BACK TO THE QUARRY

From an impromptu Cavern Club jam to globetrotting icons

Neither Hanton nor Davis regretted leaving the band that became The Beatles. To them, the group was a hobby they’d grown out of. Davis went to Cambridge University and had a career in the travel business before becoming a college lecturer. Hanton was an apprentice upholsterer who established his own upholstery company. Pete Shotton remained friends with John Lennon and was managing director of The Beatles’ company Apple Corps before launching a multi-million pound restaurant chain, Fatty Arbuckle’s. Eric Griffiths ran a chain of dry cleaning shops and Len Garry worked with disabled people.

During the early 90s, John ‘Duff’ Lowe made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to organise a reunion album and, in 1995, released The Quarry Men disc Open For Engagements featuring himself and Davis plus session musicians.

A full reunion of the pre-McCartney era line-up took place in 1997 at an event marking the 40th anniversary of The Cavern Club, which they all attended individually.

“At about 6pm we decided to go out for a Chinese meal,” says Davis. “The management said, ‘You can’t go now. There’s a TV crew coming to film you guys and we want you playing on stage.’”

That impromptu jam led to a fundraising gig for St. Peter’s Church Hall and an album: Get Back – Together. Since then, the group (now styled The Quarrymen) has been in demand to play Beatles conventions around the world, from Cuba to Japan. The band have also released the albums Songs We Remember (2004),

Grey Album (2012) and The Quarrymen Live! In Penny Lane (2020).

Today, Davis and Hanton perform as The Quarrymen And Friends (the friends being David Bedford and Lowe’s son Henry), Shotton and Griffiths having died, while Garry and Lowe have retired due to ill health.