My story begins..............where?

THE BEGINNING

My involvement with the band began towards the end of 1971. I was employed as a van driver, working in Newcastle for a large chain of clothing shops whilst at the same time, I was the drummer in a band named Tough Childhood. I had been in this band for some time and I felt that it was going nowhere and I was ambitious and had dreams to succeed. 

I had been employed at that company for several months when a new guy (Pete MacDonald) (photo) joined the staff. In due course, I was introduced to him and soon discovered that like me, he was also in a band. I had never heard of his band but I said that whenever it became possible, I would go and listen to his band performing. He said the same to me, although probably neither of us really meant it. One weekend several weeks later, Tough Childhood was not booked to appear anywhere, so I found myself with a spare Saturday evening. When the time came, myself and a friend (Dicky Dunbar) decided that we would spend the evening at Bellingham Town Hall. I don't know how unusual that sounds now but at the time Bellingham Town Hall was a regular venue for most of the local bands. Tough Childhood had played there on many occasions and we had always been well received so I suppose that it was really a bit of an ego trip for me. When we arrived, we soon discovered that the band that was booked to appear was Bullfrog. 

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