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A look at Friars Phase One
In the beginning
was 1967.
It was
like this. I had always been fascinated by all things theatrical since my
teenage years. When I moved to work at Aylesbury Grammar School in 1966 I
soon realised how accessible London stages were. Having already seen the
Rolling Stones in Exeter, the first Isle of Wight Festival and several NME
Poll Winners Concerts at Wembley, my interest in rock music was kindled.
It is important to understand the cultural and social milieu that was
1967.
There was
a cataclysmic explosion of musical and artistic change. Every rule went
out the window. All types of music changed, with experimentation being
the norm. Books have been written about this! I went to little music
clubs all over London………the Ram Jam in Brixton, the Flamingo/Temple in
Wardour Street, Tiles in Oxford Street, Klooks Kleek in Manor House, The
Marquee, The Cue Club in Praed Street and to Mothers in Erdington,
Birmingham. They were generally small, hot, seedy and sometimes violent.
They were crucibles from which musicians emerged, having served their
apprenticeships……….and not only in music! I have had some of my greatest
nights in these clubs. To give a couple of examples, Otis Redding at the
Ram Jam Club, and Jimi Hendrix downstairs in a pub in Golders Green are
etched in the memory.
I began
taking coach trips to the Saville Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue on Sunday
evenings. This was the theatre that Brian Epstein owned and used to
present major rock acts (The Four Tops, Hendrix, Cream, Pink Floyd etc).
We left from outside the Grammar School at about 6pm Sunday nights and all
sorts of people from Aylesbury turned up, mostly wearing army greatcoats
as I recall. So I soon realised that Aylesbury had an audience for rock
music.
Meanwhile
back at the Grammar School I had a lively Tutor Group. Adrian Roach and
Jerry Slater had decided that they were going to start a Folk Club above
the Derby Arms. At pretty much the same time, I decided that there should
be a rock Club in the town. I ran a Sixth Form Dance at the High School
in December 1968 with a local band, Smoky Rice Blues Band. The drummer
was a pupil in my A Level Chemistry Set, Dennis Cutton. Cutting a long
story short, David Stopps turned up that evening wearing an enormous hat
and informed me that he managed the band. We kept in touch!
Back at
AGS, Stephen Rennie had discovered the Ex Services Club which was in
Walton Street next to Perrys the Ford dealership. In fact it was between
the Sea Cadets hut and the railway line. I went down there one day after
school and made enquiries. The Hall seemed ideal. So I went to see David
and suggested starting a Club in Aylesbury in the Ex Services hall. At
first he was not at all keen as he didn’t think there would be a large
enough audience to make it viable. But we brought in John Fowler who was
staying with David’s Mum at the time and formed a partnership. Next we met
with Adrian, Jerry and Terry Harms and agreed to merge their Folk Club and
our Rock Club.
A
membership card is a prerequisite of any club so we produced one. The logo
on the front was designed by Kris Needs in the school Art Room and I took
the membership rules from my membership card for Mothers. We found a
printer in Windsor who did the posters for other clubs (Rikki Tick) in the
area.
June 1st
1969 we started up. It was from the start an ‘underground’ club of its
time. I have written about this in more detail in other places. There
were some problems in the form of the caretaker and his wife. Also, we
soon found that the row of houses at the end of the driveway on Walton
Street were in fact Police Houses! But that is another story……………
Robin Pike
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