JOHN

 

My memory of the moment when I first heard a drum played dates to 1959. I was stood just outside a circle of Pipers and Drummers aged 11 to 16. They were members of the 5 th East Surrey Boys’ Brigade Company Pipe Band. The sound of the pipes was haunting and the drums sent a thrill down my spine. I was 11 years old and asked if I could join the band and learn to play a side-drum. The rope-tension, brass shelled, vellum headed side-drum dated back to the First War and had seen sterling service. I took it home and polished it. I was thrilled to be able to learn to play. In later years, I played bass-drum for the band and started to acquire a drum kit so that I could play Shadows numbers with three friends.

They could not afford to buy guitars and so they made them! We weren’t very good and failed our first audition."