Your Memories of the 1960s

Interesting that the flyer for the Everly Bros tour shown misses out on Little Richard who was brought in as last minute addition for some venues as ticket sales were poor. My first live concert. How lucky was I.

Bright orange space hopper, blue chopper bike. Cheese cloth tied at the waist blouses, wedge shoes, bell bottom trousers, love beads. walking/running every where. Carbolic soap, adzal toilet roll, the smell of the school heating. Coconut ice and toffee apples at break time. Hand stands, skipping rope games with the dinner ladies, games such has londonbridge is falling down. Pink blossom down the Whaddon avenue, bluebells galore in the spring on bluebell hill. Summer days 'up the hills'. Camping out ..transport home made carts with old pram wheels. Autumn leaves in great big piles, conkers and conker competitions in the school play ground. Snow at Christmas making snowmen with woolen bobble hat and mittens made by mum. A few surprises on Christmas morning! And some expected gifts e.g. satsuma's, toffee's, socks & nuts! Music on the gramophone. I could go on & on.

The Wai Kiki, The Cellar Bar, Aztec Coffee Bar, Dancing in the Promenade to the Cheltenham band "The Ramrods" The Blue Moon, The Wimpy Bar in Pittville Street. The Albany Club in Lansdown, The Little Club in Dunnallly Parade. Late night excursions to The Windrush Cafe on the A40 when everything else was closed !!!! Great Times........ Where did it all go ????.

I remember as a schoolgirl in Cheltenham (to the horror of my parents had they known) getting in to The Blue Moon Club. Above a men's tailors, down a bit from Mark's & Spencer's and opposite the Wimpy bar (which featured prototype burger buns filled with a slice of bright yellow processed cheese) it was a dark, smoky place of seduction and sin. A stamp on the back of my hand allowed entry to danger,depravity and such fun. Long John Baldry, Jules Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity were the gates to adulthood and I shall never forget them.

Most vividly I remember my first ever venture delivering Sunday newspapers in the Brookyn Road, Hesters Way area of Cheltenham. From memory it was the Sunday after Christmas when we all woke up to a huge snow fall. In some places the drifts reached the tops of front doors. Needless to say it took me most of the day to complete the round . . my hands and feet have never experienced cold since . .

I spent 3 months in Cheltenham in the year 1960 as a French student. I remember this wonderful time, it was in the summer and a sunny summer it was - the Promenade, the parks, the hills around were my favourite days out. I had a superb girlfriend living in Arle. It was my first great love and I'll never forget her. Her family lived in Arle, her surname was Thomson. The family included Philip, Vivienne and Geoffrey. I think I still have photos from this time.

Cheltenham was so different from France and I enjoyed it so much. I was working at Dowty Company and staying in a B&B at 22 Great Norwood Street. At that time the money was Shilling, Penny etc. and it took me ages to understand the system so different from the metric. I have been a lot of times in the UK since, but haven't visited Cheltenham again.

I used to live locally and was a member of the Cheltenham Spa It's a knockout team, and I used to be a gogo dancer at the Blue Moon over Burtons. Enjoyed listening to live bands at the Pump rooms and even went to the Festival of Flower Children at Woburn Abbey in 1967. Happy Days

I remember listening to Radio Caroline. It was hissing and fading in and out, not like today's pure sounds, but it seemed so fresh and exciting then. Collecting my 45s, the first single I brought was The Supremes out of a bargain box, I think it was I Hear a Symphony. That was as far as my pocket money would take me. What a great single though.

Mary Quant, the Mini, the mods - cool Britannia.