ALDBOURNE BAND HERITAGE PROJECT TRANSCRIPTION
CYRIL BARRETT BY JANET ROE
JANET: Okay, recording Cyril Barrett’s memories. So…
CYRIL: Okay?
JANET: Yep. When did you start playing an instrument, then?
CYRIL: I started to learn the tenor horn 1936. And the…Bob Barnes, who was solo horn player at the time, he taught me. Now 1937 I joined the band.
JANET: So were you just having lessons?
CYRIL: Lessons with Bob Barnes, that’s right.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then 1937 I went into the band playing second horn. And, uh…
JANET: And who was the conductor at that point?
CYRIL: It was…well we used to have a professional man down from London whose name was Fred Dimmock.
JANET: Oh right, yeah. I’ve heard about him, yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah. But a local man was, at that time, Arthur Palmer, who was also a bellringer!
JANET: Mmm?
CYRIL: Yeah. And, uh, that year was, uh, the national finals were held at the Alexandra Palace that year…
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: …because the year before the Crystal Palace was burnt down.
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: And we went – that was my first contest.
JANET: Wow!
CYRIL: Bottom section, you know, at Alexandra Palace. And I remember the music we were playing – Royal Water Music.
JANET: What, Handel?
CYRIL: Handel’s Royal Water Music, yes. And then in 1938 we went again. I forget what we played there but…didn’t do anything but it was quite an experienced, really.
JANET: So what size contest would it have been? How many bands would there have been?
CYRIL: Oh, I expect there was twenty in a section.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: But there was the…all the finals. The main one, you know, the Championship final as well. They were all held at Alexandra Palace on that day, yeah.
JANET: Right. So were there bands from all over the country?
CYRIL: From all over the country, yep.
JANET: Oh wow.
CYRIL: That’s right, yep. Oh yeah, just the same as it is now, yep.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Oh, exactly the same.
JANET: And did the band stop during the war?
CYRIL: Oh yeah, I was going to come to that, yeah.
JANET: I’ll shut up! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: It’s alright, no. 1938 we went again, as I said, and of course there’s no motorways…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …it wasn’t posh coaches as it is today. An old charabanc about 35, 40 mile an hour. You used to start very early in the morning and get back very early the next morning. Yeah. And then 1939 we were rehearsing to go again when war broke out. And of course that put paid to banding. The rehearsal hall that we had then – rehearsal rooms – was on West Street. You know the pub around there?
JANET: No.
CYRIL: In the middle of the road, more or less? There’s a building opposite. It’s called The Band Room now.
JANET: Oh right.
CYRIL: Yeah. It was a garage underneath and a room at the top.
JANET: I can remember when it was a garage. On the corner.
CYRIL: Uh…well just past there, yes.
JANET: Oh, I know. I know where you’re talking.
CYRIL: Yeah? So of course we had to get out because the army took over. We had to get all the equipment out and there was a Queen Victoria pub just a few blocks away, and the landlord, he let us put all our stuff in there because he had a skittle alley and a room on the top, and he let us put all our equipment up there during the war.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Which was very good.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Then of course a lot of the players were in the Territorial Army and they went on the Friday night as war was declared on the Sunday, you see.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then after the war they started up again, I think it was about 1946. I wasn’t here then – I was still out in Germany in the forces.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: And a Mr Wilf Jerram and my brother Eric, who was the secretary, they both got the band going again. And they got on quite well, apparently.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then…when I was out in Germany I still…this was just after the war, because there was no shops, no cafés, no nothing – it was all smashed to pieces, the place was where we were, and all over…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And we used to go down the Salvation Army on a Sunday night – they always held a little service – they had some instruments and about six of us used to play.
JANET: Oh wow.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: So were you still on horn?
CYRIL: Still on the horn, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Then when I came out – 1947 – I got back in the band but didn’t get on the tenor horn because it was completed, so he put me on third cornet. I didn’t get on very well with the cornet.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then I was on…put on the baritone – second baritone. I was on there for quite a few years. And then I went onto the E-flat bass.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: And, well I finished my playing days on that.
JANET: And when did you finish playing?
CYRIL: Oh, about ’86.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Round about then. What I was going to say is, before the war…after the war, there were a lot of open-air contests in them days.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Like there was Cirencester, which was a big carnival down there and big shows and everything. We always used to go there. And all the Gloucestershire bands from the Forest of Dean and so forth were there. Quite a good contest it was, really.
JANET: Mmm. Whereabouts? In the actual park?
CYRIL: In the park.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah. And then Minchinhampton, at the common there.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: There used to be a contest. And Stroud. And one year we went to Cirencester…[LAUGHING]…Minchinhampton, I mean. We won first prize and I was driving the coach that day.
JANET: Was this Barnes? So did you work for Barnes?
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: Oh, right.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. And well, the bus got loaded up and they said, ‘Everybody’s here – let’s get going,’ ‘cause we always got back to Cricklade, go in the club there for a few drinks or get some fish and chips and that. We was just getting back into Cricklade, somebody piped up and said, ‘Eric’s not on the bus!’ That was my brother the Secretary! Well it wasn’t my responsibility. So about five minutes after we got there, a taxi turned up and Eric was in it. Oh, he was fuming! [LAUGHING]
JANET: What did he play? What instrument did he play?
CYRIL: He played a B-flat bass.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Oh dear, oh dear. Still, it was a bit of a laugh.
[LAUGHING]
CYRIL: No, I had four brothers in the band at different fimes, you know?
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah. One on soprano, one on E-flat bass, and as I say, my brother on the B-flat bass, yeah. And, uh, we used to do the parks in the summer too in the end. Swindon Town Gardens…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …Bath…
JANET: UNCLEAR [0:08:46.1] Gardens?
CYRIL: …and Gloucester.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: That, you know, was Sunday.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Not every Sunday.
JANET: No, no. Mmm.
CYRIL: And…well that was alright, but…[LAUGHING]… my wife didn’t much appreciate every Sunday! [LAUGHING]
JANET: No.
CYRIL: But still, it was quite interesting! [LAUGHING] Yeah.
JANET: So how many conductors did you play under, then?
CYRIL: Well, there was Wilf Jerram, Joe Alder, who used to take the Great Western…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …Bob Barnes, Don Keene, and then the different professionals, like Fred Dimmock, Bill Scholes, George Crossland and…oh, Eric Ball.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: We played with Eric Ball at Belle Vue in the third section.
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: In the final, and we played Indian Summer, which was Eric Ball’s…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Well, he conducted us. We didn’t get anywhere and then the adjudicator said afterwards, ‘I’m sure the composer would not like this to have been played as fast as this!’
JANET: [LAUGHING] Oh!
CYRIL: Now I ask you! [LAUGHING] And I remember once we did a concert in the Civic Hall at Swindon and Eric Ball was a guest there that weekend, and we were asked to go and put a programme on there.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Yeah, that was quite interesting, yeah.
JANET: And have you done any continental trips with the band? Did you go abroad?
CYRIL: I didn’t go abroad with the band, no. No.
JANET: Have they done trips abroad?
CYRIL: They went to one, yeah. They went to Holland, yes.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: I had to miss that one, yes.
JANET: Mmm, mmm.
CYRIL: Otherwise…well at the time it was…my wife’s mother was living with us and…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …things was a bit awkward just then…
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: …so that was that. But oh no, we travelled about quite a lot. Brighton…uh…
JANET: Did you do London parks as well?
CYRIL: Yes, St James’s Park.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Yep.
JANET: Okay.
CYRIL: Yes. And…my train of thought’s gone.
JANET: Sorry, I’ll shut up!
CYRIL: No! [LAUGHING] Uh…when Ian Comley was taking the young ones, I used to go along and help him.
JANET: Oh right.
CYRIL: Yeah. I played with them then. The same as…
JANET: Like Pete does now.
CYRIL: …like they’re doing now, yeah.
JANET: Are you going to come back?
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: You could come and join us!
CYRIL: Well…!
JANET: We could do with a B-flat bass! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Well I haven’t got it now – that’s the trouble.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Although one of the…yeah…yeah.
JANET: So you must have had some stories about some of the escapades you got up to on trips. ‘Cause I’ve heard a few! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: [LAUGHING] Ah!
JANET: And your name was mentioned sometimes!
CYRIL: Was it?! [LAUGHING] Yeah.
JANET: ‘Cause were you all a similar age or was it lots of older guys?
CYRIL: Oh yeah, well like Harry. He’s two years younger than me, I know, but roundabout, yeah.
JANET: [LAUGHING] And Pete. And Don.
CYRIL: Don. Don Green, yeah.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. I got to know Don quite well. Yep. Well, his family – wife and the two children – they used to come out to us quite a lot, you know?
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And we’d go down there, and the same with Jesse Jones.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Jesse – he was a character, he was.
JANET: Oh yes, I know Jesse!
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: So what professional conductors have you played under that really impressed you?
CYRIL: Well…Bill Scholls [0:13:32.4], really. He was good. He was as ex-Salvation Army man and he used to conduct Rushton Temperance.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Who were a Championship band.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. He was a good teacher. He was a very nice fella too, you know?
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: You could speak to him.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Whereas some of them, I mean…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …they don’t want to know you you, as you might say.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Oh yes. I should say he was the one that impressed me most, you know?
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: To get on with, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. Very good. But Fred Dimmock – that was before the war – he was, he used to take London Band, Enfield Central…
JANET: Yep.
CYRIL: …and UNCLEAR [0:14:21.4] Senior Band. He was quite a good musician, yeah. Very good. Although he was only twenty, thirty years of age then.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah, and…yes. Uh.
JANET: So you never wanted to play with another band?
CYRIL: Not particularly, no.
JANET: No? ‘Cause it was part of the village? Have you always…
CYRIL: Yes, that’s how it was years ago.
JANET: Yeah. And you weren’t going to have the facility to travel, really, were you, so easily?
CYRIL: No. Well, we had nothing to travel with then.
JANET: No, no.
CYRIL: Oh no. Oh, it’s changed considerably now…
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: …to what it was then.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: I mean, it was all local then.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: I mean, there was the Barretts, the Barneses, the Palmers, the Jerrams…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …they made up the band.
JANET: Yeah. And the Barretts.
CYRIL: Yeah. Yeah.
JANET: [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Oh yeah.
JANET: So is that Arthur Palmer, as in Graham’s dad? Or his father?
CYRIL: No. Different family.
JANET: Different. Oh right.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: Was that…
CYRIL: Graham’s father, Arthur, yeah, he was a euphonium player.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: A good player too.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: This Arthur – Arthur Palmer – he had…his brothers played as well, which was Herbie Palmer (he was a trombone), his brother…Bill, yeah Bill, he played the bass trombone. His other brother, Jim, played the baritone. Yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And Arthur, as I said, used to conduct, but he played the cornet as well. Yeah. That’s how it was them days.
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: So what was your profession? What was your job in the day?
CYRIL: I was coach driving.
JANET: So you did that…did you always do coach driving?
CYRIL: Yeah. When I came out the forces, ’47…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …I went to Barnes’s.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: I stayed there ‘til I retired in ’89.
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: So you could fit band practice around your job quite…
CYRIL: Well more or less, yeah. Sometimes I couldn’t make it.
JANET: But the boss was amenable to it?
CYRIL: Oh yeah. Well Bob…and his father was
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: …a keen bandsman and always played in a band, see. And then his brother Jim played in a band. Yeah, yeah.
JANET: I can just remember Bob. He used to come and conduct at Ramsbury sometimes and help us out.
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah, that’s right. But no, I…I…well a coach driver, you know. Went everywhere.
JANET: So did you always drive when the band went somewhere?
CYRIL: Yeah. I always used to drive the band, yeah.
JANET: So did you have to do all the loading of the instruments as well?
CYRIL: Oh yeah.
JANET: [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: All the work! Yeah. Oh yeah, so we went to Belle Vue, see?
JANET: It’s a bit of a trek, isn’t it?
CYRIL: Yeah. We drove up there on the Friday afternoon.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Spent the night at the hotel and then onto Belle Vue and did the contest. And then drove back at night, yes.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. Well I was alright in them days.
JANET: So how many years did you play in the band?
CYRIL: Uh…as I say, I joined in ’37 and about ’86 when I retired, I think it was round about.
JANET: A long time!
CYRIL: Yeah, a long time.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: [LAUGHING] Yeah, I never had a break from it.
JANET: No.
CYRIL: No, no. I know I didn’t get to every rehearsal because of work but…
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: …mainly I did, yeah.
JANET: And do you remember any events in the village that the band played at that were memorable?
CYRIL: Oh yes. We used to have…a festival every ten year. I think the very first one was a Victorian one and had to dress up, you know, what they wore in them days.
JANET: [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Yeah, two or three of those we did.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And they were quite good. Yeah. Well organised and…
JANET: Yeah?
CYRIL: Oh yeah.
JANET: And carnivals and things – were they as well?
CYRIL: Carnivals, always down in the carnival. And you know the Rectory? Well, the old manor house down here? Opposite the pond, actually?
JANET: I probably do.
CYRIL: Iron gates there and the house that sits back?
JANET: Right, yeah.
CYRIL: At the back of there used to be a lovely place and we used to play there, give a concert in there with the WI choir and it was quite good – get a lot of people there. And we always did a concert in there with Kennett Vale Band.
JANET: Right. And so were you part…did you ever go up the church tower at Christmas?
CYRIL: Oh yeah!
JANET: So when did that tradition start?
CYRIL: That started…it was after the war. Oh, I suppose…from the 50s, I would imagine.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah.
JANET: [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Well how that all started, carolling on Christmas morning, years and years ago the bell ringers used to start ringing at six o-clock in the morning, you see?
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And most bell ringers belonged in the band in those days, so that’s why they decided to start at four o’clock in the morning, and the bells would then be able to start at six.
JANET: [LAUGHING] So can anyone hear you if you’re playing in the tower?
CYRIL: Oh yeah.
JANET: You can?
CYRIL: You can hear it all over the village.
JANET: Can you?
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah.
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: Yeah, it’s amazing.
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: I suppose it’s going above all the…
CYRIL: Well that’s right, yeah.
JANET: Oh wow.
CYRIL: Crazy but…
JANET: It’s a nice tradition but I don’t think I’d like to do it! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Oh yeah. No, it was good fun it was, years ago, carolling, because, I mean, you’ve got all the traffic today and it’s very dodgy.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: In them days there was no traffic as you might say, and it was all alright. I mean, you could play in the street and we used to have a lamp, a Tilley lamp on a pole…
JANET: [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: …and you could stand in the street and play all night, you see?
JANET: Mmm, yeah.
CYRIL: Whereas now you’re half-afraid to stop in the street.
JANET: Mmm, mmm.
CYRIL: Yeah. Oh yeah, it was…[LAUGHING] good fun. Yeah.
JANET: So when you were in the band, who were you sort of pally with? Who was your little crew?
CYRIL: Well there was Gerald Jerram.
JANET: Now is that Barney’s grandad?
CYRIL: Yeah, it would be. That’s right, yeah. He’s dead now, but yeah.
JANET: Was it grandad or great-grandad?
CYRIL: Uh…
JANET: No, it must be his great-grandad.
CYRIL: Great-grandad.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah, there was him. And then there was Jim Barnes. Luke’s grandad.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: And…well Bob Barnes, of course. And then later on, well, Don Green, John Chesterman and John Harman and all them. Yeah. Oh yeah.
JANET: Does John Chesterman still play?
CYRIL: I think he still plays in Wroughton.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: I think he does.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: Oh right. Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. Well John and his wife used to come out to us as well and, you know…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …it was quite right.
JANET: And, um…so the band room before the war was in West Street.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: Where was it after the war? Where did you…
CYRIL: After the war they first started off in Lottage Road Chapel.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: The Sunday School there. Started off there and then about 1950-ish, I suppose, or a bit before that, where the Rectory is there used to be stables and outbuildings and so forth there, there was a good tack room there – a lovely building.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And this woman who owned it then, she offered it to us.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: So we rehearsed there, oh, quite a few years. And then she sold up so we had to get out of there.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then we went into a little room just in the bottom of the road. If you get to the end of this road, turn right, there used to be a little building on the right called the Church Restroom. But it was a cold, damp old place. We was in there for quite a while. And then I think it was about 19…oh, some time in the 50s anyhow, I was on the Hall Committee then, representing the band at that time, and we used to have a cinema show every Tuesday and Friday in the Memorial Hall, and the hall wasn’t being used a lot in them days, and they packed up and the Hall Committee asked if we’d like to take it on the same terms – Tuesday and Friday.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Which we did.
JANET: So your band practice nights come out of taking over from a cinema night?
CYRIL: That’s right, yeah.
JANET: [LAUGHING] Oh, that’s interesting to know, isn’t it?
CYRIL: That’s how that worked out, yeah.
JANET: And have you…has there always been the idea of paying subs? Is that something you’ve done right from the beginning? Paid to belong to the band?
CYRIL: Sorry?
JANET: Has the band always had subs? You know, pay to belong to the band?
CYRIL: No, we didn’t.
JANET: Is that a sort of more recent thing?
CYRIL: Yeah, it is. Since I’ve finished.
JANET: [surprised] Right.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: So how did the band fund…did it not pay conductors before then?
CYRIL: No. Only professional.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah, that’s the only ones we paid.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Well we never had any money then. [LAUGHING] No. I mean, it’s totally different now, I know.
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: But I was Treasurer for several years and, uh, we used to run on a shoestring.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Now every Christmas we used to run a whist drive. And we’d have 50 tables, four at a table – a bit whist drive, it was.
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: And, uh, got some very good prizes, you know, we used to go around different shops and butchers and so forth and make a few…two or three hundred pound on that.
JANET: We should do that again!
CYRIL: Yes! [LAUGHING] You wouldn’t get it now.
JANET: No, there’s probably not so many people play.
CYRIL: No, no. There used to be about…three big whist drives here at Christmas. Ours was the biggest, but…
JANET: Wow.
CYRIL: Yep, yeah. Yeah, I seen to that for quite a few year when we were Treasurer.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And then the highlight of my career was I was Chairman at the time then…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …1981. And we won the West of England.
JANET: Ah.
CYRIL: Down at the Colston Hall in Brisol then.
JANET: Yep.
CYRIL: And then we went to the Best of Brass on BBC2 television.
JANET: On TV. Yes, I remember that, yeah. That was when Don was conducting, was it?
CYRIL: Don was conducting. And then we got ready for the Albert Hall…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …which was quite an experience.
JANET: What was the test piece?
CYRIL: Blitz. It was a blitz too! [LAUGHING]
JANET: I remember that one! [LAUGHING] Yeah.
CYRIL: I shall never forget that morning. I wouldn’t drive it now. We must have driven up. We went to Paddington Station and rehearsed there in a room. Jesse organised that, see.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: We’d just started and the phone rang…[LAUGHING]…we had to get back ‘cause we were on early, so it was a big rush! Quite an experience though, you know?
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Playing there for the very first time, yeah.
JANET: Yeah, yeah.
CYRIL: That was the highlight of my career [LAUGHING]. Yeah.
JANET: What did the band come?
CYRIL: Oh, well down, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: I can’t remember what position it was we were in. Very well…
JANET: So would there have been two bands from the west of England?
CYRIL: No.
JANET: It was just the one?
CYRIL: I think it was only the one then. I wouldn’t be 100% certain but…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Because in them days, Camborne…
JANET: Yes.
CYRIL: …was the…
JANET: Top band, yes.
CYRIL: …was the band.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: In them days, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. Well I suppose they were the best band in the west of England for years.
JANET: SunLife would have been during that…wouldn’t SunLife have been one of the top bands then as well?
CYRIL: SunLife afterwards, yeah.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah, because the ‘Wee Professor’ used to take them at times, didn’t he?
JANET: Walter Hargreaves?
CYRIL: Yep.
JANET: (whispering) I don’t like him! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: [LAUGHING] Nor I! Of course, he used to be Professor of Music at the Royal Marines School in Deal.
JANET: Was he?
CYRIL: Yeah. Yep. [LAUGHING]
JANET: History repeating itself.
CYRIL: Well yeah. That’s right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, funny that, isn’t it? Yeah.
JANET: So how many CDs have you played on?
CYRIL: Eh?
JANET: Records.
CYRIL: Records.
JANET: How many CDs…
CYRIL: Two.
JANET: …have you played on?
CYRIL: Two. The very first two.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Yeah. And I remember we did a broadcast [LAUGHING]…this was under Wilf Jerram when we first started. Remember Johnny Morris?
JANET: Yes. ‘Cause he lived locally, didn’t he?
CYRIL: He lived here.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: Well he used to do a bit of singing and what not, you see. And he got us on the programme on the BBC West of England, at Bristol…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: …one evening on a programme, and we went down there and played. And he sang.
JANET: Oh wow!
CYRIL: We shouldn’t have been playing really because…uh…we didn’t have an audition or anything for that, see. In them days you had to have an audition to get on the…
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: And yeah [LAUGHING]…we got away with it. You know, you had to audition then.
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: And we did one at Melksham. We were broadcasting there one Saturday at lunchtime.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Well, two o’clock Saturday afternoon, there used to be a band programme on.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: We did half and another band did the other half, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Yeah. Yeah.
JANET: So you’re Pete’s wife’s brother? Is that right? You’re Andrea’s brother? No?
CYRIL: No. She’s my niece.
JANET: Niece? Wrong generation! [LAUGHING]
CYRIL: Eric, my brother…
JANET: Yeah.
CYRIL: …was her father.
JANET: Right.
CYRIL: Yeah.
JANET: I knew there was some family…
CYRIL: Yeah, that’s right, yeah.
JANET: Mmm.
CYRIL: Oh yeah. You’ve got to be very careful with this village! [LAUGHING]
END OF TRANSCRIPT
