Results tagged “Terry Cooper” from Southport Visiter - Look Back

LAST week Terry fulfilled the ambition of a lifetime, rising up through the floor on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ lift at the Tower Ballroom to the sound of "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside".
The trip to Blackpool was arranged by Terry's son and daughter who wanted to give their dad the chance to play the world-famous organ.
Terry, who admitted to being overwhelmed by the experience, took the opportunity to play Lady is a Tramp, Tiger Rag and Has anybody see my gal.
"I've wanted to play it since the 1950s," said Terry.
"It was wonderful to play it - it is a marvellous organ.

"Reginald Dixon played it so I definitely felt like I was stepping into quite big shoes."
Wife Janet, son Terry Jnr and daughter Yvette were the audience for this once in a lifetime performance, along with Chris Hopkins - one the resident organists who regularly plays the Wurlitzer.
It was a memorable gig for Terry.
"Being in the Tower the sound you get in the ball room - it really sounds well in there," Terry explained.
"It was designed by Reginald himself in about 1935 and I first saw him play it in 1953 and I've wanted a go since then.
Proud son Terry Jnr said: "The organ sounded fantastic and my Dad's playing was well on form."

SHIRLEY Bassey, Engelbert Humperdinck, Little and Large, Les Dawson, Harry Corbett and Sooty - these are just a few of the famous names who have performed with Southport organist Terry Cooper.
Terry, who was the Kingsway Club's resident organist during the 1960s, became used to a steady stream of household names passing through the club.
Originally trained as a pianist, Terry took to the organ after a car accident, and never loooked back.
"I was just doing it part-time at first," said Terry.

"I played at the Queen's Hotel, the Royal Clifton Hotel and pubs like the Albert."
But Terry is best known in the resort for his residency at the Tudor Bar at the Kingsway.
The job gave the 74-year-old of Jane's Brook Road a host of anecdotes about showbiz life.
"That was mainly where I played with the famous people," said Terry.
"Little and Large were very nice and David Whitfield, he was a marvellous artist, he was one of the best I've ever seen.
"I played with Shirley Bassey in Wigan in the 1960s, she was on her way up then.
"I used to go to the Crown for a drink with Engelbert Humperdinck when he was called Gerry Dorsey - he was alright, but a bit serious."
Terry, who was born in Dinorwick Road, Birkdale, and educated at Churchtown Primary School quickly got used to rubbing shoulders with the star turns at the Kingsway.
He said: "I didn't rate Les Dawson, he was pretty quiet off stage.
"But I saw him some years later and he had become a comedian all of the time."
But Terry's daughter Yvette got starstruck when she heard her dad was playing with the country's most famous puppet.
"I did a dance at the Clifton Hotel with Sooty and Harry Corbett - she was excited about Sooty," he said.
Terry eventually moved on, becoming an organ teacher and demonstrator and is now retired.
Reflecting on the resort's seaside heyday, he said: "It was marvellous - the best time of my career really.
"Later on it cost too much money to bring those acts to Southport.
"The Beatles were there, I never played with them but we played the same venues."