On The Road In The Seventies
I’ve been working on another set of chapters from my book which I will release soon. Here’s a little story from one of the chapters:
One of my favourite gigs was at Bellingham Town Hall. It seemed such an adventure to go so far and as a non-driver, it was always something of a mystery, out in the wilds of Northumberland. Ivan Birchall’s contracts stated the fee, arrival time, playing time and any other relevant stuff. The Bellingham contract had a special clause. They must have been stung by a non-arrival in the past, so it read – “Groups must telephone at 6 pm to confirm that they are on their way”. By 6 pm we were indeed on our way and coincidentally would be passing Hexham railway station at the time where, conveniently, on one side of the road there was a public phone booth and on the other side, even more conveniently, there was a public house. We made hasty use of the first convenience and somewhat more leisurely and liquid use of the latter. This ensured that we always arrived in Bellingham “ready to rock!” – and believe you me: we did! (Rock, that is.) The phone box is long gone but the pub is still there.
