Another addition to our stage show was the introduction of three very sexy ‘Go-Go’ dancers. These proved very interesting to us and the audience alike, Vivian was destined to be Mrs Drewer in later years.

Some great parties were unknowingly financed by the Mecca in the way of beer contributions. Also cigarettes, we drove the catering manager wild as he couldn’t figure out how the ciggies were disappearing from the kiosk, after all, it was locked and had a cage on the front. Until one day he found a pack on the floor with a hole in it, caused by the nail in the end of our broomstick!  We would also empty the One-Armed Bandit after the Saturday morning Bingo session, the retrieved sixpenny pieces would pay the rent on a flat in Brook House, the only high rise building in Basildon Town Centre. Tony Watts was living at our house at that time, so the flat gave him somewhere to live as well as being our ‘hangout’. My school friend, John Coombes, was a talented artist and painted psychedelic murals over the flat’s ceilings, he was then commissioned by the Mecca to do the same for our stage backdrop. He also happened to be a good Soul singer and often performed a non-stop “Geno Washington & Ram Jam Band” set with us, which went down really well and gave Hughie a chance to go off and sell some cars (his new sideline).