Back in 1973 I was working in a local camera shop as a junior sales assistant, Padgett's Cameras, in Savile Street, Hull to be exact. One day, Bryan, the battery sales rep came in and asked if any of the guys in the shop could take some photos of this band he was in. They'd just got a weekend residency in a pub on a council estate and wanted some snaps of themselves on stage. Well, I wasn't doing anything particular that weekend, so I volunteered to take them. Friday night came, and I made my way to The Barham Hotel, on the Bilton Grange Estate. Camera loaded with film, and some fresh batteries in the flash gun. To be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed. Anyway, I took what I thought would be enough photographs, and like they say in the papers, made my appologies and left.

The following week, Bryan came in to the shop as usual, and I gave him the photos. He seemed happy enough with the results. " What did you think to us? ", he asked. " To be honest ", I said, "I thought you were crap! "

Bryan seemed a bit miffed by my somewhat candid retort. " In what way ", he asked. "Well, your organist plays too loud, and too fast. Your singer crucifies every song she sings, and you have got very little sense of rythmn for a drummer &quot. I didn't mean to be unkind, but he asked for my opinion, and that's how I felt. "Anything else? ", he wondered. " Yeah, your disco is terrible as well ", I replied, adding that I could have done far better myself. Having been so brutally honest, by now I was expecting Bryan to offer me outside, but to my surprise, he offered me a part-time job with them as a DJ there and then. I was flabbergasted. Anyway, I accepted his offer and so began my career in the entertainment world.

OUR VERY FIRST BUSINESS CARD

I started out working with the band - called " The Changing Scene ", basically filling in between their spots, and eventually took to working in tandem with them in a somewhat short-lived mobile disco venture, which we called " The Changing Scene's Record Roadshow." I say short-lived, because after a few months, there was a fall-out between the organist, and his girl-friend singer, which resulted in our being without a vocalist. Well, somehow I got roped in, and ended up learning a few songs, to help out, untill they could find a replacement. That's a bit of an understatement, because after nearly 18 years on the road, when we eventually decided to call it a day, we still hadn't got around to finding someone to officially take the poor girl's place!

Thus far, we had took what work we could get, usually in pubs around the Hull area, as a result of knocking on doors, and word of mouth. Laurie worked in a local music shop, and came into contact with people in the business. We realised that if we were going to break into the local club circuit, we'd have to adopt a rather different approach. There would have to be agents, and there was this rather stange organisation in Hull called the V.A.A. which seemed have some sort of control over virtually every club and artiste in the area. The clubs could only employ V.A.A members, unless it was an out of town act, and as a local act, we had to take an audition, and be accepted as members, before any concert secretaries could book us! As new comers, we couldn't help but wonder how such an organisation could have evolved, and how it could justify it's stranglehold, but as they say - if you can't beat 'em - join 'em. So we applied to audition, and set about working out a routine to fit it the 15 minutes we were given. As you can see, from this press cutting, we managed to get through the audition, and before we knew it, the agents and concert secretaries were 'phoning up to book us, and I guess, by then, we didn't really know what had hit us. Our first club booking was at the Buckingham Street Social Club, just off the Holderness Road. In those days it was common place for clubs to have two acts on the bill, together with a resident compere, organist and drummer. And if you were not in the club by 7.00pm, you'd be lucky to get a seat. Many a night would see the members queueing at the doors to get in before 7.00pm - How things have changed.

OUR VERY FIRST PRESS REVIEW

OUR SECOND BUSINESS CARD STAR & GARTER - RAYNERS Hessle Rd

Our support act on that debut night at the Buckingham was none other that Hull's own Joe Longthorne. Joe went on to find international fame as a cabaret artiste, appearing on TV, releasing records, and playing to enthusiastic audiences around the world. I wonder if he remembers that rainy night back in 1974 when we first met at the Buckingham Street Social Club. To suplement our club work, which was mainly Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, we worked in residence at a well known pub on Hull's Hessle Road for several years. The Star & Garter, or Rayners as it was known locally. Joe would pop in from time to time, to catch up with family and friends who were regulars there. Invariably Joe would end up on stage with us as a volunteer. We had some great jam sessions back then. Happy days . . .

Some of our comedy routines involved organist Laurie doing some crazy impersonations: Jimmy Durante (The Lost Chord), Rolf Harris (Jake The Peg), Charles Penrose (The Laughing Policeman), and the unforgettable Mrs Mills, and her exploding piano! I would be " the straight-man " for some of these impromtu routines. Bryan, and later Mike, did Tommy Cooper, and Frank Spencer routines. Bryan also was in charge of Charlie with whom he developed a ventriloquist routine. I, for my sins, (and I still don't know how they talked me into it), donned a frock, to bring life to "Miss Virginia Lost-Titt" - seen on our photo-card on the right here. Virginia was basically my own creation, a bit of an old slapper really, a dizzy old bat in the twilight of her life. Much of Virginia was inspired by the late Lee Sutton, a well known drag-artiste, and the camp dialogue of Jules & Sandy (Kenneth Willams & Hugh Paddick of Round The Horne fame). I did some mime routines too, at venues where we judged that perhaps Virginia would be considered to near the knuckle. (She WAS very bold, but never blue). I learned very early the importance of "reading your audience," and so had a repetoire of quick change mime routines to fall back on. These included impersonations of Dorothy Squires, (Your Flowers Arrived Too Late), Millie, (My Boy Lollipop), and Susan Maughan, (Bobby's Girl). These would be slotted in between what the other guys were doing. It was great fun, but bloody hard work!

CHANGING SCENE 8x10 PHOTO-CARD

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