Illustration: The round window at Wallsend Grammar School)

Lower Sixth at Wallsend Grammar, was when school suddenly became a cool place to be, and so much more enjoyable. Our GCE exams were now behind us, and students now only needed to study three subjects, as opposed to eight, which meant we all had far less revision to do, in terms of quantity, for our A levels. It also meant we got to choose which subjects we wanted to study further.

I chose Art, Craft and Design, as well as English literature, my favourite subjects at the time.

The pressure was off.

It was also when I my interest in music grew and developed.

Just before the summer break, I had already begun attending a weekly folk workshop, right up in the rafters at Wallsend Grammar School, in what was the old upstairs Art room.( You can see in the illustration, a large round upper window, where this room was situated.) To gain admission to this folk club, you had to be able to play an instrument.

A friend called Stu Luckley had spoken up for me and informed the teacher who led it that I could sing, so I was admitted, after all the voice is an instrument too!

Several musicians already honed their skills here, and made quite a name for themselves later on in life, once they left school. It was a joy to listen to them, they were so talented.

Alistair Anderson who was about to leave school was one, and is now internationally recognized as master of the English Concertina and a fine performer on the Northumbrian Pipes: Stu Luckley is an established performer on today’s folk scene, who  later performed with groups, Hedgehog Pie and the Doonans; and he.recorded several albums with Bob Fox. Dave and Titch Richardson were very talented musicians too.

Miss McNaughton, the teacher who ran this workshop, deserves a mention as she kindly gave up her lunch period one day each week, to encourage pupils with skills in music, and to support them, which is why I mention her name.

One day while working in the pottery section of the downstairs Art room, I heard the voice of Joan Baez singing the song, ‘Plaisir d’ Amour’ on the radio.(Having a radio playing in the background as we worked, was one of the perks of being in sixth form.)

One single guitar was the only instrument she used, she didn’t need a whole orchestra. In that very moment, I knew immediately what I wanted for a Christmas present that year.

My parents gave me some money to go and buy the guitar, for I’d seen one in a shop window in Wallsend. It cost eight pounds and ten shillings, which was a lot of money then, and I was so delighted to own one.

So now that I had a guitar as well, I began to ask Stu to teach me a few chords during our music sessions. He copied one or two down each week on a piece of paper, and demonstrated them. Then I would sit just outside of the room, in a darkened passageway, and practice.

I would place my left hand on my head, then see how long it took me to place my fingers quickly down correctly on each chord. Four seconds . . . three seconds . . . two seconds . . then straight on. I learned all my chords like that. Then I progressed to finger picking styles, but trying to do the two at once, change chords and finger picking, is rather like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the very same time.

It was quite hard at first to coordinate the two, but ‘practice makes perfect’, so they say.

I got there in the end, so thank you Stu for taking time to teach me, because singing with my guitar became an important part of my life.

And so began my love of folk songs, such as The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, Donna Donna, The Streets of London and also popular songs of the day.

This led to occasional visits to the Bay Folk club in Cullercoats, with friends, where a whole variety of excellent musicians performed; some famous ones too!

I can clearly remember one, a one-man band ‘busker’ called Don Partridge singing ‘Rosie’ and other songs, dressed in a snakeskin jacket.

Clouds of cigarette smoke would slowly descend from the ceiling and wrap around us, as the evening progressed, making our eyes sore by the end of the night.

I must at this point mention other local musicians I’ve known and admired, in my life, lest I forget to pay tribute to them, as I move on with my story. Each of them has been an inspiration to me over the years, either accompanying me, or recording for (or with) me, advising me and inspiring me:

Ken Hawker, Les Watts, Dave McCrae, Andrew Ridgwick, Marie Little, Garth & Sheila Hodgson, Steve and Cath Metcalf, Prelude, Pete Scott, Rose Nixon and of course every single member of the group United Folk. (a Christian Folk group which I’ll be mentioning later on.)

In my final year at school, in Upper Sixth, I was honoured to be voted in again by fellow pupils, as house captain for the second year running.

I was so proud to wear my red sash, and also the prefect’s red and yellow criss-cross sash too. I looked out for younger pupils who might try to pull similar stunts of tying them both in knots, like Watty and I used to do!

Our duties, as house captains, were minimal really. We had to organise the selection of pupils for sporting events, and if no-one had volunteered, it would be our role to persuade pupils to participate, usually by telling them that they would be letting the house down, if they didn’t step up to the mark. Even if someone came last, they got one point for their house, simply just for turning up and taking part!

Now we were the ones standing tall at the balcony rail in assemblies, looking down on younger pupils. It was such a bonus too, to find that staff throughout the school, were a lot friendlier and more jovial too.

Time went quickly in those two ‘sixth years’, probably because I enjoyed them so very much. But the best was still to come; a holiday away for school leavers, at a place in Northumberland, called Bellingham.