Two decades of rocking ‘n’ rolling!

MELKSHAM Rock ‘n’ Roll Club is celebrating 20 years of jiving, jitterbugging and swinging on the dancefloor! 

The club began on 2nd February 2002 with a dance at Melksham Assembly Hall, and this month to celebrate, that night is being recreated with the same live band, Jive Street, and DJ Cockney Rebel.  

“Jive Street are a four-piece band from Gosport in Hampshire who have been on the scene for many years and have played all over the country because they are an excellent band to dance to,” said club founder member, Geoff Mitcham. 

“They played here back in 1986 when they were called Street Rods and backed Wee Willie Harris, Jet Harris, Screamin’ Lord Sutch, Jess Conrad and others, but they’ve been to the club many times since as Jive Street. 

“Cockney Rebel is an original Rock ‘n’ Roll DJ who loves British Rock ‘n’ Roll and more classic jive music so be prepared for it to be fast and loud. He was with the club for many years before he decided to move on.”

About the history of the Melksham Rock ‘n’ Roll Club, Geoff explains, “The club has had many ups and downs over the years. It was started by Richard Johnstone and myself as a dedicated Rock ‘n’ Roll Club.  Spencer’s had already been hosting live bands, but used to change to more disco music halfway through the night. So when Mike Brooks, who used to promote the dances, decided to call it a day, Rich and I took over.  Sadly, Mike was lost to us recently. 

“The club was very popular and we had people from as far afield as London, the South and Midlands coming to see us. Rich got married and decided to leave me to it at the end of 2015 and I kept it going even though we had started to struggle a little with attendance. But it has picked up since and we were doing fine until Covid hit in 2020 and we lost 16 dances. 

“We are starting to pick up again, but many regulars have stayed away until they feel safe to come back.  We restarted back again during July last year.  All in all, we’ve had 229 dances, 109 different bands and 8 DJs. We’ve had guests from America and Germany as well as the top bands in the country.   

“Next year is already fully booked and I’ll soon be looking at 2024, although it depends what is happening to the Assembly Hall, but don’t get me started on that!”