Liverpool Beat

Hi Guys, thanks for picking up Arty’s Merseypedia. It takes an inordinate amount of work and dedication to assemble such a huge archive of 60’s Merseyside group memorabilia and I want to extend my thanks to you for jumping in and saving it for posterity! ......

I know this has been said elsewhere but The Beatles did not create the Mersey sound, it created them. Certainly, they were the most famous of the groups to emerge from that era but there were so many more groups that contributed to the 1960’s Mersey Scene and it’s sad that such a great era of musical history will likely only be documented for future generations by the multitude of books that have been written about The Beatles. ...... “The Abstracts” were together for almost 6 years so we got to play a lot of places and share the stage with many of the really great Liverpool groups and I hope that they will never be forgotten. ...... It's a fact that the majority of 60’s era Merseyside groups were more interested in playing music, entertaining the audience and having a good time rather than promoting their abilities and that certainly was the case with us as we were in it for the fun not the money! ...... Thanks to everyone responsible for this website, keep up the good work, and warm regards to all that visit this 60’s Merseyside treasure trove! ...... Dave (Mac) McClure ~ Rhythm Guitarist for “The Abstracts” 

We are trying to locate the two guys above for a 45 year reunion in 2010, if any one knows their whereabouts please have them contact us through the blog on our website at http://www.The-Abstracts.com. Del Robinson (Robertson?) is on the left and John Liptrot on the right. Don’t forget that these are 1960’s photos so they may have changed a little! Del was a drummer and a keen football player and his last believed location was somewhere in the Ormskirk area, John was a roadie for the group, we have totally lost touch with both of them and would really appreciate any help we can get in making contact again.

UPDATE: As of July 2010 we have been able to locate both of the missing persons we were searching for. We owe a huge thanks to Arty Davies (via this website), Radio Merseyside and Allan Devon of Solomon's Mines for the help they provided, thanks a million guys!

have a boatload of stuff about "The Abstracts" that includes advertising and articles from the Liverpool Echo, Crosby Herald and other smaller local newspapers. Obviously, they were collected as part of "The Abstracts" memorabilia but they include many other Liverpool groups. If you want copies of them to post on the site let me know. 

Dave (Mac) McClure

by Dave Mac » Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:42 pm

Hi Lynnie,
Love to be able to visist "Merseycats" but it's just too much of a drive from San Antonio, Texas! I can email the stuff to you as PDF's if you can provide me with an email address. Unfortunately, all of the memorabilia has been compiled into pages for the upcoming book on "The Abstracts" and I really don't want to hog this area by posting those pages, as there are about 20 of them! Fortunately, those "image" pages will also be posted on our website http://www.The-Abstracts.com under "Gigs & Venues" and you have my permission to lift them from the site and use watever you want. However, as the book is a work in progress not all of the pages are posted yet, but I will advise as we add them. We do still have 3 of our members living in the UK all are very close to Liverpool and I will email them the information on Merseycats as I am almost certain that they are not aware of it. 
Dave (Mac) McClure