Listen to rare recording of Bede School band in 1977 as they perform If I Ruled The World and Colonel Bogey

Here is the Bede School orchestra playing If I Ruled The World and Colonel Bogey in 1977.

The recording comes to us courtesy of former band member Richard Geere whose mother Norah Harbord recorded it all.

We thank Richard for this wonderful reminder of a bygone era and it comes just weeks after we shared another extract from a Bede School show that year.

Back in January, we shared the band performing songs such as I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles and By The Light of the Silvery Moon complete with audience participation.

Richard told us: “We had a good band with many players representing the Sunderland youth and senior brass bands.”

Richard will be known to many Echo followers as he was also the accompanist and arranger to the Sunderland-based Rosslyn Babes’ from 1974 to 1980.

The Babes were part of the Wearside entertainment scene from the late 1940s, through the 1960s and 1970s and well into the 1980s.

We also have excerpts of the Rosslyn Babes in full flow during recordings made between 1969 and 1979 and our thanks go to Richard again for those.

We would love to hear from more people with audio or film footage from Sunderland’s past.

Do you have tapes which show Wearside’s heritage. It could be a look around the town, a school scene or film footage from a pub or nightclub.

Maybe you captured Sunderland’s industry on film or possibly a local sports scene. To share footage with us, email [email protected].

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