Casino lives on

10:44am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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THE leader of Leigh's legendary group The Beat Boys, Ronnie Carr, was determined to keep memories of the Casino alive.

When pleas to save the old ballroom from the demolition hammer fell on deaf ears, he vowed to document its history before it was too late.

Now thanks to Ronnie and former Leigh man and film editor Chris Miller a one hour musical documentary honouring the town's famous Silk Street nightclub is being produced.

"The Leigh Casino Story" is expected to be released on DVD in August and all proceeds will go to Wigan and Leigh Hospice.

Among the people Ronnie interviews are big band leader Johnny Prior and former owner Winnie Brierley. As well as live interviews it will feature music, a photograph scrap book and a few funny out takes and extras.

Chris, 35, who was brought up in Pennington, and now runs his own company UKFM from his base near Oslo in Norway, became involved in the project after reading about the demise of the Cas, which he frequented when it later became Ruebens.

He struck up and internet friendship with Ronnie and discovered they had a lot in common and the tales Ronnie had to tell were too good to keep to himself.

They decided to chronicle the band history before it too became lost and this has since materialised into the film.

He said: "This long overdue documentary film embraces the heart of Leigh's cultural heritage. It tells the story of a fascinating period in the towns' musical history. A piece of modern history that all Leythers can be very proud of indeed. This is a must see film for all local music fans both young and old."

He hopes to start editing the material gathered this weekend and is appealing for contributions of any photographs taken at the Casino in its heyday, especially of the groups like the Beatles, the Hollies and comedians such as Bernard Manning on stage The deadline for remittance is July 1.

Guitarist Chris, who studied film in Alicante, Spain, added: "It really saddened me to see the Cas being knocked down. I have not had much contact with Leigh for many years but the changes hit home. Ronnie has done a great job gathering the material and now is a great time to get it down for posterity. In 10 to 15 years there may be no-one around who could tell the story.

"It will be a great film about the good times at the club."

Chris has also masterminded a website for The Beat Boys and a taster of the Casino DVD can be seen on this a site at www.myspace.com/beatboys65