TAKING a bow in the Memory Lane spotlight this week is a prime mover on the Worcester entertainment and pop scene for two decades from the Swinging Sixties.

He's Walter Exall of The Limes, Kempsey, who was in partnership with perhaps the area's best-known musician, Muff Murfin between 1968 and 1986.

Their Worcester Music Centre was first in the basement area of Russell & Dorrell's High Street departmental store before moving to a shop in Bull Entry.

Walter and Muff not only sold instruments and other essentials to local musicians and groups but also manufactured electrical items such as disco decks and disco lighting.

And perhaps even more importantly, they ran an entertainments agency, arranging bookings for aspiring pop groups, DJs and the like from over a wide area.

Muff Murfin has for a long time enjoyed national and international renown as a record producer, and he now runs the Classic Gold radio station.

My look today into Walter Exall's career was sparked by a recent letter I received from him in the wake of a Memory Lane article abouit former Worcester Mayor, H.J (Bert) Evans, who is approaching his 100th birthday.

Walter, who came with his parents to live in Worcester at the age of eight, and after leaving Samuel Southall School in 1940, went to work for Bert Evans at his County Magneto wireless and electrical shop in Sidbury.

"I started there as a young lad of 14 at a weekly wage of two shillings and sixpence. My first task was to put on charge the many batteries brought in by customers for charging, and I eventually rose to be County Magneto's service manager. Bert Evans was a most considerate employer who would never ask you to do a job he would not tackle himself," stressed Walter.

And it was during his time at County Magneto that Walter first started bringing entertainment to Worcester homes.

"I spent many a day on the roofs of Worcester installing aerials for the new entertainment - television! That was from the late 1940s."

When Bert Evans sold off his County Magneto business to Allways Electric Ltd in 1964, Walter remained with the new owners and became one of their directors. Allways later acquired the music shop of Ronald Wilson in Broad Street and subsequently transferred this arm of the business to the basement area of Russell & Dorrell.

In 1968, Walter bought this particular operation from Always Electric and set up in business with Muff as the Worcester Music Centre, remaining at this High Street location until 1973.

Walter and Muff then moved to premises in Bull Entry, and their successful partnership continued there until 1986, when the shop closed with the approach of the CrownGate redevelopment.

"There was always a happy atmosphere in our business, and we had a great time meeting pop stars and local and nationally famous musicians and groups who were regular visitors to the Worcester Music Centre," recalls Walter, who was himself a pianist and organist. "Muff and I managed several pop groups and DJs and travelled all over the country on assignments for our entertainments agency."

My Evening News colleague Mike Pryce was a member of the Renegades pop group back then and remembers Wally arranging some of their bookings.

"He was a prime mover on the local pop and entertainments scene in those days," says Mike.

With the closure of their Bull Entry business, Muff continued to expand his operations as a record producer at The Old Smithy in Kempsey, while Walter Exall set up his own painting and decorating business, also in Kempsey, which he ran successfully for about six years.