The Electric Folk Years

At some moment, the original van Eeyore finally went to the great scrap-heap in the sky. 20th Century acquired Bertha, a 1952 Humber Ambulance, to carry around all the equipment, which by this time included a full drum kit, several large speaker cabinets for the back-line, topped by Selmer amplifiers, and all of the instruments. Bertha became one of the enduring personalities of the group.

1972: Bertha, the Humber Ambulance

Bertha, driven, we think, by Paul Samuels, accompanied by Mary Moss, the future Mrs Samuels, around 1972. Thanks to Steve Furber, lead guitar 1971-3, for this picture.

Vince Cross, vocals and keyboards, 1970-72 recalls:

Bertha! Well, what I know of her earlier days is that she went to India with an Operation Mobilisation team. One of the people on that trip was Bob Goldspink, an old school friend of mine. Bob eventually married Margo, a member of 20th Century, and it was probably through him that we acquired Bertha in around 1972; and I was one of the first authorised drivers. It was better being up front than inside. The swaying motion in the dark interior was conducive to travel-sickness among even the hardiest of travellers. I remember once emerging at a lay-by on the A5 for relief, bleary eyed from the Stygian gloom, and nearly poking my eye out on a sharp protruding branch of a bush, so blinded was I by the daylight.

Bertha's steering column gear-shift and dodgy clutch made for a fascinating driving experience, for someone more used to being behind the wheel of a Mini Traveller. That and the hundred-foot long bonnet, which reminded me of the prow of an ocean-going liner. We thought Bertha would finally expire during the summer vacation in my second year. We had a couple of tours up north, first at Doncaster Arts Centre in Yorkshire, then over to Liverpool and Manchester, where we performed at St Chad's in Handforth. Bertha was very sick and, since you could not get parts for a 1952 Humber Ambulance through dealers, we spent a week raiding Lancashire scrapheaps looking for bits which the more mechanically-minded in the group grafted onto her crumbling insides.

Among the replacement parts was a rather unyielding steering column. There was a period during which the steering wheel remained fixed wherever it was set, in other words, you could take your hands off the wheel at a roundabout and Bertha would continue circling if you wished, until you yanked the wheel round to the direction of exit. The very thought makes me break out in a cold sweat now. It makes me realise how God was really looking after us!

Polly Taylor (née Monroe), vocals and flute, 1970-73 recalls:

I do remember a wheel coming completely off Bertha when I was driving her back to Cambridge for the start of a new Michaelmas term. She was so well balanced on her three other wheels, that the fourth wheel simply overtook me!

David Woodward, organ and guitar, 1969-72, recalls:

I remember a tour when Bertha pumped out all of her oil out through a fractured capillary pipe to the oil pressure-gauge. After several changes of oil, we managed to find a 1/4" BSP plug from a parent's house and stopped the flow. Bertha still had a functioning bell, which was occasionally used to give audible warning of her approach...

1973: Hosanna at Westminster Central Chapel

Vince Cross, vocals and keyboards, 1970-72 recalls:

I'm very thankful for my time in 20th Century. Most of all, I met my wife of many years, Sue, when she joined the group in 1973. In 1972 we had gigged at Bedford College of P.E., where I remember leaving blood all over their piano - I suffered badly from eczema then, and rock-n-roll glissandos weren't a great idea. Also, I forgot the words of a song calamitously, and had to improvise, riffing improbably around Roger McGough's Love Is poem. Anyway Sue was in the audience, and I must have made an impression, or at least inspired great sympathy, because when she came to Cambridge the next year to complete her B.Ed., she joined 20th Century just to get to know me (so she says), and the rest is history, folks. And it was the first time that Sue had ever really dared to sing.

John Lockley, composer, piano and occasional bass 1968-72, recalls:

In March 1973 Reflection put on a huge concert at the Central Hall, Westminster, using musicians from Reflection, vocalists from Charisma (Reflection's choir) and a number of 20th Century musicians and soloists - this was recorded, and exists on vinyl as Hosanna - a Portrait of Jesus (RL 307).

Michael Lehr, guitar and composer 1963-65, and founder of Reflection, recalls the same event:

The climax of A Folk Passion was two performances of the oratorio as the second half of the larger event Hosanna - A Portrait Of Jesus, held at the Westminster Central Hall just before Easter. I had my work cut out as the musical director for this event: I was mixing 20th Century singers and musicians (Richard Bradshaw, Polly Monroe, Marguerite Kemp, Michael Clements, Andy Knight and Pete Taylor) with those from Reflection (Maureen Brown, Lionel Browne, Gordon Miller, David Carter and Nik Knight), besides having a 47-strong choir and congregational partcipation in the chants of "Barabbas" and "Crucify" and also in the final verse of the song Benediction, so there were an awful lot of strands to bring together. Not surprisingly, John Lockley became decidedly edgy as the day of the first performance drew near, since his reputation as a composer was in some ways riding on this event. However, it was a superb success and John heaved a huge sigh of relief!

Peter "Flute" Eustace, flute 1969-72, recalls:

I was known throughout my time in 20th Century as "Flute" to distinguish me from several other Peters (Dobbs, Taylor, Hobson, Thorpe...) in the group at the time. I am indeed the bearded chap next to Steve Furber, leaning against Bertha's driver's door. When this picture was taken, I had temporarily left both Cambridge and the group, and had been on VSO in Rwanda. However, I was suddenly repatriated after a minor rehearsal for the later massacres of the early nineties. With a week to spare, while sorting out my immediate future, I went up to Liverpool to join in the tour that was then in progress.

I seem to recall Bertha suffering a total gearbox failure, and the only place we could find a suitable replacement gearbox was in a hearse at a Liverpool undertakers, awaiting scrapping. A friendly mechanic we met in Manchester said he would do the work if we could arrange for the vehicles to be towed to a works on the other side of Liverpool, whence we would then have to arrange removal and scrapping of the remainder of the hearse. Somehow during all the logistical to-ing and fro-ing, we spoke to a scrappie near the works who said,"What do you want to bother with the hearse for? I've got one of those gearboxes on the shelf here. I prepared it for a customer a few months ago and he never collected it. It's yours for..." and he named a sum rather less than we were going to have to pay for the hearse and all the bother. Bertha seemed to have a gift of illustrating God's grace and masterful planning in that way.

Paul Samuels, road crew 1972-73, recalls:

I remember that Mike Casson was the group's treasurer at the time. Bob Darby on the spare wheel was a mechanic friend of mine. Bertha needed such people...

1973-4: Seal and the Cambridge Scene

Vince Cross, vocals and keyboards 1970-72, recalls:

SEAL was a 20th Century offshoot during 73-74. Peter "Bong" Taylor (drums), Andy Mackintosh (bass) Michael "Clem" Clements (guitar), Polly Monroe (flute/vocals) and I (vocals/keyboards) did "the band thing" for a year. Heavier and louder than 20th Century had been, Seal was a "nearly-band", which if we'd had more time and ambition might possibly have been more significant. We had some good ideas, but they were all rather scattergun. We were friends of, but less accomplished than, Bill Thorp's Water into Wine Band, whose two albums are now collectors' items on vinyl. They were a sort of Christian CSNY - lovely harmonies and a great lead singer in Ray Wright, as good as anyone of his era, secular or Christian, which is why their albums are so sought after, I think. I still work with Bill from time to time: he's a professional fiddle-player, specialising in early music, and a great chap. Michael Clements still runs Seal Christian Resources from his home in Fleet, as far as I know, offering PA systems, lighting rigs and so forth.

Angela Hey, chorus vocals 1973, recalls:

I was only in the group for the 1973 Summer Tour, since I was already a member of the Icthyan Singers, the other Cambridge ensemble that was also very busy around Easter time! I remember going on tour to Yorkshire, from June 22nd - 26th according to my diary! We stayed in a small mining town near Doncaster, quite a contrast with Cambridge; and then stayed around Ilkley, where we performed the Folk Passion at Mike Hepworth's parish church in Addingham. Polly Monroe was lead singer and Steve Furber played guitar. Peter "Bong" Taylor hit the drum so hard during the crucifixion part that the skin broke - so then there was a dreadful silence! We also performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar.

Pete "Bill" Fletcher, road crew, percussion and drums, 1970-73, recalls:

I remember a Folk Passion tour, which I guess must have been during 1972 at Burgess Hill in Sussex, when I experienced what Angela Hey describes - splitting the skin on the snare drum, while doing the rim-shots for each hammered nail at the crucifixion. So this was clearly a regular hazard for us drummers!

John Lockley, composer, piano and occasional bass 1968-72, recalls:

In the early seventies there was a second Christian band in Cambridge - the Water into Wine Band, who were a regular group (i.e. same line-up for all gigs) and very competent. They did a superb album in 1973 called Hill-Climbing for Beginners. I think there was a gentleman's agreement between our two groups, which basically felt that each was working in a separate niche, so we didn't compete or get in each other's way.

Vince Cross, vocals and keyboards 1970-72, recalls:

In Cambridge at that time, the only other significant developments in rock music were the band Henry Cow, who were very hard to listen to, but subsequently very influential, and I suppose Syd Barrett must be included here. Honourable mentions go to Public Foot the Roman, an early prog-rock outfit, Simon Boswell and Dag Small, amongst those I remember. Spaceward Studios recorded the Lame Bunny Album which was a kind of sampler of the local bands of the time. Some of the people behind Spaceward later became very important technologically in music and video development. My personal journey was very influenced by my time in 20th Century. I've spent the 25 years since hanging about recording studios, and generally playing about with every role the music industry has to offer: session keyboard player, composer, arranger, studio manager, personal manager etc., but mostly pretending to be a producer, often of music for children and young people.