My Herne Bay Memories

A Memory of Herne Bay.

I first got to know Herne Bay in the Second World War as my parents used to send me there from where we lived in Feltham to stay with my grandparents on my mum's side to give me a rest from the bombing. In later years both my parents moved there and Dad opened an electrical shop in the High Street where I lived over the shop with my partner and newly born son Kevin. I worked for my Dad during the day and at nights went out playing my music. I worked for a well known bandleader called Tommy Martin and played piano and did the odd song. We worked at many of the famous places all over Kent such as Dreamland in Margate, Folkestone, Canterbury, but above all we played on a Saturday at King George's Hall down on the Downs where every week they had a famous band play such Ted Heath, Joe Loss, Johnny Dankworth and many others and we were the relief band when they had their break. It was wonderful for me to see all those fantastic bands and also play and get paid for it. After a few years I had to leave the lovely Herne Bay to earn my living as a full time musician and became a Mecca Bandleader for many years. In the late 1980s I managed to have a week's holiday back there and loved it, maybe I should have retired there but it wasn't to be. But never mind, I have so many wonderful memories of my holidays as a child and then living there in the really very lovely Herne Bay. If anybody can remember the Tommy Martin Band or even myself I would love to hear from you.