Mansfield Skiffle group circa 1957

This is all part of the greater SHANE FENTON AND THE FENTONES story.

Tony Hinchcliffe was a drummer based in Mansfield and he formed his own four piece group in and around 1956/57 to enter an inter-factory Skiffle contest. The “Tony Hinchcliffe Skiffle Group” (the real name is unknown) won by default when the opposition failed to turn up.
Later, Tony was joined by Jerry Wilcox on lead guitar and he suggested “Bonney” as a bass guitarist. They took on the name of the “Diamond Skiffle Group” and played around the Mansfield area. They entered the heats of the national Carroll Lewis Skiffle talent competition at the Nottingham Empire in October 1957, reaching the final, only losing out to Vince Eager and the Vagabonds.

After becoming or combining with Roger Lymer and his Crusaders the three of them would go on to be part of the Johnny Theakstone Group/Beat/Boys/Tremoloes who then became the first and second incarnations of Shane Fenton and the Fentones in 1960 and 1961.

A website maintained by Adrian Barrett is dedicated to the entire story of Shane Fenton and Alvin Stardust and can be found here.