I was speechless…the music, the laughter, the applause…and there, on the stage, were people I had only seen on the television before.
How lucky I was…being taken from our home in Diss to GREAT Yarmouth in the 1950s and early 60s, to see some of the amazing summer shows.
They were highlights of holidays for people from far and wide and for us locals it was a day out to remember.
I would sit at home watching singers and comedians on our little black and white TV and then see them for real entertaining us in a grand theatre at the sea-side.
Wonderful. I didn’t even mind wearing a tie.
The biggest stars in the land headed to the East Coast for the long summer season and became part of our lives enjoying supporting a whole range of events, local charities and good causes.
They would go out of their way to help others and those acts of kindness so many years ago have not been forgotten.
Years later I remember interviewing some of the people featured in our photographs today and discovering how friendly and down-to-earth there were.
Max Bygraves, Ken Dodd, Arthur Askey and many more. Great personalities who looked back on the shows and the people they met with great affection.
And when I mentioned it must have been hard work, a couple of shows a day, up to six days a week, they all said this wasn’t hard work…the people in the audience were the ones who worked hard.
They were the lucky ones.
Happy days.
Drop me a line at derek.james2013.com if you have memories of the summer shows.
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