The
Blacksmiths Arms Talent Contest
9th
May 1976
Special guest Dave Turner (Fred Wedlock's Guru) entertained
while the judging panel, featuring the legendary Karl Dallas, deliberated.
Tony
Cliff was highly commended; Dave Surman's delightful danceband Dagon
were runners-up.
The winners were Fiddler's Dram, for whom commercial success was almost instantaneous (in geological terms anyway) - "Day Trip to Bangor" stormed up the charts..a mere three and a half years later!
An appearance on Top of the Pops, and the group were well on their way to becoming the thinking man's Wurzels. The song itself was hugely influential, in South London at least - its tune was borrowed for the commuter's lament "Ain't it a shame, there's never a train from Barnshurst to Blackfriars".
Meanwhile, Cathy Lesurf quickly moved on to richer pastures with the Albion Band, with whom she returned to the Blacksmith's Arms on a "Richard Digance and Friends" Capital Radio Outside Broadcast on 11th March 1982....full circle!
Review: Peter Collins