Dancing the night away – and catching the last bus home
IT WAS A REALLY GOOD NIGHT OUT AND A SPECIAL FAVOURITE FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO ENJOY A CHRISTMAS PARTY ... AND WHEN WE ASKED FOR YOUR MEMORIES OF SEABURN HALL, THOUSANDS TOOK AN INTEREST
Christmas parties, the Guinness clock and great dance floors – the common denominator was Seaburn Hall. Memories of it remain in the minds of many Echo readers and thousands of them showed an interest when we posted a 1950s photograph of the venue on social media. More than 19,000 people spotted the post and remembered the days when the Cats night out was held every Wednesday, the dance floor was top-class and top bands would regularly appear. Thanks go to everyone who shared their memories including Jackie Ann Scott, who said: “The fairground was to the left of the hall and Seaburn camp was to the right side. “You can see some caravans and old buses in the field in the picture.” Peter Young told us: “I remember seeing the Pretty Things there in the early 70s.” Lorraine Forkin said she “loved it, me and my brothers George, Paul and Stephen Ford went to the Police Christmas Party there (Dad was on the force) every year, used to love it! Highlight of Christmas in fact”. Monica Warnaby loved a visit to Seaburn Hall as well as other Sunderland venues as she and her friends loved to dance. She said: “I went to the dancing early 60s with my friends Ann Cook and Irene Cook. In those days, we could go dancing nearly every night somewhere in Sunderland.” Beryl Harris was another who said: “Used to go in the 60s. Really good bands, good dances floors. If I remember, a lot of the army lads used to frequent it on a Saturday night. Really good night out.” Derrick Copeland said he saw The Searchers at Seaburn Hall in about 1963 and added: “Those were the days my friends, those were the days.” Carol Holliday had her own fond memories of the place and said: “I remember going with friends when they had the Radio 1 DJs on. Fabulous times.” Pja Burke reminded us that Seaburn Hall was “the only place The Jam ever played in Sunderland”. Lots of you liked the social media post including Terry Smallwood, Alan Cutting, Billy Burgess, Les Shaw, Karen Glover and Michael Brennan. So did Dave Cooper, Cyril Collins, Kathryn Scott, Eddie Merry, Stan Sharp and Shirley Parker. We thank them all. And many more of you made sure the comments kept on
coming. They included Joyce Galley, who remembered: “Cat’s night out every Wednesday.” She added: “Last bus to Cleadon village then walked the rest of the way home!” Derrick Copeland said: “Loved it and always getting the last bus home to Red House Estate.” Elizabeth Wake Clark’s best memory of it was “Christmas parties” while Rita Lee commented: “Great night out.” Ann Errington remembered the “Billy Carr band” and the “late bus home”. Others remembered the beer keller including Ingrid Golden while Lilian Knott remembered Cats night out. Susan Gibson “used to go here” while Christine Timm recalled: “Had some great times there with my family. Christmas parties, sports days and lots more.” Anthony Blacker recalled “the old Guinness Clock which used to be close by.” Sheila Jameson said she “had some good times at the Seaburn”, while Gordon Parnaby said: “Couldn’t get enough of it. Great times for lots of us.” Anne Peart said she had happy times there while Alan Vierow said: “Great.” Others to like our nostalgic photograph included Jean Carver, Sadie Nybo, Grant Fraser, John Herring, Sandra Herring, Lesley Wrightson, Mo Rigby and John Davison. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the thread and we would love to hear more about Seaburn Hall. Did you work there? Or perhaps you were part of a band which appeared there. Perhaps it was the place where you met your future partner, or simply enjoyed many a night of entertainment. Whatever the memory, we would love to hear from you. Email chris.cordner@jpress. co.uk
“Really good bands, good dance floors” BERYL HARRIS “Christmas parties, sports days and lots more” CHRISTINE TIMM