Mersey Beat - Litherland Town Hall

Now Litherland Town Hall Health Centre

 

Litherland Town Hall was not far away from Lathom Hall in Seaforth, which was considered a rough area of Liverpool in those days. It had a sprung dance floor and an elevated stage and could accommodate 1500 people. The 27th of December 1960 became a historic moment in the timeline of 'The Beatles' but Brian Kelly had been reluctant to book them when requested by Bob Wooler as they had let him down when they'd preferred to go on tour with Johnny Gentle the previous May. However, he agreed to pay the group £6 for the show and 'The Beatles' reputation in Liverpool was made overnight here. As they were a late booking there was limited advertising for their appearance so 'Beekay' amended an existing poster with the words "Direct From Hamburg, The Beatles!"

'The Beatles' were mostly unknown in north Liverpool at the time, and most of the regulars had presumed they were a German group. Chas Newby, who had played with Pete Best with 'The Blackjacks' at The Casbah, was standing in as temporary bass player as Stuart Sutcliffe had remained in Hamburg but he only did 4 gigs as he wanted to return to school to get his chemical engineering degree. The Hall was accustomed to the audience dancing to the groups but on this occasion when 'The Beatles' played, the crowd surged forward towards the stage to be near them and girls could be heard 'screaming' in excitement. Bob Wooler had instructed the lads that when he introduced them Paul should go straight into 'Long Tall Sally' which he did and the crowd were electrified from that first moment.

The queue outside on a Thursday night

After this first appearance at Litherland Town Hall they commanded a dedicated local following, with a number of fans attending every performance. From here the group never looked back and performed at Litherland Town Hall at least 20 times in all.

It was here also on the 19th of October 1961 that 'Gerry and The Pacemakers' appeared on stage together for fun with 'The Beatles' and Karl Terry as 'The Beatmakers' which showed the camaradarie between the two bands. George Harrison played lead guitar, Paul McCartney was on rhythm guitar, Pete Best and Freddy Marsden both played Pete's drum kit, Les Maguire was on saxophone, Les Chadwick played bass guitar, John Lennon played piano, and Gerry Marsden was on lead guitar and vocals with Karl Terry also joining in on vocals.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2018/01/mersey-beat-empire-theatre.html