So many of you have been enjoying our reminiscences in Looking Back over the last few weeks.

One particularly popular topic is that of the Steering Wheel Club in Dorchester - an offshoot of the club with the same name in Weymouth.

The Dorchester Steering Wheel was in High Street West and featured the likes of Billy Fury performing there.

Dave Johnston, former Dorset Echo employee and nostalgia fan, was keen that, after much waxing lyrical about bands that performed at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, we take a look back at the equivalent club in the county town.

He writes: "Weymouth's Steering Wheel Club was owned and run by Norman Cheeseman and Sam Fowler. It was such a well-run members' club in which each member was permitted to sign-in up to two guests.

"So popular and successful was the Weymouth club that a second Steering Wheel Club opened at Top o'Town in Dorchester -equally popular and highly successful.

"This was run by Sam Fowler while Norman concentrated on the original club in Weymouth.

"Eventually a casino operation was introduced into each club; I believe these were the first and only casinos at that time, prior to a stand-alone, unrelated casino and members' club opening on Weymouth's Lodmoor Hill at a later date."

Dorset Echo: Billy Fury, who performed at the Steering Wheel club in Dorchester Billy Fury, who performed at the Steering Wheel club in Dorchester

Information from the Dorset Echo archives tells us that as a nightclub the Steering Wheel in Dorchester became very popular with roulette and blackjack and regular live bands and groups.

At one time, a small light aircraft was suspended from the ceiling. The upstairs area housed a large bar and gaming tables.

Reader Tony Lyall also got in touch with and was keen for us to make clear of the sheer quality of musical acts that were on offer at the Steering Wheel in Dorchester.

He wrote: "Sam Fowler opened The Steering Wheel in Dorchester. This is where all the really famous bands appeared like Robert Palmer, Elkie Brooks, Hot Chocolate and many more; the wheel in Weymouth was never really known for the UK's top acts.

"We even had Ace when they were number one. Dorchester came to a standstill because the crowds were so large."

Ace, of course, with Paul Carrack as frontman, were known for their hit How Long - a song still widely played on the radio today.

Ace released three albums before breaking up. Carrack went on to work with Roxy Music, Squeeze, Roger Waters, Ringo Starr and, notably, the Genesis offshoot Mike + the Mechanics – he was their lead singer on the hits ‘The Living Years’ and ‘Over My Shoulder’. Carrack was also frequently seen onstage with Eric Clapton.

Carrack said he wrote ‘How Long’ when he lived “in a small flat with my girlfriend, who's still my wife now… I got the basic chord structure. I borrowed a Rebox tape recorder, but you actually bounce one track, left onto the right and you do a dub, and back again to the left. So you could overdub a couple or three things. To me, this was just magic. I must've come up with the chorus and put the harmonies on. Then my wife and I went to her mum’s… where we got one square meal of the week! This I do remember – I wrote the lyric on the bus going to my future mother-in-law's. I wrote it on the back of that bus ticket. That's my excuse for there only being one verse.”