In March 2004 I first met Ben with his band ‘Merlyn’ at the Three fat fish, Exeter after the open mic night where I‘d just played & asked if there were any guitarists out there to work with me.
I was just walking across the car park at the end of the night when Ben approached me and asked if I fancied joining his band. We had a jam there and then in the car park. There were about 9 of us in a circle singing away when this guy stopped to listen. He must have been on his way home from a pub or something. He stayed for a bit then said cheers guys, great music. As he walked off across the car park, I said, thank you very much, hang on, I’ll get the hat (for a tip)...I was only messing about, being mouthy in a jokey kind of way, and this guy then turned around and said come here...He was fumbling around in his pockets as I walked towards him...I thought that’ll teach me, I was really embarrassed saying, I was only joking mate. He said no, no I really enjoyed it. He passed me a note and walked off. I embarrassingly walked back to the circle of guys I’d just met earlier. I thought the guy must have just given me his shopping list or something to be funny, but when I looked, I couldn’t believe it was a £20 pound note. I did feel a bit bad. I said to the guys, oh no, I was only messing around. We all laughed about it and thought what a nice man...or drunken nutter.. I split the dosh between us as we were all kind of singing, I thought it was only fare. We stayed in the car park chatting and singing for a couple of hours and got frozen. Someone piped up, cor I could do with a cup of tea. I said, do you want one? I’ve got my campa van over there with cooker & Tea and coffee etc. So we all piled into Betsey-Ronald, my old Renault Traffic campa van and I started making a brew. It was a bit of a squeeze but we managed it. I finally got home about 2 am. It was a long but good night and I made nearly £3 through music. wow!! :)

Me and the Merlyn band jammed and played at open mic nights. The North bridge Inn, Honiton Carlton, Sandford, Ottery St. Mary, cullompton, Angel...