'On the never-never'...

‘The Tradesmen’ 

Their beginnings were in 1961 with the usual problems of little money but a lot of enthusiasm and determination. But they had talent and although they never reached the 'top' they deserve their place in Bradford's rock 'n' roll history.

It all came about when Mike Betts, who had been taking guitar lessons for two years, got together a similar group of members.  The only difference was, that the others had no guitar-playing experience and would have to be taught the rudiments of learning to play the guitar, the drummer would have to teach himself.

All four members knew there was much to do and think about, especially having to purchase guitars, drums, amplifiers, and a PA system.  This was going to be quite a challenge as in the workplace they were all training apprentices with an average of £8 -£10 per week wages.  Not to be put off they decided the group line-up would be John (Andy) Anderson, on lead guitar and vocals, Mike Betts, on rhythm guitar and vocals, Mick Higgins, on bass guitar, and Robert Castle on Drums.

Budding drummer Robert bought a cheap drum set and started taking lessons on Saturday mornings.  Mike Betts had his guitar and the other two lads Mick and Andy purchased two second-hand guitars.  Not being able to afford a bass guitar they took the strings off one of the guitars purchased four bass strings and converted it into a bass guitar.  Now with all the equipment complete, Mike Betts set about teaching the two guitarists basic chords and scales, and even purchased sheet music from Fred Powers bookshop in Kirkgate Market. 

They had a meeting and decided to pool their money and took the giant step of purchasing two amplifiers from ‘Harmony House’. One was to be used by the bass guitarist and the other by both the lead and rhythm guitarist, to complement these were two Goodman’s Speakers.  It was a massive undertaking at the time, having to put down a deposit and buy them on hire purchase.  When they finally received all this new equipment they were taken the same day down to the Sunday school where they were plugged in.  It was now a new group in the making with a completely new ‘sound’, practice now became perfect and had been worth the many months that had passed. Seemingly they were now getting somewhere and even purchased another amplifier, so now each guitarist had his own amplifier.

It was now time to meet the public and show off their rock 'n’ roll repertoire.  ‘The Tradesmen’  had arrived and played their first booking at a Youth Club Church dance at St Luke’s, on Barkerend Road in Bradford.  It was a thrill for all the lads having been well received by a young audience and they had their first payment of £20!  It had been a long struggle up until this date in early 1963 and now hopefully ‘The Tradesmen’ would go on to ‘reach the top’.

All that was now required was a place to practice and they were soon practicing at Mike Betts's house (when his mum had gone out).  Their next item required and purchased was a cheap amplifier with a couple of speakers, however not the ideal output for three guitarists. Nevertheless, they had to make do, but now practicing at Mikes's home was a problem especially now with amplification, and his mum did not always go out.  A new venue was required and as two of the lads were in the Boys Brigade at Idle Baptist Church, Mr Carter, who was the Deacon, let them practice in the Sunday school which had a stage.  Therefore they could now practice on Saturday afternoons and at no cost.

Progression was slow, but each week they were improving and now could play some rock n’roll music, and although not to perfection they included ‘The Beatles’, ‘Rolling Stones’, ‘The Hollies’, ‘The Searchers’ and ‘Shadows’ instrumentals.  It wasn’t enthusiasm that was letting them down, but their equipment, so they took a major decision to buy all new equipment, namely amplifiers.

They had a meeting and decided to pool their money and took the giant step of purchasing two amplifiers from ‘Harmony House’. One was to be used by the bass guitarist and the other by both the lead and rhythm guitarist, to complement these was two Goodman’s Speakers. It was a massive undertaking at the time, having to put down a deposit and buy them on hire purchase. When they finally received all this new equipment they were taken the same day down to the Sunday school where they were all harnessed and plugged in. It was now a new group in the making with a completely new ‘sound’, practice now became perfect and had been worth the many months that had passed. Seemingly they were now getting somewhere and even purchased another amplifier, so now each guitarist had his own amplifier.

It was now time to meet the public and show off their rock 'n’ roll repertoire. ‘The Tradesmen’ had arrived and played their first booking at a Youth Club Church dance at St Luke’s down Barkerend Road in Bradford. It was a thrill for all the lads having been well received by a young audience and, they had their first payment of £20! It had been a long struggle up until this date in early 1963 and now hopefully ‘The Tradesmen’ would go on to ‘reach the top’.

After their first booking, there was nothing else in the pipeline so they went on practicing regularly and eventually, they were asked to play at their Youth Club, Idle Baptist church. However, this would be free of charge, partly because they were being allowed to use the Sunday school for practice. They agreed that it would be a good venue especially to play in front of an audience containing many of their friends, from whom they would hopefully receive some feedback.

They must have been reasonable as two 21st birthday celebration bookings quickly followed, one of which went particularly well at the event at Idle Working Men’s Club. When not practicing or playing they went around the various pubs and clubs listening to other local groups already working on the circuits. It was generally agreed that every group they saw and heard was far better than ‘The Tradesmen’, and accepted that they had a long way to go.

One such venue was Greengates Social Club, then affectionately known as ‘The Red Den’. It was when speaking to the Concert Secretary that they mentioned to him that they had a group, which resulted in their first ‘top’ booking and to play there on the following Saturday night. ‘The Tradesmen’  now drummed up much support from friends and family who on the night turned up to help fill the ‘Red Den’. On the night the concert secretary’s introductions on stage were always of the same standard and generally in a broad Yorkshire accent. “I would like you to give a big hand to our special group of the night as they are all local lads living in Idle, so let’s hear it for ‘The Tradesmen". At first, they were very nervous but after a few rocking numbers and generous applause, they soon acquired confidence to make it a very successful evening. 

 
At last, it was all smiles and they now felt they were on their way especially as the Concert Secretary gave them another booking and also advised them to contact other Concert Club secretaries. They took his advice and soon had many bookings playing mostly on Saturday evenings and lunchtimes, however a problem arose as sometimes the venues were further afield.

 
Rescue came with a friend, John King who borrowed his brother's Austin A55 van and later a more up-market Bedford Workabus with seats in the back, sliding doors, and a column gear change. By this time with repeat bookings and new venues, ‘The Tradesmen’ were now beginning to be noticed.

This now gave them new impetuous to look the part of a successful group by investing in new outfits. It was a friend of the lads who offered to make the outfits at a reduced price, payable monthly as the money came in from their bookings. The new attire consisted of black dinner suits, white shirts, black ties, and black shoes and socks which when delivered helped make The Tradesmen into a resplendent foursome. With a new dress code, they also felt it was time to upgrade instruments and invest in new ones. Robert the drummer went back to Harmony House in Bradford and traded in his old drum kit for the new upmarket Rodgers Drum Kit and new Zym Cymbals,top of the range at the time.

The three guitarists however traveled over to ‘Kitchens of Leeds’ looking for a good deal in a part exchange for their guitars. A good deal followed as Mick Higgins (Bass) purchased a Fender Solid, John Anderson (Lead Guitar-Vocals) purchased a Gibson Semi-Acoustic and Mike Betts (Rhythm Guitar -Vocals) purchased a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean Semi-Acoustic with a Bigsby Tremolo arm. The cost alone of Mike Betts's guitar was approx £178.00!!! (1965). A fantastic sum of money at that time although, free hard guitar cases, extra guitar strings, and free plectrums were given to each member. With new suits and expensive instruments, they could now fill their music repertoire with all the popular top numbers of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Billy J Kramer, The Shadows, Bob Dylan,  Donovan, The Hollies, The Searchers, Joe Brown, and many others.

Now firmly established on the Working Men’s Club circuit they at last became a very popular local group thus earning enough money to help with the payments for the suits and instruments with a little left over. 

Among the many popular clubs they performed in were the Idle Working Men’s Club, Laisterdyke Social Club, Dudley Hill Social Club, The City Band Club, East Ward Labour Club, The Woodend Club in Windhill, and The Railway Club. All these and many others were superseded by extensive bookings at their first club venue ‘The Red Den’ in Greengates and they were also the first choice of many 21st Birthday Parties which were very lucrative at that time.

Perhaps, one of the strangest if not unique venues was that from Bolton Villas Cricket club in Wrose to play on November 5th at a Bonfire Night event. The group was located on the outside edge of the cricket pitch with various long extension leads from the clubhouse which supplied the power for the equipment (a health and safety nightmare today). It was about this time that the Top Twenty Club opened in Idle, The Tradesmen’s backyard. The club was promoted by Frank Thorpe of Thorpe’s Ice-Cream fame which proved to be very popular, especially with Garth Caywood at the helm. Being a local group Frank let the lads practice at the club and gave them the odd booking to supplement their many other venues.

In 1966 one of the mothers of the group wrote to Hughie Green with the hope of ‘The Tradesmen’ appearing on ‘Opportunity Knocks’. They then forgot all about it and continued playing. Girlfriends were now on the scene and other priorities took over. Suddenly after all those years of trials and tribulations, they now realized that deep down they would never make it ‘big time’ and were just not good enough. Inevitably in mid-1966 they closed the book on ‘The Tradesmen’ and sold all their equipment back to the shops of which they had been purchased. Three months later a letter arrived at the home of Mike Betts asking for ‘The Tradesmen’ to attend an audition at The Gaumont on Bradford for ‘Opportunity Knocks’, however too late, ‘The Tradesmen’ were no longer available.

To read the individual group biographies refer to pages 363-366 of

When Bradford Rocked