Mike Packwood

Northampton bands and my quest for pop stardom Me and Ady at Langham Place for Wheres Lisse? practice So where did it all begin?  Well i n mum’s dining room I think. Must have been the summer of 1978. I had just left school, Ali had too I think and Ady was going into the 6 th form. We had nothing to do for the holiday. I think we considered starting a football team and with the benefit of hind-sight, that may have been a better idea. Still after much deliberation, we decided on starting a band instead. Goodness knows where that came from. None of us had any musical 'previous'. Ali was going to be the singer, Ady the bass player and I picked drums. And that was it, off we went. None of us knew a guitarist and none of us had any instruments, let alone any ability. Ady got a bass guitar from somewhere and bought a Carlsbro amp from a shop on the Wellingborough road , which I think we took home on the bus. Ali bought a microphone, but nothing to plug it into. I

The Packwood family decided to do a Parachute jump, as you do! Thats Mum, me, Luisa, Sarah, Alan and Lily. Alice, Amy and grandad gave it a miss (on this occasion). We did it for breast cancer research and raised loads of money. That was the easy bit. Jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet was slightly more nerve wracking, but as everyone says, as soon as you hit the deck - softly in everyone's case apart from mum, who managed to land on top of the bloke she was attached too, (she did that on purpose)  -  you want to do it again. We haven't yet! Tiny plane, spectacular view of Northamptonshire and a lot of screaming, swooping, the odd tear and silly hats. Mum has the video of herself and looks like a pro!

Have you ever seen an MG6 on the road. No? Me neither.  I know where there is one though. The Ford dealer in Penarth Road Cardiff is one of the 30 odd MG dealers around the UK and has one or two tucked away in the corner of its forecourt. I drive past them every day but have never actually sen one moving. Since it was relaunched into the UK a couple of years ago I think its fair to say that sales haven't exactly set the world alight, numbering just a few hundred. Many of those were sold to AVIS as rental cars. I wonder if anyone has actually spent their own money on one?  Its difficult to understand what the Chinese owners motivation is, why they're bothering at all. Presumably they're trying to earn some kudos by creating a few jobs here assembling them and trade on the tenuous link to MG still being in some way British. Home market sales have been strong so why bring the cars here at all, if all they can hope to achieve is sales of a few hundred a year and don&#