ANDOVER’S former foremost DJ, Wally Brockhurst, has died at the age of 93.
Born on 7 August, 1921, in the East End of London, by the age of 14 the musical bug had already caught Wally as he taught himself to play the piano accordion.
A regular on old-fashioned outings or ‘beanos’, Wally used to accompany the revellers on their trips, playing the accordion on the way to and from their destinations.
Wally did his national service in the RAF on the mobile oxygen plant in the Middle East.
After the war Wally started DJing with Direct Sound in London, playing 78rpm records.
He moved with his family to the Andover area in 1967, where by day he was a maintenance engineer in Twinings, but by night he had set up Melody Universal having arranged an overdraft to invest in the equipment.
Entertaining all ages with his regular slots at clubs, birthdays, fetes and social events across the region, at one point Wally had five DJs going out on jobs every Saturday night.
He continued performing and working in engineering until he was nearly 80 years old.
In 2006 Wally was o f f i c i a l l y d i a g n o s e d w i t h Alzheimer’s disease and spent the rest of his life in care homes.
Wally passed away at Copper Beeches on Wednesday, 13 August.
A service will take place at 1pm on Friday, 29 August, at Salisbury Crematorium.
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