It's funny how when you hear a tune or song what memories are triggered. Only the other day I heard on the radio Lee Marvin's "Wanderin' star" and was instantly reminded of a scout camp on the Isle of Wight, sitting on a cliff top looking out to sea whilst listening to a tiny pocket radio. As a scout group we had a couple of great camps on the island and some great laughs. On the pier at Ventnor when me and my mate John singing "Whispering Grass" wearing daft straw hats, and getting a great round of applause from the crowd of old folk watching !! This sadly became our party piece for several years after.

The late seventies and early eighties were a great time for parties. Large amounts of alcohol was consumed and lots of loud music listened to. Many a party at the Cator Hall in Eakring were enjoyed. One great favorite of the time was Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird"

As a DJ at the time it was great to see fifty or so drunken folk all in a mass dancing and sing along to this and many other great tracks. Other favorites were Bob Marley's "Jamming", Eddie and The Hot Rods "Do anything you wanna do" and pretty much anything by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Stones and Black Sabbath.

More often than not after these sessions a bunch of us would move on to somebody's house and party on for many more hours crashing were we could.

By this time I was working in a record store "Prides" in Newark. While working at Wakefield's as manager in Newark I used to go to "Norman Prides" record shop on Appleton Gate and also another shop on the Market Place, that sadly I can no longer remember the name of. Anyway after going down to Norman's shop for a good while buying the odd single, (he catered for more middle of the road buyers), one day a young couple appeared behind the counter and more current new releases also appeared. This meant more visits, and more money spent. I soon got to know the couple well, Mario and Lynne. Fairly soon they told me they were moving into new premises in the new shopping centre being built and were looking for someone to join them., would I be interested? At first I said no, I was earning good money as a manager at Wakefield's and was happy there. Mario pretty much each time I visited asked the same question. After a while I said let's talk money and details and eventually began working at the now renamed "Pride Records and Tapes" in the new shop. Thus began just over eight great years, gaining a huge knowledge of the music scene. Meeting various record company reps, each a character in their own right, many who I would know for years to come. Mario and Lynne were great people to work for and very soon had four shops, Newark, Lincoln, Grimsby and Grantham. At this time I spent most of my time going around each store as a kind of area manager, all the time picking up more knowledge of past and current music. If you wanted to learn about the pop music industry working in an independent record store was the place to be.

This was at the time of the early independent record label boom. Rough Trade records being the main one followed by Beggar's Banquet. I can remember ordering the first Tubeway Army LP on Blue vinyl and Stiff Little Fingers "Inflammable Material" album.