In The Beginning
As promised in our last issue Ken Wright reminisces about his early days as an RGM collector and fan and an insight to how the RGMAS began from humble beginnings.
Ken writes…Back many years ago in the 1960’s Victoria Station on a Saturday afternoon was a meeting point for the many London based coach enthusiasts eager to see the various vehicles which converge here from all over the country. It was here that I first met Jim Blake and from chatting together realised that as well as our mutual interest in buses we also shared an interest in railways and both enjoyed the music of the then alive Joe Meek. As our first meetings were simply confined to Saturday afternoons and evenings at Victoria where, along with other like-minded PSV Enthusiasts, we regularly photographed the coaches at the coach station before transferring our attention to the local bus routes then still in the capable hands of the standard RT and Route Master types, still very much in abundance in London then. At this time Jim still lived with his parents near Highbury Corner and one day he invited me and a friend John Richley over for an evening to hear his Joe Meek collection. John and myself lived near Kensal Rise and so it was quite easy for us to get to Highbury and Islington Station directly by the North London line. Jim’s flat at Canonbury Ave was rather on the small side and how the three of us, plus two other friends of Jims, fitted into his bedroom for an evening of discussion about our two favourite subjects, LT buses and Joe Meek is still a mystery. However our evening meetings soon developed into a regular weekly get together, the other two people present being Paul Everett and Clive King both of whom we got to know very well as the weeks went by.
Although not all of us turned up every week, the ones that did were always greeted warmly by Jim’s mother and father and we were always treated to a cup of tea, sandwiches and cakes during the evening. As stated earlier the evening, the evening consisted of chatting about the latest LT news, usually concerning the Route Master conversion program then still ongoing of course. However the main item on the agenda was of course Joe Meek and his wonderful Meeksville music. Any of us who managed to purchase a new or second hand acquisition since our previous meeting duly brought it along for the others to hear and comment on, whilst Jim usually tape recorded it for himself from the disc.
Jim, Paul and myself were the three main collectors of RGM records in these earlier days and as we all lived in differing parts of London we therefore checked different second hand shops and market stalls for new for new purchases from each other. Paul lived in south London, I lived in west London but of course Jim had the best chance of finding previously unknown discs as he lived a mere stones throw away from Joe’s studio at 304 Holloway Rd in North London. This was usually borne out, but Paul and myself did find some RGM gems not yet in Jim’s collection and over played them over the phone to him just to inane him before our weekly meeting took place. Living where I did my main record searches were usually carried out at Portobello Rd market off Ladbroke Grove and Church St market off Edgware Road, both of which came up trumps for me on many occasions in search for new tracks by Joe Meek in the sixties.
The three of us obviously decided that we would all like a copy of each disc found, and to this end we produced a list of all known RGM records listed by one of his record companies – Decca, HMV etc in order of age and serial (matrix – Editor) numbers shown on the record label. Finally each record listed was marked with the letters A,B or C denoting whether Jim (A) Ken (B) or Paul (C) owned that particular record. With these lists at hand we all knew in our searches which RGM records the other 2 still required and if we would buy them for their collections.
From these small beginnings grew the RGM Appreciation Society
.
