Ron Drew's Theatre Page

Local Professional Theatres

• La Strada, South Shields

Memories of its Heyday

The Club

 In the early 60's Sandford Goudie had the foresight to see a coming demand for clubs outside London. The demise of Theatres and Music Halls, especially in towns like South Shields, had left a gap in live entertainment which was not being filled by the growing popularity of television. His experience on the stage with the South Shields Amateur Operatic Society stood him in good stead when he opened the first Night Club on the North of England – LA STRADA.

 The strong feature of the early days at LA STRADA was the family atmosphere. Not only was Sandford and his sister Helen involved in it but also his cousin, Bill Harcus .Other personalities were Brian Graham and Barny who, in the early days, looked after the door. They were all involved in making a smooth running team. But it didn't end with the people who were involved with the running of the club. The paying members of the club were a made to feel that it was THEIR CLUB - they were part of the family.

Early in the 60's my employment took me to GIBRALTAR for a few weeks . When Sandford heard of this he asked me  bring back  some artefacts to decorate the Spanish Room of the club. This I did, going to the souvenir shops in GIBRALTAR and across the border into SPAIN. On my return to SOUTH SHIELDS  I presented him  with Posters for Bull  Fights and Shields each with  miniature bull's head and miniature crossed swords on them - the usual souvenir kitsch that one collects abroad. 

When he saw them San expressed his appreciation for my bother in getting them but his face was a picture!  I knew then that they were not the decorations he wanted. It was not long before these items were replaced with a mounted real bull’s head and full size swords! How he expected me to bring these back in the plane never occurred to him. His aim was for the club to have the best. It had to look the best. It had to provide the best. It had to BE THE BEST! The customer's pleasure was paramount.        

 The Cabaret

 This ‘wanting the best’ extended to the community. The cabaret acts which were engaged in the 60's and  70's were also the best. When John Tyzack .of the local Hospital Broadcasting Group, which was then based in Trinity House, SOUTH SHIELDS, asked Sandford in 1967 if they could broadcast the cabaret acts at the club, live to the patients in the SOUTH SHIELDS HOSPITALS on a regular basis, there was no hesitation in granting the request.   

The team from Trinity House (Radio T.H), including the late Ken Skethaway, Derrick Foster, myself (Ron Drew) and others at the Studio, received  maximum assistance from all the employees at the club - not least from  the resident group of musicians at the club. 

On the 19^th October 1967 the Ken Maddison Trio with Brenda Marsh as vocalists spent a long time rehearsing and recording the Signature Tune, “NIGHT CLUB NIGHT OUT" which was to be played at the start of every weekly broadcast to the hospitals. 

The first broadcast was recorded at La Strada on the 2^nd November 1967 by Los Zafiros a very popular Spanish guitar group at the club in the early days. Alberto, Pepe and Ricardo returned many times and often during their engagements at the club they would visit the wards in the General Hospital to talk and play to the patients. 

The first live broadcast from the club, 7^th December 1967, - and the official inaugural of “Night Club, Night Out” – had Ronnie Hylton as the star of the cabaret with Will Fyffe jnr. (son of  the Music Hall comedian Will Fyffe) as his accompanist on the piano. He gave a welcome to the hospital patients listening to the programme, and spoke to them throughout his act. This came to be the practice of most of the acts when broadcasting on “NIGHT CLUB NIGHT OUT”. 

I had the pleasure of  introducing many fine acts from La Strada (and also later from the other Night Club in the town, The Latino). They included Vince Hill, Bobby Pattinson, Ruby Murray, Stan Stennet, Friday Brown and Bert Weedon. Another interesting act was Mike Mercado, billed as the Swinging Monk: I don’t suppose many readers will know of him today, but at the time he was a novelty act. Kenny Ball was also popular with the patients. Popular comedians also broadcast to the hospitals from the clubs in the town. Syd and Eddie proved a hit and these two later became known as Little and Large. Other popular attractions were Al Read and Roy Castle. 

Often the co-operation of the artists needed more than just giving permission for the act to be relayed to the patients. One such occasion was that of Bob Monkhouse – he advised me that some of the material in his act may not have been suitable for his listeners in hospital. So he recorded a special act only for them. At his request I was to take a tape recorder down to the Club one morning and there we recorded a type of “Bob's Desert Island Discs” with his choice of records interspersed with stories from his life and suitably sanitized jokes! 

They were intimate clubs and the acts were part of the family party atmosphere.

 My family at the club

Ron's Membership Card '64-'67

On one occasion my Aunt Sally and her husband came to stay for a few days with my wife, Evelyn, and me for a short holiday and I would show them the sights and haunts of the town. Now Sam Harrison, Sally’s husband, had worked on a big estate in Yorkshire all his life and had rarely been outside the village, let alone visits to such dens of iniquity as Night Clubs! 

So Evelyn and I would take them to La Strada one evening. Sam was just like a schoolboy seeing things for the first time. He was wide-eyed at the glamour and suspicious of the dim lighting. “What’s this place called?” he asked. 

“La Strada” was the reply. 

“Ay lad, wi’s just get in - why’st time for LAST ORDER?” 

Ever since then Evelyn and I have known it as “THE LAST ORDER CLUB!  

To my generation, the old days of LA STRADA are not around today and are greatly missed.   

Copyright (c) 2000 Ron Drew
Last revised: April 18, 2004 .