As an infant at school, under 11, Peter would bring to school a mouth organ on which he would entertain us during playtime in the school yard. He was always musical and followed in his brother's footsteps. It was at this school, Gors Infants', that he jammed his little finger in the school gates. Whether that is where the name Badfinger originated, I don't know, but that injury scarred him for life.

As teenagers, we both moved to Townhill School, where we joined the evening club run by Brian Coffey. We both joined the woodwork class. I was interested in woodwork and Peter was intent on making his own guitar, as groups and musical talent were to be the "in thing". Peter had already got himself an acoustic guitar, but really wanted his own "Stratocaster". I don't know if Peter ever finished it, but he finally bought a "Solid" (in those days) guitar. We would make the speaker cabinets together, me the cabinet and Peter the speakers, which were mostly from old radios and the like. Brian Coffey, when seeing Peter struggling to make his own guitar and both of us the speakers, offered to purchase us an amplifier If I remember correctly, it was a "Bird" make.

Two other mates decided to join us and form a group Roy Anderson and John Horrell. Roy purchased a snare drum and cymbal and John a bass guitar. Roy eventually bought a bass drum and, being interested in art, painted the face of it with a panther; as it was to become our name.

I think all of us remember our first gig. Unbeknown to us, Peter's brother John, who was then a member of Swansea Jazz Club, found us our first booking in the Bryn Hall, Brynhyfryd, Swansea. It was run by "Maxie" Maxwell, a prominent figure in Swansea at that time. Also unbeknown to us, it was the "in place" for fighting and trouble.

Having been practicing together at Townhill Club for many weeks, it was now to be our "big night". We could not sing and knew little music, apart from a few string instrumentals played by our idols The Shadows. It was a disaster. Having struggled to tune in together (as most bands did in the early days), we eventually began to play. It soon became noticeable to everyone we could not play! After a few minutes, we were politely asked to stop, have the money and go right now. That was to become our first and last live gig under the name of The Panthers.

I later left the band to move up to "The Tower", a dance hall, to become a resident D.J. and only stopped playing records when Tony Wyn-Jones took my spot. Tony later became the resident D.J. at the Top Rank on its opening.