Black USAF Cultural Impact in Cambridgeshire

Ai-generated advert for a concert.

Content warning: This article quotes outdated language from newspaper articles. To read our glossary, which includes an explanation of these terms, click here.

The United States Air Force (USAF) were stationed in Alconbury and Molesworth in Cambridgeshire during the Cold War and we’ve traced their impact primarily through the British Newspaper Archive as well as Bishop Lynwal, Lady Orelene Williams and Del Singh’s oral history recordings. We’d encourage you to listen to these if you’d like to explore how people living in Cambridgeshire engaged with the cultural impact of Black US Airmen - click here to explore the oral history recordings. 

We weren’t able to find potential avenues to explore in Cambridgeshire Archives’ online database so we haven’t visited the records office for further research. 

Bishop and Lady Williams both moved from Jamaica to England in 1976 and 1968 respectively and met after they arrived. They moved to Cambridge after they were married in 1984 to allow Bishop Williams to take on pastoral responsibilities within the Pentecostal Apostolic church. They would both visit Lakenheath and Mildenhall airbases in Suffolk to share fellowship with the Black USAF personnel, who worshipped in a similar style. Bishop Williams discusses the influence of secular music coming in from America to the UK, including soul, R&B, soca, and jazz in his recording.

Del Singh’s oral history further underlines the impact of Black USAF personnel on the music scene in Cambridgeshire. As a young man, Del visited the Aquarius Club (also known as the AQ Club) on RAF Alconbury and he describes falling in love with Candy Staton, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and The Miracles amongst many others, as well as being impressed by the Black US Airmen. Del credits his time in the Aquarius Club with sparking his career in DJing and, eventually, leading to him opening The Park nightclub in Peterborough in 1999. 

Searching through the British Newspaper Archives turned up a small number of adverts for performances of the Soul Mates, The Four Premers (it’s unsure if this is a typo or the spelling of the band - we haven’t been able to find further articles to check this), and Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band between 1954 to 1993.

We found newspaper articles for Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band performing at The Dorothy (p2, Cambridge Daily News, 14 May 1969), Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (p27, Saffron Walden Weekly News, 2 February 1989), The Junction (p27, Cambridge Daily News, 8 July 1993), and The Boat Race (p15, Ely Town Crier, 18 November 1995).

The Soul Mates were a band formed by Lloyd Watson and friends from Peterborough. At a gig at RAF Alconbury, they were joined by Al Chisholm and Pee Wee Frye, who were Black US Airmen. This was such a success that Al and Pee Wee went on to join the band and they toured together in the late 1960s. You can read more about The Soul Mates here - https://theyplayedpeterborough.com/the-soul-mates/ 

We found a few examples of The Soul Mates touring Cambridgeshire, for example at Peterborough Technical College’s end of term dance (p6, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 30 June 1967), and at the Halcyon (p16, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 30 September 1966).

We know there will be many more stories of the impact of Black USAF personnel on Cambridgeshire so if you have a story, please get in touch! Click here to get in touch and share your story with us.