Mansfield group circa 1957/58

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.
Finding a new vocalist they became Roger Lymer and his Crusaders. The vocalist then decided to leave to get married and was replaced by a new front man Johnny Theakstone (born 1944 as John Theakston, maybe) in 1959. This meant a change of name which varied from the “Johnny Theakstone Group”, “Johnny Theakstone and the beat boys” and finally “Johnny Theakstone and the Tremolos“.

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