Brubecks

[Old Morecambe Archive]

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David Peddle
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Member # 64

   posted 27 February 2002 08:55 PM     Profile for David Peddle     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


To Jim.
I stated in an earlier post that segments of my life were boxed each time I moved on. I got into the box for 0 to 20ish and came up with an invitation to a party on Dec 21st. 1961. The party was at the Ashton Hall Golf Club, Conder Green, Silver Lune, Aldcliff, Lancaster. The party was given by Nicholas Webster, Barbara Stanley, Patricia Thornton and John and Margaret Huddleston. I think I saw your earlier correspondence and will defer to your excuse for memory loss of having a brain in energysaver mode. I think I have mixed up Ken And Joan with John and Margaret. I was Nicks guest at the party ( who is the guy who dated Juanita who Mike knew), and knew John from Friends School as one several forms above me.
I now seem obligated to move to different headings to continue my ramblings.
Regards David. Posts: 9 | From: Vancouver Canada | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

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Meryl
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Member # 79

   posted 26 February 2002 10:31 PM     Profile for Meryl   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hi everyone. I was just having a chuckle at the description of the "gents" on the pier - but the "powder room" was just as funny. It all began on Marine Road where the end of the queue was. The guys huddled together against the wind and rain, trying to look as if they were in a group, while the girls did the same in their own group. Invariably they had their rollers in, a scarf to cover them, and a "bucket bag" full of the necessities. Once inside it was a case of who could get to the mirrors first. Bucket bags open, make up everywhere, backcombing, lacquer and perfume. Check the seams were straight. A crafty look at what the others were wearing, comparisons made - and then out into the dance hall - by which time it was coming up to the last waltz.!! And all those wallflowers, trying to look as if they didn't care. Some were even reduced to dancing together - something which always seemed a bit odd. Posts: 1 | From: Ibiza | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

David Peddle
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Member # 64

   posted 26 February 2002 09:52 PM     Profile for David Peddle     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


I hoped to have the name of the popular coffee bar in central Manchester for Jim. I worked in St. Anne's Sq. for a firm of architects and went there many times at lunchtime. The manager there was a slender fellow with a thin beard which followed the outline of his jaw bone. He drove a Lotus Elan, which was a desirable motor in those days.

Lonnie Donegan played banjo with Chris Barber at the beginning of the sixties. Trad Jazz was starting to be very popular until the Beatles changed the music style. After that time you would have been considered a bit eccentric to follow jazz. Chris Barber played at the Central Pier at that time. I always had to tell my parents I was staying with a friend if I wanted to stay to the end. I can't remember if I didn't have any friends, or they just didn't want me to stay. My solution was to walk round all night. The nights did become rather well engraved into the brain.

The Central Pier washrooms, at the end of the night, stand out in memory. Lost souls trying to maintain balance in front of the urinal. Heads pressed against the wall, some who had long forgotten the reason for being there. Others using the hand basin in desperation, two at a time crammed into the toilet cubical. There also were those, who earlier were the life and soul of the party, now to be found hanging over the pier railings, perhaps wondering if a watery end was preferable to carrying on . I guess though you guys all had homes to go to. I have far too good a recollection of all the bars, for one who left the area well before legal drinking age.

To Jim; I have been requested to email the Friends photo to Phil so as soon as I have mastered scanning. I will send a copy of who I think Ken is, not blond haired. I certainly knew him and I can remember chatting with his sister Joan at a dance at the pier. She was wearing an orange sweater with that long wool, angora maybe. I will also endeavor to get something going on The Friends School. Regards David
Posts: 9 | From: Vancouver Canada | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

<Meryl>
unregistered

   posted 25 February 2002 07:22 PM       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


I just did a quick search and found that Chris Barber is still working at the age of 71, and Monty Sunshine, who formed his own band in 1960 is also still working at the age of 73. How about that !!! As for unrelated topics, feel free to e-mail me at merylibiza@wanadoo.es , which also answers your question. Question for today - whatever happened to juke boxes? Are they still around? IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

Jim Brock
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Member # 57

   posted 25 February 2002 04:22 PM     Profile for Jim Brock     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hello Meryl,

Let me try again. I left the Morecambe area in 1967 so my memories are a wee bit fuzzy about some things. I now remember that the girl with the friend with the blonde hair was called Merl.

If you used to go to Brubecks, the Central Pier, and the other hot spots of Morecambe in the late 1950's, early 1960's. then I must almost surely have run into you, or seen you at some time. Did you also frequent the Calypso?? Meryl is not a particularly common name(right?) and I only remember one Meryl. That was a girl with blonde hair. Was that you?

I am almost certain that I saw Chris Barber at the Winter Gardens. I am sorry that I missed them at the Floral Hall. Monty Sunshine was one super clarinetist, and on all accounts he was also quite a rogue(bad boy). I had forgotten his name until you mentioned it. If he, Chris Barber, Ottilie(Sp?) Patterson and the others are still around, they must be well advanced in years. Sad to say, the band was unheard of in the USA, but they did have some pretty awesome competition over here.

Where are you living now? It is always interesting to me to see how people from Morecambe are dispersed throughout the UK and the world. Equally interesting is the fact that we are the only ones who contribute to the Bulletin Board, which with your help, is suddenly showing a burst of activity.

Regards from Connecticut ..... jim

Posts: 17 | From: Cheshire, Connecticut, USA | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged

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mpprh
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Member # 9

   posted 25 February 2002 12:30 PM     Profile for mpprh     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hi

Glasson Dock was somewhere to cycle to, when I was about 12.

Yes, the Ba Ba Gee was a coffee bar built on an old barge hull, moored in Glasson Dock.
It was still there into the early 60's
It's not there now, but I think I remember reading that it sank !

I went to Glasson recently (well a couple of years ago) and tried to find the dry dock, which I remember seeing in use only, well, 40 years ago.

That has gone too. Must have been filled in because I couldn't find any trace of it.

Also at Glasson, I remember going on to the Moby Dick while it was there for repairs. We got chased off by someone.

Story of my youth, really.

I wonder if I'm still banned from those amusement arcades ?

Peter
Posts: 34 | From: France | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

Elaine
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Member # 5

   posted 25 February 2002 02:08 AM     Profile for Elaine     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hello Meryl,
I'm pleased that I got the right person! Do you remember me? E-mail me if you do! artbbem@aol.com. I have very vague memories of the Ba-Ba-Gee. Let's hope someone comes along and jogs this tired old memory of mine.

Best wishes, Elaine.

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Elaine
Posts: 66 | From: Ballachulish, Scotland. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

<Meryl>
unregistered

   posted 25 February 2002 12:24 AM       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Elaine - thank you for the welcome. Yes, you got the right person. As far as I know, one of the ponies is still alive - she must be 30 years old now.
Just to stir the pot a little - does anyone remember the BaBaGee at Glasson? It was a floating coffee bar popular in the late fifties. IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

Elaine
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Member # 5

   posted 24 February 2002 11:14 PM     Profile for Elaine     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hello Meryl, Welcome to the board! Just put me out of my misery please! I have only ever met one Meryl, and she lived, I think, in Heysham, and had a couple of ponies. Is that you?
Best wishes, Elaine.

--------------------

Elaine
Posts: 66 | From: Ballachulish, Scotland. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

<Meryl>
unregistered

   posted 24 February 2002 05:08 PM       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Talk about instant nostalgia !! Excuse me butting in, but I just found this site and spent a happy couple of hours reminiscing. So many familiar names and places from the good old days. I saw mention of the Morrell family who I remember. Father was Eddie and entertained at the pier along with the three J´s - John, Juel and Janita. John also was a choirboy at St. Lawrence church along with my brother. Janita went to the Mary Lumb School of Dancing, where I first got to know her. I only knew Juel by sight.
I also saw familiar names from the old MGS and from the Heysham area. I wonder if any of them remember me? I also remember Brubecks very well, though I didn´t go there very often. It´s only 15 years since I left Morecambe but it seems like another planet these days from what I see in the local paper (which I read on the net). Keep up the memories - I love it.
Regards. Meryl IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

<David Peddle>
unregistered

   posted 23 February 2002 03:29 AM       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Specificaly to Mike.
I am unable to contact you through my office or home computer either. Error messages tell me your email address is 'not a gateway'. I would have contacted you through the 'private reply but my office computer is still logged onto this site, eliminating that option.
Regards David Peddle
david_peddle@city.vancouver.bc.ca Office
dlped@telus.net home IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

David Peddle
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Member # 64

   posted 22 February 2002 11:45 PM     Profile for David Peddle     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


It is hard to come up with much more of interest on Brubecks, and we all are now drifting off the subject. Early on there was a request to identify a band of old men that played at the Central Pier. The Temperance Seven fit that description. They weren't really old, but all had long beards, ZZ Top style. The singer wore a white DJ and straw boater. The music was soft jazz, and they were quite popular for a while.

Jim was looking for Ken Huddleston and thought he went to MGS. I recently unrolled the Friends School photo of September 1959. Ken is looking back from the end of the row of sixth form before the juniors start. There must also be a miniscule Phil Whalley sitting cross-legged in the front row if he started in 1959. They all look a much more impressive lot than I remembered, all resplendent in those black blazers with the red stripe. Or in appropriate sports jackets, for those trying to portray individuality. All wearing the school tie except Abley and Woodhouse who thought being recorded with an open neck shirt to be the order of the day. Anyone with good eyesight will find Peddle who managed to acquire a tie with the red stripes sloping opposite to everyone else's.
I should point out to Jim that his old headmaster James Dodds Drummond was not always right. My type does not always end up in prison. Sometimes they end up in government jobs at the far ends of the earth.

I was going to break down and embellish Jim's list of the masters, which I shall work on. There are a couple of other fellows on the visitors page seeking their lost school friends so perhaps a similar location, miraculous provided in response to Mikes request for one on dance halls is appropriate. Communication through Mikes email still eludes me, however he will be pleased to know that although he is a lot colder than I, he is also a lot less wet.

Regards David
Posts: 9 | From: Vancouver Canada | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

Mike Mayor
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Member # 66

   posted 19 February 2002 05:47 PM     Profile for Mike Mayor   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


Hi everybody where are you? Thanks for the reply Dave. I don't know why your email couldn't get through with 'firstmark.ca'. I get email everyday. I'll send you a test message and see if we can connect.

On Saturday it was somewhat the same here, my son and I worked on our driveway chipping off the ice in our shirts and running up a sweat but it was not hot. Sunday we got dumped on 15cm's of snow and after that back into the cold sunshine. Sunday was the last of the Winterlude festival which has been going on for the last three weekends and where else can you skate on a five mile skating rink. Take in a beaver tail (sugar pancake) and hot chock lade. Admire the ice and snow sculptures and just have a great time. Today it's going up to 3 degree's C (40F) and possibly higher tomorrow, but we are not under any illusion we still have 2 months of winter left. Wye ton Willie didn't see his shadow.

Dave you are right it was Juanita, you have got to forgive me, after 60 the brain cells deaden a bit. I really enjoyed being with her, as she was so outgoing, effervescent and bubbly. I remember that I was surprised that she knew my Aunt Dorothy and will never forget the remark I made to my Aunt. I think I spent two days saying I was sorry to Juanita. Its funny the things you remember. That was a great holiday, I was there six weeks and after that long a time I really didn't want to return to Canada, but I would have been AWOL. I was really fond of Juanita.

You know you mentioned the Central Pier and the Balcony overlooking the dance floor. I remember I was surprised that I went up to that very bar to order a beer and saw they sold Black Label beer, which at the time was my favourite beer here in Canada. I ordered one and really didn't like it; it just didn't taste the same. You mentioned that you knew me from the times I spent at the Festival. The last two week I started to make new friends again as in my first two weeks I spent visiting with my old friends that I knew before I came to Canada. Unfortunately we had outgrown each other a bit as they had got married and had got on with life, so it was with some reluctance I came back to Canada and really didn't get to know the new friends well. I still write to Alan Lamb who lives down South Rd. He is married to Mike Parnell's sister. Alan lived on Kingsway Estate and Glenda lived at Heysham Towers before they got married.

I was going to suggest to everyone that we might want to go on to a new topic like Morecambe Dance Halls. I know at the time I was growing up we had four dance halls. I don't think Morecambe has one now. Dave B should be able to enlighten us on that one. I spent a lot of time at the Tower Ballroom and the Central Pier. My parents would never let me go to the Floral Hall as they thought too many Teddy boy's hung out there and there were too many fights; although there were quite a few fights at the Central Pier.
Posts: 13 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Jan 2002  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

David Peddle
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Member # 64

   posted 18 February 2002 11:16 PM     Profile for David Peddle     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


To Mike. You would have been enlightened Friday afternoon, my time, ( when it was so sunny and warm one could sit outside in a shirt and be hot ), had your email address worked. My system tells me 'firstmark.ca' is not a gateway.

I met you while languishing at the counter of the Festival. I knew Miles Wilson, he was often behind the counter serving but I never knew if it was paid, or he felt this was good for his image. He was a year ahead of me at Friends School. He was a smallish chap, always wore a blue/Grey two piece suit and was growing the beginnings of a beard for the last few years that I knew him. You looked splendidly American and had one of those jackets referred to at that time as ice hockey jackets, You are a few years older than I am and I know we went to a few places uptown together.
I was quite impressed that someone older and from North America would tolerate me attaching myself to them.

It is probably Junita you refer to in your last posting, unless Mr. & Mrs. Morell had two daughters Anita and Junita. I knew Junita well and I dated her friend Angela for a while. Her parents, as you say, had some role in the Central Pier. There was a balcony at the pier overlooking the dance floor and stage. It had a bar in one corner and Mrs. Morell was often behind this bar during dances.

The Bay Motel was demolished a few weeks ago, so that a bigger and better version, so they say, can be built.
Posts: 9 | From: Vancouver Canada | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

[Old Morecambe Archive]

Mike Mayor
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Member # 66

   posted 15 February 2002 08:09 PM     Profile for Mike Mayor   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote


David: Sorry I didn’t get back to you on the subject of the guy being in the visitor, but you are right that was me. Boy have you got a memory. I was taking out a girl called Anita Morel at that time. Her father had something to do with the Central Pier. Her brother Michael went to school with me at Lancaster Grammar. He was at the time a reporter with the Visitor and Anita re-introduced him to me. He said he would like to do an article on so that’s how I got into the news.
I had just joined the Canadian Air Force the year before after spending a couple of years in Uranium City, Northern Saskatchewan. It was the only place I could get a further education as you can imagine when we emigrated to Canada we didn’t have enough money to put me through University.

I was intrigued by you saying you know the lady whose sweater I was denied access to all those years ago. I don’t imagine it was Anita was it. There was also another couple of young ladies I was seeing at the time. You have tweaked my imagination.

The person I was talking about who stays in Richmond and lives in Nanaino is my brother Peter and his son Aaron stays with him too. Aaron has just secured a position with the Hotel at Vancouver Airport as a chef and will be bringing his family to Vancouver this summer.
By the way I am a train spotter too and enjoyed many a time on Thursday afternoon going to the cemetery at Lancaster Priory that overlooked the main train lines and waiting for the Royal Scott. I also spotted every morning before school at the other Lancaster Station besides Skerton Bridge, I forget its name. Hest Bank on the weekend was also a great place to go spotting.

Anyway even though I do not agree with your feelings about the West Coast, although I think you are very lucky to live in White Rock (see my epistle on this further down). Please drop me a line, as I have to go home and watch the Curling at the Olympics.

Sorry people I got off the subject of Brubecks, but I have kinda run out of what to say on this topic. I do agree with Dave that it was the atmosphere that made it the place it was.

Regards Mike

P.S Send me the ladies name by private email at mailto: mike.mayor@firstmark.ca
Posts: 13 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Jan 2002  |  IP: Logged