What's in Pot Pouri ?

BRADFORD  STUDENTS' CLUB

It was in 1957 that the Students' Club opened, the significance being, it was

the city’s first dedicated jazz venue. During the five years of the club’s

existence, whilst predominantly a jazz club, it was also popular as a rock 'n’

roll venue for local groups.

The club was in a basement of a row of shops (J Walton Ltd Newsagents) on

New Victoria Street. It was the idea of Mike Lamb who was 24 and worked

for the family firm of fruit and vegetable sellers at St James’ Market. 

Peter Dennehy aged 25 was his working partner who worked for the Bradford

Corporation in the Vehicle Licensing Department. They had decided that

Bradford desperately needed a proper jazz club. They actually pinched the

idea of The Cavern in Liverpool, which was a jazz club at the time.

The entrance to the club was through a large solid black front door with

large wooden studs set in it. At the bottom of the stone steps a large stone

vaulted roof supported on iron columns, opened up to reveal a stone-flagged

dance floor and a low stone-flagged constructed stage. 

The low ceiling gave a very spacious area. A few red bulbs and a white-lit alcove

supplemented by about two dozen iron tables each with candles stuck in

bottles with white-washed walls gave a very atmospheric ‘with it’ scene.

The windows which were high up in the cellar opened partly on the ground

level with the pavement outside the newsagent’s so, with these windows

open the music sailed into the evening for the passers-by to enjoy or dislike.

The club membership reached 4,000 at one time thought to be the largest in

the UK. The students club wasn’t a club for students only as the jobs of

members included Wool merchants, Bricklayers, Engineers, Clerks, Shop

workers, and many other trades. Membership addresses ranged from

Bradford to every town in the West Riding. The Students Club was not

licensed however, pass-outs in the form of the hand are stamped with a

coloured dye were successful, which was very hard to forge. 

As the club did not have a license to sell alcohol members would nip out to ‘Viv’s Bar’,

underneath the Majestic Hotel at the bottom of Manchester Road.

Saturday night was the most popular night, which opened at 8 pm and usually

closed at midnight. Later all-night sessions would end at 7.30 in the

morning. There are many conflicting accounts as to which famous Jazz

musicians played there, however, some did and others didn’t. The list of

who actually performed there is lost in time.

Local skiffle, blues and up and coming rock n’ roll groups such as ‘The

Cresters’, ‘The Dingos’, ‘The Dakotas’, ‘The Crusaders, ‘Dal Stevens and

the Four Dukes’, the ‘Mel Clark Four’ and many other local groups played

at the Students' club on Thursday nights given over to rock n’ roll.

It had a fantastic atmosphere and most that did play at the club enjoyed the occasion despite only receiving 30/- per group. Sometimes as many as three local groups would be on the same bill. An example is a mediocre local group would perform

first, proudly dressed in their mix-and-match best suits, together with

probably only one amplifier and a small hand mike. The professional

Cresters would follow impeccably dressed, with half a dozen Vox amplifiers

and the rest. It was then that some groups would realise how mediocre they

were, but it was all part of the game.

The Students' Club was a remarkable achievement. Moya Pollard, Mike’s

fiancé was the club's secretary and Joan Kilshaw served soft drinks behind

the club's bar both helping to run the club in a professional and positive way.

Mike Lamb continued in the music business for many years, managing bands and arranging bookings for other venues. 

What about the murals? For many years it was rumored

that the many murals painted on the walls of the Students' Club were the

work of local and now world-renowned artist David Hockney. 

Mike Lamb, during an interview in 2005 said

"that they were painted in 1957 by  art student John Seaton who

drank tomato juice for his lunch, and that was his payment".

You can find all their names in this amazing photo below on page 62  in 'When Bradford Rocked'. The girl in the centre with the handbag is Pauline Matthews aka Kiki Dee.

THREE GOOD REASONS- No 1 in Holland

In 1965 Peter Clegg formally of The Phantoms, and Ann McCormack formally of The Brontebeats decided to form a trio, and the new member to make up the trio was Radivoj ( Danny ) Danic whom they had met while they were performing at the George Hotel in Low Moor. 

Danny was selling cockles and mussels to supplement his engineering job. When he told them 'he could sing and play the guitar', he was in! The name of the trio was 'The Newarks'

One of their first bookings was at West Bowling Labour Club in Bradford. It was there that  Tony Hartwell of Phillips Records saw them, and after demos had been made, and their name had been changed to the Three Good Reasons, they were given a recording contract with Phillips Mercury label. 

Their first single 'Build Your Love'  was unfortunately not a hit, but success followed with a number one hit in Holland: this was a track from the Beatles Album , 'Nowhere Man'. After their third single release 'Moment Of Truth' written by Marty Wilde, the Three Good Reasons parted, leaving their mark locally..... and in Holland.

Play their No 1 disc, and see their pages 272-276, 'When Bradford Rocked ' .

After performing at the Majestic and after Gene had finished signing autographs it was 11.30 pm before the area was cleared enough for him to leave.  

Thinking he would be accommodated at the Midland or Victoria Hotels we were surprised to find out that him and ‘Sounds Incorporated’ were booked into the Castle Hotel at the top of Albion Street, off Westgate.  Dadio and I were asked if we would like to join them for a drink, so we all went up to the Castle.  With glasses charged we passed the time away exchanging experiences of the 'pop scene'. Around 2.30am the little group was down to Gene, Barry Cameron, Alan Holmes, of Sounds Inc, with Dadio and me. 

For sometime I entertained Gene with one of my old party tricks which consisted of breaking a pencil in half with an old one pound note.  Many pencils were broken during the early hours of that morning. This had Gene fascinated just how could a folded paper pound note hit a pencil held by someone and break it clean in half.  I performed this trick many times with him pleading with me to explain how it was done, however, somehow I never got round to telling him.

It was in the dawn of that morning when I said farewell to the great star. We did meet again a few times later however the last time was in 1970 when he was in a package show of which he was just one of the many stars in the lower order.  I was talking to Cliff Bennett who was on the same show with the ‘Rebel Rousers’ when suddenly a door opened behind me and I was grabbed around the neck and a voice shouted ‘Hey Dal, you never did show me how to do that pencil trick’, and then Gene Vincent was gone overwhelmed by screaming fans.

Ravages of time, car and motorcycle accidents all took their toil.  After a few years of sliding down the scale he was just climbing back up when Mr ‘Be- Bop- A- Lula’ Gene Vincent died in 1971 of heart failure at the age of 36.

ROBERT DEWHIRST aka 'Radar'

Bradford's solo bop champion.

Solo Bop, what does this name conjure up? This was purely for the male dancer. It comprised of the men jiving or bopping on their own, with legs gyrating and bouncing about, with the occasional splits thrown in. Most ballrooms or dance halls banned this derivative of rock 'n’ roll’ simply because of the problems it could cause if physical contact was made with the dancing couples. The same rule applied at both the Gaumont and the Majestic. However, from time to time the disc jockeys Dal and Dadio gave the solo bop enthusiasts a five-minute spot to dance on their own with no danger of colliding with anyone else.

Usually accompanied by a fast instrumental number, the lads really enjoyed this just as everyone watching them did. In the Bradford of the late 1950s and early ’60s, everyone’s favourite solo bopper was ‘Radar’. To this day many ‘teenagers of the time’ still ask ‘Do you remember Radar?’ Every dance hall had its characters and Bradford had Radar, who was known and loved by everybody. He stood about 5’6” tall and was always smartly dressed in a dark suit with 14” bottoms, the usual thick crepe-soled shoes, and a white shirt with a narrow dark tie. He had a round boyish face with short dark brown curly hair. Radar was just an unassuming lad of the times blessed with a very nice disposition.

Radar was generally the instigator of the requests for the Solo Bop spot and when he was in action everybody would crowd around to watch his unique style. Needless to say, Radar won a prize every week, if not a competition or spot prize then Dal or Dadio would invent a reason for giving him a prize. Some did say that it was strange how Radar seemed to have a birthday every other week. Just a mention of his name over the microphone was met with resounding cheering and clapping. Radar was unique and was perhaps the ultimate solo Bop star of Bradford.

Radar later attended the rock 'n' roll revival nights at the Hilton hotel and the Pile bar in the 90s where he was still well remembered for doing his Solo Bop. He went on to be employed with Bradford Council and later retired. He lived in Heaton. Sadly his lovely wife Jean passed away in 2013. 

With reference to his nickname, no one knows where this materialized, even Radar was unsure how he obtained it. But it was long before the’ Mash’ TV character, Radar of the series of the 1970s.

Radar passed away in November 2021. An icon of Bradford's rock 'n' roll and the champion of 'solo bop'.  A good lad to all who knew him. Never to be forgotten RIP Radar.

Susan Trudgill, aka Swinging Sue, is the daughter of renowned Bradford-born pianist Dave Lee. Sue was born in Bradford in the 1950s and grew up with rock n' roll music all around her. Inspired by her late father's music she danced from the age of six, but it was not until the late 1990s that she attended rock n' roll dance classes and achieved considerable success in competitions. 

In 2001 she undertook further training so that she could teach rock n' roll dancing to men and women alike. 

Like her father, who gave her the name 'Swinging Sue' she has brought rock and roll to a new generation. She has always attended rock n' roll reunions and made a brilliant DJ. 

She is a credit to her late father, 'Bradford's Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Lee.

The Avengers 

They were a local group originally called the Teen Beats who played at the Gaumont and Majestic many times. They went professional in 1962 at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Bognor Regis but disbanded shortly afterward.

Johnnie Casson went on to join The Cresters in 1963. Here again, was a super drummer who could have filled any slot with any top group.

Later he became a national television cabaret star, especially on the Des O'Connor show.

The Avengers were in the original 1991 book Bradford's Rock and Roll, and Geoff Barnes attended the book launch at the Alhambra Theatre. I hope the above will compensate them for not being included in 'When Bradford Rocked'. 

The author's oversight!

It's worth noting how few of these group cards had phone numbers on them. Very few people had phones at home. This letter shows that writing was sometimes the only way to communicate. The outcome was, after an amenable meet-up, Mel and his group went on to play at the Palace theatre in Huddersfield, and Dal and the Four Dukes played on Friday at the Europa Club. No internet or email!