Bumblies

(c’63-66) Godfrey “Goff” Matthews (piano), Terry Ward (vocals), Peter Mould (Rhythm Guitar), Anthony Hawkes (guitar), Maurice Shelley (?), Richard Hodby (drums) and Mick Clarke (bass).

The Bumblies (not to be confused with the Liverpool band of the same name) were possibly named after Michael Bentine’s Bumblies from the mid-50’s. In late ’59, Hodby and Ward, who both lived in Cranleigh, and been in The Senators with John Dixon on guitar. The Senators folded after Ward became a Butlin’s Redcoat in Pwllheli, Wales; where Ringo Starr was the drummer with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, Ward even ended up doing a set with the band a few times a week. He then joined P&O as a steward on SS Strathedan. On his return, and after securing a job, Ward got together with fellow Senator Hodby and they formed Bumblies with Hawkes, Shelley, Matthews, and Clarke.

The band used to rehearse in Cranleigh, where, for weeks, Kenneth King, aka Jonathan King, would turn up, saying he would be their singer…he was initially turned down. Managed by Bruce J. Bunker out of 19 Addison Road, Guildford, the band played throughout Surrey and Hampshire; and up into London at The 2 I’s, Soho and the The Jazz Cellar, Kingston, amongst other venues. Bob Potter booked the band, although their name was misspelled as Bumbleies, to support The Mark Leeman Five at Agincourt, Camberley on 14 December ’63, a gig that was moved to the Drill Hall, Camberley. Bunker’s younger sister, Lesley, was the bands fan club secretary, which was also run out of 19 Addison Road.

Local promoter, Brian Howard, booked the Bumblies to perform at the Village Hall, Fletham on 10 January ’64. King joined in ’64 and the band became Terry Ward & the Bumblies; with King acting as manager, securing the band gigs, including a 22 August ’64 appearance at The Celler Club, Kingston. The band spent many hours recording with Joe Meek but the project never came to anything. Terry Ward & the Bumblies were third on the bill, after the Druids, at the 20 February ’65 Moody Blues concert at the the Civic Hall, Guildford. The promoter, Graham Andrews, got them on because he was worried the Moody Blues wouldn’t turn up as “Go Now” had just hit No.1…Especially, as the day before the gig the Moody Blues manager called Andrews to say their drummer was ill. He was better the next day and they played the show, avoiding a last-minute cancellation. Signed to Philips Records in early ’65, one of the bands first gigs after signing was at the Village Hall, Merrow on 20 March ’65.

The 7-inch “Gotta Tell”, backed by “When I Come To You” by Terry Ward (with The Bumblies) was released on the Fontana label [TF 558] on 2 April ’65. Both tracks were credited to King. The band broke away from King, shortly before his “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon” came out, on which Bumblies’ Hawkes worked on the chords.

In a 1999 interview with David Hughes, music journalist and Polydor then EMI PR man – and now Camberley resident – King said of his time with The Bumblies and his initial forays into the music business: “The only success I did have was that I did get a record out that I have produced and it was quite fun. It was by the band that used to back me up at P.A.’s called The Bumblies and a lovely man at Fontana put it out, so my first ever release was a track called ‘Gotta Tell’ by Terry Ward with The Bumblies which I’d written and produced, and that did come out and did nothing – it was bloody awful and probably no one’s got a copy except me, hidden away somewhere.”

Later in ’65, Mould went on to join Smokestakks and Matthews moved on to Philip Goodhand-Tait and the Stormsville Shakers. In ’66 the Bumblies reformed and toured France, including a gig at Paris’s St Hilaire Club and La Brocherie, Normany; in fact The Bumblies were the first British band to play this venue in Normandy, ultimately holding a residency for several weeks, having been booked by club owner Ivan Poupardin. Within a few months, Matthews was approached and joined French band Les Sunlights, achieving numerous No.1 singles in the French and the Belgian charts.

Matthews, who passed a few years ago, went on to forge a solo and songwriting career in France. On returning to the UK, Matthews joined Down To Earth, then the Tamla Tigers. Ward also spent considerable time working and recording in France, before permanently returning to the UK and is now in Brixham.

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