is Les Martin holding the table in the top right hand photo, I think this is when they were moving from the old premises to the new premises in Queen’s rd. above Hepworth’s….the premises in the photo became The Black Cat if my memory serves me well. Patricia I went on the coach trip to Brighton to see The Beatles at The Hippodrome on The Roy Orbison Tour and on the night we saw the show Patrica, Roy Orbison conceded top of the bill to The Beatles.We all ran around the back of the Hippodrome to see The Beatles off in their coach just in time to see them pulling funny faces at us and waving. Les Martin organised that coach trip to see The Beatles. I was sat between Helena Evans and Lesley Thewenetti, they both went mental screaming their heads off I couldn’t hear a thing but it was great fun. I also saw The Stones twice on The Pier and they played St.Clements Caves for a girlfriend of Noel D’Abo’s birthday. Noel went I think but I wasn’t invited…it would have been great to have seen them in the Caves.

Alan Esdaile… It’s been talked about a number of times of The Rolling Stones playing The Caves. Can you confirmed it happened Lloyd? I will repost the original chat about it.

Lloyd Johnson… Noel D’Ado told me it was a girlfriend of his birthday party….I can ask Noel for more info if you like…..it was 1964….they played Hastings twice on The Pier and once in St.Clements Caves that year…I saw the two Pier gigs….

Pauline Richards… I remember that, think your brother was ‘front of house’ Chris Colbran

Lloyd Johnson… Very sad news! Les Martin passed away during the week…

Dave Bastable… I spent many an evening at The Pam Dor. in the early sixties. I met a lovely girl Jenny who became a great girlfriend for some time. The people I remember are Jenny Petit, who lived down the road to me in Stockleigh Road, Jennifer Wharlton, John Woolmark, Dave Boutwood, Linda Day, Helena Evans, Oscar and the Stonefield gang, Linda Chapman, Anne Beech, Anne Gail, Frank who later sold flowers nearby. They were a great crowd. It was a fabulous time

Matt Thomas… Great pictures- I knew Les from when I was a little boy. His ex Maureen was a friend of my mums and I grew up with his kids Tracy & Jason

Mick O’Dowd… Used to live here(or it seemed like it). Remember the pinball room where I met my first wife! Parked our scooters round the back. I had to be different and had a 175cc jobby that I can’t quite remember the make. Electric starter etc. Loved the atmosphere up there. Used to go with Andy Dennis and a few others. Great times!

Mick O’Dowd… Just remembered my scooter was a DKR. No it wasn’t a Mobo!!!!

Dudley Mendenhall.. My mum use to work there and loved it, she said it was the in place to be.

Nigel Livermore… Also a regular client. Run by a short, tough ex-policeman and ‘Les’: I remember them evicting some drunken Irish labourers from Dungeness power station (construction site), who were trying to pick a fight…….I also went to Brighton to see Roy Orbison, accompanied by The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers – wish I’d kept the ticket (10 shillings, if I remember correctly). Went to see Gene Vincent, Brenda Lee, Johnny Kidd and others at around this time (1963-4?). I rode with the Stonefields later on (two years younger than Oscar etc,) and still go down to see them at the 1066 cafe Robertsbridge occasionally (but by car). Oscar and Mick Parris had their 80th birthdays not long ago……