Time bandits

My first memories of being in a group are while I was at St Sampson's Secondary School. Most of my band mates were at school together: me on the drums, Alan Collenette and Barry Marley on lead/rhythm guitar, Malcolm (Mac) Shone as the bass player (who also played great keyboards) and Jimmy Mineral, who was the singer.

The group was called Justus.

In 1966 groups were big and I was young.

At 14 I was the youngest in the band and drumming. That was a year before Obsession, which was basically the same band, substituting Paul Wiggins for Mac and adding Ken B. Johnson (additional vocals and harmonica).

We used to practise whenever we could, at the house of any band member whose parents were willing and able to put up with the noise – and us. I seem to recall most times we ended up at the home of Barry Marley's parents, who were very supportive of us.

We learnt the songs of the day as they were released, listening to 7" vinyl on a Dansette record player: Kinks, Beatles, Small Faces, etc.

For group bookings, I had to get someone with a car or trailer to lug the drums around.

If space was tight, I'd follow behind on my 50cc Lambretta.

Although one booking a night was OK, every now and again we would do two or sometimes three and that meant careful planning to get a first slot at booking one, middle at booking two and be the closing act at the third, bearing in mind there were no mobile phones back then.

Precision timing was everything and if you were held up, you were in a mess for all the rotations and I seem to remember the band before you would usually just play until you arrived. Luckily traffic wasn't such a problem then, though.

We did not earn much money – a lot of it was 'done for charity'. Paul Wiggins (bass man for Obsession), was telling me the other day he found some paperwork relating to the group bookings and the amounts were around £2 (split between four or five people).

In those days you mostly did not play anywhere that was licensed.

The Ozanne Hall, St Johns Hall, the Island Hall in Alderney and open air in Sark come instantly to mind and, later, The Hermitage Hotel, alongside the resident band with brilliant bandleader Cyril Glover, who always made the guest band segue the start of their set into the resident band's last number (normally Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs). Great fun.

Thankfully in 1966 we didn't have group uniforms, which came in later groups for me. (Note: we were always called groups in those days, never bands). I also remember there were always people helping to set up and 'pack up' the gear.

You'd normally see a Guernsey Press or Island Sun reporter at the booking (it was never called a 'gig' then, it was a 'booking' for the band). Oh, and let's not forget the girls: bobbed, long-legged and mini-skirted. Beautiful.

Another thing I remember vividly is what I must describe as the special '60s design'.

Clothes and advertising had that mish-mash of colour and crammed everything into the space. Paul Wiggins was also our advertising/ photographic man and some of the stuff he was producing was sensational.

Playing drums with the group for me was always the main highlight, of course.

I honestly don't remember doing sound checks, but I do remember I had a basic drum kit, all different makes and slightly different shades of red sparkle. Some of it mum had bought as a Christmas present for me from Fred Hewlett – ex The Stormers.

I don't recall staying behind much after the bookings either – I don't think much happened after 11pm.

It was normally a matter of playing, chatting to a few girls and packing up the drums, then heading home on the motor scooter or begging a lift from anyone who had a car.

It may be worth mentioning that drinking and driving was not taboo in 1966, so if anyone had been drinking, there was no reason not to drive.

On the whole, playing drums in a group was great fun and it did the ego a power of good. I made sure that every Saturday afternoon I would get into Town and see how many girls would chat me up in Woolworth's.