Musical find unearthed

Fifty years ago a talented group of students at Sunderland's Bede School performed an end-of-term musical called Columbine, written by teachers Ken Stitt and Derek Bradshaw and myself, married to one of their colleagues.

I've just discovered an audio cassette in my attic with all the songs on it, recorded live on July 21, 1970.

The quality of the recording isn't brilliant; I'm amazed it's survived at all, but the enormous talent of the singers and musicians shines through.

Do any of your readers remember it? Are Ken or Derek still with us?

Those whose youthful voices were recorded include Jill Borrowdale, Ron Fortune, Cliff Hall, Dick Holland, Gary Hope, Bernard Levy, Sylvia Lee, Ian Macdonald, Joan Miller, Pete Thompson and Geoff

Toscano.

If any of these can bear to hear their teenage voices again, I've managed to convert the tape to mp3 format and would be happy to send them a copy.

Bede students from those days may recall that among those in the musical background was a young man who'd recently left the school and was embarking on a career as a musician.

He spent many evenings practising his guitar in our flat in Solar House before going on to become Eurythmics star Dave Stewart.

I've still got what is probably the only surviving copy of his first demo disc, an EP made with Brian Harrison and recorded on the Sunderland Multicord label.

It includes two of Dick Bradshaw's songs from the musical.

Jon Smith. Barningham, North Yorkshire. jonxxsmith@gmail.com