Saturday January 24th 2004 , it was billed as “one Year on” the return, as we brought back to Melksham, The Nashville Teens, Love Affair and The Four Pennies, we had been asked by so many of you to get these three groups back, how could we disappoint you, and you responded by giving us another packed house, so once again we started with a bang, first up The Nashville Teens, any one who has seen this group perform will tell you the lead singer is a knock out, dressed all in black with one arm hugging the mike stand belting out song after song, with the crowd responding right from the off filling the dance floor and singing along, giving rousing applause to every song, “Little Bird”, “ Find my way Back Home”, “Google Eye” and “Tobacco Road”, and before we new it an hour had gone by, but still time for an encore or two, and we are sure to want to here from these boys again.

Next up were The Four Pennies to rousing applause, and just as before giving it their all, it was as if they had never left the stage from their last appearance, groups like these react to the response they are getting from the crowd, and the crowd never let us down, The Pennies even seemed to outshine their last performance, and I for one never tire of hearing “Tell me Girl” “Trouble is my Middle Name” and “Juliet” and it seems neither can the band as we had trouble getting them to end their spot, but they promised to return another time further down the road.

The final spot of the night was as good as the start as out onto the stage came Love Affair, what can be said that hasn’t already been said, this band really set the seal on the night, just like a really good meal, you were left wanting for nothing, these bands go from strength to strength giving top class renditions of other groups hit as well as their own, though in truth the hits the crowd wanted were “Rainbow Valley” and “Everlasting Love”, and they were not to be disappointed, once again Love Affair left the stage to the sounds of “more more and more”.

Long after the groups had stopped playing the hall was still buzzing with groups of people going on and on about the great night they had just experienced, and as I looked around the hall and saw the age of some of those who had just danced the night away, I thought that there was going to be some very happy but stiff bodies about in the morning, but totally “worth it”.

Saturday May 15th 2004, this time we had gone up market in price, we had 2 top bands from the 60’s, we were bringing to Melksham, The Dreamers and The Swinging Blue Jeans, and a home grown band, called Legacy, we had toyed with the idea of giving local bands a try for several months, and after listening to a number of tapes we decided to give Legacy a try, the crowd were a little unsure at first but after a couple of songs it was business as usual, dance floor packed, with no hits of their own, Legacy relied on singing hits from the 50’s 60’s 70’s and even a couple from the 80’s thrown in for good measure, we were not disappointed, and by the sound of applause as they left the stage neither were the crowd.

The lights dimmed as onto the stage came one of the best entertaining bands I have ever seen, they may be minus Freddy but The Dreamers were all we had heard they were, with that great Liverpool sense of humour they put on a show few who saw it will forget it for many a year, with Gerry, one of the organizers, being the brunt of their jokes between songs, and the groups drummer taking the rest of the flack, the crowd were riveted as he bashed out Sandy Nelsons “Let there be drums”, on a set of dust bins and drums, The Dreamers ended their spot to rapturous applause singing one of their biggest hits “If you got to make a fool of somebody”, this is one group we know we will be bringing back.

As the final group took to the stage the years just fell off of me as I remember a lad of 16 watching this same group performing at the Top 20 club in Trowbridge Town Hall, and there they were all these years later the great Swinging Blue Jeans dressed in their trade mark blue jeans, I was in my element, I never got to see many of big groups of that era, but the Blue Jeans had been a must, after all they had one of the biggest hits of all times and here they were playing it live again, and once again just like in the 60’s they were lifting the roof with “Hippy Hippy Shake”, what a way to end another fantastic evening, even with all the organizing I cant wait for the next gig.

First on stage are The Fourmost, another very popular Liverpool band with that great Liverpool humour, with the crowd already warmed up by the great sound of the 60’s being played by the DJ the dance floor was already packed to capacity and the band just kept every one riveted with big hit after hit from that great era, you get the feeling that not only would the crowd have loved them to play all night, the group would love to play on as well, the feed back from those on the dance floor get though to the bands that are playing as if it is an automatic response, but all to soon the allotted time is coming to a close and its time for the band to start playing their closing numbers and finish with their biggest hits, “A little loving” and “Hello little girl” and then they were gone after yet another encore and rapturous applause.

With the Disco taking over, as the stage was changed for The Tornados the music was continuous and the dance floor was rarely empty, the idea was a definite success.

The final band on stage was The Tornados, they were still a fantastic group, though I don’t remember them having a female in the original line up, though as the drummer who seemed to be the leader, said, they sent Heinz away and that is how he came back, still you wont find me complaining she was by far better looking than any of the rest of the group, and she could certainly sing, and the crowd loved every minute of the time the band were on stage, and they were very surprized when told that the drummer had actually played drums on some of the biggest hits of the 60’s including Love Affairs big hits, but then the sounds of “Telstar” can be heard and you know the band are reaching their climax, and the sound of the applause tells you it's nearly over, one or two more as an encore and you're transported back to reality, but the night is far from over as Terry, our DJ, cranks up the Disco and the music plays on, but slowly oh so slowly the hall starts to empty, but its gone midnight so all in all a very successful evening.

Saturday November 6th 2004, Today MEG steps into the unknown as we try something entirely new for us and Melksham, Today is Melksham's first ever Beer Festival, the Assembly hall dance floor has been transformed with rack upon rack of different Real Ales 26 in all, and 3 different Ciders including the famous Black Rat, all was ready, the doors were due to open at 11am, we waited expectantly, how would Melksham receive the idea, the doors opened to a steady trickle of Real Ale drinkers and very soon there was a good 50/60 people tasting the goods on offer, and it soon became apparent that the Black Rat was going to struggle to last the event through, we intended to close for a short period at 3-30pm and open again at 7pm with live music, by the time 3-30 arrived well in excess of 200 people had been in, and we were looking to treble that number by the end of the evening.

Once again the people of Melksham and surrounding areas have supported us fantastically, we have a massive success on our hands and this has all been possible thanks to the hard work of Geoff Mitcham and Alan Baines who not only organized the event, Alan spent all day serving Beer, and Geoff not only served beer he played guitar with his band till late into the evening, so a big thanks goes out to those who helped out on the day, and we look forward to seeing you back again next year for Melksham’s 2nd Beer Festival.