Plum Duff – 1975


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supplied by Tony Davies

Phil Gill….Nice Lionels chaps

Tony Davies….L to R, Colin Baldwin, John Towner, Reg Marchant, and myself. I think it was about 1975, definitely pre “Folk at the Black Horse” album cos I still had me hippy hair. Phil, you take one pair of perfectly good Levi’s,split the seams both sides, take offcuts from worn out Levi,s or mum’s old curtains and sew said bits into the space. After several hours of swearing and cursing and fingers that resemble a pin cushion, Voila, you end up with a la mode 70’s fashion. Waist coat, courtesy of the GPO.”

Reg Duff… God! That brings back memories 🙂 this photo was taken outside my parents house in Hollington (I’m just out of shot) John also made us have a photo taken with us each holding one of my mum’s bowls and a spoon to highlight the plum duff theme! I still have the photos somewhere. reg duff.

Kev Towner… I’ve never seen this photo of Dad. Is it Sinnock Square?

Folk At The Black Horse – Plum Duff, Brian Boru, Telham Tinkers, 1976

black horse lp

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all supplied by Tony Davies

Plum Duff photo…. Tony Davies, Colin Baldwin, John Towner, Reg Marchant, Phil Ratcliffe.

Dawn Leaney….Hey Tony davies on the left! I think thats one of the line ups of Plum Duff!  Yep.. my husband was Andy Leaney and he also played in Plum Duff with Tony at around this time!

Michael Mepham….The late and excellent John Towner in centre.

Tony Davies…. L to R, Myself, Colin Baldwin, John Towner, Reg Marchant, Phil Ratcliffe,, Reg and Phil came over to France in June to play in our village Musique Fest. It was 35 years ago the last time we played together. Good times.

Kev Towner….How fab – thanks guys. Still got a copy of this btw.

Matt Thomas….my old teacher Mr Dobson was in the Telham Tinkers…., i still call all of my old teachers Mr or Mrs – a habit i cant break and at 44 i still hide my cigarette if i ever see any of them lol

Nicolas Laruelle…..I found this record (Folk at the Black Horse) today at my parents home near Paris, France. I suppose my father bought it in 1978, while attending an English summer course in Hastings. With the record there was a couple of pink sheets of paper with the hand-typed lyrics of two songs from the album. I was happy to be able to recognize the pub on the picture (I had dinner there with my wife and children in may 2007 while staying at the nearby Brakes Coppice Park campsite !), and to hear new versions of songs I have loved for years (Jock Stewart,Carrickfergus..).
I have read on this website that Tony Davies from Plum Duff now lives in France and takes part in his village music festival. Anyone knows which village it is ? Thank you for the website and all the great information. This email has now been passed to Tony Davies.

Jim Breeds……Oh wow, haven’t seen this post before. That brings back the memories; I was there so many times …

Pete Fisher… this is where I played and sang live for the first time, would have been 1969, as a duo with my mate Tim Hodge, who had built a transistor amp/fuzz box into his acoustic, which incensed the finger in the ear crowd…drinking half pints illegally and catching the 10:30 bus home…rock’n roll!!

Wendy Weaver… I Saw the Yetties here in 1979.

Len Smith… Remember seeing some great ‘folk’ bands their, one in particular that comes to mind was Mr Gladstones Bag.

Philip Ratcliffe… The village in France (for Tony Davies) is Carquebout, near St Mere Eglise in Normandy. We will play there again someday. I am still playing and in contact with Reg Marchant, Colin Baldwin and others from the old days. I miss that old rascal Towner more than a bit. Rock on and never stop live music! Philip Ratcliffe (the guy with the stick-on black moustache on the right).

Jeanette Jones… Inspired my boy to learn the violin 🙂

No Home Jerome… What a fabulous photo. I remember John Towner and ‘Jumbo’ Davies so well from my days as a telegram boy. I was only thinking about playing cricket with John at Westfield just the other day. The last time I saw Jumbo he was driving an ambulance! Wasn’t Pete Sedgewick in Brian Boru?

Jim Breeds… Spent most Saturday nights there for a period in early 70s. Superb.

Plum Duff – first line up – 1976

Tony Davies said

This is the very first Plum Duff line up, L to R , John T, myself and Reg Duff. And before any comments, No, I was not a posh hippy who went about in suits, it was my first wedding and we thought it would be a good opportunity to try a few songs out. Reg only did a few gigs with us cos he wasn’t into folk, altho he did do a blinding version of Gordon Lightfoots ” If I could read your mind ” and John did get the idea of ” Plum Duff” from Reg’s name.

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Tony Davies….This was the first band I played in. John and I knew each other from when we both worked at the Post Office. The band he was in, The Mariners, with Ian Dobson had split up and, out of the blue, John came to my flat and asked me if I wanted to form a band. Up until that point I had never played in front of an audience, but he dropped me in at the deep end by getting me to do a solo floor spot at the Black Horse one Saturday night., long story, but never looked back after that

Andy Qunta….Tone & I had a folk duo for a while. We were called “Brothers In Folk”. Our first gig was in a restaurant in Rye I think, & the owner came up with that name for us!

Tony Qunta…. use to love seeing folk at the Black Horse! Very inspiring! Had forgotten about the ‘Brothers In Folk’ And. Used to enjoy that – maybe we should do that again!

Andy Qunta….Yes, Tone, Brothers In Folk would still be fun! Let’s get a song list ready for when I come over next time!