In Reply to: showbands posted by pete kinsey on April 01, 2007 at 00:08:42:

I remember the Royal Blues, but the memory is not all that pleasant. At Christmas 1965, I went to a dance they played for in Pontoon. The music was good; I think they used Royal because Brendan Bowyer and the Royal Showband were No 1. After the dance and the, ahem, socializing, the car wouldn't start. My mate and I went back to the hall, but all the dancers had gone. Only the band left, eating sandwiches, smoking, etc. We implored them for a lift to the Bar. No luck, they were heading the other way, and wouldn't change route for us. So, with no overcoats,and just a small bottle of refreshment between us, we walked/ran back to the Bar, arriving just before 8 am. Temp that night reached 18 F or 14 degrees of frost, coldest night of the year. This led to other things which proved more unpleasant, which I won't go into.