Christopher Mould Report Here
Many thanks to Steve Szmidt
and Christopher Mould for photos
Front entrance of Corn Exchange Rochester
Peter Antony live on air
Peter Antony live on air
Flashback 67 exhibition
Georgina Hood in the sales area
Tracy Crouch MP having her say
Left to right: Alan Turner, Roger Day &
Mark Slone
Left to right: ?, Mark Slone, Roger
Day & John Aston
Left to right: Alan Turner (seated),
Roger Day, Mark Slone (seated), Roger Scott & John Aston
(seated)
Left to right: Roger Day, Alan Turner &
Colin Berry
Left to right: Alan Turner, Colin Berry,
Mark Slone, Dave Foster, John Aston & Keith Martin (Simon
Dee's producer)
Left to right: Martin Fisher, Brian
Martin, Stevie Gordon, Mike Stevens, Tom Anderson & Bob
Lawrence.
Left to Right: Bob Lawrence, Martin
Fisher & Brian Martin
On the side lines left to right: Clive
Garrard, Dave Foster & Roger Day
Martin Fisher (left) & Brian Martin
Left to Right: Martin Fisher, Brian
Martin, Stevie Gordon, Mike Stevens, Tom Anderson and Stuart
Russell
Dave Foster and the audience question
time
Left to right: Dave Richards, Tommy
Rivers and Peter Phillips
Audience
Left to Right: Dave Richards, Tommy
Rivers, Kevin Turner, John Leonard & Tom Anderson
Peter Phillips (left) and Dave Richards
The large audience
Left to Right: Roger Day, Peter Phillips &
Bob Lawrence
Roger Day and a question from the floor
for Peter Moore
Left to Right: Peter Moore, Peter Phillips &
Bob Lawrence
Peter Moore
??, Mandy Marton, Marie and Steve Szmidt
Marie, Debbie & Rick
Carol and Marie
Break before the evening's entertainment
Charlie Dore & Band
Charlie Dore, Band & Choir
Counterfeit Beatles
Dancing to the Counterfeit Beatles
With the sun shining, Marie and I left
home at 1100 hours on Friday, driving down to Northampton where
we picked up Steve Szmidt. After a short tea break, we
set off for Kent. Fortunately, traffic on the M1 and M25
flowed well, and we reached Rochester around 1500 hours, where
Marie and I checked into the Premier Inn, located around 2 miles
outside the town, on the other side of the river. It was
a nice, clean, modern hotel, with friendly staff. Even
Marie was perfectly happy with our room, on the first floor,
offering a view over the river towards the town. From
there we went across the road to McDonalds - which was considerably
cheaper and better quality, that the meal we recently had in
Burger King at Birmingham Airport. Next, we drove Steve
to his B&B, in the centre of Rochester. While there,
we did a little sightseeing. At sunset, we went back to
the Premier Inn, by which time Rick & Debbie had arrived
from Lowestoft. After freshening up, we again drove into
town and picked up Steve. The 5 of us managed to squeeze
into my little Ford Puma, and we went to the Kings Arms, Upnor,
a recommended food and real ale pub 3 miles away, which served
home-cooked food. I had a nice Steak, Mushroom and Ale
pie, washed down with a couple of pints of ales. Marie
then acted as taxi driver, taking us back to our hotels.
Saturday morning, we met up with Rick &
Debbie at 0830, and had a large breakfast together in the Premier
Inn (cereal, yogurt, fruit, full English fry-up, toast &
marmalade). Then we drove, once more, into Rochester,
finding a car park at a reasonable price. Rick and Debbie,
plus Steve and I, headed to the Radio Caroline 50th birthday
party at the Corn Exchange, while Marie went shopping and sightseeing
in the attractive old town. Just after 1030 we booked
into the convention, which had a capacity audience of 300 people. There
were quite a few I recognised - staff and supporters - although
I found it hard putting names to faces. No doubt all will
become clear, when reports and photos hit the internet! Had
a brief chat with Albert & Georgina Hood, plus Roland Beaney
from the Southampton Group, and Mandy from Radio Seagull. Bought
a souvenir programme, but didn't bother with a T-Shirt or other
merchandise. Upstairs, in the main hall, I met up with
Roger Day, who was comparing the day's events. Chatted
with a couple of other people, before the first presentation
got underway at 1130. This was all about Radio Caroline
in the 60's. A number of guests, from both Caroline North
and Caroline South (I'll think of the names later!) were interviewed
by Roger, and given the opportunity to talk of those days. I
did actually wonder if any of the big names, such as Johnny
Walker or Tony Blackburn would turn up, but they didn't. Unsurprisingly,
Ronan wasn't there - He is living in Ireland and mentally too
frail, these days. This interesting session, including
questions & answers, lasted 1.5 hours. At 1300 hours,
there was a break for lunch. The 4 of us decided to head
for a local pub for light refreshments. I called Marie,
and she came to join us. An hour later, Marie again went
off to do her own thing, while Rick, Debbie, Steve and I went
back to the Corn Exchange. The afternoon session kicked
off with an hour about Radio Caroline in the 70's. This
was hosted by Bob Lawrence, and featured such names as Tom Anderson,
Brian Martin, Stevie Gordon, and - one of my favourites from
that era - Mike Stevens. A lot of the talk was around
the difficulties tendering and maintaining the ship, in those
days, plus the subsequent sinking of the Mi Amigo. At
1500 hours we moved on to the 1980's. This time, Peter
Philips was the host. It was only at that point I noticed
his American wife, Carol, in the audience, so I went and sat
by her. We first met when I was working on Caroline, where
we got along well, and I hadn't seen her for over 10 years. On
stage, Peter (or Graham, as I know him) interviewed Tom Anderson
(again!) plus Dave Richards, Nigel Harris, and a couple of others
whose names also escape me right now. Oh, one was Tommy
Rivers from Laser 558. An hour later, the 3 hosts from
each era - Roger, Bob and Peter - all got together for a chat,
and to take questions from the floor. 1700 hours soon
arrived, and that was the end of presentations. There
was a 2.5 hour break before the evening entertainment. We
persuaded Roger Day to come to the pub with us. Well,
he didn't need much persuading, the only problem was getting
away, as everyone wanted to speak with him! We eventually
escaped, and walked to a local real ale pub (Coopers Arms) where
Marie again joined us. It was good to catch up with Roger,
as I hadn't seen him for 5 years, but he could only stay for
one pint as he had to take the train home to Maidstone. After
he left, we took a walk along the High Street, looking for a
place to eat, choosing another pub where I had scampi &
chips.
Shortly before 2000 hours, we walked
back to the Corn Exchange, and this time Marie came with us. Charlie
Dore had started her set, but it was hard to gain access to
the room, which was packed. So we stood in the doorway
and listened, eventually drifting off to the bar, before returning
to hear a special rendition of "Pilot of the Airwaves". Marie
and I then met up with Carol and Graham, having a good chat
with them. They left for home in Sandwich, Kent, shortly
after the Counterfeit Beatles started their set. They
were reasonably entertaining, but a bit of a cabaret act. The
evening came to an end at 2300 hours, when we had a chat with
a couple who had come over from California to attend the party! Before
leaving, we helped David Esp pack away all his video recording
equipment. Steve then walked back to his B&B, while Marie
fetched the car, driving Rick, Debbie and I back to the Premier
Inn. It had been a good day. I only wish I had spotted,
or recognised, more people! Steve found Mark Dezzani and
Andrew Austin, amongst others, but I missed these guests – along
with Johnny Lewis, who was there for part of the day.
A noticeable absence was Chicago. I’m surprised he never
made an appearance.
After a good night's sleep, we met Rick &
Debbie for breakfast at 0900 hours, also chatting to a few other
guests who had attended the convention - Quite a few coming
over from Holland. Albert & Georgina were also in
our hotel. Rick & Debbie then headed off, while we
checked out and drove to pick up Steve. It was a beautiful
day, so we decided to walk around the town, taking pictures
of the castle, cathedral and Victorian bridge. Then we
drove back to the Midlands, stopping for afternoon tea &
cake with Steve & Jill in Northampton. At 1800 hours,
we reached home and the end of a hectic, but very pleasant and
memorable, weekend.
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