Thanks to Keith Ladd
Saturday Night at the Black: Cardigan in the Swinging Sixties. 183pp. with over 100 illustrations, many of which you will not have seen before, by William H. Howells. Price £10. Printed by E. L. Jones, Aberteifi. ISBN 978 1 78280 7698
It’s a remarkable story! The background is the close connection between some of the town’s characters and those linked with the emerging Liverpool music scene at the time. People like the dramatist Alun Owen, who came to live in St Dogmael’s between 1963 and 1967; Allan Williams, the Beatles’ first manager; Bill Harry, founder and editor of the pioneering Mersey Beat newspaper; Bob Wooler, the Cavern’s famous DJ; and George Melly, who bought a summer house in Pen-y-bryn. This motley crew, with their partners, were warmly welcomed by Frank Aspinall, of the Black Lion, and with their help organised Liverpool bands to play in the Black.
The book contains a complete list of all the groups who played there between 1963 and 1973. At first they came from the Cavern – many via the Kaiserkeller and other Hamburg clubs. Do you remember the visit of Screaming Lord Sutch to Cardigan? What about Rory Storm and the Hurricanes; Ian and the Zodiacs; The Clayton Squares; Vince Earl and the Talismen; Freddie Starr and the Nightriders; Sony Webb and the Cascades; Derry Wilkie and the Pressmen; The Kirkbys; The Masterminds; The Chessmen and The Kinsleys and many more?
Later the groups came from South Wales: do you remember James Hogg, The Iveys; Haverson Apricot; Peter Shane and the Vikings – and let’s not forget local groups including Ricky and the Raiders and Strawberry Maize?
Every Saturday night over 200 teenagers flowed into the town from a wide area of Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire to dance, to listen to music and to enjoy.
But not everyone was happy with these developments. Parents warned their offsprings not to go near such a place, and the respectable town councillors were unhappy that the Black gave the town a bad image.
Cardigan has not seen anything like this before or since.
Read the truth about the connection of the Beatles with the local Eisteddfod!
Read about the close link between ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and St Dogmael’s.
You’ll be surprised to read the candid memories of those who were a part of the scene.
Available in bookshops NOW £10.
He also climbed the ranks within the Baptists and achieved presidency of the Baptist Union of Wales in 1905. He was a staunch Liberal and when he died in 1929 the officials of Bethania received a telegram from the former Prime Minister David Lloyd George:
‘Deeply regret to hear of the death of my old friend, Rev. John Williams … It will be a real loss not only to Cardiganshire but to Liberalism throughout Wales.’
Revd John Williams was probably one of the most influential person in Cardigan during the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 2oth century.
Cardigan through the ages 