My Early Groups

My earliest memories have always been about wanting to play guitar. As a kid I remember trying to make one out of a piece of wood and a wooden box, the strings were bits of fishing line, not a great success. I eventually got a guitar after I started work, I was about 16yrs old, it was a Spanish style guitar with a neck as wide as a bus, still I thought I had the earth. I bought it out of the paper, Headquarters and General was the firm, I believe. My dad had to sign as guarantee, and I paid for it weekly by postal order. (under threat not to miss a payment). After several attempts to learn to play from the Bert Weedon Play in a Day Book, I finally gave up, and put it in a cupboard. It wasn’t until my younger brother Hugh started playing, that I took an interest again. Together we managed to learn a few chords and eventually a few songs.

I joined a local Scunthorpe group called the Jesters, my enthusiasm to play was not matched by my ability so I was given the job of rhythm guitarist. The equipment we used was unbelievable by today’s standards. The lead guitar, rhythm and vocals all went thru a 30watt valve amp, RSC I believe. The speaker cabinet was a kitchen table, turned on its side with 4x12” speakers and a curtain draped over it. The bass player, played thru a 15 watt Linear valve amp and I think a 15” speaker. The two mics we had, would give you a massive electric shock, if you were unlucky enough to touch them with your lips, while singing. We all had great respects for those mics. The setup was laughable, but most of the other groups, were in a similar situation, mainly no money, those were hard times. It was not unknown to find someone playing thru a tape recorder, using an ex wd set of earphones as a pickup for their guitar. I blew a Dansette record player up, by wiring an earphone to the stylus and playing guitar thru it. Happy days, but my girlfriend was not best pleased, she had to pay for it to be repaired.

We later progressed and bought better guitars and amps. The bass player bought a new Fender bass and I bought a Harmony guitar, the lead guitarist bought an Italian guitar, I don’t know the make. It seemed to be more plastic than wood, but it had a lovely action on it, and sounded great. Unfortunately the playing didn’t improve with the new gear, but we got thru, and were kept quite busy. Every pub and club had a live band on, most nights of the week. Most of the money we earned,(which wasn’t much), was spent on beer and transport. We would get back to Scunthorpe in the early hours of the morning, after playing somewhere in a Yorkshire club, followed with a midnight start at RAF Lindholme Sergeants Mess. There was a pub in Scunthorpe called The Queens, which catered for the nightshift steelworkers. It opened from 6am til 8am, we would often call there after a nights playing and drinking. It would be going full swing, singing, dancing, fighting etc. unbelievable.

The group eventually disbanded, and we went our separate ways, most of us forming or joining other groups. It was certainly an experience, but a very enjoyable one, and one I would not have missed. The Jesters consisted originally of Dave Churchman,bass Dereck Hodson Lead guitar,Johnny Goldthorpe Drums, myself on Rhythm guitar and Ian King vocalist. Ian eventually left to join Ian King and the Classics, my brother Hugh played rhythm guitar for the Classics. We then got Lennie Tombstone as Vocalist. John the drummer moved to Manchester so we then got Malcolm Hatton on drums. To finish of the lineup, we got Angela Tidswell as female vocalist. Lennie was later replaced with Jimmy Shield, who had the range to sing Roy Orbison songs. For a time we really were a showband, (although we didn't know it then), we had a male volalist, a female vocalist and most of the band sang and did vocal backing, with so many singers, we could cover a large spectrum of music.