1963 saw the closure of the Grosvenor Ballroom for refurbishment, re-opening as the council-owned Borough Assembly Hall. During its closure, the Walton Hall stood in, with weekly rock concerts. The Grosvenor Ballroom closed at the end of April 1963, initially for three months – but the date of the re-opening was put back a number […]
Grosvenor Aylesbury
1962 Rock in Aylesbury – and the Town Hall fire
1962 saw rock shows at three different venues. Eddie Friday continued with his Saturday evenings at the Grosvenor, Wallis & Wyatt (Alan Wallis and Stan Wyatt) at Aylesbury Town Hall until it burnt down in March, and at the Walton Hall. At the Grosvenor, there was a wider range of artists presented. In March Tony […]
1961 Aylesbury Jazz Club
1961 saw the Aylesbury Jazz Club continue to thrive on Tuesday evenings – but there were some changes. Toward the end of the year it was announced that the jazz club was changing venue, from the Grosvenor Ballroom to the Town Hall. One artist of note to appear during the year was the Temperance Seven. […]
1961: Rock at the Grosvenor Aylesbury … and the Town Hall
Eddie Friday, who held the lease on the Grosvenor Ballroom, continued to promote rock gigs there on Saturday evenings throughout 1961, usually featuring a headline group plus support. The Sunday club also carried on, with one group playing each week. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, who had been regulars in 1960, continued to appear – […]
1960 Aylesbury Jazz Club
In 1960, the Aylesbury Jazz Club continued to present top-class trad jazz at the Grosvenor Ballroom every Tuesday evening. The fans continued to flock in – the Bucks Herald reported a record attendance of 950 for Terry Lightfoot on 24th May. Micky Ashman and his Ragtime Jazzband topped the number of appearances during the year […]
Syncopating Sandy – marathon piano man
In 1957 Syncopating Sandy came to Aylesbury. Sandy (otherwise James Strickland, or Strickleton) built a reputation as an endurance piano player, travelling the country trying to set records for playing the piano without a break. He seems to have been at it for quite a while – there are reports from as early as 1932 […]
All night jazz comes to Aylesbury
In November 1959, the first all night jazz event was held at the Grosvenor Ballroom, Aylesbury. Such events were nothing new to the jazz scene – they had been going on in London for many years – but this was definitely something new for Aylesbury. The Bucks Advertiser reported on November 6, 1959: The first […]
1960: Rock ‘n’ Roll comes to the Grosvenor
February 1960 saw rock ‘n’ roll come to the Grosvenor Ballroom on Saturday nights. Until then, Saturday evenings had featured dance bands. For the first three weeks Stanley Dale is shown as the promoter, but after this the adverts are under a heading of Eddie Friday presents – though it seems likely that Stanley Dale […]
1959 Aylesbury Jazz Club
On 13th January 1959, the Chris Barber Jazz Band played at the gala opening night of the Aylesbury Jazz Club at the Grosvenor Ballroom. The formation of the new jazz club was the idea of Eddie Friday, manager of the Grosvenor, and Ron Lesley, who had run the Harringay Jazz Club, Ron and his wife […]
1957: Trad jazz comes to the Grosvenor
On 4 September 1957, the Buckinghamshire Traditional Jazz Club held its opening night at the Grosvenor Ballroom. The artist was Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. The Bucks Herald covered the opening on its front page on September 13, 1957. The organiser was Barrington Saunders, an ex-servieman from Ilford, who told the Herald: When I was […]