Blue Moon plaque date
Hi Mau,
In response to the article published in the May edition re ‘The Mystery of the Blue Moon Club plaque', on behalf of The Blue Moon Reunion Group (BMRG) I'd like to put the record straight as to the club's opening date.
As project leader of the said Blue Moon Plaque project, I can assure you that the club opened its doors for the first time on July 17, 1965 (as the attached flyer published at the time clearly shows).
Pre-Covid, the BMRG staged several reunions (both discos and regular meet-ups) in Cheltenham, one of the biggest of which was the plaque unveiling on August 1, 2019. The event was broadcast live on local radio with a gathering outside the entrance to the former club well in excess of a hundred people – including legendary musician Steve Winwood and Cheltenham's deputy mayoress – and one local Vespa couple coming along to witness the ceremony. Regarding the scooter incident; this could have taken place on any of the big club nights during the timeline the club was opened (July 1965-May 1967) although it does sound like the latter end of 1965 or possibly early 1966, and the confrontation, I seem to remember, took place in the Montpellier area.
DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORIES OR PICS?
We (the BMRG) are currently in the final stages of writing a book on the history of the Blue Moon Club (hopefully to be published later this year) which chronicles all the clubbased dates, interesting facts and stories. We are still very interested in any memories or pictures – particularly scooter-oriented – from any of your readers who went to the Blue Moon at 170 High Street, Cheltenham, remember the club and would be willing to share them with us.
The BMRG can be contacted via its Facebook page: ‘The Blue Moon.Cheltenham. Teen & Twenty Rendezvous'
Regarding organising a scooter line-up outside the former club to re-enact those legendary Sixties line-ups; the High Street road is long gone and is now a pedestrian walkway, but providing we could get the necessary permissions, health and safety etc., we would certainly be up for it – maybe for the book launch! Dave Jackson (Blue Moon Reunion Group)