[carole.armstrong@tes]

Originally Posted by West Ender

My dad played drums and also sang, through a megaphone, with Sid Ashmead's band between 1926 and 1933. They were called the Ritz Syncopated Orchestra in those days and I have a photo of the band, taken about 1928, all dressed in dinner suits and black ties. There is a violinist (I presume that's Sid), trumpeter, clarinetist/saxophonist, pianist and my dad with his drum-kit and tubular bells.

My parents moved to Derby in 1934 and dad played in a band there. By the time I arrived, 1943 when they had moved back, he had given up his dance-band days but he did have a xylophone for a while when I was very small. I never actually heard him play the drums, to my sorrow (I believe he was very good), but he also played piano - not as well as my highly schooled mum but he was very into "boogey" - and he could never resist having a go on any empty piano he came across.

How long did Sid Ashmead's band last?

My dad was a singer wih sids band from 1948 till it finished in 1960, His name isJohn Armstrong....does anyone remember him?????