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The two nights of the show at Torquay’s Royal Lyceum Theatre were a sell-out as film premieres for ‘Music Scene Memories at Torquay Town Hall’ with Lionel Digby and friends
Reporter:
Jim Parker
26 Apr 2024 1:30 PM
A trip down Torbay's musical memory lane has been dubbed a smash-hit success.
The two nights of the show at Torquay’s Royal Lyceum Theatre were a sell-out as film premieres for ‘Music Scene Memories at Torquay Town Hall’ with Lionel Digby and friends had Retro fans rocking in the aisles.
Music promoter and local businessman Lionel and film director John Tomkins presented the evening celebration of the legacy of the music memories from Torquay Town Hall from the 50’s to early 80’s, featuring many of the musicians and people who supported the big name chart acts of that time.
Both evenings kicked off with live music from Drew Millin, Lee Brown and Geoff Hawkey playing an amazing set of Rock n roll classics to a great response from the audience , played against a backdrop of projected images of the many acts that played at the Town Hall from the 1950's to the late 1970's.
Presenting both evenings was local historian and Torbay Weekly columnist Kevin Dixon. Celebrating memories of a golden era of live music at the iconic Town Hall , many audience members put their hands up if they had seen a live gig there.
Life paths were changed and careers in music were started through the music scene that Lionel created at the venue.
Daniela and Brenda from Children's Hospice South West gave presentations about the amazing work of the charity - Lionel and John's chosen charity for both premieres . Through the generosity of both sell out audiences and through the profits given from the ticket sales , £2,300 was raised.
In the breaks before the film on both evenings, it was all about reunions . Some of the musicians hadn't seen each other for over 50 years and it was a special moment to see them all on stage together again.
Martin Turner from legendary Wishbone Ash made a special guest appearance much to the delight of Lionel and many of the musicians and audience members.
The lights went down and the main feature began to play . Audiences were treated to just under an hour of music memories of time when many of the music greats played live at the Town Hall.
From supporting The Who, meeting Mick Jagger, seeing prototype Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page with the Yardbirds, having David Bowie supporting your band, been part of the audience when the Clash played
meeting Eric Clapton and why the Sex Pistols never played in Torquay.
Many, many more memories, career stories and bands, musicians and music fans in the film, were celebrating a golden era of live music in the Bay.
The film ended with the lines from Lionel: "Rock n roll will never die , long live rock n roll." And then we were treated to some amazing photos from Lionel's photo archive of music artists that had played at the Town Hall.
A Question and Answer session followed with Lionel telling many more stories of bands and director John on what making the film meant to him.
In the foyer of the theatre , Lionel put together an exhibition of Music Memorabilia which brought more memories flooding back for those attending.
Lionel said: "Thank you to everyone who attended the film Premieres and for their generosity in giving to Children’s Hospice South West and for sharing with me memories of the amazing era of live music at Torquay Town Hall from the 1950’s to the early 1980’s."
John said: "This was a film I just had to make - seeing what it meant to people who attended the gigs and meeting many of the musicians that played. I loved the reaction the film received and no doubt the memories it brought back.
It was great to work with Lionel and the collaborative team on the film and excited that the film will be part of the Torquay Museum digital archive for future generations."
Talking of the museum and the success of the film - it was so good a third screening is being staged at Torquay Museum on May 11 - which is already a sellout!
The screening marks the official handing over of the film to the museum's digital archive to be watched, enjoyed and no doubt researched by future generations to come.
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