I spoke to Andrew in March 2020 about his memories of Nottingham and his interest in music. He was born in Gravesend in 1947. His father’s family were from Gravesend but his mother’s family were from the Nottingham area.

He recalls “My Mother had an old “F” hole slide guitar because she like Hawiian music. It was in fact a standard guitar with a metal cap over the nut to lift the strings a long way off the fretboard”.

His father was in the Royal Navy and was exchanged to the Royal Australian Navy for two years between 1957 and 1959.

“As a family, we went to Australia in 1957 in the SS Iberia and returned in 1959 on the SS Himalaya. It was on that journey back to England , when I was 12, that I met another young lad who played a basic 6 string guitar. Because we were on the ship for 42 days, I was able to pick up some of the basics”.

When he returned back to England, the family moved to Nottingham to live. His father was posted to ships at this time so wasn`t home very much at all.
“When we had settled in Nottingham, Mum gave me her guitar and I modified it back to a standard and started playing. I remember purchasing my first LP record from Woolworths, one of their own label records called “The Folk Singer” and started learning the songs”.

“I was also heavily into electronics at that stage and used to hang out with the chap who built the amplifiers for our local group “The Bopnicks”, and would go to their gigs taking everything in about wiring, speakers, microphones and amplifiers. Bearing in mind I was 13 and 14 (1960 / 1961) at this stage, Mum gave me the “Mullard Book of Amplifier Circuits” for Christmas”. We lived in Bakersfield and the band was based in that area. They were all school kids at the time. I really can`t remember names, but the music was basically Shadows”.

“At the same time, I was heavily into model aircraft and belonged to the “Gee Dee Model Airo Club” based in Heathcote Street and worked weekends and school holidays at Beecroft and Sons in Pelham Street.
Very close and opposite to Heathcote street, just off Goose Gate, was another street with a cafe just around the corner called the “Jules et Jim”, and I would often hear folk music coming from there. I called in and met the owner Rene, who lived with his Kiwi wife lived on their converted motor torpedo boat called the “Narwhale” moored at Gunthorpe Lock. I stayed on it with them once for a weekend in 1965 when on leave from the Navy. I started going to the coffee shop regularly on the weekends with my guitar and learned from many of the regulars. I remember a David, who was a rep for a welding supply firm. That is also where I met Dave Turner, who was my introduction to the Bob Dylan and the Claw Hammer style of playing.and I have never stopped. I used to play folk music there between in 1963 to 1965″. Dave used to work as a part time waiter at the cafe as well. If I recall, he used to play in a rock band (Junco Partners) and would come in after a gig and play some Folky stuff to wind down”.

“The Jules et Jim was my only venue until I joined the Royal Navy in 1964. Because I was into Folk, my focus was on Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. I learned many traditional songs at the Jules et Jim and that started me into traditional music styles. Of course I picked up many of the Shadows tunes from earlier days and played them with various scratch bands whilst in the two navies”.

I was in Plymouth for a year and then went to Fareham. I used to travel up to Southampton and played often at “The Black Seagull” at Hythe. I also used to organise Folk Music shows at HMS Collingwood, where I was based. I do remember seeing Ralph McTell perform when he was very young somewhere in Hastings.
I really did not get to know The Seekers songs until I was in Australia, by which time they were a huge success.
I transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in October 1965 and was based west of Sydney. I soon found the nearest venue in Parramatta called the “Pigalle”, those were formative times for many of the big names in Australian Folk and most played at the Pigalle or the Corn Exchange back then.
I was now playing the 12 string guitar and had developed a flat picking style. I didnt start using the Claw Hammer style until Andy Becker showed me in Adelaide in 1969. Andy Becker was married to Patsie Biscoe who did TV children shows. My instrument building started after I moved in 1981 from Sydney to Queanbeyan, near Canberra, where I started making Apellation Dulcimers. I also made molds for guitars and mandolins. I also started doing amplifier repairs for Pro Audio in Canberra. In the mid 1980s, I opened a music and repair shop in the RSL Arcade in Queanbeyan.

At this time I was playing with Tony Weston as “Beat Around the Bush” a mix of Bush Music and country/middle of the road. We also played in various Celtic style dance bands, the best and most memorable being “Governers Choice”. We took this band to Edinburgh twice in the early 1990s to play along with the Fringe Festival. I never got to see any of my old friends on both occasions when I went back to Nottingham. The old Jules et Jim was a fish and chip shop. They were great formative times, but I never moved in the rock music scene. I moved to Wagga Wagga in the mid 1990s and started teaching electronics. My playing was rather limited to Folk Festivals and mainly just did P.A. jobs with my equipment.

I still play occasionally and can usually do a 1 hour concert without much trouble, but usually to the oldies (LOL), who we have all become”.
I am currently using my retired skills maintaining and operating the Willans Hill Miniature Railway. My hands are much more suited to digging railway cutting than playing a guitar these days. They tire very easily and there is some arthritis in the joints. It happens to us all eventually”.