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Post by The Historian on Feb 27, 2010 11:22:35 GMT 1
Anyone remember Monster Disco? I think their finest hours were in the 70s. Did they have an office or shop in the Avenue Road area?
The name Graham springs to mind, had a green van and I think he went to Hawes Down School.
Photos anyone?
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Post by martinh on Mar 13, 2010 18:40:31 GMT 1
Yes, it was Graham. I believe he had two vans, Commer J4's. They were green with a red dragon painted down each side. He worked as a millwright at Muirheads in the early seventies.
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Post by markcolwill on Dec 30, 2014 3:12:35 GMT 1
Remember him well. Reminded me now of the DJ Steve Walsh. Always had big gold chains and did our school discos at Balgowen school. The last I saw of him was in the early 90s when he did my borthers wedding - will try and track some photos from then.
Talking of DJs does anyone remember Roger who was resident caretaker/manage at the hall in Croydon road (was it Azalia House?) you had to have him as DJ if you booked the venue
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Post by kettle738 on Jan 11, 2016 13:52:54 GMT 1
Resurrecting an old thread........I think the guy who was Monster Disco in Beckenham back in the day was Graham Batchelor if I recall correctly.
My memories of those old van was that they were blue with the dragon painted on the side.......the reason I remember them well was he lived dead opposite our house in Eden Park Avenue at the time, so we saw a lot of them.
I wonder what he does now?
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Post by ianratcliffe on Jan 12, 2016 12:17:24 GMT 1
The Monster Disc Show was founded by Paul Duke and Rick Hawkins in the late 60s. Paul lives in France now, and Rick heads up one of the worlds largest pyrotechnic manufacturers. His company fired some of the pyros at the Olympics, and the Queens Jubilee. Graham came along a few years later initially as a roadie. Rick sold his share to Paul in around 1975. Paul left to live in Australia in 1977 and left Graham running what was left of it. I worked for Monster from 1972 until 1979. We were based at 121 Mackenzie Road for most of the time but 77 onwards we were in a shop on the corner of Avenue Road.
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Post by mousezinn1 on Jun 7, 2020 21:46:56 GMT 1
I remember the vans being painted with the big dragon heads, i loved them. I was only 13/14 or so and lived in Mackenzie road as well. At first they did one van, then another. I just thought they looked great and always wanted to go to a show. I always saw the same guy painting them, all hand drawn...
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Post by gazzerp on Nov 25, 2020 22:12:00 GMT 1
The Monster Disc Show was founded by Paul Duke and Rick Hawkins in the late 60s. Paul lives in France now, and Rick heads up one of the worlds largest pyrotechnic manufacturers. His company fired some of the pyros at the Olympics, and the Queens Jubilee. Graham came along a few years later initially as a roadie. Rick sold his share to Paul in around 1975. Paul left to live in Australia in 1977 and left Graham running what was left of it. I worked for Monster from 1972 until 1979. We were based at 121 Mackenzie Road for most of the time but 77 onwards we were in a shop on the corner of Avenue Road. Mr. Ratcliffe... how the hell are you! Mr. Gary Pritchett here... I'm trying to remember when I bought my own gear and left Monster... with your memory serving you better than mine (I couldn't have remembered Paul's last name) perhaps you'll recall when I abandoned the blue vans? It would've been well before '77 as I have no recollection of any place other than Mackenzie Road. And I have few memories of that, either: most of the time it was a sprint to get there late afternoon, jump in the van and go off to the gig. Last thing we needed to do upon return was linger: go inside, turn in van keys, hand over the takings and pocket our cut! I do remember one night where a girl (may have been Paul or Rick's girlfriend) was the worse for wear and we were eating scrambled eggs off her stomach?
I stumbled on this thread after I struggled to get to sleep the other night.. for some reason I started thinking about my old DJ-ing days and my mind turned to the club at the train station... except, I couldn't be sure of the name so, I Googled, and that's what led me here. Graham - although we always knew him as "Big G" - and, his roadie -Rockie- and you and I... was there anyone else? You stay in touch with Chris Maynard? I was home in 2019 and saw two of my old crowd -Adrian and Nick- and I think they said it had been quite a long time since they'd heard anything of him. Last time I saw him was when I was home for my Dad's funeral, in 2012... The last I heard of Paul was that he'd returned to Australia... I could be wrong, or had that confused with France?
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Post by ianratcliffe on Nov 26, 2020 10:02:16 GMT 1
The Monster Disc Show was founded by Paul Duke and Rick Hawkins in the late 60s. Paul lives in France now, and Rick heads up one of the worlds largest pyrotechnic manufacturers. His company fired some of the pyros at the Olympics, and the Queens Jubilee. Graham came along a few years later initially as a roadie. Rick sold his share to Paul in around 1975. Paul left to live in Australia in 1977 and left Graham running what was left of it. I worked for Monster from 1972 until 1979. We were based at 121 Mackenzie Road for most of the time but 77 onwards we were in a shop on the corner of Avenue Road. Mr. Ratcliffe... how the hell are you! Mr. Gary Pritchett here... I'm trying to remember when I bought my own gear and left Monster... with your memory serving you better than mine (I couldn't have remembered Paul's last name) perhaps you'll recall when I abandoned the blue vans? It would've been well before '77 as I have no recollection of any place other than Mackenzie Road. And I have few memories of that, either: most of the time it was a sprint to get there late afternoon, jump in the van and go off to the gig. Last thing we needed to do upon return was linger: go inside, turn in van keys, hand over the takings and pocket our cut! I do remember one night where a girl (may have been Paul or Rick's girlfriend) was the worse for wear and we were eating scrambled eggs off her stomach?
I stumbled on this thread after I struggled to get to sleep the other night.. for some reason I started thinking about my old DJ-ing days and my mind turned to the club at the train station... except, I couldn't be sure of the name so, I Googled, and that's what led me here. Graham - although we always knew him as "Big G" - and, his roadie -Rockie- and you and I... was there anyone else? You stay in touch with Chris Maynard? I was home in 2019 and saw two of my old crowd -Adrian and Nick- and I think they said it had been quite a long time since they'd heard anything of him. Last time I saw him was when I was home for my Dad's funeral, in 2012... The last I heard of Paul was that he'd returned to Australia... I could be wrong, or had that confused with France?
Good morning Mr P! As far as I can recall you were one of the DJ's at Paul and Sandy's leaving party in Streatham in 1977. Chris Luby, the impressionist, did a turn. Sadly he passed away a couple of yeas ago. He was in Australia for 10 years and came back to the UK in 1987 to start a new life in Salisbury. He'd only been back 3 weeks when I bumped into him by complete chance. Chris is retired and lives in Essex, we went to his 60th a few years ago, a James Bond themed evening. I'm still in touch with Lynn, She's still married to Peter and lives in Teignmouth, South Devon. Karen is still a client of mine and lives in Penzance. Paul ran a B&B in Brittany from 1994 until he sold up around 10 years ago but he still lives a few miles away from it and we stayed there only last year. He's in his early 80s now but has bought a the freehold of a small shop in the village where he lives and runs a model railway shop and a collectors club on the first and second floors. If you join Facebook and add me to your friends list I'll tag you in dozens of photos of interest. Hope you're keeping well and we'll see you next time you're over! Toodle pip, Ian Ian |
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Post by gazzerp on Nov 26, 2020 15:13:31 GMT 1
Mr. Ratcliffe... how the hell are you! Mr. Gary Pritchett here... I'm trying to remember when I bought my own gear and left Monster... with your memory serving you better than mine (I couldn't have remembered Paul's last name) perhaps you'll recall when I abandoned the blue vans? It would've been well before '77 as I have no recollection of any place other than Mackenzie Road. And I have few memories of that, either: most of the time it was a sprint to get there late afternoon, jump in the van and go off to the gig. Last thing we needed to do upon return was linger: go inside, turn in van keys, hand over the takings and pocket our cut! I do remember one night where a girl (may have been Paul or Rick's girlfriend) was the worse for wear and we were eating scrambled eggs off her stomach?
I stumbled on this thread after I struggled to get to sleep the other night.. for some reason I started thinking about my old DJ-ing days and my mind turned to the club at the train station... except, I couldn't be sure of the name so, I Googled, and that's what led me here. Graham - although we always knew him as "Big G" - and, his roadie -Rockie- and you and I... was there anyone else? You stay in touch with Chris Maynard? I was home in 2019 and saw two of my old crowd -Adrian and Nick- and I think they said it had been quite a long time since they'd heard anything of him. Last time I saw him was when I was home for my Dad's funeral, in 2012... The last I heard of Paul was that he'd returned to Australia... I could be wrong, or had that confused with France?
Good morning Mr P! As far as I can recall you were one of the DJ's at Paul and Sandy's leaving party in Streatham in 1977. Chris Luby, the impressionist, did a turn. Sadly he passed away a couple of yeas ago. He was in Australia for 10 years and came back to the UK in 1987 to start a new life in Salisbury. He'd only been back 3 weeks when I bumped into him by complete chance. Chris is retired and lives in Essex, we went to his 60th a few years ago, a James Bond themed evening. I'm still in touch with Lynn, She's still married to Peter and lives in Teignmouth, South Devon. Karen is still a client of mine and lives in Penzance. Paul ran a B&B in Brittany from 1994 until he sold up around 10 years ago but he still lives a few miles away from it and we stayed there only last year. He's in his early 80s now but has bought a the freehold of a small shop in the village where he lives and runs a model railway shop and a collectors club on the first and second floors. If you join Facebook and add me to your friends list I'll tag you in dozens of photos of interest. Hope you're keeping well and we'll see you next time you're over! Toodle pip, Ian Ian I couldn't figure out which FB profile is yours. Friend me, instead: I'm the one with a picture of a handsome sod, with a shiny head... gary.pritchett.370 |
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