Last updated 09:30, Saturday, 18 October 2008

After leaving Ruleholme, following the introduction of the breathalyser, I met Dereck Parker, leader of the Edenairs Orchestra, and to my delight he offered me a job with the band.

Maurice Petry Trio

This was the outfit I had played with for one night only when I was 17 and to get the chance to work with them permanently had always been an ambition of mine.

It only took about three seconds of ‘agonising’ to accept – I was their new drummer!

By this time I had learned to read music which was a big help as the band always performed to written arrangements, as do all big bands.

My first gig with them was at the Coach House near Heads Nook, and the place was buzzing. The band usually did a rock spot near the interval, and the dancers went ballistic for 15 minutes.

I can still remember Dougal Kyle, the owner of the venue, hurrying across the dance-floor with a look of consternation, imploring Dereck to desist from the rock stuff as the floor wasn’t strong enough to support the punishment it was taking.

We were experimenting with the ‘beat’ tempo and Dereck, being a forward thinker, thought it a good idea to do beat numbers.

The first one we came up with was the theme from Steptoe and Son and it went down a bomb the first time we played it at the Coach House and soon more followed. I always looked forward to our nights at the Coach House.

We also enjoyed our regular bookings at the Dumfries Conservative rooms.

The Edenairs were as popular over the border and I really enjoyed my two years with them.

However all that changed after a visit to Ruleholme.

I’d heard the place was on the go again, and I went to say hello to Maurice and Ritchie, who had returned to their old haunt.

The place was as vibrant as ever, and it only took a few seconds to take up Maurice’s invitation to rejoin the trio.

After a couple of weeks I felt I’d never been away.

One weekend Maurice mentioned that a young musician was to sit in with us for the evening. His name was Mark Winter and he was home on leave from the army.

The difference he made to our sound was amazing.

He played bass guitar but his main instrument, which he’d played as a junior band-boy since the age of 14 in the Royal Lancers regiment, was the trumpet

We’d also began playing at the recently opened Lido holiday Centre at Silloth.

On certain days, Maurice would announce that as this was the last night of their holidays, the bar would stay open for another hour and the band would keep playing.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realise the impact those few words would have on the already souped-up crowd.

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