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A Potted History and
Background
The St Leonard's Church Youth Holiday of the summer of 1962, at
Whiston Lodge, Biggar in Scotland, was the coming together of Tony (singer)
with Eddie & John (guitars). Prior to that, Eddie & John
(brothers) played guitars together at home. I have a recollection of
playing 'Twist Again' over and over again at Biggar - it must have been in the
charts at that time. After that holiday, four of us got together to play
and sing (Eddie, John, Eric and Tony). We played 'pop' songs for fun,
learning what seemed to be popular - and in the charts. After October
1962 (and the Beatles first single), this included some from the early Beatles
repertoire. However, we also learnt some fairly traditional Christian
songs - some of which were given a slightly more 'modern' feel (for the time).
All of this practicing and playing together was just for 'fun', and would
be between September-December of 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis.
During that period, with encouragement from the church family, there
became more of a desire to 'ditch' the pop songs and concentrate more on modern
Christian music (such as it was) - and to use it for evangelism.. Our
first church booking was in January 1963.
In terms of musical styles and
influences, John had liked Duane Eddy ('The Twang's the Thang'). Eddie's
first 'pop' interest had been at the time of things like the late Everely's
(Cathy's Clown etc), and Paul Anka ('Diana'). Tony had liked Elvis, and
he might have admitted to liking the Bachelors. I'm not sure what Eric
liked, but I think the main influence on all us around 1962 was the Beatles and
the emerging Merseybeat scene (before the Beatles hit the big time).
TONY MATHIAS
(1963-75)
As a young boy,
Tony, the singer, had been involved with St John & James' Church Bootle and
was sporty - a footballer (soccer) and cricketer. It was this connection
which brought him to St Leonard's Church to play football (soccer) there and
become involved with the young people. He had been on a St Leonard's
youth holiday in the summer of 1960 (to Patterdale Hall, Lake District), but
had missed the 1961 holiday on the canal boats from Chester to
Llangollen. At the time of the start of the crossBeaTs
Tony was part of the St Leonard's scene and was a committed Christian.
Tony sang with a rather 'sweet' voice, which some people thought was
particularly suitable for ballads. Tony had left school at 16 (grade 10)
and was working in a shipping office (PSNC) in Liverpool.
JOHN BOYES (1963-end)
John (lead guitar) had always gone to St Leonard's and
was involved with the youth scene there - going on all the church holidays and
Boys' Brigade camps etc. He had been converted during the early ministry
of John Mockford (as had the others). John
had also left school at 16 (grade 10). He was interested in photography
and began working for a local photographer. Later, he became interested
in electronics and, after some time working for cancer research, ended up much
later working in computers at the University of Liverpool.
ERIC KNOWLES (1963-68)
Eric attended the same school as the other founder
members (Bootle Grammar School for Boys), and left at 17 to join the John Lewis
Partnership (George Henry Lee, Liverpool). Eric had attended St
Leonard’s and had been a member of the Boys Brigade, together with John
and Eddie. Following the conversion of Eric’s parents to
Christianity, Eric became a Christian himself in his mid-teens, a year or so
before the Group started. He later moved to train as a transport manager
in the Concrete Products Industry, where he held a number of management roles
in private and public companies. Subsequently Eric moved into waste
management, working in general management and at director level, before
becoming a regional director of an International Group involved in the water,
energy and recycling industries.
EDDIE
BOYES (1963-end)
Again, Eddie
was an involved member of St Leonard's Church, and had been converted at a
mission there. Eddie was younger than the others and had stayed on at
school after 16 to study "A" levels (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics).
He was in the first year 6th form (grade 11) when the group started.
He later went to the University of Liverpool to study physics, and then
on to a PhD. He was therefore a student in the early days of the group,
and chose not to go away from home to University so that the group could
continue. For the practice holiday in the autumn of 1963, he was in
(high) school, and had to ask the headmaster (principal) of the school for time
off. He later went into teaching Physics and eventually lecturing at the
University of Liverpool. Musically, he was interested in chords and chord
sequences, an interest which had stemmed from Tom
Cooper.
None of the group had any musical training, or could read
music, but Tom Cooper had taught Eddie some chord
theory. Tom was organist and choirmaster at St Leonard's and was always
trying to introduce more modern Christian music to the young people. It
was natural that Tom should be an important part of the start of the crossBeaTs, not just in musical terms but also spiritually.
JOHN MILLINGTON
(1963-66)
John Millington
(bass) became a Christian throgh St Leonard's though he had not gone there as a
child - living near to St John & James Church, Bootle - in the same road as
Tony. John joined soon after the group started, and this relieved Tony
from having to learn bass and sing at the same time (which had been one option
we had considered). John had also left school at 16 (grade 10) and was
working in a local government office (town council, city hall) - Bootle.
When John Millington left the group to get married and move to Wigan
(1966), the group thought about 'taking on' another bass guitarist. Some
friends considered doing this but it didn't seem right. There was even
talk of amalgamating with the Witnesses, a more recent Liverpool Christian
group that we were friendly with, so that their bass player (Jimmy Nunnan)
would become ours, but this was not followed through.
SAM
PENNINGTON (1966-end)
Sam
Pennington had been known by the group for a while. Some of them had met
him while playing at bookings, others had bumped into him on holiday in
Cornwall - quite by chance. He was a committed Christian and worshipped
at the same Church as the Witnesses, Richmond Baptist in Liverpool. It
was known that Sam played guitar, and it was decided that the group ask him to
play rhythm and Eddie would go on bass. Eventually this happened -
without too much of a gap between John Millington leaving and Sam 'taking up
post'. Sam had also left school at 16 (grade 10) and was apprenticed to
'Harland and Wolf' as a pattern maker. After serving his time, he went to
Ford motor company in Liverpool. In terms of musical influence, he liked
the 'Hollies'.
JOE ROBERTS
(1968-end)
Joe Roberts was a
later drummer (when Eric left). Joe had been converted at a meeting with
the crossBeaTs at Shrewsbury House
(Liverpool), and somehow we heard about him when we needed a drummer.
There was a reasonably long period when the group played without drums.
Joe had left school at 16 (grade 10) and had become a welder for a firm
working with 'containers' (for container ships etc). After his
conversion, Joe had played drums for another Christian band called the Beacons
before joining the crossBeaTs. |
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