DECEMBER 2025
Wed 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £29.00 (inc. bf). ‘Festive Lunch’. VCJ on stage 12 noon (three sets 'til 4:00pm).
Wed 17: Lazy River Band @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Veronica Perrin, Chris Perrin, John Farragher, Phil Rutherford
Wed 17: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 17: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Wed 17: A Jazzy Xmas @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Wed 17: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ YOLO, Ponteland. 7:00pm. ‘Swing & Jazz Night’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 18: Joe Steels & Friends @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.
Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.
Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
I started in Windows in '68 as a Saturday boy - 'Can you read music? Can you play at least 2 instruments?' Those were the minimum requirements to work with Ronnie Maclean, Hughie [Aitchison], and Lance Liddle although once they'd given me the Jazz Quiz they were ok to let me talk to their friends. 
7 comments :
Richard! As the last survivor of the Windows triumvirate that you mention, I was the only one who actually could read music and play more than one instrument. In fact, neither could Mr Windows senior or Mr Windows junior play anything other than the cash register! I recall when Ronnie asked for a rise and Hedley Windows huffed and puffed and said, "But you can't read music!"
To which Ronnie played his ace in the hole, "No sir, but I've just sold a grand piano!"
He got his rise.
Windows has changed over the years but it still holds that prime spot in the Central Arcade and will, forever, hold a prime spot in my heart. Me and many other employees and a lot of customers who went on to become friends!
Hi Richard & Lance. I started there straight after school in 77 until I joined the RAF at the beginning of 1980, I worked in the radio dept with Robert Ingleby, Brian Littlefair, Dennis Carr, Chris Barker etc.
I used to get the bus to and from work with Hughie Aichison every day. A real character who I learned a lot from. A real miss in life.
41 years later I’m making my living as a full time singer/musician. Those days at Windows still have an influence on me. But it is different when I get across from Carlisle to Newcastle and go into the shop.
I’m still in touch via Facebook with Lance (obviously) and also Brian and Chris, in fact Chris lives about 12 miles away from me now.
Great to reminisce
Happy new year.
To be fair, Lance, Hughie did play the trumpet and the valve-trombone...... But certainly,l neither he or Ronnie could read music - the closest they got was the sleeve notes on the back of an LP!
One of the first things Ronnie told me was that he'd toured Europe with Teddy Wilson. I'm ashamed to say I'd no idea who Teddy Wilson was.
I worked at Windows as a Saturday worker in the instruments department, from around 1965 and I loved it so much I kept the job going until well past my graduation in 1969. Ronnie McLean was my boss in that department and his second in command was bloke called Tommy Whitworth. Ronnie, of course, had his own jazz band and we used to go to the jazz club to see him. I never went to see Tom's 'combo' who were styled (I think) The TW-5 or something similar. My days at Windows were some of the happiest of my young life. Looking back on it, I would have paid to work there. John Pickard
Hi John, I remember you well -did you have a girlfriend called Jen? I took over from Tommy Whitworth who was a bit of an authority on violin makers. He played keyboards, I'm led to understand, in a band called the Silver Dollars who had a minor hit with 'Rainbow' although this was either before or after Tommy's involvement with them and I've been unable to authenticate his connection with the band. He later became a rep for one of the music trade suppliers and played organ at a club in Tynemouth.
Hi Lance, I did indeed. Jen became my wife and subsequently my ex-wife. I live in Essex now but I still hanker for the fiords. Tommy was a strange bloke, an accomplished keyboard player but always resented being in Ronnie's shadow. Windows was a wonderful part of my young life. I remember the uniformed commissionaire we had. He was a complete reactionary (even for those days) and used to foam at the mouth at young blokes with long hair. "I'd hang one or two in every city", he used to say. He was ex-army and really hated long-haired blokes with a will - this was in the 60s when long-hair was still relatively new on men. He was handy to have on match days when the town was fully of rowdies and we sometimes got them in the shop.
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