October 2008 Archives

By LAURA JONES
NOEL Coward, The Beverley Sisters, George Formby and George Melly - these are just some of the acts banned by the BBC which feature in a new collection by Ainsdale historian Spencer Leigh.
After months of research and regular visits to the BBC archives in Caversham, the Southport music pundit has gathered all of the songs banned by the Beeb between 1931 and 1957 in one illicit collection.

So what gave him the idea?
He said: "I go down to look at the BBC archives from time to time because all the correspondence before 1980 is open to inspection.
"I was working on a book about Liverpool entertainers and the BBC, and I thought that one day it would be very interesting to see correspondence about all the Liverpool artists that had been banned, and that led to this."
The collection pulls together all 75 songs that were deemed too scandalous, corrupting or scurrilous to broadcast.

And more than a few of the risque line-up hail from Liverpool, including Lita Rosa and Arthur Askey, but Southport comes out looking squeaky clean.
"I don't think Marc Almond had any censorship problems," Spencer laughs.
With This Record is Not to be Broadcast receiving critical acclaim from trendy music magazine Mojo, the Ainsdale historian, who hosts a Radio Merseyside show, has found a younger fan base.
"It's very nice - it shows that people like the history of the music," says Spencer.
"I think that people who read magazines like Mojo are interested in the background of the music anyway."
And the glamour of being banned by the Beeb has probably lent the collection some street cred too.
He says: "It's an issue that goes back almost to the beginning of recording.
"I think it's an interesting subject because of instances like Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the more recent past.
"Nearly every artist has got into trouble at some stage."
And as for his favourite song, that would be Noel Coward's Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans.
"It's a wonderful, sarcastic piece - and the BBC had great problems with that," says Spencer.
"They were worried in case people took it seriously."

By LAURA JONES
THEY arrived in Southport never to see their parents again as Europe slid towards war.
For the 20 Jewish girls who fled the Nazis in 1938 this town should have been a dark, traumatic place that they never wanted to remember.
But 47 years later their joy at being reunited in Southport told a different story.
In 1985 the "girls" came from California, Austria, Israel, Vancouver, Sydney, Brazil, London and New York to visit Ruth Livingstone, the woman who saved their lives.
Mrs Livingstone was the driving force behind Harris House at 27 Argyle Road which gave a home to Jewish girls from Europe.
Judy Ruben, nee Jutta Schulz, wrote to Harris House matron, Margaret Stone, from California in 1981: "I was not only surprised but overjoyed that contact had been made after so many years.
"You know perhaps, that you and Southport left a big mark on my life."
The reunion came about after the girls' Southport diary was unearthed at a jumble sale.
Their remarkable story was then told in a Yorkshire TV documentary which brought the girls back to Southport to meet Mrs Livingstone.

Mrs Livingstone's daughter, Nan Bloom, remembers meeting the girls when she was just eight years old.
She said: "My mother went to Harris House almost everyday.
"She had to overcome a lot to do what she did, because other Jewish families were worried that by bringing the girls to Southport anti-Semitism would spread here.
"In fact it was just the opposite, people were supportive, and I'm incredibly proud of her work."
Ever keen to help, the Livingstone family opened their own home to Lottie.
"She was absolutely sweet," said Nan.
"Lottie came over earlier than the others and she must have been 12 or 13 years old which is very grown up when you're eight!
"The others at Harris House seemed happy, or if not happy then not desperately traumatised."
Remembering the reunion, which brought the girls back together after more than 40 years, Nan said: "My mother was very delighted and very touched by it."

By LAURA JONES
PLEASURELAND employees came together again for the first time since the theme park's 2006 closure to relive their time at Southport's much-loved theme park.
Dozens of former fair-ground workers descended on Capilla Bar in Southport to reminisce about the good old days.

Chris Booker who worked at Pleasureland for almost a decade said: "It was a late night!
"There were people there I'd not seen since the park closed - I didn't recognise some of them, and had no idea who they were when they started talking to me. I did get a bit of stick from a few for passing on embarrassing photos to the Visiter!"

Last week's Southport Visiter "Look Back" featured snapshots of staff in the 1990s.
"About five or six people saw the paper and came along," said Chris. "It was a really good night - it was nice to hear how everyone's getting on."
One notable absence was
Stewart Lamont - the reunion's organiser was struck down by a bug and had to stay in bed.
Luckily, Stewart won't have to wait long for the next
Pleasureland reunion - Chris and the gang have already pencilled in another for December 12 this year.

By LAURA JONES
GIRLS and boys in Southport will be going 'Back To The Future' when they come to compile their Christmas lists this year.
Retail commentators are predicting that 2008 toy sales will reflect the trend for all things nostalgic as parents put on their rose tinted specs before they hit the high street.
The craze for all things retro has seen D&J Toys in Southport stock up on Doctor Who goodies and Rubik's Cubes as '70s and '80s toys look set to top the "most wanted" charts come December.
David McDonnell, who runs the Tulketh Street shop, has seen such interest in the nostalgic toys and games that he's stocking toys from '80s TV favourite, Transformers.
His shelves are also heaving under Sylvanian Families as the treehouse toys from the '80s and '90s make a surprise comeback.
A dad himself, Mr McDonnell thinks that the reason mums and dads are still buying toys that they recognise from their own childhood is because it helps them to play and bond with their kids.
He said: "If they're familiar with the toys then I think parents might play more with their kids.
"Transformers are doing really well at the moment and so are the Sylvanian Families.
"The Christmas season has definitely already started - people are coming in buying gifts and getting ideas and inspiration.
"I don't think the credit crunch is affecting us."

Meanwhile around the corner at The Cherry Tree, Alison Buckingham is stocking up on the traditional favourite, the dolls' house, ready for the Christmas rush.
It's one aspect of the housing market that's certainly not suffering from the credit crunch, she said: "Dolls' houses are always popular at Christmas time.
"I think more than ever families want to invest in something that will last for years."

Do you still have a dolls house, or have you passed it onto your children? Were you beaten by the Rubik's Cube, or did you prefer Transformers? Tell us whether you think toys were better then or now below.

PLEASURELAND might have closed its doors two years ago, but its party spirit still lives on!
Tonight, Pleasureland employees of the past are reuniting to reminisce about the thrills and spills of working at the Southport theme park.
Over the years the Pleasureland staff saw it all - and now they're coming from all over the United Kingdom and even Europe to catch up on the good old days.
Reunion organiser, Stewart Lamont, said: "Kat Daly is coming back from Italy where she works now."
Many of the staff were students like Mark Lee who came back each summer to man rides like the Cyclone, King Solomon's Mines and the Sultan's Towers helter-skelter.

"It could be a bit surreal," Mark readily admits.
"I always remember working in the marketing department and answering the phone to one of the members of Black Lace!
"We had one of the Grumbleweeds from the TV show come along to film - I've still got a copy of his video Coaster Crazy somewhere."
Mark, who is now an IT specialist with Geek Squad, worked at the theme park for around 10 years.
Stewart also did a fair bit of celeb spotting in his years at Pleasureland.
He said: "There were always Brookside actors around - I think they even filmed there at one point.
"Comedian Jack Dee came down and had a bumble around one day, too."
For Chris Booker, who worked at Pleasureland for almost a decade, it's the student sense of mischief he misses the most.

"I remember one end of season party where I ended up doing a Pet Shop Boys song, and five big guys - real macho guys - dressing up in drag and miming the Spice Girls in the circus tent.
"There were loads of big nights out - some of us went on an end of season golf trip to Bridlington but forgot to take our clubs, so we ended up in a pub!"
With most of the staff aged between 17 and 24 more than a few holiday romances blossomed beside the rollercoasters - and some of them are still going strong today.
"There were quite a few couples who met there," said Chris, who is now the manager of the Ocean Plaza bowling alley.
"Nikki Scott and Colin Bond both worked at Pleasureland and they've got a daughter together, and so did Kathy Kershaw and Andrew Start who are parents now too.
"Gemma and Dave Torrance married in 2005 and have three kids, Kev Brown and Judy Carr got engaged last weekend, Dominic Strange and Jane Sharrock are engaged and Paul Faraday and Claire Sharrock are still together, too!"

But while most of the staff were young student workers who came and went, Bernie Gittens, Pleasureland's painter and handyman, was part of the furniture.
"Bernie looked after the cats.
"There were so many of them - they never had names and they were wild.
"Bernie must have been there 40 years - everyone who ever worked there will have known Bernie."
The Pleasureland reunion is tonight (Friday October 24) at Capilla Bar, Waverley Street, Southport from 8pm.

Liverpool band Black, fronted by vocalist Colin Vearncombe (pictured), filmed part of their monochrome video for the classic single 'Wonderful Life' on the Looping Star rollercoaster at Pleasureland back in 1987.
Do you remember where the stylish ballad came in the charts? Did you ride the rollercoaster? Share your memories with us below.

Comedians from all over the UK are descending on the town for Southport Comedy Week, but Southport's own Lee Mack is more than a match for them.
The Stanley High School pupil has gone on to host a Radio 2 show and star in BBC One sitcom "Not Going Out" since leaving Southport.
Did you go to Stanley High with Lee? Or were you the clown in your class? Share your stories with the Visiter below.

By JOHN SIDDLE
TAKE a look at Southport 163 years ago - a small, refined village that was about to surrender to the commercial, tourist town it is today.
A newly-released hand-drawn map, based on Ordnance Survey documents of 1845, snapshots our beloved town as a slowly-blossoming resort of just 8,000 people - just one year after the Southport Visiter was first published!

The historic map, on sale at the Tourist Information Centre, documents the town just three years before the first rail lines would signal a mass influx from across the North West.
The dunes lining the famous Southport Sands had been tamed and the town was beginning to expand beyond the elegant Lord Street.
Hamlets such as 'Little London' and 'The Trap' were prospering whilst the town's reputation as 'spa town' was spreading.
But just 15 years later, Southport was expanding at such a rate that its small provinces would be lost to the annals of history.
From a small village of 7,774 in 1841, Southport had 18,076 people in 1871, 32,191 in 1881 and 48,046 at the turn of the 20th century.
Visiter reporter John Siddle and local historian Matthew Tinker look back at a town on the verge of a transformation, pinpointing what little remains of 1845 and what now stands in its place.
The maps are available from local bookshops and the TIC from £9.50.

1: WELLINGTON TERRACE
Built in 1817 and still lived in today, these are the oldest buildings on Lord Street. The cottage-like fronts are understood to be deceptively roomy inside.
In 1820, the terrace was mentioned in a description of Southport in Longman's Guide To All The Watering & Sea-Bathing Places, which read: "Southport... dates its origin within the last 40 years; at present it forms a considerable village, comprising numerous neat cottages... those elevated on an embankment called Wellington Terrace are very handsome."

2: LITTLE LONDON & THE ANCHOR INN
Although not mentioned in parish registers until the 18th century, 'Londehay' appears as early as 1489 and is now the Rose Hill area of Southport, by Forest Road bridge. Here, merchants from London came to collect the fleeces of wool from North Meols.
At the heart of the hamlet stands The Anchor Inn, now The Blue Anchor pub, where legend has it that pallbearers once stopped to rest when transporting the dead along Little London Lane - from what is now High Park to Duke Street cemetery, then called The Trap. A 6ft slab, three metres off the ground, which once stood outside the pub, is said to have been used by the pallbearers to lay the dead upon while they refreshed themselves.

3, 4, 5: SETTLEMENTS AROUND SOUTHPORT
The names of the old settlements changed in the mid 1860s to 1870s, as the town of Southport spread its environs and swallowed it up.
Railway Terrace became Railway Street, Snuttering Lane became St Luke's Road, Gorsey Lane and Trap Lane were replaced by Windsor Road, Boundary Road, Cemetery Road and others.
By 1880, Little London was not being referred to as this name and began to be known as St Luke's.

6: BELMONT CASTLE
This imposing, extravagant building on the Birkdale border was built in the 1820s by Robert Holt, a "man of spirit and enterprise", just years before his death. Described as a "elegant castellated edifice", Belmost Castle stood until 1890 when it was pulled down.

7: THE NILE RIVER
Contrary to popular belief, the river was never anything more than a series of tribulets and streams, and was little more than a brook.
When the so-called river vanished beneath the surface, notions of its grandeur became vastly inflated. In 1928, one correspondent in Manchester City News wrote: "The river was navigable... an elderly friend informed me... that her father used to sail up the River Nile to an inn.. and have glorious shrimp teas there."
In fact, Francis Bailey says in A History Of Southport: "The Nile was never navigable and was simply a stream one was able to jump across."
The 'river' was perhaps named the Nile in 1798 following Nelson's victory in Egypt that year.

8, 9: RICHMOND HILL & ROSE HILL COTTAGES:
In 1845, the town centre site now occupied by civic buildings, such as the library, arts centre and town hall, were two banks of terraced houses known as Richmond Hill and Rose Hill Cottages.
The Rose Hill buildings were eventually demolished to make way for Cambridge Hall in 1872, now effectively the Arts Centre, and in 1881 saw the building of the Atkinson Art Gallery on the spot of Richmond Hill.

10: VICTORIA BATHS
The historic Turkish baths which now stand opposite the soon-to-open Ramada Plaza Hotel was actually preceded by an even earlier version which overlooked the sea in 1839 until around 1860.

1980s chart star Rick Astley will compete with American pop princess Britney Spears and Irish rock legends U2 for the title of 'Best Act Ever' at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool on November 6.
Southport Visiter reporter Gemma Jaleel has had the pleasure of meeting the Newton-le-Willows man himself - have you? Did you buy the Never Gonna Give You Up smash-hit single back in 1987, or did you prefer another act in the famous Stock, Aitken & Waterman stable?
Share you memories with the Southport Visiter.
Do you have an Astley story of your own? Let us know below.

BLUE PETER is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week with presenters past and present enjoying tea at Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty The Queen.
Did you watch the popular BBC TV show? Were you ever a winner of a coveted Blue Peter Badge?
Share your memories with the Southport Visiter by posting below.

HOPES have been raised of commemorating a Southport nightclub's place in rock 'n' roll history.

On February 5, 1962, The Beatles appeared at the Kingsway on the Promenade - for their first night performing together on stage as John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Now, the venue stands empty and its owner, Bennett Property, recently undertook urgent remedial work after it became affected by cracking and parapets coming loose.

The firm is also poised to lodge a planning application to pull down the Kingsway and build a multi-storey, mixed-use development in its place.

Sir Ron Watson believes that if the bulldozers move in on the nightclub, the building that takes its place should bear a plaque commemorating the seminal performance of the great Fab Four line-up.

Then aged 17, Sir Ron was among the audience at the Kingsway on the night that illness led to Ringo Starr to take the place of The Beatles' then-drummer, Pete Best.

Sir Ron told LookBack: "It did not mean much at the time but it is actually very historically important when you come to think about it."

Today a long-standing councillor for Dukes Ward, Sir Ron saw The Beatles perform at the Kingsway on five occasions in February and March 1962 alone - and remembers helping Best haul his drumkit up the stairs at the venue.

Other venues where he saw the band perform that year included the Floral Hall and Cambridge Hall (now Southport Arts Centre).

Sir Ron said of The Beatles' performances at these gigs: "In a sense they were at their peak. They were phenomenal - there was absolutely no question about it."

In 1961, Sir Ron had taken a job with Canadian Pacific at the Royal Liver Buildings in Liverpool, and he witnessed at least 50 of The Beatles' famous lunchtime sessions in the Cavern Club.

He commented how the rigours of the band's stints playing at clubs in Germany hugely sharpened up their act.

In February 1962, Starr was the sticksman for fellow Merseybeat group Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and he did not permanently replace Best until six months later.

Starr was also a regular performer in Southport, pounding the skins with The Hurricanes during Sunday afternoon appearances at the Great Wall, a Lord Street Chinese restaurant, during late 1961 and early 1962.

Sir Ron last saw The Beatles on stage in Southport in mid- 1963, at the Odeon Cinema on Lord Street (which was later demolished to make way for the town's Sainsbury's store).

By then 'Beatlemania' was in full swing.

"When people started yelling and screaming, it was a different thing," said Sir Ron.

"Twenty-five minutes in and you couldn't hear a thing - I thought, what's the point?"

When contacted by LookBack, Alan Hegarty, development director of Bennett Property, responded positively to Sir Ron's suggestion to commemorate the Kingsway's musical heritage.

"I can meet up with Sir Ron and we can sort something out. We are all fans of The Beatles," said Mr Hegarty.

DO you have any memories or photos of The Beatles? E- mail us at visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or telephone LookBack reporter Laura Jones on 01704-398255.