Ryde Castle Hotel

Rocking at the Ryde Castle Hotel

Life was very different in the days before rock'n'roll. Teddy Hoar, owner of the Ryde Castle, would drive his Cadillac along the front and his hotel had all the trappings of an outpost of the British Empire. Wooden soldiers guarded the battlements with a grand view of Spithead, that few miles of water dividing the Isle of Wight from the mainland.

The essence of those times is recalled by Vic Scovell who played in a skiffle band called the Sapphires:

"We earnt money by playing three gigs a night. Bernard had a Vauxhall Wyvern that everything had to go in, all the kit, all the gear. On Saturday nights we'd begin by doing twenty minutes at the Ryde Castle for Teddy Hoar. We didn't start until after they had their dinner and the flags had been lowered outside when Derek Denness and Tich Cogger dressed as guardsmen and played The Last Post. We would play the interval spot. Blue-rinsed, short, North Country ladies would come up and ask 'Do you know Last Train to Fernando?' We used to do five or six numbers in twenty minutes. - Vic Scovell, vocals and washboard, the Sapphires

Vic Scovell can be seen beating Ringo Starr in the jiving competition of That'll Be The Day which was filmed on the Island.

The Shamrocks

The Ryde Castle was rocking throughout the summer of 1963 at the height of the beat band boom forged out of Liverpool/Hamburg music of the Beatles. Local band the Shamrocks were playing every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday night at the Ryde Castle with admission set at 2 shillings and sixpence midweek and at 3 shillings at the weekend.

Linda Clarke and Dave Eaglen, The Shamrocks at the Ryde Castle Hotel

The strength of the shows was the variety of having two different singers doing spots, Johnny Vincent and Lynda Clarke from London plus the Shamrocks playing instrumentals. The Shamrocks wore red corduroy jackets, black dicky bow ties, black trousers and white shirts. Johnny Vincent wore a velvet-collared jacket and was particularly popular and helped boost the crowds.

"Lynda came down with her parents to hear us and saw us play at Shanklin Pier. We were chatting in the Redcliff Bars afterwards. We were doing a lot of mainland gigs at the time, loading the gear onto the old paddle steamers." - Dave Eaglen, Shamrocks guitarist

The Shamrocks and Jet Harris

After the Rolling Stones visit the Shamrocks turned professional and played out their last engagements at the Ryde Castle.

The Shamrocks won a talent contest at Southsea judged by former Shadow Jet Harris and his girlfriend jazz singer Davis. some weeks later Davis played an engagement at the Ryde Castle.

"Then one night Jet Harris turned up at the Hotel Ryde Castle while we were setting up before the punters came in. He said he would like to do a short set during the evening, he said could he have a rehearsal. So we had a quick rehearsal with him doing his guitar instrumentals he used to do at that time. You may remember Diamonds and the Man With The Golden Arm, stuff like that. He was a pretty ham fisted guitarist to tell you the truth.
We ran through the tunes with him. He was going to do his set sometime around ten or eleven. The punters came in, we started playing. Jet was at the bar, for the rest of the evening in fact. It came time to do his set, the place was really full and Jet was so pissed he couldn't play and he called it off. - Gary Cowtan, Shamrock's vocalist

In 1965 the Shamrocks undertook a tour of Germany and recorded their first and only album. The band completed several successful tours of Germany. Vocalist Gary Cowtan still runs a studio in Berlin.

The Cherokees

The Cherokees remained on their home turf. In 1965 they took over Philip Norman's Seagull Ballroom on the end of Ryde Pier organising and playing their own dances. The Cherokees 69 Club became a legend on the Isle of Wight particularly as the group brought some of the great names of rock to the Island in the latter half of the sixties.

The Meddicks were the catalyst to the first rush of mainland bands visiting the Island. Clive Meddick had started his Disco Blue in 1966. Then the Cherokees 69 Club found itself without its winter venue the Royal York Hotel in Ryde for the winter of 1967. Clive's father Les had begun the rival Saturday Club. In response the Cherokees used the Ryde Castle to stage a series of 69 Club gigs.

The Saturday Club faltered when the Who failed to appear for a gig over Christmas in 1967. The Cherokees moved back into the Royal York for what has been called the golden era of the 69 Club. When the vanguard of British beat bands came to the Island to be paid by the support band.

Cherokees and the 69 Club at Ryde Castle Hotel

Marmalade at the Ryde Castle Hotel © Wendy Clapcott

Fairport Convention

"Their drummer, Martin Lamble, complimented me on my drumming. After we had played I was covered in perspiration. He was talking to me and he packed up my entire drum kit for me. A nice chap. I didn't realise that he was doing it." - Ken Young, Cherokees drummer

Martin Lamble was killed in a car crash during May 1969. The Cherokees held a collection at the 69 Club and passed the money onto the Fairport's agency.

Brian Auger and the Trinity

"This was the only 69 Club gig that made a loss. There was three feet of snow throughout the Island. I got a phone call from Brian Auger who told me 'We're on the way'. The buses had stopped on the Island and seventy to eighty people had walked to the gig. I got another phone call to tell me that their's was the only van that had got up Portsdown Hill. Brian Auger had a specially made organ and the weight of it kept their vehicle going. We thought they may have got this far but 'they'll never get up the slipway from the car ferry,' but they made it. Then they were the only vehicle that got up Quarr Hill. I thought 'Shit', but often the smaller the audience the harder a band plays. They were super people. They were talking to the audience on personal terms, asking them things like 'How far have you come?' 'From Ashey?' 'Did you come through the snow?'." - Ken Young, Cherokees drummer

69 Club at the Ryde Castle

Band	Date
Spectrum, Cherokees	18/11/67
Warren Davis, Monday Band, Cherokees	25/11/67
John Peel, Fairport Convention, Cherokees	2/12/67
Brian Auger and the Trinity, Cherokees	9/12/67
Pandemonium, Cherokees	16/12/67
Skip Bifferty, Cherokees	30/12/67
Marmalade, Cherokees	30/12/67
Skip Bifferty, Cherokees	30/12/67

Skip Bifferty were hiding out on the Island from their manager Don Arden (see Starmakers and Svengalis by Johnny Rogan)

1960s Menu