Chapter 13.

The new neighbours had expressed a desire to see inside Broadcasting House, so it was a big group who were escorted to the studio where the show was to be recorded. It was set up for TV, and the presenter apologised for the change in format.

“Since you were last here, you’ve all gone from strength to strength. This will be a special on both One and Three, as your appeal covers both demographics. If you can go with our make-up girl, she’ll give you the matt skin that looks better.”

They were taken away, while the adults sat in the front row. After about five minutes, the other seats were filled with people who had either paid for a seat or had won it on a radio promotion. Jill and Clive were filled with dread, as this had been organised without their knowledge. For the other six, it was all new and very interesting. Eventually, the floor manager called for quiet and laid down the ground rules to only applaud when the sign was lit, and to stop when it went out. Then the doors were closed, and the director counted down to the opening of the show. The presenter looked at a camera and spoke.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our special interview with members of two bands who have shot to prominence this year. Over summer, they toured the country for charity, raising over forty million pounds for the disadvantaged in the cities where they performed. Recently, they had a lightning tour in Europe, taking in Copenhagen, Paris and Berlin. Both bands have released DVDs of shows, recorded during that tour. Please welcome members of G-Force and Summer Rose!”

There was prolonged applause as the eight of them came out. There were two long couches, one each side of the presenter. The three couples sat, with Garry sitting with Geoff and Zara, leaving one only other seat next to him, closest to the presenter, so Willow sat there. The interview was mainly about the latest tour, and the making of the two DVDs, which were held up for all to see. Everyone had a say, with Zara saying how she started singing with G-Force having been in the school choir. Nancy spoke about starting to play in the dance band and how things had moved on from there. They had been talking for over a half an hour. Then, the presenter asked an interesting question.

“I know that you all go to the Blue Coat School in Coventry, but there must have been a single moment that changed everything, to find you where you now are.”

Garry chuckled.

“One moment, you say. Well, it all started in the summer before last. I was playing bass with my friends, Geoff, Gerry, and Grant, as the G-Force. One of the lads in our class played organ and suggested that we put on a show where we played Deep Purple numbers. On the day before we were going to perform, he went down with measles. Willow was being shown the school, not even having started there, and she stepped in to play organ for us the following evening. As they say in the classics, the rest is history.”

There was applause, and then Herb wanted to continue the story.

“After that, G-Force was asked to play again in the next year. I wanted to put together a show with my friends, who are now the front row of Summer Rose. Willow stepped away so that Jim could return, and worked with us on a set that was all Moody Blues. We also worked on what became our Kansas album. The G-Force set, and the Moody Blues set were recorded by the school technical guys, and a mistake was made in the ordering, with hundreds more turning up at the school. We put that show on, in the school, before Christmas, with G-Force playing blues, and us playing Moody Blues. We were just six of us at that time, with Willow and Gina providing the full sound like an orchestra.”

The presenter looked at his notes.

“And now, G-Force has Zara singing, very beautifully, and Summer Rose is now eleven strong, with a very hard-working wind section. I believe that most of you are in the school orchestra. We did introduce two BBC DVDs that have been produced with most of you in the line-up. One was shown on New Year’s Eve, last year, and the other was recorded at the Proms and is scheduled for a viewing in the run-up to Christmas, this year. You have all been very busy. Your label has released a CD of the orchestra recorded at Abbey Road, and I’ve been told that there are two more albums of organ music about to be released, with Willow Rose and Gina Summer playing organs at Kings College, Cambridge, and York Minster.”

Zara laughed.

“Don’t forget that we’re performing the Messiah in the Coventry Cathedral next weekend. We recorded it a week ago.”

There was more applause.

The presenter looked at them as a light came on over a band set-up, with amps, a keyboard, guitars on stands, and a drum kit.

“I hope that you will allow us a little more of your time. Last time I interviewed you, Willow gave us a wonderful solo rendition of two of her hit songs. I know that we don’t have either full band here, but can you indulge us, please.”

Both Jill and Clive had dry mouths. This could be where everything unravelled. The eight stood and walked over to the instruments. Garry suggested that they should do something from the very beginning, and Herb said that he knew ‘Smoke on the Water’. Willow went to the organ, Brent sat at the drums, Geoff and Herb put on the guitars and Garry strapped on the bass. Nancy, Gina, and Zara went to a microphone. Geoff spoke into his microphone.

“This is something from the very first show that Garry and I played, with Willow on organ.”

He hit the first notes of ‘Smoke on the Water’ and then they recreated that iconic piece of music, with Garry playing rumbling bass, Brent thumping out the beat on the drums, Willow doing her best Jon Lord, Geoff and Herb swapping riffs, and the three girls adding backing to the title phrase.

When they finished, the audience couldn’t wait for the sign and were on their feet and shouting out. Willow’s parents, and the two from the label, had heard it before, but it was something totally new for the other four. Jill and Clive looked at each other.

“They’ve gone and done it again. That will make the music media when the show is aired.”

“I know. Why on earth were we worried. What’s the story with this Messiah?”

“Willow gave me a copy of that, recorded in a beautiful work of art that’s up to the minute. There will be a recording on the school website. The BBC will be recording the show in the Cathedral, but I suppose we could issue a CD.”

“Bring it to work. We can get Abbey Road to make it saleable. We could put it on the market in a couple of weeks before the TV show goes on. Knowing the BBC, it will be three or four months before they issue the DVD.”

“You’re wicked, Clive.”

“You’ve said that before.”

The studio slowly cleared, as the eight went off to be cleansed, with four getting fresh make-up. The presenter told them that it was a fantastic show, thanking them for their informative and interesting stories. When they returned to the studio, Wendy gave Willow and Gina hugs, and Hazel singled Herb out for a special hug, much to Alicia’s delight as she captured it on her phone.

They left Broadcasting House and strolled back towards the restaurant. Kevin asked what the station would do with the interview, so Clive enlightened him.

“Right from the beginning, there are places where they can fit in clips, some of the charity tour. When someone mentioned a moment in time, they can fit something in then, say, when Gina spoke about Willow writing ‘Finding a Friend’ for her. When he held up the two DVDs, they can play part, or a full, song from each show. We went in there expecting a radio interview and were surprised when it turned out to be for TV. It makes the interview ten times the punch, so it turned out well. If you want to see a twelve-year-old Willow playing that Deep Purple, all the shows can be bought through the Blue Coat website. That finish will be in the final cut, be sure of it. If I’m any judge, I’d expect the credits will be during the last couple of minutes of the song, with it clear for the final. I expect that there’ll be several seconds of the audience going mad.”

“I teach business promotion and advertising skills, and that session had everything in the course, do you train them up, beforehand?”

“Kevin. There is no way we could train Willow. She’s a force of her own. She has done things, in the past, that would make you run for the hills if you knew about it before. She hatched a plan, with Zara and Herb, to get sixty thousand singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ after the encore of the show in Liverpool. It made your hairs stand up, and I’ll never forget it.”

Back at the restaurant, the eight band members went down to the cellar to relax before dinner. Jill and Clive congratulated them on a job well done, Ashley and Wendy went up to change for their own night out, and the other two couples went to one of their apartments to discuss what they had experienced that day. One topic was the sweet and polite girl who turned into a banshee behind the keyboard.

The ten had a dinner, said goodnight to Jill and Clive, and then the eight walked to the tube station to head for the theatre, looking just like four couples out for the evening. With all the others paired off, it was natural to walk with Garry. Some people took second looks, but who would consider that a group of pop stars would be riding the tube. At the theatre, Willow showed her paperwork to the ticket office, and they received the ten tickets. Willow got Garry to give the two they didn’t need to a forlorn looking couple looking for a scalper.

The show was cheesy but fun, and the audience sung along with almost every song. When they came out, Geoff used his phone to call up a couple of Ubers, with four in each one. Willow and Garry were squeezed in with Zara in the back seat of one. He had his arm around her shoulders. She chuckled.

“What’s so funny, Willow?”

“I’m thinking back to that first time we were on that stage. You were so friendly and supportive, and the first guy to give me a hug.”

“That’s because you were such a great performer, and you came alive that night. How could I not hug you. What you’ve done since has been amazing.”

“What we’ve all done since has been amazing for a bunch of schoolkids.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You have more talent in your fingers than most of us have in our whole body. I’m just proud to know you and be your friend.”

“Thank you, Garry, that means a lot to me. I enjoy having friends as nice as you.”

They arrived at the restaurant and Garry got out and helped her get to her feet.

“Thank you, kind sir. It’s been a fun evening, where we were entertained, rather than being entertainers. I’ll see you in school.”

She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. He then bent down and properly kissed her.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for months, but there was always another guy in the way.”

“Well, there isn’t now. Perhaps we can have other times out.”

“That would be good.”

He kissed her again and then she opened the door and gave him a wave as he got back in the car. As she stood, the other Uber arrived with the other two couples. Herb paid the driver, and they all went up to the apartments. Gina and Nancy gave Willow hugs and said goodnight. She told them that breakfast will be in the restaurant, and they entered the apartments.

Willow saw that her parents weren’t back yet, so she went up to her room and made ready for bed. She didn’t pull the curtains as there was enough light from the street to see. She got into bed and cuddled City Shaun, and told him that another guy had kissed her, and that she liked it, a lot.

The next morning, she had jeans and a jumper to wear, hanging the dress back in the garment bag. She took care with her make-up, wanting to look like any other girl, and went down to fetch the laundry bag. She stripped her bed and put everything in the bag, then had a little look around, finding clean bedclothes in a drawer in the wardrobe. She remade the bed, ready for when she was back again.

She put the bag by the other bedroom door, hearing her father’s soft snoring. She let herself out and went down and into the restaurant, where she found Kevin and Hazel, Ted and Alicia having breakfast.

“Good morning, Willow. Would you like to join us? This is a common sight, a sort of Sunday ritual to have breakfast together.”

She sat at their table and Carlo came out to take her order.

“How did you enjoy the show, yesterday?”

“Very interesting to see how they put together a show. Clive told us how they would beef it up with clips. It will be good to watch it, knowing that we were there.”

“You may even see yourselves, Ted. There was a fixed camera on the wall behind the presenter, so they would have audience shots.”

“How many times have you played that Purple song? It was fantastic.”

“Twice, I think. The first on the day before the show, and the other in the show itself. We never put it into our act, as we were much quieter for the first albums.”

“How on earth do you remember all the songs?”

“I have the ability to be able to remember almost everything I’ve ever heard. When we play for a dinner dance, we can play for up to four hours without repeating anything. Our Headmistress thinks that it’s an aid to retaining knowledge. Most of us in the band are ‘A’ students.”

“Was buying this building your first foray into property?”

“My first on my own. I love it here, being so close to everything. We have a syndicate in the band, where we pool money for property. We have a small factory in Coventry, the site in Leicester where we’ve built our studio, and we’ve not long bought a big place in Small Heath where we have two tenants. I have got interested in property management and was thinking about taking it when I get to University, instead of concentrating on music.”

“You could do courses with us, as long as you’re eligible, before you finish High School. We do have on-line access. If you let me have your email, I’ll send you the details and an entry exam. Pass that and you can study, after we get a letter of recommendation from your Head.”

She pulled he notepad out of her bag and wrote the WR Holdings address.

“That’s my company. My parents and the accountant are the responsible adults. If you have any problems here, just let me know. My own email can get a bit clogged with unwanted rubbish, and I could delete something accidentally.”

The others walked in and joined them. Hazel pretended to be grief-stricken when she saw Herb and Nancy holding hands, much to her husband’s amusement. He asked them what they were doing that day. When they said that they hadn’t planned anything, he asked if they would like a guided tour of the University.

They agreed that it would be interesting, so, when they had all finished breakfast, they went up to put warm jackets and beanies on. Willow found her parents in the kitchen, greeting the morning with a hot cup of tea. She told them where she was going, and to drop the bag with Carlo when their sheets had been added. Ashley told her that if they had seen everything by one, to meet them at the Gaucho Steakhouse for lunch before heading home.

They all went to the university area. Kevin explained that there were seventeen colleges that made the whole, with outlying colleges as far away as Paris. The central college here was where humanities were taught. Kevin taught courses at the Birkbeck College, over a range of studies in Consumer and Buyer Behaviour, Digital and Social Media Marketing, and degree lectures in Marketing. After looking around that building, Ted led them to the building behind it, the SOAS University, where he taught courses in Business and Financial Management. He explained that this campus taught a lot of students from different ethnic backgrounds, with a view that they would go out in the world and improve their home countries.

“One of the other colleges linked to the University is the London College of Music, if you want to take your music studies to the next level. That’s some way to the west of us, and you would need to take the tube. It’s not hard once you’ve got used to it.”

They all left with lots of literature. Willow told the others about Gaucho’s, so they walked there to find Wendy and Ashley saving a big table. Willow found herself sitting between Kevin and Ted. Ted was asking her about what she really wanted to do for further studies.

“That TV presenter said that the two of you had made an album with Kings College. Did they show you around?”

“They did. We were there for a few days and got to see several colleges. They have a couple that are female centric, and we were urged to consider going there. I have grandparents who live nearby and my parents both went to Cambridge, so it was assumed that I would follow in their footsteps.”

“But you’re finding an independent streak?”

“Good Lord, Professor. You’re so erudite! Yes, I am finding my own way to do things.”

“We were told, yesterday, how you got sixty thousand singing the Liverpool club song once.”

“That was funny. It was three times, actually. The second had all the first team on stage with us, and the third had all the women’s team on stage. It made the newspapers.”

“So, why business studies when you have a great future in the music?”

“I want to learn how to make what I earn work for me. I want to be independent and live my own life, taking up offers to play that look good. Being at school has removed us from the constant grind of tours and having to keep producing hits. We’ve been lucky that we’ve made albums that sell, but, after a while, that will become work. Being a pop star isn’t all beer and skittles. You have to go where your manager gets you work, be happy and cheerful all the time, and there are no ‘down’ days. One bad show and you’re talked about as fading.”

“That’s a cynical view, but true. There are some that stay popular and draw the crowds, and some who end up playing at the end of some forsaken pier in summer. At least you and your band are investing in property. Look, I’ll send you the paperwork. Fill it in, do the assessment and get a letter from your Head. We may be able to start you off with a certificate course on-line, which would be a certain entry to study here after you leave school.”

“Thank you, Ted, or should I now say Sir. That would let me see what I’m happy with. The Head has told me that I’m pencilled in to take next year’s first-year musical again. We just presented a modern version of ‘Wicked’. It should be available through the school web site.”

“I’ll look that one up. I’m keen to get a copy of that show where you played Deep Purple.”

“That one also has me playing violin in a quartet. I’m sitting in the Leader’s seat next week when we perform the Messiah.”

“Is that also on the website?”

“Yes. You will have to be quick if you want seats, as we are filling fast.”

After lunch, they walked back to the apartments. For Willow, the weekend had been far better than she could have hoped. The occupants of number four had filled a plastic bag with linen and had all found fresh to make up the beds. Willow had to show Wendy where the clean sheets were and helped her make that bed. Gina went to give Willow back the key and Willow handed her one of the restaurant cards, and a key to the front door.

“Keep the keys, friend. You and your mother may like a weekend here in the future, so consider it a home away from home. I think that we may come down over Christmas to see the lights and do some shopping in the New Year Sales.”

They waited, with the bags, while Ashley and Wendy collected the cars. Willow told Gina that she was going to have to get new parking cards in the name of her company, so will get extra then, so that Maisie would have somewhere safe to park. When the cars arrived, it didn’t take long to load up, and they headed back to Coventry. On the way, Ashley commented about the version of Deep Purple.

“I saw the original show, but you weren’t the drummer, Brent.”

“I wasn’t, but I also saw the show, along with my friends. It was that show which pushed us to ask about doing something ourselves. Up to then, Herb and Roy were in the guitar group, but it made us want to play as a band. I never thought that it would lead to what it has, though. Other than Herb and me, that front line was as it was back then. It was a real blast!”

“Herb is as good as Geoff, I think.”

“Not as good as Gerry, he is out of this world. He was second fiddle to Geoff for a long time, but I think that the encore with ‘Lazy’ made them both realise what he could do, if allowed. His blues guitar is as good as anything I’ve heard.”

Gina giggled.

“Alicia told me that she and Hazel have our earlier albums but will go out to get later ones after seeing us play. She said that the four of them wondered what you became after midnight, Willow, seeing you turn from angel to banshee when you play.”

“I don’t know what I become, friend. Either I’m just asleep, or else I wander the streets looking for blood but don’t remember it.”

“You wouldn’t find much in the way of blood in Stoneleigh, after midnight, although it never really became totally quiet last night. That area is so exciting. I was never keen to hit a city, but with the places we’ve been to, this year, it’s opened my eyes to the wider world.”

“Did you think about future study while we were looking around, this morning, friend?”

“Actually, the idea of the College of Music sounded good. I want to continue to study piano, now. Maybe become a soloist for hire. Dress beautifully, play great music, be taken to exotic places and stay in swanky hotels, and get paid for it. Sounds good to me.”

“What about you, Brent?”

“I’ll follow Gina wherever she goes. That College teaches percussion, in all its forms. If Gina plays and sings in night clubs, I could be her drummer.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025