Joe Kendrick - an anecdote

Please persevere with this slightly long post….it’s not about me! As a freelance player in London for most of my post-RMB career I did many different engagements. One of the regular jobs was for BBC Radio Schools broadcasts…”Singing Together” and “Time and Tune” …produced by Douglas Coombes. He asked me to appear at Westminster Hall as a soloist at a most prestigious event in front of 2000 school children and Baroness Faithfull ( aunt of Marianne…!!) who was the Education Minister or whatever. The concert finished at 14:30……just enough time for a pint… as it was when pubs closed at 15:00. No way! I had to attend a tea with Baroness Faithfull in the House of Lords. I went through intense security and was concerned at being told to leave my attaché case on a clothes rack.

“ Worry not Sir….we are responsible for the Crown Jewels on occasion…”

Tea was over and I went to retrieve my valuable Louis Lot flute in its case within my black attaché case which I was relieved still in situ. Suddenly I heard a voice behind me:

“Hello Adrian….I reckon you might be needing a pint eh?”

Behind me “all dressed up like a pox doctor’s clerk” was Joe Kendrick!!! He took me through a labrynthine passage into the bowels of the Palace of Westminster to a lovely private bar where I had a few pints of Adnam’s bitter. Often it has been written and said how the RMBS is a family and how we look after each other. Well Joe certainly looked after me that day!!