Joining The Ken Mackintosh band

After a few weeks of chatting to ken Mackintosh over a hot forge, he eventually told me that if I wanted to progress as a player I should join his rehearsal band. This band practiced every Tuesday in a Church Hall on Streatham Common South side. St Andrews I think it was. Neither my reading nor my competence on the sax was good enough for this kind of exposure. So I declined. However those who have known Ken know that "no" is not an answer he likes. So eventually I set off for Streatham, with some apprehension.
(The furthest south I had been since my trips to Thornton Heath to get my Camero serviced.) Without satnav a futuristic device that didn't exist, and a dog eared A to Z where all the roads I wanted were in the crease, I got lost. This did not go down well with Ken. 'Got lost !' Have you turned into a southern fop?'
He said to me across the work bench.  I got lost the next week too.
Eventually I found the place and walked in during the second number. 'Better late than never, go over and sit next to Wally and see if you can follow the part.' The piece was 'This could be the start of something big, a Nestico arrangement. I got lost after the first bar. Ken sat behind a bench in front of the band, his worn alto case on top of it and his alto resting inside ready for action. Also on the bench was a small Casio keyboard an amp and a speaker, he used the built in drum machine to set the tempo when there wasn't a drummer. He rehearsed  the sax solly a few times, said it would come, and called out another number. I thought it would never come. It was all too fast for me. And this was without my sax. Wally Glen, a seasoned pro, who was in  2nd Tenor chair, advised me to just keep my head down, don't answer back, and I would survive.

My First Ken Mackintosh Experience

After my first run in with sax repairs at Lewingtons I realised that I could do it too. I had studied engineering at school passing the practical with ease, on lathes and milling machines etc. As it transpired the nearest College to learn this trade had its workshops at the end of my road in Wimbledon beside what is now the tram tracks. So I enrolled onto a course in sax repair. On the first day I took up a space at the end of the bench beside the forge. A week later I arrived early and set up in the same spot. After a few minutes a big man with fingers like sausages arrived and started to set up opposite me. When he had laid all his tools out he looked at me and said 'I usually sit where you're sitting'. I apologised said we should swop. He studied me for a second then said, 'You're not from around here are you ?' 'Nor are you I replied. 'So you know who I am then ?' he said. 'You're Ken mackintosh, I said. 'From Cleckheaton' It was the day that changed my life.