Hootenanny, were probably the main get together and entertainment at Marville in the sixties.
Every Tuesday night, people would gather from Etain, Metz, Florenville and PMQ's. Some members from other Messes would sneak in to listen to some good music.
The performers were all local military airmen and some spouses. The MC's were Joe Haq and Terry.
There were great guitar players - Laurie Holgate and Larry Harris (deceased 6 June 1998). Larry also sang songs such as "Memphis" and "Yesterday" and he could sing any rock and roll song popular from the 50/60's. He was definitely the leader of the Hootenanny.
Drummers - Dick Haw and Ron Fulton. They beat those drums very well.
Giutars/singers - Neil Barraball (now Wood) was probably the best singer who ever performed at Marville. He could sing "Auchioneer" better than Leroy Van Dyck. His repertoire of songs was unbelievable. He could sure change the atmosphere at a party. Joe Szydlik wrote his own songs and performed the same very well. He was a great writer and singer. Stan MacIntyre sang "Labamba" with such accuracy and with a very positive approach. He also sang R&R songs. Hal Wiesner had this beautiful deep voice sound. He sang "Frogy" with a compassionate style. Larry Romard, was known as "Bachelor Boy", which he performed well and often. He also did some numbers from Buddy Holly's songs. Sid Stephens, sang folk songs. He had the voice to impersnnate multi singers. He was a member of the Halifax 4 prior to joining the RCAF. A marvellous singer. Ann and Bonita sang with a melo sound that would make one listen attentively. Ernie Sainsbury was a wonderful performer. He would add his own words in his songs. It was to make everyone laugh. Linda Shaw was a PMQ brat who had a strong voice and really sang great. Paul Hunter, could really play the trumpet. His own trumpet made from a hose and an oil filler. I don't know how he did it, but he sounded great.
There were performers from 437/OTU detachment such as Ernie Clark who did a splendid job with Buddy Holly's songs. Burt Jones sang some real "tear jerkers" and he had the voice to sing those songs. Ray Belanger played the bass. There were other performers like Willie The Cat - 135 (or was it 115) pounds of pulsating passion who would drive the crowd crazy. The odd individual would sometime get on the stage to tell stories or a joke.
Apologies if I missed someone, or I didn't give full credit where it was due to anyone.
Larry Romard
6 Stowgrass Cr.,
Stittsville, Ont.,
K2S 1Z9.
613 831-3428
Updated: November 3, 2004
