audition at the Lowlands Club, Hayman's Green, in the West Derby area of Liverpool. This venue was situated close by the Casbah Coffee Club which opened more than a year later. Paul McCartney has recalled that one of John " D u f f ' Lowe's few engagements as a member of the Quarry Men, indeed perhaps his only one, took place at the Stevedors' and Dockers' Union Club premises in Window Lane, Garston, known locally as the Blue Union Club. The exact date of this mid1958 appearance cannot be traced. Harry Harrison, George's father, was a bus driver and chairman of several social committees, and booked the Quarry Men whenever an opportunity arose. In addition to the party listed in the diary for I January 1959 the group also played at busmen's social clubs in Picton Road, Wavertree; and Finch Lane, near Huyton. The Quarry Men played at the Prescot Cables club in Hope Street, Prescot, Lancashire, sometime early in 1959. It was after this engagement that drummer Colin Hanton quit the group. Other known miscellaneous Quarry Men engagements: several family celebrations; one tenminute interval appearance in the club house at Lee Park Golf Course, off Childwall Valley Road; Childwall Labour Club; Gateacre Labour Club; various local working men's clubs; St Anne's Club in Litherland; the youth club of St Luke's Church, Stanley Road, Bootle; and birthday parties in Ford ( north Liverpool) and Smithdown Lane, Edge Hill. 1960 The only semi-regular performances of the Quarry Men/Beatals in Spring 1960, probably in early May, were the Friday afternoon Students' Union dances in the school hall of the Liverpool College of Art, Hope Street, during John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe's final year of education there. Any record of the dates has long since vanished. As the group were without sufficient amplifiers (they numbered a new guitarist, of course) the union was prevailed upon to provide one, on the proviso that it never left the building; it did – the Beatles used the amp, albeit irregularly, until 1962. The Beatals played during an interval break one Sunday afternoon in early-1960 at the original Cassanova Club, situated above the Temple Restaurant in Temple Street, central Liverpool. The venue was opened on 10 January 1960 by Cass and the Cassanovas, frustrated at the lack of opportunities to play in the city, and it operated on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons. In addition to their occasional Monday night appearances at the Jacaranda Coffee Bar between the end of May and mid-August 1960, the Silver Beatles may well have fulfilled other unannounced and unadvertised dates there during this period as owner Allan Williams saw fit, especially with the permanent absence from late-June of his resident group, the Royal Caribbean Steel Band. On one occasion, probably in late-June, the Silver Beatles backed Royston Ellis. the teenage "beat poet", while he recited some of his work, allegedly shocking the not yet worldly-wise group with his overtly homosexual prose. For one week in early July 1960 the Silver Beatles fulfilled their infamous strip club booking at the New Cabaret Artistes, I 74a Upper Parliament Street. The exact dates are not known. On very rare occasions (probably just once or twice in mid-1960) the Silver Beatles played for an afternoon in the cellar of a shebeen run by Allan Williams' business partner, Lord Woodbine: the New Colony Club, situated in a semi-derelict house at 80 Berkley Street, in the heart of Liverpool's vice area. The precise dates for the Beatles' few, sporadic and unannounced 1960 appearances at the Top
Ten Club in Hamburg are now lost for ever, if they were ever noted down at all. In addition to impromptu jamming with Tony Sheridan and his group, the Jets, the Beatles also performed there alone on one or two occasions towards the conclusion of their initial stay in Hamburg, at the end of November 1960.
Although they attempted to secure early-1958 bookings at the Attic Skiffle Club in Islington. central Liverpool, the Quarry Men never appeared there. The Quarry Men only once performed at St Peter's Parish Church Fête, Woolton: on 6 July 1957. Entertainment at the 1958 event, held on 5 July, was supplied solely by the Band of the Cheshire Yeomanry.
1961 In the three months prior to April 1961, between the group's first and second trips to Hamburg, the Beatles found time in their increasingly busy schedule to play two small venues in Southport, Lancashire, 20 miles up the coast from Liverpool. One was the ATC Club, Birkdale, where they reportedly received the grand sum of £11 0s (£I.50) between them; the second was at the Labour Club, Devonshire Road, High Park. Neither was advertised and dates cannot be found. The Beatles are understood to have played in at least two Liverpool labour clubs in 1961, although no record of such engagements has survived and nor were the bookings advertised. Another early1961 appearance – no date known – is said to have taken place at Halewood Village Hall. After a lunchtime session in the Cavern Club the Beatles occasionally moved on to an afternoon drinking establishment, the Starline Club in Windsor Street, for extra rehearsals, and refreshment. Apparently they also fulfilled one or two evening performances there too, but these were unadvertised and not noted down. The author has been unable to confirm rumour of a late-1961 appearance by the Beatles at a Sunday afternoon dance in the hall at Allerton Synagogue in Booker Avenue, West Allerton. Several people recall the Beatles playing a Sunday night engagement at the C1 (Catholic Institute), St Edward's College, Sandfield Park, near the West Derby area of Liverpool. The engagement was not advertised and all C1 records have since been destroyed. The engagement is likely to have been between October and December 1961, however. What is known is that the Beatles played badly and were not re-booked. One Sunday evening towards the end of the year the Beatles played at the Glenpark Club in Lord Street, Southport. British disc-jockey and TV personality Jimmy Savile recalls the Beatles playing on two occasions at the Three Coins Club in Fountain Street, Manchester, Lancashire. Only one of these, the second date, was advertised, but as the first was for a fee of just £5 this would seem to place it in the preEpstein period. Since the Three Coins did not open for business until 14 October 1961, and they only engaged live groups on a Sunday, this perhaps further narrows the date down to 5 November. Another possible Manchester booking for which no date is traceable took place at the Embassy Club, situated in Rochdale Road. British comedian Bernard Manning, whose family have operated this and other Manchester club venues since the late I950s, has stated that the Beatles once performed there for a 614 fee, which would seem to date it in the pre-Epstein 1961 period.
1960 The Silver Beetles' first official, advertised engagement was at Lathom Hall in Seaforth on Saturday 21 May 1960. The group did not show, however, being 367 miles away, in Inverness, at the time. A 6 August 1960 booking for the Silver Beatles at the Grosvenor Ballroom in Liscard, Wallasey, was cancelled owing to complaints from nearby residents about the clientele's noise and hooliganism.
ENGAGEMENTS N O T PLAYED This section lists live performance bookings for the Beatles (in their various forms) which the group did not or could not fulfil, and alleged appearances which, contrary to rumour, did not take place. 1958 The Quarry Men were advertised to appear at Wilson Hall in Garston on Thursday 9 January 1958 but promoter Charlie McBain switched them to a dance the following night at New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green.
1961 An 18 February 1961 booking for the Beatles at the Cassanova Club, central Liverpool, was rescheduled for the 28th, and their place was taken by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The Beatles' 29 July 1961 appearance at Blair Hall in Walton was originally scheduled for Holyoake Hall in Wavertree. A night-time booking at the Cavern Club on 5 September 1961 was cancelled. Although dance promoter Lewis Buckley wrote to the Beatles in late-1961 and offered them engagements in Crewe and/or Northwich. Cheshire, it is certain that the group were unable to accommodate him. Buckley also approached other Liverpool groups like Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and had more success. The Beatles did play for Buckley, but not until Brian Epstein was established as their manager. 1962 A series of planned engagements for the Beatles in Chester in March 1962 was cancelled; it was another five months before the group made their debut in the Cheshire city. There is no evidence to support a claim that the Beatles played at the Kraal Club in New Brighton, Cheshire, in 1962. Most Liverpool rock groups played there but not the Beatles. Nor did they play at the Silver Blades Ice Rink in Prescot Road, central Liverpool, during 1962 or any other year, contrary to local rumour. A number of the Beatles' Cavern Club bookings in 1962 were either postponed, cancelled or rearranged: Their 9 June "Welcome Home" night was originally planned for 6 June but was re-arranged because of their first recording session at EMI. On 8 August they were excused a night-time booking so that they could play in Doncaster. An advertised lunchtime booking for 21 August was switched to the following day at the request of Granada Television, which filmed them then. On 29 August they were excused a night-time booking so that they could play in Morecambe. A lunchtime booking on 5 September was switched to the 6th because the Beatles were still travelling home from London after the previous day's EMI recording session. On 8 October they were excused a lunchtime booking so that they could travel to London to record for Radio Luxembourg. On 23 November they were excused a lunchtime booking so that they could travel to London to audition for BBC Television. On 2 December they were excused a night-time booking so that they could play in Peterborough. The Beatles did not perform live in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, despite claims to that effect in the Beatles' first-ever press release, issued to promote
'Love Me Do'. The only beat venue in that town was the Co-operative Ballroom, and the promoter has confirmed that he never presented them. The Beatles' 6 October 1962 Horticultural Society dance at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, was originally arranged to take place at the village's Golden Primrose Restaurant, Old Chester Road. The Beatles were originally engaged to perform at the Jubilee Hall in Dukinfield, Cheshire, on 17 November 1962 but this was cancelled and they played instead in Coventry. Brian Epstein's grand whole-page advertisement in Mersey Beat in December 1962 mentioned that the Beatles had played in Blackpool. This was not strictly true. The Beatles were provisionally booked for a short season in late-1962 at the Picador Club in Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, but this was cancelled by the manager of the club after what he perceived to be a poor appearance by the group on the Granada Television show People And Places. Epstein may, however, have been referring to the Beatles' 25 August booking in nearby Fleetwood. The Beatles did not play at the Klic Klic Klub in Stanley Street, Southport, Lancashire, in 1962, despite local rumour to the contrary. The Klub actually opened for business on 12 January 1963, and even then the Beatles never played there. 1963 A provisional booking for the Beatles to appear at the Town Hall in Congleton, Cheshire, on 19 January 1963, never reached fruition, although rumours continued to circulate that they would do so at some point. The Beatles were provisionally engaged to play at the Emporium Ballroom in Doncaster on 23 January 1963, but this was postponed and never re-arranged. Instead, the group performed at the Cavern on this night. (The Emporium Ballroom was a new name for Doncaster's Co-op Ballroom, played by the Beatles on 8 August 1962.) The Beatles' 26 January 1963 show at the El Rio Club, Macclesfield, was originally booked for the previous Saturday, 19 January, but was re-arranged when Brian Epstein slotted in a visit to Whitchurch on that date. The Beatles were provisionally engaged to perform at the Astoria Ballroom in Middlesbrough on 29 January 1963 but negotiations were never completed. Eden Kane entertained the Astoria clientele that night. In late-January 1963 the promoters of Saturdaynight beat music dances at Clipstone Welfare Hall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, included the Beatles' name in a newspaper advertisement listing their forthcoming attractions. But they were a little premature with their announcement since a contract had yet to be signed and the Beatles never did fulfil a booking there. When the Beatles' February/March 1963 tour with Helen Shapiro was first announced, in November 1962, it included visits to the Gaumont Cinema in Hanley on 9 February and De Montfort Hall, Leicester, on 10 February. The Hanley concert was later re-arranged for 3 March, with the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, slotted in its place, while the plan for a Leicester concert was dropped altogether in favour of a show at the Embassy Cinema in promoter Arthur Howes' home town of Peterborough. (The Beatles didn't play at this concert anyway – refer to diary entry for 9 February 1963.) The Beatles' 12 February 1963 engagement at the Azena Ballroom in Sheffield was originally booked to take place at St Aidan's Church Hall but local police advised that it should be moved to a venue which could safely contain the expected large turn-out. Contrary to local rumour, the Beatles did not play at the Peppermint Lounge ballroom in central