Half a century ago it was teenage girls who proclaimed their undying love for them. Hailing from the Emerald Isle, their soft Irish brogue seducing women by the dozen, John Stokes, Con Cluskey and Dec Cluskey were a formidable triumvirate who had the female world at their feet. They were the original Irish boy band and they called themselves The Bachelors. For four glorious years they lit up the music charts with a string of hits which included ‘I Believe’, ‘Charmaine’, ‘The Stars Will Remember’, ‘Ramona’ and ‘Diane’. It was the early 60s, the same time that The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were ruling the charts, but The Bachelors, in their own gentle, harmonious way held their own. Their singles raced into and up the charts, their concert tours sold out and television couldn’t get enough of them as a counterbalance to the more aggressive sounds of rock ‘n’ roll. Throughout the 70s they continued to tour to massive houses, but then in the mid 80s a rift split the band – the brothers Cluskey and John Stokes became, overnight, antagonists. Ireland’s most successful pop export, The Bachelors, ceased to exist. Fast forward another quarter of a century and…
Comment on School of Transport Honoured by Freedom of Entry Award by Marion Furlong
I was a young WRAF airwoman stationed at the former RAF Leconfield in the late 1960s. I remember going on pub crawls, the cider was really strong, one was called Nelly's own. My friend Kathy and I, used to hitchhike to the seaside, and I went on the back of her motorcycle to visit her parents. I met my ex husband at Lecondfield. I'm now a widow living Florida. I just found out the camp closed in 1977 and is now school of transport. So many changes, I probably wouldn't remember the place. At least three RAF camps my husband was stationed at in Scotland have closed down. It makes me a little sad. My dad was in the RAF too, I expect most of the places he went to are now closed.
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