Thanks go to Alan Smith in Newport for sending an image through of a fabulous poster of a South Wales rock n roll event right at the beginning of the 1960s!
Undoubtedly South Wales youngsters hungry for the latest sounds tried to attend the Rock’N’Roll Jamboree at Aberaman’s Grand Theatre on November 26,1960.
Tony Sheridan Featured In South Wales Rock N Roll Show
Alan’s band, The Rikki Allen Trio (credited Ricky Alan on the poster) from Newport also featured Alan’s brother Gerry and drummer Mark Goodwin were on the bill. The Aberaman date was one of many the young band played at the time,
Alan (aka Rikki Allen) tells Andy Howells:
“We (were) riding high, young (and) full of excitement. To be performing in theatre’s was our dream. But the actual show, I cannot recall any highlight!”
Big names on the bill (which may have included a few variety acts) included Tony Sheridan, Joe Escott and Britain’s fastest rising rock n roller, Vince Helvist (what happened to him?) while a comedian called Bob Manning hosted the proceedings. Interestingly Tony Sheridan is credited on the poster as a Pye Recording Star and Joe Escott from TV’s Oh Boy! Sheridan had appeared on Oh Boy! (Jack Good’s famous late 1950s pop music show which ended in May 1959 – almost 18 months before this gig) while there’s no actual details available of whether Joe Escott appeared on the show or was a Pye recording star!
Tony Sheridan would actually take residence in Hamburg, Germany a short while later and do a Polydor recording session with an up and coming Liverpool band called The Beatles!
Rock’N’Roll Jamboree, Grand Theatre, Aberaman, Nov 26,1960
- Vince Helvist (Britain’s fastest rising rock n roller)
- Tony Sheridan (Pye Recording Star)
- Joe Escott (From TV’s Oh Boy!)
- The Rikki Allen Trio
- Ray Todd, Dave Hall, Tania Todd
- Bob Manning (Comedian, Compere)
- The Solid Six (Your favourite star rock group – and Big Supporting Company)
The event which took place on a Saturday had two scheduled performances at 6.15pm and 8.30pm
- If you have any memories of any of the featured acts or indeed the show itself, please leave comments below or drop us an email via our contact page.
That dreadful night night was also the night before Andy got married and the night we ran out of petrol when we, the Pieces of Mind, were playing out Hereford way. When we eventually got the van going, I remember going across the roundabout, outside of Abergavenny, on the A40 where the Heads of the Valleys Road starts. The police were turning back a stream of people in vehicles trying to get to Aberfan to help, as they were hampering the rescue operation. The disaster shocked all of us; especially as it happened on the very day the school was breaking up for half term.
We all jumped at the opportunity to play at a disaster appeal due to be held in Tredegar Working Men’s Hall cinema. The event took place in December 1966, with a few other groups taking part as well. One was called the Vikings and another was a young band called Fusion, who had a member called Lyndon Evans, who remembers listening to our brass section rehearsing in the dressing room. We would play again with the same band, which are now called ‘Now and Then’ in October 2013 at the Catholic Hall in Ebbw Vale.
I believe, but cannot be sure, that a very young Henry Spinetti also played, at the event, with a group called the Next of Kin; a group that had Rob Evans on bass, who would later go on to join the Pieces.
I cannot remember much of that night, other than the manager, apparently a Mr. White, came on stage and threatened to stop the show, unless the crowd, predominantly girls, calmed down. We had to have a police escort us out of the cinema and onto the road back home.