Many of St Mary's supporters may remember dancing the nights away when the old Barrow Public Hall was home to Maxims and Scorpio. Memories of those times in the 1970s and 1980s were revived in a reunion held on Friday 10th September at the Royal British Legion on Holker Sreet, Barrow. Organisers Kim Sergant and Jane Wicks wished for all proceeds from the night to be given to local charities. They kindly donated £500 to St Mary's Hospice.
Organiser Kim Sargant commented: "We wanted to fill the place just like it was at Maxims and Scorpio." Maxims was opened by Peter Miller in the old Barrow Public Hall, facing Cornwallis Street, in 1974. It cost £25,000 to fit out the building as the town's first specialist discotheque and the only late-night club for the 19-to-30 age group. It closed as Scorpio One in the summer of 1989 as the lease on the 1850s building ran out. The hall was eventually demolished but the Scorpio name survived in a former chapel on nearby Lawson Street. For part of 1980, Barrow Public Hall had been run by Walter Floyd as Rafters before Colin Lavery opened Scorpio One in January 1981. Many famous names had played the venue through the decades from the Syd Lawrence Orchestra to The Drifters, Billy Idol and The Stranglers.
With thanks to North West Evening Mail for article information.
Pictured: Reunion organisers Jane Wicks & Kim Sargent hand £500 to Dora Greenway of the St Mary's Fundraising Team.
