4 January 1963
Concert:
Town Hall, High Street, Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland
"This was the evening, famous in local circles, on which the Beatles appeared at the Town Hall Dingwall, supported by the Drumbeats. Much reference has been made to the fact that the dance was poorly attended with an estimate of anywhere between 8 and about 30 people attending. Lore has it that the Beatles packed up early and went off to the Pavilion. Margaret Paterson who attended the dance says that there was a total of 19 people altogether and that the dance finished at about 11 o'clock. The Melotones were indeed playing that night at the Pavilion. However The Chessmen were top of the bill with the Melotones playing support. The Chessmen were probably the Irish Showband from Dublin, popular at the time, though this is yet to be confirmed. The Melotones enjoyed a loyal following in the local area and were known as a skiffle-type band in those days. They were a very vocal band with up to five vocalists singing and harmonising. After the death of Jimmy in a car crash Eck left the band and the line up that night was Jimmy Stewart (Fiddle and alto sax), Johnny Fisher (Tenor sax), Bert Mackay (Guitar), Willie Wilson (Bass) and Dodo Ross (Drums). The Dingwall dance did not advertise a finish time but traditionally ran till around 1 a.m. On that evening Bob Hunter, who had played for the Melotones but now, along with Jackie Cameron, was resident with the orchestra in the Caledonian Hotel, Inverness, called into the Town Hall on his way home. He had left Inverness around midnight and by the time he got to the Town Hall at around 12.30 the hall was all but deserted. He spoke to Dot Macdonald, the caretaker, who said that the Beetles were a good band. Incidentally, Dot used to sell small bottles of lemonade to dancers at the Town Hall. When the place got too hot the bands would ask Dot to open the windows. "Not till all the lemonade is gone!" would be his reply.
These are the names of some of those who attended the Town Hall, Dingwall on the 4th January 1963.
Robert A Beeton (Formerly Fort William, now of Kingston, Ontario). "I lived in Fort William in the 50's until summer of 1963 when I moved to Grantham Lincolnshire. I have lived in various parts of Canada and the US since 1974 and currently live in Kingston, Ontario. I was just completing my O-Levels in '63 and hitched a ride with an older friend who was in a band and had also played in Dingwall. Embarrassingly I have racked my brain and cannot yet recall the name of either the band or the individual. Old age can be a little frustrating but I am sure it will come to me sooner or later and you'll be the second to know. I had a typical teenage band "career"
of sorts my self in and around Grantham and the Midlands and play guitar to this day, albeit more personal therapy than music. I will let you know if I come up with the names".
Ian Gilbert
Cairine Macdonald (née Fraser) was at the dance as a young girl. She was with a few friends but does not remember any names.
Pat Macleod "When I went into the dance at about ten o'clock there were only about eight people in what is a big hall. I asked and there hadn't been many more
in all night, so after a short time I went on the bus to another dance in Strathpeffer. I didn't like them on stage, but funnily enough the next day I went out and bought one of their records after I heard it being played on the radio".
Dan Mackenzie (Drumbeats) "Only twenty two people out of the whole population of Ross Shire turned up to see and hear The Beatles. While we were having a
break at the back of the hall the man that booked them turned round and said "What do you think of that shower there?". "I said they're very loud and they're
very young - they're keen". "Keen, he says. They're a shower of rubbish! I'll never book them again as long as I live!"
Ian MacKenzie (Now living in New Zealand) "Many a good night was spent at the dances in the Pavilion in the early 60s. I was at the Beatles dance in Dingwall
which closed down early because very few people turned up. I was at the Beatles in Dingwall along with my sister Sheena and like most other people ended up at
the Strath. We had somebody else with us but can not remember who. Can't remember what the weather was like, but it could not have been to bad as I had the
family car that night. Did not get the car very often as there was always the free buses running from Resolis where I lived at the time. Spent many a grand night
at the Strath. I was very pleased to see the way the Pavilion has been restored to it's former self. My wife Linda was not there as I did not meet her till 1966
after I came to New Zealand in 1964".
Fraser Murray
Margaret Paterson remembers "The Beatles asked me if I'd like them to sign a poster for me. I said yes but I don't know what happened to it. I'm not sure if I
even took it home. The dance packed up early and they thought that Dingwall was just a wee town with no life about it. So I said to go up to the Strath. Two of
them, I don't remember which ones, came up on the bus with me and the other 2 drove in their van".
Peter Simonelli was one of the youngest and remembers "There were about thirty people there and I was just a kid at the back, but I thought they were good".
Unnamed Lady (originally from near Bonar Bridge) This audio excerpt is taken from the 2002 BBC series "Fifty Years Fifty Lives". Click here
to visit the site
where you will hear an account given by the lady who tells her story of the night she was at the Beatles concert in Dingwall. I am sure her account is sincere but
I leave it to you to judge from the title; "The unlikely story of going to see The Beatles in Dingwall".
Ann Gunn worked at the National Hotel, where the Beatles stayed, and served them their breakfast the next day.
The Commercial Bar is reputed to have been visited by the Beatles before the dance to have a few beers. The same source told me that they signed their autographs on a wall in the bar. Nowadays the walls are covered with wooden panelling. What may lie beneath would be a significant contribution to early Beatles history and
a rare chance to acquire a valuable piece of pop memorabilia.
Rocky Marshall, formerly of the Fingal McCool band, wrote the following about the Beatles at the Pavilion.
"Strange to read of so much interest in the Beatles gigs in the North. I don't know how much help I can be except to tell you of our meeting. We (Fingal McCool)
were not playing at the Strath - the FMC band was not formed until later - however we were in the habit of forming new bands every other week. (I can't remember
our band's name at the time). When we met the Beatles band (I think they were called the Silver Beatles), we were en route to the Strath because all the dances
in the area including Dingwall had failed. On arrival at the Strath we (and some of the musicians from the other bands) headed back stage to look and talk to the
band that was playing (the Melotones)...late on the band from the Dingwall gig arrived ...very scruffy and all of them speaking a foreign language.....turns out that it was a strong Liverpool accent...We however spoke in God's tongue of the North which these people did not understand (the English education system I suspect). After much gesticulation and talking in very loud voices (as one does to foreigners), it turned out that they were looking for Joe the caretaker from the Dingwall Town Hall, either to get paid or get gear out of the hall.......someone pointed out "Joe" and the Beatles shuffled away to their destiny and great fortune and we are
still here.
It may be of some interest that some years later I was writing a column for the Caithness Courier ("Records at Random" by Bob May) and reviewed the first
Beatles releases, as I recall said that I preferred the John Lee Hooker releases that came out at the same time and I am still of the same opinion today.""
Source: http://www.oocities.com/the_strath/1963.htm
"I just returned to Canada from a Melotones Band Reunion in Dingwall and of course recall the famous Beatles Night. I replaced Bob Hunter as Melotones guitarist when Bob went to play for Harry Shore at the Caley Ballroom in Inverness. We played the Strath many times but also played from Glasgow to Thurso two to three times a week. I recall the Beatles night only faintly as we were backing up another group that night but on the way to the Strath we saw the "Fab Four" waiting for their gear on the Town Hall steps in Dingwall. Later on the Strath had almost 1000 dancers while the Beatles gig failed and closed early. They then came to the Strath and several friends saw them. I did not. "
Source: http://www.strathpefferpavilion.org/guestbook.asp
"The Beatles were in direct competition to the weekly dance in the Pavilion in Strathpeffer. There was only going to be one winner - and it wasn't the Fab Four!
"The few that were there, including my crowd, all shared a taxi and headed to the Strath," said Doreen Douglas.
Billy Shanks, then 17, recalled: "The funny thing is that when I went in, the doorman said, 'Before you pay, go up and have a listen'.
"They played Love Me Do when I looked in the door and I thought, 'No, no, it's not my type of music' and went to the local village hall five miles away to hear The Melotones."
Margaret Paterson was 17 and going on her first date with her late husband Tommy.
"I thought he had stood me up," she said. "It was almost over when Tommy's friend remembered to tell me to go to the Strathpeffer gig and Tommy would meet me there.
"I sat on the stage all night chatting to The Beatles and Paul in particular, who told me not to be upset as there were more fish in the sea than ever came out of it.""
Source: Sunday Post, 25 October 2016
"A search is on for "The Dingwall 19" a select group of devoted music fans who turned out 48 years ago to hear a then-little-known quartet from Liverpool.
The young mop-headed group turned out to be The Beatles, on their first ever mini-tour of Scotland as a four-piece.
The soon-to-be Fab Four of John, Paul, George and Ringo went on to become the biggest bands in the world ever. But their humble beginnings only attracted a "crowd" of 19 to a gig at Dingwall Town Hall in Ross-shire.
At the time, on the night of January 4, 1963, the "meagre and muted" audience did not know what The Beatles would actually become.
Just a few miles along the road, at the Spa Pavillion at Strathpeffer, a massive crowd of 1,200 had crammed in to hear local heroes, The Melotones.
Dingwall Business Association is now trying to use that momentous evening to raise the profile of the town as a shopping and visitor centre.
They are erecting a plaque on the town hall wall to commemorate The Beatles' visit, just ten days before their first number one hit Please Please Me was released.
They want to get as many of the 19 crowd as possible together for the unveiling of the tribute. Association member Billy Shanks, 65, said: "I actually looked in at the town hall and decided I would rather hear the Melotones.
"Unfortunately for The Beatles, most of the town did the same. The association would love to get as many of the 19 from the town hall back in Dingwall for the plaque unveiling and special Beatles night.
"But some are apparently as far away as New Zealand, Canada and the US and some will no longer be with us."
Mr Shanks is keen to discover whether local rumour is true that The Beatles actually stopped playing their Dingwall gig early then drove to Strathpeffer to listen to the Melodrones, comprising of local lads brother Eck, Jimmy and Willie Wilson and Dodo Ross.
The 1963 tour took in Dingwall, Bridge of Allan near Stirling, Aberdeen's Beach Ballroom, Keith and Nairn.
Mr Shanks added: "If you were at the event in 1963, please get in touch with the organisers and you will be treated as a special non-paying guest on the night.
"The first 20 paying customers will also receive their first drink at the bar at 1963 prices."
The plaque unveiling takes place at Dingwall Town Hall on April 8, with a tribute band called The Upbeat Beatles."
Source: STV, 16 March 2011
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