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Rum Runner

Used to often go to the Opposite Lock on a Saturday night. Great club. It used to have different rooms like one for watching TV (football on Saturday nights - full of blokes!), a room where there was waitress service and Chesterfields to sit on, there was a barn- type area where you could dance and I think other little bars. All under one roof. Hope I've attached the right memories to the right club here as I used to go in to and stagger out of many B'ham clubs! Viv.
 
Used to often go to the Opposite Lock on a Saturday night. Great club. It used to have different rooms like one for watching TV (football on Saturday nights - full of blokes!), a room where there was waitress service and Chesterfields to sit on, there was a barn- type area where you could dance and I think other little bars. All under one roof. Hope I've attached the right memories to the right club here as I used to go in to and stagger out of many B'ham clubs! Viv.
Hello Viv.

It was a pretty 'blokey' kind of club. All motor cars and soccer. I seem to remember lots of little rooms but didn't go in all that often. Working every night at another club was more than enough.

Ted
 
View attachment 67893Ted. Warwick was friends with the owner of the club, both into motor racing big time, Got real drunk(pissed) many times at the Oposite Lock. Happy times. I also had a band in the 50s. left in 1957 for the USA to get into the band biz. giged with Kenton and Welk a few times, BUT could'nt get in the Union! Not a USA Citz. Joe Petrillo was the union boss. John Crump
 
View attachment 67893Ted. Warwick was friends with the owner of the club, both into motor racing big time, Got real drunk(pissed) many times at the Oposite Lock. Happy times. I also had a band in the 50s. left in 1957 for the USA to get into the band biz. giged with Kenton and Welk a few times, BUT could'nt get in the Union! Not a USA Citz. Joe Petrillo was the union boss. John Crump
Thanks, John. Great pix. Real musicians reading dots, not like us seat of our pants, learn it all by ear guys.
Are you in any of the pikkies? What is your instrument?
Wow- Stan Kenton, one of the most innovative musicians ever. Mention any of the top music men of the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and even into the seventies and chances are they were associated with Stan somewhere along the line. Well ahead of his time and greatly missed.
I wasn't all that much into Laurie Welk. A bit ballroomy for my taste. Although his so called champaigne style was very popular in the States. He had his own TV show for a while.

Cheers
Ted
 
One of the difficulties with finding Gill Showell is that he was so versatile. He was the drummer and they now have a different, younger guy. However Gill played guitar and banjo too as well as writing their material so he might still play for them. He would be hard to recognize now.

Ted

ps. Which 'Caldecott' are you looking for?



My friend of long ago, Richard Caldecott, took over my Bearwood Road flat when I left many years ago. I haven't heard a lot since then, about 1969.

I know Gill was talented he spent a lot of time with Jeff at the Rum Runner. I hope he still plays!


I have lots of Caldecotts spelt with an e not i. My cousin Garry Caldecott is a drummer and still plays locally with some of his old band Rio.
 
Alto axe was me ,Pics all taken in the Yardley area at pubs. dance music! Read the charts is what we did!In the USA. Because of Joe Petrillo and the union I could never get a real gig. Sat in at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach California with Conti Condoli and Shelley Mann a few times, But had to go find a gig that paid $$ So got into the car biz, finance mgr for a Caddy dealer in Santa Monica, CA havnt played now for years. Miss it! Welk the one and two and a man, I played on the afternoon shows Welk not there, Myron Florin led the band then. NOT my cuppa. but needed what I could get. Fun Fun times. John Crump
 
Alto axe was me ,Pics all taken in the Yardley area at pubs. dance music! Read the charts is what we did!In the USA. Because of Joe Petrillo and the union I could never get a real gig. Sat in at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach California with Conti Condoli and Shelley Mann a few times, But had to go find a gig that paid $$ So got into the car biz, finance mgr for a Caddy dealer in Santa Monica, CA havnt played now for years. Miss it! Welk the one and two and a man, I played on the afternoon shows Welk not there, Myron Florin led the band then. NOT my cuppa. but needed what I could get. Fun Fun times. John Crump

I know what you mean. After I left Katz I sessioned on bass and six-string vocals for a local dance band, quite a well known biggish sort of of outfit, the Eric Allen Big Band. I actually quite enjoyed it . It might have led onto something bigger but I blew it. I've always been a bit of a jokey type of bloke and we were playing a posh do in a swanky place one night. I happened to be near the entrance before the kick off when a middle aged lady in a posh frock but on crutches and a sprained ankle arrived. I joked with her and said if she was one of the dancing girls she better get a move on as we were about to start. She thought that was hilarious and had a good chuckle. I thought well that went down OK. Five minutes later another one arrived, just the same, posh evening gown and crutches. I tried again with the same funny quip. This time there was an eruption of fury. She had never been so humiliated, embarrassed and insulted. Unfortunately she turned out to be the band-leaders wife and I never got another job with that band. 'C'est la vie', say the old folk. It goes to show you never can tell. - Chuck Berry, 1964.

Ted
 
I remember Bob from the Katz. His girlfriend worked on the reception at the Rum. He was a former teacher, from Yorkshire I think. Mickey Walker on the door. Great entertainer! Former Redcaps. Beauty queens Pauline and Sonja. Unbelievable night when The Everlys played there. Black tie dos, with soda syphon fights with Paul Berrow. The Berrows were the most generous of people.
 
I remember Mick Walker he was a great laugh didn't he drive a Morgan sports car.
 
I remember Bob from the Katz. His girlfriend worked on the reception at the Rum. He was a former teacher, from Yorkshire I think. Mickey Walker on the door. Great entertainer! Former Redcaps. Beauty queens Pauline and Sonja. Unbelievable night when The Everlys played there. Black tie dos, with soda syphon fights with Paul Berrow. The Berrows were the most generous of people.
Hello Northfield
Bit of senior confusion here, I think.
I am originally from Scarborough in Yorkshire. My wife, Pat, ran the small quiet bar in the Rum after a short stint on reception. Mal Ford played gentle keyboards in there. He now runs major entertainment agencies in Blackpool and USA. The drummer and the rhythm guitar both were Bobs. One from London one from Ross. We all started out as teachers. Mick Walker was doorman and compere, ex Redcaps bass player. A great joker. He is still doing the rounds as a comic. The Berrows were the fairest most open handed business people I ever met. Great people. The Everlies, Tom Jones, Chuck Berry, Bonzo Dogs, Peddlers, Tremeloes, Barron Knights, Lulu, Tammy St John all played there. We had the privelege of being their support band. What a bonus. See the Rum Runner Nightclub entry in Wikipedia for more info.

Ted
 
I can remember going to the Rum Runner to see Duran Duran when I was training - one of the girls in the set went out with one of the Taylors, but can't remember which one!!!
Had some great times there.
Sue
 
Don't remember what he drove. I only ever saw him inside the club. What a great personality.

He leapt onto the stage one night interrupting us in the middle of a number and grabbing the mike off the lead singer to announce the birth of my son, Mark. He knew before I did. He'd had a phone call to relay to me. He decided to do it his way. That's Mick, alright. Jeez, I miss those days.

Ted
 
Hello Sue.
Duran Duran were well after my time at the Rum. I had been left about 10/12 years when they happened. What a fantastic journey they had. Again all down to the Berrows. This time it was the next generation but still the same generous spirit.

Ted
 
Great times And sad times. Gina behind the bar. i saw her a few days before she died in a car crash on the way to Coventry. Her boyfriend was Brian on the door.
 
Great times And sad times. Gina behind the bar. i saw her a few days before she died in a car crash on the way to Coventry. Her boyfriend was Brian on the door.

Absent friends - God bless em all. There were some lovely looking girls behind that bar. All shapes and sizes but something attractive about each one. Bev Bevan's girl friend worked there for quite a while. She and my wife,Pat, were friends for a short while until we moved on and lost touch.

Ted
 
does anyone have a pic of the rum runner please...walked all the way home with a broken heel from there one night..or was it staggered:D:D that would have been around 1969/70

lyn
 
does anyone have a pic of the rum runner please...walked all the way home with a broken heel from there one night..or was it staggered:D:D that would have been around 1969/70

lyn

Hello Lyn.

Most of my pix were destroyed in a minor flood at my home some years ago.

Here is a sad nostalgic pic of the club being demolished but still recognizable.View attachment 67899

Ted

This is my first attempt at uploading an image on this forum. Bear with me if it takes a second attempt.
 
Great photo Ted even if a little sad shows the barrel seats well. My friend Rosalind Dyer worked behind the bar she was a very pretty blond girl. I would love to contact her again we had some great laughs.
 
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