Hi Chris
I stumbled upon your site by chance, and was intrigued to see myself mentioned. What a joy it was to wander back down memory lane, remembering the guys who underpinned the music scene in Folkestone back in the 60s.

I have recently been through my late mother's scrap book, and have found countless articles cut from the local paper, about bands that I played with, flyers for gigs at the Leas Cliff Hall, and much more. I have copied some of these and will send them as separate emails.

Inhibitions Prologue
After Inhibitions Prologue and Square One I left
Folkestone and joined a band in Portsmouth called Mirrors. The drummer Richard Manwaring and I became close friends, and Richard went on to do some great things, including producing hit albums for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and others.
After Mirrors failed to get a record deal, I returned to Folkestone and spent personal time writing songs. By then Richard was working at IBC Studios in London, and we used some free studio time to make some demos of my songs. Gary Swinard came up and played guitar on those early recordings, I wonder if he remembers? That led to a record deal with EMI, and in 1974 my first single as a solo artist, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, was released. After a second single with EMI which, despite plenty of radio plays, failed to sell, I signed to MCA. With MCA I made two singles under the name J.Ryder, but neither of them did anything much.
I had been writing songs all this time, and signed a music publishing deal with RAK Publishing, run by Dave Most (Mickey Most's brother). After this I made a couple of singles with a band called Freeway, which included my old friend Richard on drums. One was with MCA, the other on Paladin.

Thankfully throughout all of this I had had the good sense to keep the day job, and finally abandoned making records, to concentrate on making a living by other means!

From your site I was reminded about a number of things:

Dave Shackle: Dave was an enormously talented drummer, and as a musician, was one of the strongest talents I remember from those days.

Gary Swinard: I have already mentioned Gary. He was always part of the music scene, a talented guitarist, and was a great help to me when I needed support in getting my demos off the ground.

Stuart Fennell and Bob Dominy: These guys were in Square One and were good friends. They both emigrated to Australia, either in the 60s or early 70s.

Square One: I played bass in the band.
Inhibitions Prologue: I played keyboards in that band. Initially using the old VOX Continental organ I had bought from Stuart Fennell, then later with a Hamond M102. Funnily enough, riding another wave of nostalgia, I have just bought a 1964 Hamond M102 and am re-living the experience! How many times did we drop that organ down the stairs at Tofts at the end of a gig?!! Dave
Shackle was on drums initially, but when Dave left he was replaced by Ewait Pinch, with Ian Milton on bass. Ian also had the van!

I hope this hasn't bored you to sleep! I'll send some of the cuttings from the Herald, and other bits, which you can either bin, or use on the site if
useful.

Great site - well done! Regards Peter Dugdale