Cliff and Friends

I have worked in Stockton on Tees for the past 27 years and regularly walk around the High Street while grabbing a sandwich for lunch. I was thrilled therefore to discover that Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett would be visiting the town and the old Globe Theatre on June 15th as part of the BBC’s music day to unveil a plaque commemorating the fact that they composed the tune “Summer Holiday” here during a spare moment at this theatre in 1962.
Work commitments however meant I was stuck in meetings elsewhere on the day and unable to catch the visit.
My YT friend Steve Heatley (Sky1962) had messaged to say that he was also hoping to get along. Unfortunately neither of us managed to make it on the day…………..

Video footage of the visit from the local TV is at this link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbH23us7_tg&app=desktop

The Globe has been closed for a number of years and we still await the restoration project which has been a long time kicking off. This was an A list venue in its heyday, hosting Buddy Holly, The Beatles and The Stones. My only visit was as an 11 year old in 1974 to see Ken Dodd…..

Stan Laundon’s site tells the history of the theatre much better than me.
http://www.stanlaundon.com/globe.html

As an alternative I decided to mark the occasion with a cover of the other Shadow’s tune associated with the Stockton Globe, “The Stars Fell On Stockton” which was the B side to the 1961 hit Wonderful Land.
It’s amazing to think that Jerry Lordan who composed Wonderful Land which enjoyed 8 weeks at number 1 would have had to split the composer’s royalties from the 7” single equally with The Shadows who probably wrote this throwaway B side in ten minutes!
All the best
Neville
19th June 2017

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