Hospital radio refused to record Beatles interview as John asked to swear!
GRAHAM BEBBINGTON looks back at the appearances of the Fab Four in North Staffordshire
IT IS difficult to comprehend it is now more than 50 years since The Beatles split up – yet interest in the Fab Four remains high. The last time they performed live was January 30, 1969, in a lunchtime gig with Billy Preston on the roof of the Apple Records building in London.
Traffic was brought to a standstill and crowds gathered below, while others watched from the windows of nearby buildings.
John Lennon ended the performance by saying: “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope that we passed the audition.”
North Staffordshire fared well in terms of Beatles performances – especially in 1963.
The band’s debut single Love Me Do had been released in the previous October.
This entered the top 50 within two days of issue, and the group played at the King’s Hall, Stoke, on January 26.
Their second single, Please, Please, Me, hit number one in the NME chart in February and the group were on stage at Hanley’s Gaumont Cinema on March 3.
The group subsequently made return visits to the King’s Hall and Gaumont on April 19 and May 19 respectively.
By this time they were fast gaining in popularity with clamorous scenes at their engagements.
Sales of Beatles-inspired merchandise were also gathering momentum, with local outfitters Haydens advertising Lybro jeans in the Evening Sentinel from 24/6d – as worn by the Beatles.
In the meantime, the group’s next singles, From Me To You and She Loves You enjoyed equal success, and following a busy schedule of summer shows and recording sessions, they performed at
Trentham Gardens on October 11.
The following day, the Evening Sentinel reported on the ‘teenage hysteria’ which had hit Trentham. According to the report: “Three teenage girls had to be taken to hospital and dozens of others given first aid by Red Cross attendants after some of the 3,000 crowd attempted to storm the stage.”
The venue’s entertainments manager, the late Les Johnson, is reported as commenting: “I’ve seen nothing like it – if I’d had enough tickets I could have filled Stoke City’s football ground!”
Prior to the concert, two members of Trentham’s staff had been engaged full time for two weeks, returning money to unsuccessful ticket applicants.
The police described the event as ‘phenomenal’ after attempting to cope with ‘the largest, rowdiest crowd ever seen in the ballroom’.
Some fans had travelled from as far away as Devon for the event and coachloads arrived from Liverpool and Birminghan. In the meantime, touts outside the main entrance were attempting to sell 7/6d tickets for £5.
On arrival at Trentham, the Beatles were ushered into the building by the police through a special entrance a few minutes before appearing on stage.
Security was also tight outside the group’s dressing room with police dogs and handlers in attendance.
After their gig, reported by the Evening Sentinel as lasting 30 minutes, the group – dressed in their grey-brown collarless suits – told the reporter that the crowd had given them ‘the most enthusiastic welcome they had ever received!’.
However, a number of fans must have been disappointed as a 2ft high pile of autograph books were left unsigned outside the dressing room.
One of Trentham’s popular bands, the Ken Jones Orchestra, supported the Beatles.
When interviewed in 2003, the veteran bandleader recalled that he would never forget the noise that went up on the group being introduced. “They nearly lifted the roof off,” he said.
Although Ken contended that one couldn’t compare his trained musicians to the Beatles, he nevertheless thought that John and Paul ‘had a raw talent for writing that type of material that hit the pulse of the public at that time.’
Ken also maintained that the group played only for 20 minutes.
So to continue the dance programme which was scheduled to conclude at 1pm, his orchestra played mostly party and barn dance type music and the crowd entered into the atmosphere and appeared to enjoy the occasion.
Ken’s saxophonist Percy Le Roland was also on stage with the orchestra that evening. He and his colleagues should have initially played until
9pm when the Beatles were due to perform.
However, the group arrived late, so the orchestra had to carry on playing until they actually appeared at 9.20pm.
According to Percy: “This was not popular with fellow band members as valuable drinking time was lost at the nearby Bulls Head.”
Having only played for 20 minutes, Percy thought that some of the fans would be disappointed, leaving Ken Jones somewhat perplexed.
But they attempted to carry on as normal, with the youngsters ‘experimenting’ with the various dances.
Also in attendance was our late friend Graham Plimbley with the North Staffordshire Hosptial Broadcasting Unit.
He recalled: “It was total chaos that night – we ourselves had difficulty gaining access.”
It had been arranged earlier for the Beatles to be interviewed after their performance and they eventually arrived in a temporary studio, but immediately ‘commenced fooling around, passing the microphone to one another, giving the impression that they were not taking the interview seriously and they didn’t want to know’.
Graham believed that this was perhaps because the interview was being conducted by Hospital Broadcasts and not a major radio station.
On attempting to start the interview, John Lennon twice asked if they could use the ‘F word’.
At this, head of programmes David Greddington decided to stop the recording.
“It was a complete disaster,” added Graham. Of course, a unique opportunity to obtain a local recorded interview was lost.
It is also perhaps worth noting that Barney Bamford was also present with the Hospital Broadcasting Unit.
Then at the peak of his career, the Silverdale-born broadcaster was seen daily on BBC Midlands Today.
According to local Beatles expert Garry Marsh, ‘the Beatles were on the crest of a wave at Trentham, and they remain one of the best examples of what is now the hottest topic in the music industry - heritage rock.”
Their image and music continues to illustrate not only the 1960s but also the latter half of the 20th century. They have also left us arguably the greatest legacy of popular music ever recorded.
Newsdesk and Advertising: 01538 714000
1926
The Congregational Manse in King Street becomes a hall for the town’s Freemasons.
Ball Haye Green Working Men’s Institute, designed by Wilfred Ingram, is built in Ball Haye Green Road opposite Prince Street, and is known as Ball Haye Green Working Men’s Club.
Leek Orchestral Society disband, for lack of support.
Two more bells are added at St Edward’s church, cast by Gillett and Johnson of Croydon. A number of large houses, to designs by Longden and Venables, are built at Big Birchall.
Barclays Bank opens a branch in Derby Street.
1927
Leek Cripples’ Aid Society opens a clinic in Salisbury Street designed by Longden and Venables. St Luke’s church organ is moved from the north aisle into the chancel, and a wooden chancel is screen erected in memory of William Challinor (d. 1926) and his daughter Mary Watson.
A new Amateur Dramatic Society formed. An operatic society established at All Saints’ church.
Midland Bank opens its branch in Derby Street.
Nab Hill Avenue and Hillswood Avenue completed.
The firm becomes Joshua Wardle Ltd.
The last performance of Leek Amateur Opera Society.
1928
At the west end of the town, 114 houses are built in Station Street, The Walks, and Morley Street.
The service to the railway station from the Red Lion and the George ceases. A bus service is introduced to Butterton.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank Ltd is taken over by Martins Bank Ltd.
The council houses are completed in Station Street.
The first charitable disbursement from the
Carr Trust is made, when the beneficiaries are the almshouses established by his sister Isabella Carr, the cottage hospital, the cripples’ clinic, and the Cruso Nursing Association.
The new telephone exchange is opened in post office yard in Strangman Street.
Enoch Hill knighted.
Leek Park Bowling Club is formed, and uses the greens in Brough Park.
1929
The Mechanics’ Institute closes. The bridge at Wallbridge is widened.
Joshua Wardle Ltd builds a second works, adjoining the first, to designs by Longden and Venables, which include the site of the Travellers’ Rest inn, which was rebuilt on the opposite side of Cheddleton road, also to design of Longden and Venables.
Part of the income from Carr Trust is used to open a soup kitchen for school children in the Butter Market.
1930
St Luke’s church parish hall is opened in the
Organ Ground, the lane between Shirburn Road and Springfield Road, on a site given by the Challinor family in memory of William Challinor (d. 1926).
The building becomes an annexe to the primary school in East Street in 1954 (the compiler attended a nursery in this building in 1945/6)
Edward Bostock includes Leek in Wombwell’s menagerie’s last tour.
St. John’s mixed and infants’ school has 202 on the roll.
Building continues north of Novi Lane on 29 acres at Haregate, where 104 houses are built.
The cemetery is again extended.
The County Council becomes the local Education Authority.
Two shops (Birch and Bradley) are demolished at the top left of the Market Place.
Whittles mill in Strangman Street ceases to be steampowered.
The residential areas are extended by the building of council estates, Abbottsville and Haregate estates. Prince Street is extended from Ball Haye Green to Buxton Road as part of Abbottsville estate.
The day school in Pump Street is a mixed and infants’ school with 142 on its books. It is agreed that it should become a junior school in the general reorganisation of Leek schools.
1931
Electricity supply is extended to Birchall.
Pentecostalists first meet in Leek, using the Congregationalists’ Hall in Russell Street before moving to premises in Globe Passage off High Street.
The bridge across the River Churnet on the Congleton Road is widened on both sides.
Population of Leek and Lowe is 18,567.
The Black’s Head inn converted into ‘fancy bazaar’ by FW Woolworth and Co
Ltd. Bostock and Wombwell menagerie on final tour at Market Place, Leek.
In July, Prince George visits Brough Nicholson and Hall.
East Street School, becomes a senior school, with 334 on the roll.
The council opens the reservoir at Kniveden mainly to supply the Ashbourne Road area.
1932
The Quakers have another revival, but the Friends have to meet in private houses.
Products which made use of the Leek School of Embroidery designs continue to be sold in the St Edward Street shop until it closed.
In Leekfrith, the Urban District Council buys the freehold of the springs at Upper Hulme before the lease expired.
Alterations to the Britannia Street school provide additional classrooms. Spearings, cheese factors, move to 13 Stockwell Street.
Bus services are introduced to Macclesfield and Manchester and also to Calton and Longnor.
1933
A sewage farm is established at Wallbridge.
The Masonic Hall is extended. Hubert Newton is appointed the secretary of Leek and Moorlands Building Society at the age of 29.
He is later to be the general manager, the managing director, the chairman, and the president.
1934
The Emmanuel Baptist church in Rosebank Street is registered for Old Baptists.
Traffic on the canal has never been heavy, and the transport of coal now ceases completely. The Manifold light railway closes.
At Adams Dairies, (Wholesale) a printing department is added to print firm’s butter wrappers and labels for customers.
Hill Brothers take over the Leek Times; amalgamates it with the Leek Post as the Leek Post & Times.
New sewage works are opened at Leekbrook.
Urban District enlarged to 4,315 acres. by addition of Lowe parish and parts of parishes of Cheddleton, Leekfrith, Longsdon, and Tittesworth, four wards created.
1935
Two societies, the Leek Choral Society and Leek Orchestral Society, give joint concerts.
William Bromfield regained the Parliamentary seat for Labour.
Another 156 houses are built at Haregate north of Novi Lane to rehouse the people displaced by slum clearance.
Council build a pumping station at Poolend in Leekfrith linked to the Mount Road and Kniveden reservoirs.
Passenger services withdrawn are from Leekbrook to Waterhouses railway line.
1936
Leek and Moorlands Building Society replace their premises by New Stockwell House, built on site of Stockwell House to the design of Briggs and Thornely of Liverpool.
The hall at the corner of Salisbury Street and Strangman Street is registered for the Salvation Army.
In Leek there are 11 firms involved in silk dying.
The norther Rudyard Lake Railway station name is changed to Cliffe Park.
1937
Several large houses are built on Buxton Road between Abbotts Road and Novi Lane.
There are five firms of textile engineers in town.
A private estate has been built west of Newcastle Road over the site and grounds of Woodcroft and over the grounds of Woodcroft Grange, another late 19thcentury house.
The Urban District Council buys 24 acres at Birchall
Dale on the west side of Cheddleton road.
The playing fields laid out for hire to local clubs.
St Mary’s infants school moves to new buildings in Cruso Street, and named ‘Monsignor A. M. Sperling Memorial School’ after the priest who has served at Leek from 1884 to 1923.
The senior school in
East Street moves to new buildings in Springfield Road.
1938
The Leek and Moorlands Building Society take over the Longton Mutual Permanent Benefit Building Society.
Westwood County
First School, Westwood Road,opens.
The County High School at Nicholson Institute is overcrowded and 90 boys have to be taught elsewhere.
The hospital on west side of Ashbourne Road is taken over by Newcastle and District joint hospital board.
The mission church of St John the Evangelist in Mill Street school is closed, but the building continues in use as a mission church.
1939
The Hargreaves school is being used as a practical instruction centre and clinic for schoolchildren.
The use of the canal for tar carried from Milton ceases.
The boys’ school moves to the still unfinished building in Westwood Road.
1940
M Swindells and Co are still in business making bobbins in Portland Street.
The Boys High School in Westwood Road is completed and the part of Nicholson Institute vacated by High School is used from 1940 to 1943 by the boys of Parmiter’s school, evacuated from the East End of London.
There are 10 box makers in Leek, including G. H. Plant and Sons.
Many children are evacuated to Leek, mainly from Manchester, Liverpool, London, and Essex.
1941
A German bomber unloads its bombs on the town, killing one man and damaging several buildings.
A German bomber, hit during raid on Liverpool, comes down on the Roches.
1942
The former Ball Haye Street schools converted into a restaurant.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses meet in a room in Globe Passage off High Street.
St Luke’s church hall is fitted up as a day nursery for 40 children aged from two to five in order to free their mothers for work.
1943
The two St Luke’s schools are merged to form a junior and infants’ school with
130 Leek children and 12 evacuees on its books.
Hundreds of American soldiers arrive, based at Blackshaw Moor - with a camp for officers in the grounds of Ball Haye Hall, and another for other ranks at Hencroft off the Abbey Green Road.
The section of the railway between Cauldon and Waterhouses is closed.
1944
Britannia Street school becomes an aided secondary modern school.
US troops leave at or after D-day.
Under the 1944 Act, the Boys High School in Westwood Road becomes a grammar school.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses meet in room in King Street.
A number of aircraft crash in the Leek area during the war, on the Roches, Hen Cloud, and Morridge. Most of them are on training exercises.
1945
House building resumed. Harold Davies wins the election for Labour. Two earlier portions of the covered market are adapted to provide fixed lock-up stalls.
The day school in Pump Street closes. The staff and pupils are transferred to Beresford Memorial school, Novi Lane. The building continues in use as a mission church.
1946
Staff and pupils of St Luke’s infants’ school at Ball Haye Green are transferred to Novi Lane to create a junior mixed and infants’ school with 128 on the roll.
Slum clearance resumes. Leek Rugby Union Football Club is revived, playing on the ground at Birchall Dale.
1947
The Conservative Association is dissolved.
AJ Worthington and Co take over several firms after Second World War.
The harsh Moorland winter cause problems with transport.
1948
The Haregate estate is purchased by the council for future council houses to be built.
The soup kitchen supported by charity in Mill Street closed.
Leek Town FC move to its present ground in Macclesfield Road.
Ball Haye Green Football Club moves to its ground behind Ball Haye Green Working Men’s Club.
Part of Brindley’s Mill is demolished for road widening.
Leek and District Arts
Club founded in 1948 with support from the Urban District Council and the Arts Council of Great Britain. The UDC converts the museum in Nicholson Institute into a meeting and concert room for club.
The Workhouse buildings pass to Stoke-on-trent Hospital Management Committee and becomes the Moorlands Hospital.
1949
Bronze tablets are unveiled at the Monument recording the names of those killed during the war.