Rubbed shoulders with legendary celebrities
Date of news/blog: 8th May 2024Not many people can claim to have rubbed shoulders with legendary celebrities such as Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, and Frankie Vaughan.
Or Royalty such as Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh.
But not many people are like Pam Savva!
During her working life, Pam formed an amazing partnership with her husband George as nightclub managers within the entertainment industry.
The pair ran the 1,200-capacity Blazers nightclub in Windsor which hosted royal galas and attracted some of the biggest celebrity stars of the time. It was an era when big name comedians and singers could command fees of up to £10,000 a night and the club regularly saw big stars like Sir Cliff Richard performing there.
Pam and George became so ingrained within the entertainment world that the celebrities became their friends, such as Danny La Rue who used to fly them on his own personal page, and Sir Cliff.
In fact, Pam has a picture of her and George with Sir Cliff and Cilla Black at the singer’s Barbados mansion and they also accompanied him to Melbourne each year to watch the Australian Tennis Open.
Pam said: “We were once riding in a limousine with Cliff, and he told me to put my head out of the top of the window and when I did all I saw were thousands of screaming fans. That’s a wonderful memory!”
Her story of a meeting with Liberace is just as amazing.
She says: “He was a lovely man. He used to wear these lovely rings and he let me try them on, which was amazing.
“Years later, after he died, we visited the Liberace Museum in LA and the lady showing us around asked if we wanted to see his jewellery, I said yes because I have had them on my fingers. I don’t think she believed me!”
Pam recalls seeing Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas and falling asleep during his show, much to George’s shock.
“I met him and Dean Martin, in fact we tried to get Dean to come and play at our club in the UK but he asked for a private Concorde for 30 people, which scuppered that!”
Despite offers from agents and newspapers to ‘kiss and tell’ about their famous clientele, the Savvas never did, with Pam saying: “It was a very different time then and these people became our friends so why would we want to betray their trust?”
In 1987 they moved to Usk in Monmouthshire after being asked to work at the Halmaen, a small cabaret club which attracted major artists.
“We loved it so much that we ended up buying it,” says Pam.
The club’s name changed to Stardust and Pam and George were able to use their contacts to attract big names like Michael Barrymore, Lenny Henry and Frankie Vaughan and raising thousands for charity.
George sadly passed away in 2014 and Pam lived alone with the support of her children (she also has lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren)
In December 2023, she came down with a bad case of shingles, so she came to Foxhunters to receive care and support whilst she recovered.
She says: “This a lovely place and they have really looked after me and helped me to get better. They have done wonders for me.
“The service is so good, the food is amazing, the staff are all nice – it’s been well worth it to be looked after.”