Fab Five who gave a little help to The Beatles

THE long and winding road to Dingwall was one followed in the early 1960s by an unknown band whose music was largely ignored by the local audience.

While a 1,200-strong crowd was watching local sensations The Melotones a few miles away in Strathpeffer, a hardy 19 stuck it out at Dingwall Town Hall to watch less polished newcomers The Beatles.

Local legend has it that band and audience eventually gave up and headed to Strathpeffer as well.

Nearly half a century on, the Dingwall 19 - or most of them - were back on the dancefloor last night for a celebration to commemorate the show on 4 January, 1963.

An appeal launched by the Dingwall Business Association traced all 19 of the original crowd. Others, including people who had served teas or were working in the cloakroom on the night, have also been in touch.

Two of the original 19 now live abroad and could not make last night's event fronted by the tribute band the Upbeat Beatles.

Stanley Ferguson, originally from Ardersier, now lives in South Africa, and Ian Mackenzie, from Dingwall, is now based in New Zealand.

Mr Ferguson said in a message to the re-union organisers he thought the young band from Liverpool were "crap".

• The fans#

• . . . and the band everyone else wanted to see

Love Me Do had already made the charts, but ten days after the gig Please Please Me was released, giving the soon-to-be Fab Four their first Top Ten hit and the lack of critical acclaim in Ross-shire was forgotten.

Margaret Paterson was 17 at the time and went to The Beatles gig to meet the man who would later be her husband for more than 30 years, although he interrupted their first date to go to Strathpeffer. She said: "I was sitting on the stage speaking to The Beatles and they said 'this place is dead, where is everybody?' I said 'no offence lads, but there's a brilliant band on at Strathpeffer, everyone's gone there. I'm just heading up you should pack up and come as well'."

Now a Highland councillor, she was on the door at last night's gig: "I wouldn't have missed it for the world, a great chance to bring back all those memories."

Association member Billy Shanks, 65, who led the appeal, said: "It's incredible that we have traced them all - and they are all alive. We have been contacted by 47 people who saw The Beatles - including the 19 who stayed for the whole concert. The rest stuck their head in at some point."

He remembers the concert well. He said: "I looked in at the town hall and decided I would rather hear The Melotones. Unfortunately for The Beatles most of the town did the same."

Seoris McGillivray, who watched the Beatles only because he missed his bus to Strathpeffer, said: "They were just an unknown band from England.But to our amazement we saw how popular they became and were at number one shortly afterwards."

Last night a much bigger crowd of about 200 was expected to attend the reunion gig.