At the opening of this venue in 1956, Mayor Colin Taylor reacted most favourably to the enterprise, which owed so much to Charles Hunt and his wife and to Ethel Usher.

In his speech during the ceremony he said: "They have built a hall fit for any occasion that might happen in Banbury." His pride in the use of building materials bought locally inspired the comment: 'If you elect a beauty queen here certainly the ceiling will not fall in on her."

The Winter Gardens was built on garden ground linked to property that originally belonged to the Gazey family in 1851 but which was sold to the Watsons. In 1944 Frank Watson sold out to the Hunt/Usher family.
The new owners revamped the Wine Vaults in the High Street, which was originally Gazey's Wine and Spirit Vaults and additionally developed the Inn Within, which offered a range of snacks as a prelude to events and – in the days before the coming of the M40 with its service centre – travellers came in their droves for breakfast and lunch as the Winter Gardens.

When the garden ground was developed as the Winter Gardens the initial leisure focus was on indoor bowls. This choice of activity was conditioned by Charles Hunt's love of the game. However, it was not a financial success and diversification was clearly necessary. Dancing was part of the answer and in October 1956 the opening ball took place.

Superintendent Buckingham introduced the Hunts and Mrs Usher who then declared the Winter Gardens open. Ken Prewer played, Pat Husselbee (Miss Banbury) was in attendance and there was cabaret by the winners of the television programme 'Top Town' with Alan Course.

In its 150th anniversary supplement the Banbury Guardian noted that the town was described as the entertainment mecca of the South Midlands in the 1950s and 1960s.
This was due in no small measure to the Winter Gardens where, during the 'Swinging Sixties', Teddy Boys gathered – accompanied by girls in their beehive hair styles and dresses with many-layered stiff petticoats.

For them the attraction was a series of pop idols with their backing groups. Typical of these was Dave Berry supported by the Cruisers.
Teeny Boppers would go wild with delight and as one of them remarked "who wanted to dance when Dave was singing?". This was in mid-December 1964. The tempo stayed high for the New Year's Eve dance when, between 8pm and 12.30am, all eyes were on the Frenzies and the Teen Beats.

Many of those who were thrilled by Dave Berry would have remembered the visit in February 1963 of Tin Pan Alley's top liners Jet Harris and Jimmy Justice.
Jet was a fair-haired bass guitarist who had risen to fame with Cliff Richard and the Shadows. Hundreds of those in the hall stopped dancing and just listened.

As the Banbury Guardian quite rightly observed: "Jet had the fans in the palm of his hand right from the start."
Equally popular with their supporters were the local groups. Then there were the big private occasions such as the Banbury Farmers' Ball.

Sadly the weather was not always on its best behaviour for this start-of-the year event; 1962 was no exception but nevertheless 500 braved the conditions.
On one New Year's Eve event, just before midnight, 400 people burst out into High Street and did a conga up to and around the Cross.
Incredibly 700 folk returned to the Winter Gardens. Some 300 lacked tickets but the management were not worried – bar sales were boosted during the extended hours.

All types of music featured during any one year. This included strict tempo with such famous bands as those of Ted Heath, Joe Loss and Victor Sylvester.
Invariably there was good local support from the likes of Brownie Lay. Chris Barber and Acker Bilk with his Paramount Jazzmen illuminated jazz occasions. Such evenings apparently were good for whisky sales!

For non-music customers there was boxing and wrestling. Support came from near and far, especially for famous wrestlers such as Big Daddy and Giant Haystack, and of course Banbury's very own Jack Pallow, who got the crowd going.

Ethel Usher will forever be remembered as Banbury's impresario.
In 1982 she tried to find a new owner willing to don the mantle but in the end had to sell knowing that redevelopment was round the corner and Banbury lost an institution.
Fans were devastated when they saw Keith Wood's headline in the Banbury Guardian 'the fight to save Banbury's leisure centre has been lost'. How we miss it, especially at this time of the year.

A Happy New Year to all my readers.
I would welcome personal memories of this wonderful entertainment centre.