Malcolm Wheatman, 83, recalls Sunday excursions in the 1940s

JUST after the war, on Sunday evenings a popular jaunt was to visit Morecambe by train. This excursion cost a princely five shillings.

The train terminus was opposite the wartime RAF Hospital, now the Midland Hotel, built by the Midland Railway in 1922.

The Winter Gardens, still in its heyday, usually held concerts on Sunday evenings.

These consisted of famous entertainers on tour with acts only previously seen in London’s West End. Big name bands were popular at the time.

The word ‘band’ in those days meant ‘orchestra’. Ted Heath (ex-Geraldo trombonist) had about 22 musicians and to hear them play as one was an experience.

Dicky Valentine, Dennis Lotis and Lita Rosa were his vocalists.

One solo performer who did not need amplification was American comedian Jerry Colonna.

He had been a trombone player in an American big band and, probably because of his googly-eyes and being a naturally funny man, became a popular variety solo comic turn.

His famous hit record was ‘Ebb Tide’.

On the cinema screen he had a part in ‘The Road to Singapore’ with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, the first of the very popular ‘Road’ films.

At around that time, on a patch of waste ground behind the Winter Gardens, were kept some retired Victorian fairground rides, now beyond being dismantled and re-assembled at another location (probably on safety grounds).

It was a trip back in time seeing those giant roundabouts with their panels of fading pseudo-classical paintings of Victorian people and views among the ornate scroll-work.