Jubilee Hall (Dukinfield)

In the late 50s early 60s I went to the "Jubilee Hall" in Dukinfield on a fairly regular basis. 

This was part of the town hall, the bar only sold soft drinks so if you wanted a pint it was round the corner to the local pub. The evening's entertainment would start with a dance band which nobody listend to, so in order to get the group on sooner the band would often be pelted with soft drink bottles & fag packets until they left the stage.

Fights were popular as well. I remember lads being thrown off the balcony - good job it was a sprung dance floor.

I saw some great groups there, local lads, "Danny & The Strangers" of which Ronnie Bentley one of my school mates played guitar. A popular group played a lot of Shadows stuff on their Burns guitars, Shane Fenton, & Johnny Kidd, were regulars, Joe Brown played there the very night that "Picture of You" hit the number one spot in the N.M.E chart, he brought the house down.

Cherished memories indeed. 

Geoff Kershaw - 7/6/11

I too used to go to the 'Jube' and see Danny & The Strangers in 1962. I was also greatly impressed with Jacki Fordell & The Olympics. All this of course before I joined the 'Pathfinders' in 1963. A few years later when the 'Pathfinders' eventually morphed into'The Big Sound' we recorded at Abbey Road with Karol Keyes on one Friday morning in February 1966.

The same night, we made it back to Dukinfield (my home town) to do our one & only gig at the Jubilee Hall.

Trumpet player Rod Dunford had left his dearly loved Mini overnight, near our manager Dave Baxter's pub, the Albion in Stalybridge while we were in London at Abbey Road. The van dropped him at his car, and I got in with him to show the way to the 'Jube'. Rod didn't see the STOP sign as we crossed the junction of Park Road & Crescent Road, and hit another car broadside on.

Fortunately all occupants were OK, and we did make the gig, but Rod's Mini didn't come out of it too well. He was very proud of it, and it had all the bells & whistles of the time, and he was almost in tears.

That was the last time Rod played with us; not because of the crash though.

Although he played on the Abbey Road recordings, he'd decided he didn't want to take the risk of turning 'pro' and giving up his job at Manchester fish market.

Kevin Parrott - 15/6/11

Dukinfield had a great disco called Hiccup's the former Moon. and before that it was the Oxford Cinema, its now the site of Morrison's supermarkets petrol station,... Hiccups opened its doors in 1974 as a disco pub, then later about 1976, it was late night licensed till 2am, opening mon,thurs,fri,& sat, it has a Facebook page now with over 200 members, log in at.... Hiccup's disco Dukinfield.

I was a very lucky person to have worked at Hiccup's as a resident D.J. for over 4 years, with other D.J.s including Les Shaw, Johnny Simms Dave Parker, Steve (Goodie) Gooderson and many others.

I had many a great night there, with the staff and the manager, Mr Gordon Chadwick. pictures now on Facebook. Thanks for taking the time to read my slot, hope the memories flood back to you all.

Roland "Roly" Hough - 18/4/12

I use to go to Hiccups - they were great times. DJs Pip and Dave Parker - what a good time.

Rosemarie - 12/3/13