Memorial page to music legend Geoff Docherty as hopes of creating a permanent tribute continue to grow
Memorial page launched for Geoff Docherty
Plans to create a lasting tribute to music promoter Geoff Docherty are gathering pace in the North East.
A page has been set up on Facebook in tribute to the man who died aged 86 in March. It is is called The Geoff Docherty Memorial Page and has been launched to consider ways in which Geoff can be honoured in the future.
One of the page’s administrators Karen Banwell said its suggestions include organising memorial events, petitioning for a space about Geoff's life and work, and campaigning for a blue plaque on the site of the old Locarno Ballroom in Sunderland.
The music promoter had links to both Wearside and South Tyneside.
The page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1652616792442385/ and Karen said: “Geoff was responsible for promoting many gigs at both The Bay Hotel and Sunderland Locarno mainly around 1969 to 1971.
“He also managed several bands. He wrote two well received books about those days and his life.”
Geoff will forever be remembered as the man who brought Pink Floyd, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Tyrannosaurus Rex to Sunderland in the ’60s and ’70s.
He was also the manager of a band from South Shields called Beckett who he first heard playing at Annabel’s in Sunderland.
The Facebook page has been set up for people to post their own messages and memories about Geoff and also to discuss the growing hopes for a lasting tribute.
Geoff’s story is a wonderful one of success. He carved a niche for himself as a music promoter in the 1960s after seeing six years service in the Fleet Air Arm.
He became a club doorman before turning to music promotion, with the Bay Hotel, in South Bents.
Family were the first band Geoff booked to play at the Bay, on January 6, 1969, with tickets costing six shillings each. Then came Free a week later.
Tyrannosaurus Rex played at the Bay Hotel in June 1969 and at Sunderland’s Locarno ballroom in November of the same year.
People can find the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1652616792442385/ and can also share memories of Geoff by emailing [email protected]