PENSIONER Ann Parker had her thoughts whisked back to the golden era of the pub singing room by recent mention of 'fifties keyboard king Jack Harrison.

Jack tickled the ivories at the Travellers Rest at a time when most local pubs basked in a warm family atmosphere - long before conversion into teenagers' 'play pens', complete with jukeboxes, pool tables and slot machines.

Mrs P, now of Bernard Wood Court, Billinge, recalls when she regularly made the train journey (1s.4d. return fare!) from her then Liverpool home to St Helens.

"There was a gang of us. And what Saturday nights they were!" adds Ann. Most pubs had a resident pianist and she recalls an occasion when the ivory-presser at one free-and-easy session briefly "nipped to the back."

That was the cue for one of Ann's gang to step up to the keyboard and give an impromptu performance. "Sam happened to be a good player and earned a big round of applause."

But it was also the cue for what might have been musical mayhem. Says Ann:"I thought there would be murder when the regular pianist came back, because he thought at first that Sam was trying to pinch his job."

A punch-up was averted when Sam hurriedly explained that he'd only been interested in filling in for a few minutes.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.