Ricky Martin and others from Ken’s tutor group at Alton Towers

Ricky Martin and Ken at Crofton School

“We Are Hard Pressed”  featuring Helen Joy Rubio and Ross Gill

So fame and fortune would appear to be just around the corner thanks to “Don’t lose sight of my Shore” winning the Eurovision Song Contest.   There seemed only two issues to resolve – first who was going to sing it?  Bucks Fizz, Cliff, Katrina and the Waves or maybe even Engelburt .  Second did I buy a Ferrari, a Porsche or both?  Unfortunately someone in the Eurovision Song Contest hierarchy had not read the script and so for some reason, still not fully understood, the song was not chosen to be the UK  representative- disaster!  The record company did ask if they could adapt the song for the Country and Western market in America but I was never a fan of Tammy Wynette or stetson hats , chaps and spurs  so I simply  went back to worrying about how to win the next Basketball Cup for Crofton School.

Talking about fame – I think the Crofton student who achieved the most fame whilst I was Head of PE was Steve Richardson who represented Europe against USA in the Ryder Cup.  Rich Martin (Ricky Martin) also became famous when he won The Apprentice in 2012. Rich, as I have said before, was in my tutor group- featured are two pics – one of  him with me  when he returned to Crofton after winning The Apprentice  and one of him a tad earlier on a trip to Alton Towers.  Rich is a great example of someone who wanted something and went out and worked really hard to get it. I still play golf with Steve Richardson and I am still in touch with Rich – fame thankfully never went to their heads- two really nice, humble guys.

I said that after the Eurovision Song Contest let down I went back to worrying about winning Basketball Cups – well that is not all I started worrying about- I also started worrying about dying!

I was not so much worried about how I died, although I did quite fancy being a hero and rescuing someone from drowning or from a blazing inferno (as long as it did not hurt too much) No I was worried about what happened after I died.  Some friends asked why I worried as I would not know anything about it – it would be the same as it was before I had been born or it would be just like switching off a light bulb. However the thought of no existence- just switching off to nothing freaked me out.  When I was  about 15 years old  I broke my leg playing football – it  ached and ached for about two weeks afterwards and then someone visited me who had previously broken his leg but who told me it stopped hurting after a couple of days. So dear mum took me back to the hospital to have another x ray and the bone was found to be still apart – I think they forgot to set it. So I had to have a “Denham Compression Plate” fitted which was screwed into the whole length of my tibia. The operation took about six hours but after they put the needle in with the anaesthetic and I counted to ten I woke up straight away – of course I did not it just seemed that way- my brain had been shut down for six hours- I had no knowledge of existence and that is what I thought being dead might be like and that scared me to death (sorry)

That experience had such an effect on me that I have never had a general anaesthetic since- even opting for a local when I had a hernia op.

On the other hand there was of course the possibility that death is not the end, in which case what comes next?  Reincarnation did not work for me so what about going to heaven or heaven forbid (sorry again) hell?  I had studied RE for O Level and also for A Level (on the few occasions I attended 6^th Form) I had also been a choir boy and had been confirmed into the Church of England so I knew  the basics of the Christian faith although I could never work out how Christ being crucified could “save me from my sins” However  I would always say that  I believed in God but now I was beginning to realise that I had to decide whether I really did as He seemed to  be the only one who could sort  out this death issue for me.

My dear friend Bob Milliken (the legend that is Mr Mill) had, I later found out, been praying for me for eight years, not non -stop of course, but nevertheless showing real perseverance.  He kept putting Christian literature in my pigeon hole at school -for example testimonies of famous sportspeople who were Christians.  I never really read them, although because of my respect for Mr Mill I never threw them away.

One day at the end of term Bob invited me to go to his church in Paulsgrove.  As it was a Christmas Service I thought I would go and sing a few Carols and that would appease him. So I went with my son Chris assuring him that we would only have to sing “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” listen to a sermon on the Wise Men and then we could come home.

You can imagine my shock when the Pastor (it was a Baptist Church) started talking not about The Wise Men but about death- he got my undivided attention and it seemed like I was the only person in the church and  so the only one the Pastor was talking to.  At the end of the service Bob introduced me to the old gentleman who had been sitting to my left – his dad.  Bob went off to talk to someone and I chatted to his dad, obviously also called Mr Milliken.  Mr Milliken told me that he had been a Missionary in the Belgium Congo and that he and his wife had evangelised the natives by singing hymns to them around camp fires; his wife playing a squeeze box. I knew that his wife, Bob’s mum, had died about two years previously and I found myself asking “Oh is she in heaven now then – singing to the natives?” Mr Milliken replied, not with a “God willing” or “That’s a nice thought.”  He simply replied with one word and it was the one word that began to change my life – “Yes”

Next blog I will tell you how I responded to Mr Milliken’s “Yes”

The song I have chosen for this week is “We are hard pressed” sung by Ross Gill and Helen Joy Rubio. We produced this for  “Release International”  a charity that supports the Persecuted Church.  The song is on the Mustard Seed Songs CD  “For Unsung Heroes”  and is  also available  on the website www.releaseinternational.org

“Recording “Don’t Lose Sight of My Shore”

“Don’t Lose Sight Of My Shore” featuring Louise Rednapp and Cole – arrangement John “Hodge” Hodgkinson

First some apologies. The tutor group that started the “Prom” was not in fact my first tutor group. I had earlier inherited a tutor group from Miss Sue Jones when they were in Year 3 (Year 9) So my apologies to Julie Toomer was Windsor, Kevin Vass and all the rest of that class. Apologies also to Miss Jones who I forgot to say,  in blog of March 6,^th, was the original Music Teacher.  I have also had other great tutor groups-  the one which included Si Cook and Nikki Miller, the one which included Kate Russell and Rich Martin – (Ricky Martin who won The Apprentice 2013 ) The  tutor group which included Rachel Vardy and Aaron Beale and my last one which included Ali Tut and Chloe Hawksey.

Also apologies to all the sports teams that I have not yet mentioned such as the Hampshire Basketball Winners which included James Shearsmith, Zaine Brookes and Alex Adams. The Hampshire Basketball Cup Runners up which included Chris Shearsmith, Simon Shields  and Andy Wilkinson. The National Cup Basketball stars who included Matt Ancell, Nigel Kershaw and Mark Sandford. The Hampshire Cup Football winners which included Jon McTernan, Neil McRoberts and Andy Davis.

I feel I also should take this opportunity to put the record straight to admit that I did leave one of my tutor group up the Eiffel Tower during a weekend trip to Paris.  It was however an initiative test which he passed with flying colours. He managed to communicate to a friendly  Gendarme “Je suis perdu et mon Professeur est un idiot”  and the friendly Gendarme got us reunited at our next port of call which might have been The Louvre or some other small Parisian attraction! No mobile phones in those days by the way.

My son Chris and Jez Field passed a similar initiative test when I left them at Gatwick Airport after returning from a trip to U.S.A.  I realised they were missing when we were about 30 minutes from  eaching Stubbington. The coach driver did not mind turning around at all (not!) I am sure Chris and Jez stayed calm knowing that we would return (eventually.) Jez’s mum did speak to me again but I think it took about ten years.

So with all this going on at school the music took a backseat until one day I went for a meal at the home of Mrs Jan Davies and her husband Barry.  Jan was the first PE teacher at Crofton, having started a year earlier than me when the school was housed in the temporary accommodation at Crofton Hammond.  Jan had twin boys Tudor and Alun.  Tudor was really into music (he now works for the BBC Sound Department) and had a keyboard in his bedroom.  I left the adults downstairs drinking coffee (which is a pet hate of mine) and went to chat to Tudor.  He played me some stuff on his keyboard and I hesitantly asked if he could play something if I sang it to him (apologising profusely about my voice of course) I sang him a new song I had made up “Don’t Lose Sight of My Shore”  Again not the happiest of lyrics – “When you start your journey tonight , have to leave my arms once more, please don’t forget all that’s been said don’t lose sight of my shore. Stay in touch with my touch, let my emotions still soar, keep my hand within reach, don’t lose sight of my shore”

To hear him play the melody back, which up to then I had only heard in my head, was utterly amazing.  He then played “If Love Had Never Died” and some of the other songs I had made up. I went home buzzing.

Next day I went to see my mate John Hodgkinson (Mr Hodge) who was Crofton’s Head of Science and also a brilliant musician, in fact he played in a band with Tudor – “Trilogy.” When I told John what had happened the night before he said “ I can do that. My nickname is Xerox–  I can copy anything. “  Sing me your song.” “No way”   I said whilst secretly hoping he would persist- which he did. So that break -time I sang to John “Don’t Lose Sight of my Shore” which continued“ For we made magic held each other spellbound but our love was no illusion just the truth that we both found”

John was quiet when I had finished and then said“ We had better record that- come over to my place – I have a recording studio”  And that’s what happened.  We then got a girl in my tutor group Louise Rednapp to record  a somewhat better version than my effort and later we decided that it worked better as a duet so we added the voice of a guy called Cole who was lead singer in another band that Tudor played in -“Yellow Cab”

And  then we sent it off to record companies and believe it or not  we got a  phone call from a record company that had produced a big hit – “I love Rock and Roll” by Joan  Jett and the Blackhearts. They said they wanted to use “Don’t lose sight of my Shore” for their Eurovision Song Contest Entry – Fame at last ? – I’ll tell you in next week’s blog.

“The Party to End all Parties” My Tutor Group- 1991

Off to Alton Towers – My Tutor Group -1989

“The Prom” – 1998

Dec to not smoke

“Declaration of Intent to not Smoke” (click on link to view this)

“Judas” featuring Tom Millen- arrangement Joffy Girling

I wonder how many of you ex Crofton pupils (or parents) remember the “Declaration of Intent” – to be a non-smoker during his/her Crofton School education? (featured in pic) It actually proved to be a real success and was recommended by a national non -smoking campaign.
The idea came about because I was passionate about helping pupils to stop smoking, or to encourage them to never start. I gave lots of talks in Assemblies telling the story of how I had smoked from the age of 15 to 21. How I had been invited by two “Jack the Lads “ Trev Lovett and Jamie Adams to my first “dance;” one in which a class mate Ray Shulman was playing in a band called “The Roadrunners” (see blog Feb 6th) Apparently I had mucked about in the back of a Science lesson and had got into enough trouble to be accepted by Trev and Jamie as “alright” and thus get the invite.
The “Club” was in Eastney Modern School in which Ray’s brother Phil was a Teacher. I was totally naïve and this was the first time I had been to anything more social than an Auntie’s birthday party. I had no cool clothes to wear – it was a toss-up between my school uniform or cricket whites. Fortunately I had just about time to get to “Squires” in Commercial Road for mum to buy me a Ben Sherman button-down shirt and a black knitted tie.
I managed to refuse the cigarettes Trev and Jamie offered me on the walk from the bus. “What’s up, can’t your body take it?” I remember them daunting. When I got inside the “club’” I could not believe the atmosphere – it was super charged – girls in mini- skirts – and I mean mini -skirts – music so loud it made my ears hurt and a strange smell which I later found out was body odour and girls – girls in mini- skirts and I mean mini- skirts – whoops I have already said that! Now remember I was going to an all -boy’s school and was shy as anything with the opposite sex- so when one girl later offered me a cigarette there was no way that I could refuse. Mind you I made myself look a complete idiot by trying to light the filter tip end! But that was the start of my smoking “career” which finally finished on my 21st birthday. A very wise decision- it is possible that if I had not quit then I might not be here to write this blog
After giving one particular Assembly talk about my first encounter with nicotine I had the feeling that some pupils thought I was making the story up. However a little later I brought Trev Lovett with me into another Assembly, who not only confirmed my story but also told a hushed audience how he had suffered two heart attacks because, unlike me he had not ever quit smoking. I asked Trev in that assembly what would happen if he had a third heart attack – I think you can guess his answer.
I have always enjoyed organising things and I have already mentioned “The Tube” and “Heat “Discos and the various Football, Basketball, Pony Trekking and Skiing holidays. I also took my first Tutor Group to Paris as well as, of course to the ubiquitous Alton Towers and Thorpe Park. When this Tutor group left Crofton we had “The Party to End All Parties” in the large garden of the house that I was renting at the time. As you can see from the pics everyone was in Formal Dress and it was indeed “The Party to End all Parties. “
This party was, in fact an extension to an event that this, my first Tutor Group invented -“The Prom.” In fact we were the first school to have a “Prom” – all the other schools copied our idea. It came about like this:
I had showed my Tutor Group a video of the film “Footloose” starring Kevin Bacon and in the final scene all the High School Students go to their Prom. My Tutor Group thought it would be great idea for Crofton to have one – I reckon this was 1992. We looked at different venues and decided to go for a basement club called “Ritz’s” which was under the Mecca/Locarno Ballroom in Arundel Street, Portsmouth. michaelcooper.org.uk/C/mecca.htm‎
My Tutor group decided that it should be smart casual wear but somehow it turned out that everyone turned up in Dinner Jackets and Ball Gowns. The looks on the faces of the locals was a picture when 200 pupils dressed to the nines got off the coaches and walked down Arundel St. We had karaoke and the whole thing was just a huge success. Later we moved the “Prom “ to the Pyramids, Southsea (as in pic) and then the Botley Grange Hotel. Although we had coaches take us to the “Proms” the tradition started with the pupils getting to school by Stretch Limo and now, well all sorts of transport has been used from tractors to uni -cycles, from lorries to wheelbarrows
It was at “The Prom” that I first heard our new Music Teacher, Miss Lucy Stimpson sing. It was part of the Karaoke which had by then become an established part of “The Prom.” Lucy sang the Joe Cocker version of the Beatles’ song “With a little help from my friends”
Lucy became the voice and the musical talent that enabled the songs I had made up in my head to become heard. She was, and still is indispensable to Mustard Seed Songs and me. One song sung by Lucy “For God So Loved the World” can be heard on the blog of Feb 13th but more will feature in the following weeks. In the meantime here is another song from our musical Risen! This one features Tom Millen playing the part of the disciple James. Tom trained at the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. James sings this song after he discovers Judas has betrayed Jesus. The arrangement is by Risen’s brilliant Musical Director – another ex -Crofton Student, Joffy Girling.

Winning Basketball Team at “The Tube” – left to right  Ian Glover, Lee Addelly (Hiscock) Graham Thomas, Paul Cummings, Dave Chance and Martin Fuge.

“One in a Million” featuring Lucy Stimpson Maynard                                                             lyrics Jimmie Guyman and Ken Shearsmith

As I said in my last blog I loved teaching PE at Crofton School. For most of my career OFSTED Inspections did not exist and there was no GCSE PE.  So my performance as a teacher was assessed pretty much by the results of our school teams. Although for the first two years at Crofton we had no field (as it was full of flints – see blog Feb 20th) we still trained at Stubbington Recreation Ground, focusing on playing two- touch football, and eventually won the Gosport and Fareham Cup.  About 15 years later we won the Hampshire Cup (not with the same team!)   We also won the Hampshire Cricket Cup, which was a particularly amazing achievement as it is normally the province of private schools.

But it was in Basketball that we had our most successes.  When I arrived at Crofton in 1975 the school had just opened on the Marks Road site.  The staff consisted of Mr Boulton as Head with Mr Bradley and Mrs Hartley as Deputy Heads. Mr White was Head of Department for Maths, Mr Taylor, English,  Miss Simmonds,  RE (not Mr Mill believe it or not- he joined Crofton a few years later ) Mr Mitchell for Science, Mr Wickett for Technology and me for PE    The First Year entry had been temporarily accommodated in 1974  at Crofton Hammond Junior School so when I joined, the school had only Year 7 and 8s (then called Year 1 and 2) Mrs Jan Davies had been in charge of PE while  the school was at Hammond  so it was, in fact her and not me  who was the first PE teacher of Crofton School.

So to get myself established I felt I had to produce winning teams, but there was no field and only the indoor facility of a gymnasium. So what sport could we get good at with just a gym? Gymnastics was out of the question as my own personal performance was limited to a headstand, headstand, forward and backward roll and on a good day a neck spring- and once or twice in my life a hand spring – off the floor I hasten to add!

I was a wimp in Volleyball as it hurt my hands when “digging” so that was out -Badminton did not cater for enough pupils so it had to be Basketball. The problem was I had hardly played the game-  I had always been told at school that I was not tall enough (see blog Feb 13^th)  However  I was fortunate enough to know some American Basketball players (friends of friends) such as Jimmie Guymon, Paul Stimpson and Mark Saiers.  From them  I learnt how to coach  the “USA way “and was able to teach our students techniques that only the Americans knew, such as the spin dribble.

The School Caretaker, Mr Ron Stevens would open the gym when he arrived at school at 6.30 am and players would arrive that early and practice most mornings for a couple of hours. I later discovered that at the weekends “break ins” would occur with some boys practicing all day and then even staying the night!   As you can imagine they got really good but Hayling Island School always beat us. That is until the last game of the team’s final year at school when we met them in the S.E Hants Finals held on neutral ground at Warblington School. We took a coach load of supporters and the atmosphere was electric and yes we won, beating Hayling in our very last game. I brought the Cup home and later that night presented it to the team at the “Tube” Disco as in featured pic.  That was a night I will never forget – after four years eventually beating our great rivals in our final game – brilliant. By the way to Hayling’s great credit they lost with good grace.

Martin Fuge who played in that game was on the edge of the England team and Paul Cummings played National League for Solent Stars but our first international player was Peter Wort who represented the England Basketball U15 team.  So Basketball became a tradition at Crofton and we had many boys and girls playing for SE Hants and SE England. We won the prestigious Hampshire Cup twice and were usually around the top in the local leagues. We also travelled to places like Durham in the National Cup. Great times!

For many years Crofton used a system for Tutor Groups which included two “accelerated” classes – that is two of the Tutor Groups were comprised exclusively of pupils who would have gone to Grammar Schools if Grammar Schools had not been replaced with Comprehensives. For many years I did not have a Tutor Group- I had been given that time to arrange fixtures. I could not get away with that forever though and eventually became a Tutor of an accelerated Tutor Group, surprisingly called 1S! I had many Tutor Groups during my Crofton career and I really enjoyed each one. However the first one was always going to be extra special and it is to that Tutor group that the pupils and staff of Crofton owe “The Prom” And I’ll tell you all about that in the next blog of March 13^th

I have chosen a song recorded by Lucy Stimpson Maynard but one that is not on any Mustard Seed CD.  It was written specifically for Jimmie Guymon – Jimmie was destined to play in the NBA, the greatest league in the world, but got struck down really ill with Jaundice (the yellow poison in the song) . When he recovered he came to England and became what most believe  to be the best player ever to play in this  country.  This song “One in a Million” is, I think, the only song that has been recorded that is not overtly Christian.  It tells of Jimmie’s dream to play in the NBA and to be the one in a million who makes it. I adapted the lyrics from the words of a poem Jimmie wrote about his dream.

The first ever “Tube” disco poster- 1977

A  “Heat” disco” membership card -2006

Be Set Free featuring Ross Gill and the Mustard Seed Soul Band

As I said in my last blog I loved teaching PE at Crofton School.
I also loved organising holidays for Crofton pupils such as Football and Basketball Tours of the Channel Islands and Basketball and site seeing tours of America. We had four USA trips, staying for a week with families in Washington, Boston and Cooperstown (New York State) then travelling down to Florida by plane or Greyhound to stay in Motels and visit Disney World, Universal studios etc.
There were also Skiing holidays and, for many years, Pony Trekking in the Beacon Beacons. It was on a Pony Trekking trip that I was given the idea of “The Tube” disco. I was chatting to some girls as we were trekking and I was reminiscing on the clubs that I used to go to when I was their age. The girls told me that they had nothing like that in Stubbington and that gave me the idea of organising a disco for the youth of the area.
I went with a group of pupils checking out potential venues. Hammond Hall was one but I felt that was too small. We had pretty much given up finding somewhere when one of the pupils said “There’s the gym at the Crofton Community Centre but that’s too big and it’s got large windows which let all the light in during the summer.” However I thought it worth a look and when I saw it I immediately thought “This is it- this is the place” and “The Tube” was born.
I still bump into people that reckon “The Tube” was the best club/disco they have ever been to- and I have to say the atmosphere was amazing- people would be queuing for ages to get in. I modelled it on the club that I had gone to as a teenager – The Birdcage in Portsmouth (see blog of Feb 6th) I called it “The Tube” after tube socks (sox) that basketball players wore- socks without a heel – in fact the original title was “Tube Entertainments Present a Dance/Disco”. I know there was a TV programme called “The Tube” but we had the name first- should have sued the BBC or was it ITV for copyright!!
The film Saturday Nite Fever (1977) was out and I “borrowed” the famous poster featuring John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney for our “Tube” posters (I am still holding my breath in case Paramount Pictures sue me) The first 50 girls got free entrance and then there was a free Coke for the next 50 people. “The Tube” was targeted at 14- 18 year olds but some older people came from all over the area. Not exactly sure of the fire regulations but I know we interpreted them rather loosely- one night when we had a guest Radio One D J, Peter Powell there were at least 600 crammed in.
In the summer it took me and my trusty pupil helpers all morning to black out the large triangular windows and also the sky lights. All next morning was spent cleaning up and clearing coke bottles and cans (well some were coke!!) which had been left around the village -obviously by outsiders! My dad made extra staging on which people would dance – loads of different dance crazes came and went out of fashion – the one I most remember was “Wrecking” in which all the lads would form a huge mass of bodies and then appear to fight each other-often they were.
I remember one favourite song with the crowd was The Special’s “Free Nelson Mandela” ( although not many at the time realised what the song was about) I also remember the first “Wham” song “Young Guns” in which George Michael and Andrew Ridgley had taken Top of the Pops by storm dancing bare foot. Other classics that come to mind are “Ring My Bell” “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now”, “You Spin Me Right Round”“ “Don’t Leave Me This way” and “Pick up the Pieces” Also Shalamar’s “Night to Remember “ in which Jeffrey Daniel, the lead singer did the “moonwalk” and that was before Billy Jean and Michael Jackson!
There were occasional fights and when there was I was always worried that people would be too scared to come back, but in fact they came back (especially the girls ) twice the numbers. Julian Rees , Nigel Royale, Mark David, Mark James, The JB Monster Roadshow, The Triple T Roadshow and Martin Lee were some of the Roadshows we had every three weeks. Such great times so why did it finish? It was the great storm of 1987 that destroyed the building. We actually had a disco the day after the storm and the next day when I came to clear up, the building was surrounded with red tape from the Council – “Warning Building in Danger of Collapse” So thankfully it would appear that we narrowly avoided what would have been a catastrophic disaster. I waited nearly two years for the new Sportshall to be built before starting the “Tube” again but the acoustics were worse than Waterloo Station and so it died a death.
Later I thought of restarting it elsewhere and we spent some time going to the Thorngate Halls in Gosport- now that was hard work- we transported pupils from Stubb by bus but the buses got pelted with stones and bricks by the Gosport locals and in the end the coach company refused to take us.
Again a rethink before moving to Hammond Hall and also the Stubb Scout Hut but both were too small so we moved to Titchfield Community Centre under the new name of “The Heat” borrowed from the US basketball team Miami Heat. That proved a winner but pupils were openly drinking alcohol on the way to Titchfield from Stubb and after there was a clash between Stubb and Titchfield Belfield the Police told me “The Heat” had to stop. I persuaded them to let us continue with the proviso that “The Heat” became a membership club with membership dependant on pupils being brought to Titchfield with parents and responsible adults. The plan worked and “The Heat” became a huge success on a par with “The Tube” until I went part time at Crofton and no longer had my finger “on the pulse.” But as with “The Tube” we had some fantastic nights with “The Heat”- those who went I am sure will always remember the tune that finished every evening “The Great Escape” I also especially liked it when everyone danced in formation as in “La Macarena” “ Saturday Nite” “ Blame it on the Boogie” “5-6 7 8” and “ Cha cha Glide.”

What about my own music? Well not much at all was happening – I was pretty up with chart music and loved to join the DJs for the last hour giving them my suggestions for “Dance floor fillers.” Usually pure cheese and oldies like “Walking on Sunshine” “Love Shack” and even “Making Your Mind Up.” I must have driven poor Lloyd James our resident Heat DJ mad.
In the next couple of blogs I’ll tell you how the music I had written did take on a new lease of life and I even wrote a Eurovision Song Contest entry- honest! In the meantime here is a song “Be Set Free” from Mustard Seed Songs’ forthcoming musical Risen! This is the original version produced and sung by ex -Crofton student Ross Gill.

Just out of the loft- first song with Grundig TK24

“Because of Your Grace” featuring Harun Kotch

After I left King Alfred’s College as a fully -fledged PE teacher I wasn’t sure if I really needed to actually go into teaching to earn money as I had this other career bubbling under – that of song writer!
I was convinced that a top star or his/her agent would pay a fortune for “If Love Had Never Died.” or “Affection” or All My Loving” or other songs I had written (made up) such as “We shouldn’t Be Apart” and “Today’s The Day.” Trouble was I could not really go into the office of a recording producer like Cat Stevens had famously once done and just sing “I Love My Dog.” First because I could not sing and second because I did not look as cool as Mr Stevens.
What to do? Well fortunately I discovered that my Grundig TK24 open reel tape recorder had a microphone. I also remembered a kind music student at King Alfred’s College (female) – so I put these two good pieces of fortune together and she (sorry if you are her and are reading this because I can’t remember your name) came up with written musical scores for about five songs. I know you all believe me but just in case you don’t I have braved the cobwebs of my loft to retrieve the original written score of “If Love Had Never Died” a pic of which is attached with the Grundig TK24.
What next? Well I found a record company directory from The New Musical Express and sent off photo copies of the scores to numerous said companies ( I think photo copiers had been invented by then but if not they would have been duplicated by Gestetner en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestetner‎‎ or Roneo www.memidex.com/roneo+duplicator‎
So there I was just waiting for the offers to roll in, just working hard on how I was going to spend my millions and what I was going to do with my now redundant teaching qualification. Then the letters came in- each with different words but the same message – not “Yes please we would love Shirley Bassey to sing your fabulous song If Love had Never Died”” or “Barbara Streisand has just told Burt Bacharach to get lost as she has just found a far superior song writer” – no the letters were basically “thanks but no thanks”. Shattered dreams – hopes in tatters – did the record industry not realise what they were missing- perhaps I had sent the songs to the wrong companies – but could 97 companies be wrong?!
Nothing else for it then but to teach!
And that is what I did – first at Whitchurch Secondary (now Testbourne) and then I saw an advertisement for a brand new school in Stubbington – Crofton School. I applied and despite the Head – Mr Boulton at first hating me I got the job because I was in with the PE Inspectors after going on lot of PE courses at Calshot Activity Centre and buying them a few drinks. And what a brilliant move going to Crofton turned out to be!
Mr Boulton did not like me at first because he regarded me as a bit of a “Jack the Lad” bit of a “Del Boy” – looking to do deals even during my job interview- (tried to sell him a second hand minibus cheap! ) However I organised a sponsored stone pick to raise money for the school, not just the PE department – that was the brain wave. The school field could not be used because it was full of flints (the school had just opened on the Marks Road site when I joined as Head of PE in 1975- aged about 12!) So to “kill two birds with one stone” (sorry) the sponsored stone pick raised money but also got rid of the stones. What I did not realise was that in the corner of the school field was a disused road and so people weren’t just bringing in flints they were bringing in lumps of concrete and brick. As sponsorship was by weight some students brought in a fortune – notably Nick Hutton – who apparently was accepting cheques and possibly credit cards (he was ahead of his time) when sponsors did not have enough cash to meet their apparent debts.
Mr Boulton loved this additional money that came into the School’s coffers. When I sensed that this was “the way to win his heart” I organised more fund raising schemes such as a raffle, but not with the first prize being your standard food hamper, oh no first prize was a weekend in Rome and believe it or not the winners went on the weekend that the Pope made his public address from the Vatican window. (I think I may have pretended that I’d had a word with him)
Regardless of the quality of my PE teaching (actually it was not that bad) Mr Boulton decided that he could not do without me (very astute man!) and so he gave me promotion – so much promotion that if I moved to another school I would have to take a reduction in pay- and so I never did move- I stayed and stayed – and loved it!
However I digress from the song writing. Next blog Feb 27th I’ll tell how my love for music resulted in “The Tube” and later “The Heat” discos. In the meantime I have included a song “Because of Your Grace” which is sung by Harun Kotch and produced by ex -Crofton student Ross Gill (more of him later) My old mate Darren Bovis- Coulter gave me the idea for this song and we made it up together. It’s on the Mustard Seed  album “The Season of Singing
which we produced to support a charity to shelter street children in Manila, Philippines run by two friends Craig and Elizabeth Johnson – House of the Heroes www.houseoftheheroes.org

Ken’s first attempt at singing – its not got any better!!

“For God So Loved The World” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard

So I cannot play a musical instrument and my singing is fit only for the shower, however I’ve always loved all types of music, pop, folk, classical- as long as it has a tune- something I can sing or whistle to. When I was about seven years old living in Gillingham in Kent I remember being away from school suffering from Bronchitis. My teacher came to my house to see how I was. I told her that I enjoyed singing my own words to pop songs I had heard on the wireless (radio). I remember her saying that was a good idea- so I was encouraged. Writing this has made me think of how many other teachers, when I was at school, actively encouraged me and the answer, I am afraid, is not that many- not tall enough to play Basketball- didn’t get awarded Full Colours for my best sport, Cricket because I had one bad match (mind you it was a shocker- dropped at least 6 catches!!)
I then wondered how many pupils I’d encouraged during my PE teaching career. I do hope it was some! I remember one incident in which I may have been sort of encouraging. Matthew Sergeant (matthewsergeant.tumblr.com/‎) was a brilliant musician and indeed has now gone on to win awards for his contemporary composing. He is now a Doctor of Music and lectures at the Royal Northern College of Music and The University of Huddersfield. Matthew, however would be the first to admit that he was not that great in terms of sporting ability. One summer’s day when he was in Year 10 we were playing Softball and one lad, full to overflowing with testosterone, smacked the ball at max velocity to arms- length of Matthew’s right hand – instinctively Matthew struck out this hand into which the ball rocketed and stuck! At first everyone was in shock, first because it was an amazing catch and second because it was Matthew who had caught it. Anyway I kept that softball and at the end of term PE Prize Giving Assembly awarded it to Matthew for “outstanding achievement” or “The Champagne Moment of the Year” or something like that. The audience clapped so loudly – it was great to know how pleased they were for Matthew and that Matthew was obviously chuffed to bits.
But I digress. So I made up different lyrics to songs from the age of about 7 but I wrote my first song when I was about 14 and living in Portsmouth. Although I still had no girlfriend I still realised that to be “chucked” by a girl must hurt so I wrote the song “If Love Had Never Died” A tune had come into my head to which I wrote these words “ I sit on my bed meandering thoughts drift through my head, I gaze at a star wondering how long, wondering how far. Pain encompasses me the sickness I feel I know you agree and you realise the hurt that’s in my eyes could be blinked aside if love had never died”
When I wrote the song “ Do not let your hearts be troubled” for our new musical Risen! I used part of this “If love had never died” tune.
A little later in Portsmouth I wrote a song called “Affection” Pretty happy lyrics again (not!)- “And I look to see some warmth and love in your eyes that once held the peace of a dove, Say one word- thank you and I’ll have won, one thing I’ve not -affection.
The tune for “Affection” I used for the last part of another Risen! song “For God So Loved The World.” (see attached MP3 sung live by Lucy Stimpson- Maynard at the Kings Theatre, Southsea during a performance of the first Mustard Seed Songs musical -“His Story”) More of Lucy’s amazing talent and support later. Mr James Oliver now Head of Music at Crofton is on Cello. You can hear excerpts from songs that I have written by visiting www.mustardseedsongs.org.uk then Music Store.
So if asked how long it has taken to write Risen! I suppose I could say about 50 years!
So gradually I found I had the ability to make up songs in my head. However the trouble with not being able to sing or even play recorder (apart from “The British Grenadiers”) meant I had no way of getting the songs from my head out into the world just in case there was someone out there who might possibly want to hear. So how did the songs get from my head out for people to hear? I’ll tell you in the next blog of Feb 20th.

People often ask me what I am doing now that I’ve retired from teaching PE at Crofton. Well I have to say life is really great (it was really great teaching as well – most of the time!) I love life with my wife Caroline, I am playing lots of golf (and getting a bit better I think- have to as I have only Bowls left! I play a pretty active part in the life of Holy Rood Church, I mentor students at Crofton and I still have a job for the County monitoring lessons delivered by Coaches in Primary Schools. However my greatest passion (apart from life with Caroline of course) is writing music. I know that may come as surprise to some and even more of a shock when I say it is Christian music! And no I can’t sing (although I do a pretty good “Living on a prayer” in the shower) or play a musical instrument but music, together with sport has always been a true love of mine.
I’m Director and Trustee of a charity that Mr Mill and I formed – Mustard Seed Songs- www.mustardseedsongs.org.uk which features the songs I have written. We have produced 10 CDs and some of our songs featured on a mini CD attached to the 40th anniversary edition of a Christian publication -Every Day with Jesus of which 80, 000 copies were distributed worldwide. In addition I wrote a musical called His Story www.Hisstory.org.uk which played at venues such as the Kings Theatre, Southsea, Ferneham Hall, Fareham; and Central Hall, Westminster, London. Proceeds from these events funded young people who have taken time off from their studies to work in the Third World.
I’ve now written a second musical called “Risen!” www.Risen.org.uk the double CD of which is near completion. On Easter Sunday 2013 we staged a pilot production at Holy Rood Church, Stubbington and on Easter Sunday, April 20th 2014 we will be producing a Risen! concert – again at Holy Rood.
I had written songs before but it all really took off when I became a Christian on February 22nd 1999. Anyway I thought that you might like to share my adventure and so here is the first episode.

Musical Instruments
I was in Year 7- Year 1 it was called in those days at The Portsmouth Technical High School – now City Boys opposite the Coach and Horses pub in Hilsea. A cool guy called Ray Shulman was in my class – he played violin which did not impress me but he also played bass guitar which very much did. In fact Ray and his brothers Phil and Derek formed a band called The Roadrunners – who later became Simon Dupree and the Big Sound with a top ten hit called “Kites ” They then became a prog rock band that were really big in America “Gentle Giant” One of my claims to fame ( the others being Donald Duck impersonations and the well hard character “Ken the Ren”) is that when I was 15 years old the Police caught me on my Lambretta Li 150 scooter with Ray on the back when I had not passed my driving test. We were stopped near his house in Eastney Road opposite a club- “The Birdcage” -www.michaelcooper.org.uk/C/birdcage.htm‎. We got away with it – won’t tell you how as it was highly illegal- but having a rock superstar on the back of my scooter put my street cred rating up massively- and it certainly needed it – but again that’s another story but suffice to say Pompey Tech School was boys only and although I was pretty good at sport – I did not have a clue about girls- I was seriously shy.
So Ray inspired me to take up guitar – actually no he didn’t- I just mentioned him to name drop! I took up my first musical instrument (there have been two!) because I was asked to by the music teacher at school – Mr Wassell. Yes I played the Dolmetsch Descant Recorder (which I have just found in my loft -see attached pic) and I went to after -school lessons and nearly mastered that well known patriotic tune “The British Grenadiers.” The problem was that because I was seriously shy I needed something cool to make me successful with the fair sex. But even a fantastic rendering of this great tune on recorder could not, by any stretch, be regarded as cool – no I needed an instrument that was cool personified and so my guitar was bought. It was reddy, brown and acoustic although it looked a bit like a Gibson – in fact it could have been the original Gibson Les Paul! So I got cracking with my Bert Weedon “How to play Guitar” book and was doing rather nicely, having almost got “Good King Wenceslas” sussed. But then all of a sudden “Good King Wenceslas” didn’t sound so “good” My Gibson was out of tune! So off to the music shop in North End to buy something with which to tune it. Now in those days tuners were not the clever technological gizmos available now – no this was more like a miniature Peruvian Pan Pipe. So the idea was that you blew into one of the pipes and then tuned your guitar to that sound- what! – no way!! How can a sound like that associated with a shipping vessel in fog relate to the ping of a guitar string?? So progress in guitar finished right there and then; although if pressed I can still manage a fair to middling rendition of the first eight notes of “Good King Wenceslas”
Oh you may have wondered if I ever asked Ray Shulman if he would guest on a CD for me – no I never did – not because I thought he would regard himself as too “big a star” to be interested or because he was still cross with me for the scooter incident- no I simply didn’t think he would be interested in Christian music- you see Ray is Jewish!
So how have I managed to write something like 200 songs? Next blog on Thursday 13th I’ll start to tell you how it all began.