With thanks to Ray Jenkins;
The Elektrons were formed in 1961/62 by Paul Morehead, Dennis Porter and myself (Ray Jenkins). We were all pupils at Pennygillam School, Launceston and attended Tom Barriball for classical guitar lessons.
His daughter Moira Barriball was at school with us and Tom was a good friend of my father Percy Jenkins. (They had a chance meeting in the Libyan Desert during WWII North Africa Campaign and always greeted each other in Arabic). Tom played guitar and banjo in a Dance Band (The Jordanairs?) with Mr Jordan, Organist and Choirmaster at St. Mary's Church Launceston where Paul and I were choirboys for a while.
Tom was a brilliant teacher and rewarded us for our hard work. Thanks Tom. We were hooked from then on in. I recall that Rick Perry, a fine rugby player and now proprietor of The Inn On The Green in Bude, joined us for a while on drums, also Roger Hoskins when we played 'Apache' and other then popular covers at a Pennygillam School concert. Stuart Porter became our drummer a bit later on and his brother Michael Porter was an electronics wizz, building amps and speakers for us.
Regretably, I have no recordings of The Elektrons, only fond memories. We only played perhaps a dozen or so gigs locally but that small seed led to a lifetime of pleasure playing all around the world. Paul Morehead and I went on to join Barbara and The Boyfriends, turned pro, toured and 50 years later this old cornish boy is still gigging, living on pasties and rockin and a rollin. |
