Has we stould looking at the remains of the fire destroyed South Parade Complex my mind went back to when I was 18 years old.

I lived in Long Eaton, Derbyshire at that time and I was a mod and wore my parker with pride lol. The hood and collar had fir sown on to it and on my back was a target with the words 'The Who' written accross the middle. My best friend at the time had a new shiny Lambretter Scooter which was plastered in mirrors at the front.

We planned a trip to Skegness for the Easter Holiday weekend, we set off early Saturday morning arriving early afternoon. It was a very peacefull weekend none of the Mod and rockers Battles that were on the news at the time.

We spent most of Saturday night in the Beachcomber bar which was part of the South parade complex. We all had a jolly time singing along to the latest pop hits of the day, our favourite at the time was 'Wild Thing' by the troggs, lol i remember we used to sing it at the top of our voices as we rode along on the scooter.

At the end of the night we followed a group of mods to find somewhere to get a few hours sleep on the beach. Someone had built a fire and we grouped around it in holes in the sand.
The Fire didnt last long though because we only had 2 or 3 old deckchairs to burn lol and none of us got much sleep that night, well it was only easter and Skegness was very bracing lol. At four in the morning we all went in search of a cafe to get a welcoming cup of tea we were frozen to the bone lol...But it was a great adventure and i'm glad i did it

I was the same lol..I had another mate who had a Velocette 500cc motor cycle so now and again i'd disguise myself as a rocker and we used to visit a few coffee bars...but nowhere near home lol...didn't want to be spotted by my mod friends lol