supplied by Kerry Watling
Day: 30 March 2024
‘England’ prog rock band – Hastings Pier 25th March 1978
featuring Phil Gill. supplied by Phil Gill via Robert Webb
ad supplied by Sarah Harvey poster Sue Arber via Phil Gill.
Phil Thornton ….England were great ! – lots of Mellotron and Moog, niceness !
Sarah Harvey….March 25th, 1978. England only produced one album in the 70s (Garden Shed – 1977) so I wonder what they filled out the set with. I have the Garden Shed album and played some tracks in my 70s show the other evening.
Andy Qunta…..Garden Shed is a fabulous album! They did have other songs too. I believe our SMART friends Jaffa Peckham & Phil Gill might know more about that?
Phil Gill….We didn’t do anything from Garden Shed that night or any other. It was all new stuff. The three original members had lived with the album for two years by then and wanted to move on. I’d have loved to have played songs off Garden Shed, but hey, I was the new boy.
Dave Nattress….Hi All you England fans!! I had bought Garden Shed from Boots in Bexhill. I’d noticed the album in the rack for what seemed like months and it just wasn’t selling – looked like the only copy , anyway eventually intrigue took over and I bought it and it just blew me away especially when I learned the nucleus of the band was from Crowborough. So, when they played the pier and was gobsmacked to see Phil Gill on bass. I of course was disappointed because like Phil says, they didn’t play one track off the Garden Shed album. Many years later I bought “Last of the Jubblies” on CD and more recently – well still years back, got Garden Shed on CD.
Somehow then Geoff Peckham and I met up again – went to school with Jaffa in Bexhill from 7 years old till 16 when we left, and as we talked he said he’d played/recorded Jubblies but hadn’t got it or heard it for years and years. I guess this was obviously after Phil Gill left – maybe Phil played on some tracks though, so I said all cool, well I had bought it as a punter so I was delighted to burn a copy and photocopy the sleeve etc. and I sent him the original for old school times sake. Jaffa will remember that he and I were founder members of the Goon Squad at school. To me, Jubblies doesn’t come close to Garden Shed though. Garden Shed – like just out of (seemingly) nowhere – astonishing!!!
Phil Gill….Jaffa played on all of Jubblies, it was recorded before he left and I replaced him. I played all of Jubblies live, with the exception of Jaffa’s song “Sausage Pie”, which for some reason they dropped
Steve Kinch….Phil, I remember that we played with England in Worthing, but have got absolutely no memory of the actual gig. Wasn’t Roger Carey offered the job at one time?
Phil Gill….I remember the gig well. England were not a particularly dynamic live act in my opinion, and I kind of missed the excitement of the Stallion shows I’d done for the previous two years, with John Wilde running around shaking everyone on stage by the throat, knocking us around and generally whipping up a frenzy. Yes, Roger was offered the job and I believe actually played and/or recorded with them at some point after I left. I’m a bit hazy on the story he told me, but he’d be able to confirm the detail.
Terry Pack….The Enid played twice with England while I was in the former and Phil with the latter. Lewisham(?) was one, but the other…? Do you remember, Phil? I didn’t know that Jaffa had played with them, too. I liked the drummer, who sounded a lot like Bill Bruford, I thought. The keyboard player had butchered any number of keyboards in an attempt to achieve a kind of midi. I thought they were very good.
Trams and Trolleybuses in Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill. Robert J Harley book 1905-1959
Supplied by Peter Ellingworth. All images © Robert J Harley
Roger Simmonds… Loved the old trolley buses!
Peter Ellingworth… I would strongly recommend Robert Harley’s book, it has an absolute wealth of detail and certainly filled me in on a lot – I bought mine while at the East Anglia Transport Museum just outside Lowestoft, on a day incidentally when Hastings T-Bus no.34, the last one to run in Hastings under its own power on June 1st 1959, was working. I would, if you don’t want to buy the book outright, as like a lot of these publications they mainly cater to a niche market for sad anoraks like me and are not cheap, Hastings Library may well have a copy or can obtain one through the inter-library request service for a small fee. Re. The photos : the last two were taken a couple of weeks before the end, and the one with Happy Harold on an enthusiasts’ tour in 1958. I believe in latter years the High St. was made traffic signal controlled one way working for buses, such as when this particular photo was taken. At the top of the High Street is I think, at least it still was the last time I passed that way, the one remaining street traction pole still used for a street light that used to support the overhead wiring going back to tramway days complete with finial. The other two are in the grounds of Silverhill depot, and are visible from the road. And a number of wall mounted rosettes to carry the span wire that supported the running wires are still around the town. Again these date from Tramway days. Many thanks for an excellent coffee meet Alan, good to see such a well supported turn out and looking forward to the next.