ABC Eccles

Hi Derick I cannot recall you,(apologies) but then again I do forget many people from my past. I do remember Eccles am dram staging Bitter Sweet, What a wonderful show. Yes Mr Mancini Sir was certainly a bad tempered person. I recall he went ballistic one day when he turned up unexpectedly and found that we had not filled in the battery (emergency lighting) log. Jump up and down was an understatement.

Does anyone remember the re-fit. Mr Mancini was in for an inspection before the suspended scaffold came down . . mmm We had left a cleaners light hanging below the scaffold so the chief Ralph agreed that David the trainee to go up and pull it up. Mr Mancini was getting impatient and started shouting at David ( you didn’t do that to David) and unfortunately he slipped in the roof and straddled a beam, the plaster came falling, Mr Mancini looked skywards with a string of expletives, and David with his 2 legs astride a beam and his feet waggling shouting “Sorry Mr Mancini Sir” Can anyone remember the projectionist “Box” crew then.

Hi Derick, not been on the site for a while, my email is . If you recall, the staff room was through the ladies' toilt, I’m not really a pervert.

Doug, I have that one too!

Hi all, Just found this site this evening and recognise a lot of the names from various posts. DELBOY, please reveal yourself, you seem to know a lot about my past!. The story about the Savoy Sale ice cream girl is entirely accurate, and thank you for calling me a ‘splendid bloke’

I would love to hear from anyone who may remember me from either Eccles, Sale, Stockport, Ardwick, Broughton or Deansgate during the 60’s.

I have emailed David Stirzaker and sent him a photo of our days at Eccles, as well as David and me the photo also shows Kevin Utley, who was the Manager, D.Carter A/M and a Ken (surname escapes me)T/M.

My personal email is

Hi Doug – Contact me via my e-mail –

David Yes you still have my cufflinks. Red and white mother of pearl rectanglular. How are you?

Just came across this website by chance. I worked at the ABC Eccles and many others in the Manchester area during the late 60’s. I did not know I still have dgcarter’s cufflinks.

I followed Richard Roper into Huddersfield as A/M and knew a lot of the people mentioned; am still frequently in touch with John McIntosh (ABC Wigan), Frank Chambers (ABC Leeds – before Dave Riby) and, until recently, my very good friend, Brett Childes (Odeon Sunderland) who passed away on October 04.

I went on to manage ABC’s theatres in South Shields, Chester, Newcastle upon Tyne (Haymarket AND Westgate Road) and Darlington; sadly,the latter appointment was as a result of Cannon’s strategic withdrawal -true to form – from that city, when Odeon and Warner Bros were left to fight for supremacy; I am pleased to say that Odeon won when they moved to ‘The Gate'development, although that has since become the 'Empire'following the M&M’s intervention upon the Odeon/UCI and Cineworld/UGC mergers………all so complicated!

I knew dave riby. Jimmy Gold was the District manager in my day (before he went off to manage the ABC Leeds). Ken Pickering I knew of (I think at one point he was at Ardwick). There was also Bill Williamson, Dave Stirzaker, Dave Moss, Harry Ellams and a host of others whose names have gotten lost in the mists of time. If you ever come across Dave Stirzaker ask him when I’m finally going to get my cufflinks back.

Anybody else I might know as well as Roger? I knew most managers on the Manchester and Yorkshire districts from the late 60s.

I used to relieve him regularly in 68/69. He and his wife also ran a B&B just down the road at the other side of Washway Road.

Was that the same Roger Newcombe who was at The Savoy Sale a few years earlier?