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AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES
The band.

The nucleus of the band are two former sports teachers, Rod & Mike, who have been a bit of a double act for over 30 years.

AWTF were the original 'Boy Band'. Time has played some terrible tricks on us and, sadly, we are now an 'Old Man Band'! 

We claim to be the band that invented harmony. On one occasion we all tried for the same note but found 4 different ones that worked together. Harmony! We still trying to replicate that occasion!

Rod Dyer is the fiddler (yes!) and owner of photocopies of Bob Monkhouse's stolen joke book. Some have said that he's only in the band because he owns a warehouse full of malt whisky! Rod knows and performs many comic songs. He hails from Dudley and will gladly point out that property values have increased since he left!

Mike Houston plays guitar and harmonica as well as sings lead on mny songs and on others adds harmonies. Born in Ayrshire, Mike keeps forgetting the combination on his wallet. The last fiver he took from it had Queen Victoria's face on it. He's still got it as it was on a piece of elastic. Mike is the driving force behind the band, introducing many new songs and developing new arrangements.

Frank Allen is another Scot (are there any left up there?) coming from Dundee. Frank was the newest member of the band until Pete Wimpenny joined, having been with us several years now and attended a grand total 5 of our weekly rehearsals. Frank has a whole library of unaccompanied songs that we have yet to hear. Frank takes the lead on many songs.

Our newest recruit is Pete Wimpenny, originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. As a former member of Her Majesty's senior service where he was as an artificer (look it up!), Pete took the Queen's shilling as a young man and says she still owes him a bob to two.  For someone who's spent so long at sea, Pete has always kept his feet firmly on the ground, preferring to spend his shore leave playing music instead of getting drunk like some of his colleagues. Pete now plays 5-string banjo, tin whistle, clarinet, alto saxophone, plus others and takes the lead vocals on many songs he has introduced to the band.

Colin Sullivan can be easily distinguished from the others by his youthful good looks as well as his ability to design websites and write this rubbish. He was recruited purely for his youth as he brings the average age of the band down to 'just above 75' and pushes the average weight up a few pounds. Colin is the percussionist, playing lots of noisy stuff including including the bodhran and a zydeca tie. He also takes the lead on many songs but usually those with lots of words in them.

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