Reunion for Shropshire pop group after 50 years apart
They were one of Shropshire's leading pop groups of the 1960s.
And now, 50 years on, they have come together again for the first time since those heady days.
Members of The Birds 'n' B's chatted about old times when they met up in Shifnal in a reunion that was sparked by the publication of an old picture of the group in the Shropshire Star.
That led to long broken connections being re-established, culminating in the get-together at the home of the drummer, Dawn Rice, about whom we carried a feature telling her story not so long ago.
"All of that publicity prompted everyone to get in touch," said Dawn, who back in those days was Dawn Cullis, who hailed from Dawley.
"Jim Wilkie travelled from North Wales, Lesley Whitehouse from London, and Austin Powell, the manager, from Knighton. Chris Wallace, Mick Skinner and myself are local.
"It has been 50 years since we have all been together. Gerry Ward was unable to get here from Germany."
Chris, from Ketley Bank, said a relation of Lesley's had seen the picture in the paper, got in touch with Dawn, and, knowing that she was coming to Shropshire for a family birthday, wondered if there was a possibility of getting everybody together.
"Dawn phoned around and we all got together, apart from Gerry in Germany. It was so lovely. I haven't seen Les or Jim for 50 years. We met up at Dawn's house and sat round drinking tea and chatting about our memories and telling stories, do you remember this and that? We're going to try and make it an annual thing, and see if we can get Gerry down."
None of them had met Lesley, who hails from Newport, since she left the band and forged a solo career in London, using the name Louisa Jane White.
After Dawn left, the band became Fluff, Shropshire's most successful pop group, albeit never quite breaking into the big time, until the emergence of T'Pau in the 1980s.
Gerry just missed the reunion, as he had been in Britain the week beforehand. He has now returned to Germany where he has lived for many years, but remains in touch with his old Shropshire pals.
