Peter Armstrong, an old Bradfordian living in Roosendaal, Holland, for the past 33 years, has written to share his memories of the Bluesville 68 club, which used to be in Pudsey.

Peter writes: “I remember it being a good time to be young in the late Sixties, but there again I was lucky enough to be in the thick of the Bradford scene.”

His letter comes in reply to Patrick Hargreaves, who had a letter recalling his visits to the club every Sunday night published on the T&A Letters page last month.

Writes Peter: “Remember a guy who compered the shows? Well that was me, and this is how it all began.

“I was at that time the DJ at the Penny Farthing, and later the Heartbeat and String Of Beads. One day the manager at the Penny asked if I knew any good bands to play live at the club.

“He meant a soul band, but being a blues fan, I persuaded him to book John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. This was of course very self-indulgent, because the Penny was a disco and not the ideal place for a top-line blues band.

“I personally had a great night surrounded by John (not pleased) Mayall, Mick Taylor (later of the Stones), Steve Thomson and Keef Hartley, the club was full of mohair-clad mods and out-there art students, half of whom didn’t pay to get in, so no profit was made that night.

“One person in the audience that night was Dave Stansfield, an ex-singer, who had a small agency running local groups, including the Midnight Train and the Broomdusters. He came over to talk, and after an hour we decided to set up a blues club.

“We looked at a few places before we came across the Farmers Inn in Pudsey, which was run by a couple of guys who turned out to be a great help in getting things started up.

“We were open every Sunday evening and started for the first weeks with the Broomdusters, who were exceptional. They should have gone a lot further than they did. Then our first act out of London arrived in the form of the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Now we were up and running.

“Within the next year we had artists such as Chicken Shack, Doctor K’s Blues Band, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Free, Savoy Brown, to name a few. Later that year, we opened in Leeds on a Monday. This way we got the bands up from London cheaper because we booked them for two nights.

“Booking a group for two nights meant we had to arrange lodgings for the Sunday night. So being the last of the great spenders, Dave and I put them up in our houses. I will never forget when we had three guys from Black Cat Bones sleeping in a double bed in our attic, much to the displeasure of my parents.

“I also witnessed Paul Rodgers from Free getting a slap from a Bradford lass!

“We were introduced to Free by a terrific guy called Alexis Korner, who played three times at the club. He used to arrive by train from London with guitars under his arms and joints in his pockets. Once it was time to go on stage and after searching five minutes for him, he would come out of the toilet in a wall of smoke with a big smile over his face. Happy times.

“My personal favourite from all who visited was Duster Bennett, who was such a gentleman. He arrived the first time with his mum and dad. At that time his mum was his driver and I found it so refreshing that this family were so down to earth. Normal people without egos.

“I would like to say that the late Sixties in Bradford was for me an exciting time to be alive, especially being involved with the blues scene and the Farmers,which without a doubt was one of the best of its time.

“All my love, Bradford, I’ve fond memories of growing up there.”