HAVING read various accounts of the events surrounding the appearance of The Beatles at the Towers Labour Club Lodge Lane Warrington in the early 1960s, I felt it necessary to set the record straight (Warrington Guardian, April 13).

The first thing to set straight is the date of The Beatles’ appearance at the Towers which was Thursday, October 18, 1962 and not 1963.

This was the night after The Beatles had made their TV debut on Granada’s People and Places.

You stated that Chris and the Diamonds shared the bill with The Beatles that night, but they didn’t exist then.

The group were called The Diamonds, and the line-up was Pete Cunliffe vocals, Alan Foster, lead guitar, Johnny Howard rhythm guitar, Alan Douglas bass guitar and Derek Hough drums.

Chris was due to join the band as Pete had decided to leave, had rehearsed with them and made his debut with them a fortnight later on Thursday, November 1, 1962, again at the Towers, appearing alongside another Brian Epstein band called The Big Three.

On the Beatles night, Alan Foster did not give a guitar lead to George Harrison but George gave a guitar string to Johnny Howard who had broken one while tuning up to go onstage, with no spare in his guitar case.

The guy who played snooker during the break was Alan Douglas’s mate, Johnny Miller.

The Beatles, with a recording contract under their belts, and their single ‘Love Me Do’ in the charts arrived at the Towers in their Bedford Dormobile van, booked for £30, while the Diamonds were paid £8.

To our amazement they did not possess a PA system, but used the Towers Labour Club system which was atrocious and didn’t do their fabulous vocals any justice whatsoever.

When they finished their onehour set and came back into the dressing room, Paul, always the leader in presentation and sound quality, was sullen faced and blurted out ‘Call ourselves ****ing professionals? That was ****ing rubbish.”

I felt so sorry for them because they had worked their socks off, performed a terrific variety of songs, but due to the appalling sound system had delivered, by their own standards, a poor set.

CHRIS HEWITT Lancaster