We were alongside the Shropshire Union Canal, near
Upton-by-Chester. The occasion was an outing by Ennerdale youth club in
Wallasey, organised by Audrey Meade and her sister, Jean Rushworth. We travelled
by No. 10 bus to Birkenhead Hamilton Square and then on the Crosville service
from Woodside. A fairly lengthy canal-side walk followed, with a stop for a picnic
lunch. I carried Chris’s rather bulky transistor radio, throughout.
Never mind the peace and tranquillity of the towpath in
summer, we required the sounds of the Summer of Love and most notably - and it
was played a number of times on the day - Procol Harum’s, A Whiter Shade of
Pale. It is almost exactly 50 years ago that the song first appeared and had
such an immediate impact. As we had only recently met, we have thought of it as
“our song” ever since [along with a few thousand others, no doubt].
We eventually saw Procol Harum at Liverpool University’s Mountford
Hall, on 8/3/73 and, as chance would have it, we have tickets to see them again
- in Nottingham, on Sunday.
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