My real Interest
NextBackI commenced work at the High Duty Alloys receiving a weekly wage of two pound seven shillings and sixpence. I kept ten shillings (about 50 pence in today's terms), and gave the remainder to my mother, but my real interest, which from which I was also able to supplement the ten shillings with band earnings, was as a member of the Clef Trio. We played Olde Time dance music mainly at sedate tea dances at neighbouring village halls and the bandleader Ted Styler was a barber, I believe from Headless Cross These occasions catered for Women's institutes and Mothers Unions and our audience was mainly 'The Blue Rinse Brigade who shuffled mechanically round the dance floor in pairs, their only energetic departure might be a listless stamping of the feet in the 'Saint Bernard Walts' releasing a cloud of cheap talcum powder and dandruff. On the plus side I was also included in Teds' so called, 'Modern Dance Ensemble', same trio, different repertoire playing at evening dances for the younger set. The three of us travelled to these gigs in style on his Royal Enfield motorbike and sidecar. I crammed my six foot frame into the sidecar with the snare drum and stands at my feet, the bass drum on my chest and Ted's Claviochord keyboard and music stands strapped to the sidecar door. Not only was I unable see forward but I was effectively trapped in this motorised coffin until released on arrival at the gig. However, securely cocooned in the sidecar I always emerged somewhat 'L' shaped but bone dry even in the worst weather.
