Thanks for all the feedback following my piece last week about discos from times gone by.

Gerry McConville has lots of memories of the Hawaiian Bar, Palace Lido and Casino, having worked in the venues years ago.

He told me that one of the initiatives was a Rover Ticket, which enabled access to all three.

The Hawaiian Bar opened at 7pm and among the DJs were Rooster Rudd, whom he described as a bit wild, and the late Mark Beresford, whom I remember well as a really nice person as well as a top spinner of discs!

After the Hawaiian, the ticket provided access into the Palace Lido from about 10pm until 2am and for the ‘very energetic’ the early-morning festivities could be finished off at the Casino with drinking and entertainment until 5am.

In the Lido one of the busiest places in town was ‘Pam’s Bar’, named after well-known local personality Pam Kewley, who was at the centre of the action at all times.

Who remembers the four-pint jugs of beer and I think I remember large tins of party beer being available to avoid the massive queues?

Lots of us will remember Pam branching out as the island’s best-known ‘kissogram’ for birthdays and other special occasions, she was always great fun!

Gerry said he had memories of Stu Lowe and Mike Reynolds as top DJs at the Lido. I can go back further to the late Bill Chrisp doing the late-night disco, often after one of the top bands of the 1970s had wowed the crowd.

Bill was also a very popular Manx Radio presenter and in particular I remember his style of presentation of the Country and Western show, which was exuberant to say the least.

Bill’s real passion though was the cinema where he became synonymous with the Palace Cinema and elsewhere over decades.

Gerry’s recollections also included Polly’s burger bar and other discos such as the Mermaid (was it under the Empress?) and JDs.

The big summer shows as well as featuring the top bands of the 70s generation also featured Frank Carson – ‘It’s the way I tell ’em!’ and ‘It’s a cracker!’ – and the Grumbleweeds alternating as top acts. They were great fun.

They had turned professional following success on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks (the same as Frank Carson) and they were very popular on radio and television over an extended period.

Another regular performer at the island’s leading venues during the heady days of the 1970s was Tony Christie, who I have always thought had a much better voice and catalogue than others who have seen more commercial success.

Who remembers ‘Las Vegas’, ‘I did what I did for Maria’, ‘Avenues and Alleyways’, as well as ‘Amarillo’.

I have seen him many times in many different settings from the Palace night club, Villa Marina Royal Hall and a number in the UK including Gmex in Manchester.

As I think I might have mentioned before, for this performance I was sitting next to a reporter from the Manchester Evening News and we got talking.

He had obviously never been to a Tony Christie concert before and was clearly suitably impressed.

It was about 2006 and I said to him ‘Tony Christie the man who made Peter Kay famous!’, which was duly reported in the paper the next day!

Amarillo had been re-released in 2005 to raise money for Comic Relief and the single became the biggest seller of the year with seven weeks at number one.

At the same time the LP ‘The Definitive Collection’ charted at number one and Amarillo was the biggest selling download of the year.

Tony will be 80 later this month and I’m going to see him once more in Salford at the Lowry on May 19.

He was diagnosed with dementia in January and he has since become a keen advocate for the benefits of music for the condition.

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Sport is important to me and I think we have facilities on island of which we should be very proud.

During my 10 years as ‘Minister of Fun’ we got things done.

We have always had many people who are prepared to give their time and we worked with the Isle of Man Sports Council and others to put events on and complete the National Sports Centre.

We welcomed back the first Island Games of the new millennium, which was established by Geoff Corlett, Noel Cringle and others during the Year of Sport in 1985.

We also became the first small nation to host the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011. At that time I was Minister for Community Culture and Leisure.

We welcomed 69 Commonwealth nations and again the island shone with the enthusiasm of hundreds of volunteers and all those who played a part.

Also during my time we took over the Villa Marina from Douglas Corporation after partnership talks failed.

Looking back this was definitely the correct course of action as the funding became ‘all island’ rather than only being a burden on Douglas ratepayers.

Since retirement I have been invited to continue as president of St Mary’s AFC, a position I have held for many years.

It’s so good to see the team back in the league this year again and winning the Woods Cup against Castletown on Good Friday.

Another position of president I have is with the Manx Amateur Boxing Club, again something I’ve been involved with over an extended period.

It’s really good to see how enthusiastic and how hard the boxers train for their sport and the results of years of hard work by Peter Roberts junior and his team including his immediate family are certainly showing positive results.

I’m a vice president at Albany Lawn Tennis Club. Pat and Bryan Sharp, together with another hard working team, provide first-class facilities at Ballaughton and players have gone on to real success at the sport.

I was recently appointed as a director of Sporting Club Isle of Man, the parent body for FC Isle of Man and Cycling Club Isle of Man.

Both organisations are supporting young people in team sports and I’m looking forward to playing my part.

The Bowl is another facility of which we should be very proud.

A first-class all weather playing surface is often positively remarked upon by teams from the league who travel over to play.

This is exactly what we were hoping for when the project was developed.

Many supporters of football come alongside their teams to spend time on the island, which is a real bonus for the local economy and is very much welcomed.

It’s really nice to be involved with these various organisations who do so much in particular for young people.

We really do have so much to be proud of and good facilities and opportunities in sport and drama, music and the arts in our little island which compare very favourably with other jurisdictions.

Let’s do our best to make the most of them as part of our tourism infrastructure bringing in much needed income to the exchequer and we can continue to reinvest for our young people into the future in terms of training and facilities or travelling off island.