Johnny Lewis and Dave "The Fish" Turner	Johnny Lewis	Johnny Lewis and Dave "The Fish" Turner
Mike Plumbley	Stuart Payne, Evening Standard (News) Journalist	Peter Moore
John Gleeson (Caroline supporter from Birmingham) and Alex Hamilton	Alex Hamilton	Frank Turner´s presentation of the Estuary forts

The first of many interviews that Bob performed throughout the day was with Charlie Wolf. Charlie was not instantly recognisable from the last time I had seen him on board the Laser 558 ship. However, his voice certainly was. He is currently doing one show a week on "Talk Sports".

Next there was some interesting information on the Estuary forts during the presentation by Frank Turner, author of several books on the subject and the interviews with Dick Dixon and Dick Palmer. Frank also had a stand at the convention, with models and photographs on display. What I found most interesting was how the parts of the fort were made in Gravesend, moved to their final locations and erected.

Current Caroline DJ's that Bob interviewed were Johnny Lewis (the visits to the gym are shedding Kilograms off him), Bob Lawrence, Nigel Harris (who seemed uncomfortable telling the story "yet again" of the raid on the Mi Amigo), David Foster, Graham L. Hall (complete with those shorts) and Tony Christian. Other current presenters who attended, but escaped being interviewed by Bob "the interviewer", were Rob Ashard and the glamorous Alex Hamilton and Rachel Hunter. However, the later two were interviewed by the BBC, for the feature that was broadcast on the BBC1 Breakfast TV programme, on Monday the 14th August 2000.

Two behind the scenes people from Caroline's past shared their memories: First there was Dave "The Fish" Turner, who was Captain of the supply boat that made 141 supply runs to the Ross Revenge. Then shortly afterwards, Mike Barrington took the stage to give his account of being a engineer on the Ross.

Click on the pictures to enlarge:

Dick Dixon and Dick Palmer looking at the plan of fort	Mike Barrington	Mike Barrington
Nigel Harris and David Foster	David Foster	Nigel Harris and David Foster

Other interviews that took place before the auction were with Kevin Turner, John Aston (Hatt), an ex forts and Caroline DJ, John Harding and Don Scott, recalling their days on Radio Atlantis, Bob Matthews (Bob Mower), a former Radio Jackie (London land based pirate) and Caroline DJ and Stuart Payne, an Offshore radio anorak of many years and a journalist for the Evening Standard (News).

Next on the agenda was the auction. This was good fun, thanks to the humour of the auctioneer Andy Riley. The "lots" on offer, all to raise money for Radio Caroline, included a cap off a generator, part of an anchor chain, several bundles of singles and albums, photographs, Gates turntables, "bits and pieces" from Andy's
garden shed and a weekend break. Shots of the auction appeared in the aforementioned BBC breakfast programme, including one of my back and another the face of my friend John.

The final interviews of the day were with Mike Plumbley, who was involved in running Caroline in the 1980's and Peter Moore. Peter thanked everyone for supporting the convention and the station. He also gave his view of the future of Radio Caroline.

Ronan O'Rahilly was in attendance, but I am sure there were several people who missed his brief stay. Apparently he declined to be interviewed by Bob and preferred to remain in the background (the hall way at the entrance of the night club). I was lucky enough to shake the great man's hand and informed him that this was the first time I had seen him since "Flashback 67". Like myself, he thought that this convention, held 23 years ago at an hotel at Heathrow Airport, seemed like it happened only yesterday.

 

 

Click on the pictures to enlarge:

John Astor (Hatt), ex forts and Caroline DJ	John Astor (Hatt)	John Astor (Hatt)
John Harding and Don Scott (Radio Atlantis)	John Harding and Don Scott (Radio Atlantis)	Outside the convention hall

The day was very hot and this showed how inadequate the night clubs air conditioning was. It was also very noisy and had to be switched off whenever interviews etc were taking place, which was most of the time. There was also a mix up over the bar. I believe the organisers had requested that it should be open all day, but drinks were only available for a couple of hours and there was no food. Luckily I brought with me a packed lunch and my mates found a local Kebab house, a short distance from the hotel. Apparently there were bar snacks and main meals available from the main reception, but like many, we must have missed that announcement. Despite these few problems, my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Special credit must go to Bob Le Roi, who did an excellent job interviewing the many celebrities and keeping the whole event together. I hope Radio Caroline managed to raise a lot of money at the end of the day. They certainly received some good publicity from it.

Unfortunately, my friends and I were unable to stay for the evening Roadshow, due to prior engagements, early the next day. To break the journey for my friend's from Birmingham, we all had a quick drink in the club in my village. I then went home to reflect on the day, whist listening to my new "crackle free" vinyl copy of the "Loving Awareness" album. (This I purchased from the convention and it features a plain white sleeve, which has been signed by Ronan and the current staff at Radio Caroline.) A perfect end to an almost perfect day.

Steve Szmidt.

Member of the Caroline Supporter Group.

 

 

 

Click here for a report with lots of pictures from the Leeuwarden convention