DJ Extraordinaire
Born in Redditch. When Hitler heard about it he halted his plans to invade Britain (Derek is still waiting for his defence medal).
Educated? Webheath, Tardebigge and Redditch County High School (yes he really was at grammar school). He failed all his O-level examinations but did have the distinction of having more detentions in one term than anyone else in that year. Would have had more if he hadn’t been playing truant at the time.
Employment. Had a variety of jobs including plant maintenance, hardware shop assistant, machinist, Betterwear salesperson, and head bottle washer (TRUE: it was at Quinney’s Dairy). Eventually settled at the Birmingham Evening Mail where he is slowly rose to the dizzy heights of Area Sales Manager, a BU***HIT title for a sales rep. 29 years of that is enough for anyone so he took early retirement at the age of 55.
Marital Status! During this time he was married, once for 7 years (2 sons) and once for 20 years (1 son) but never did get the hang of the marriage game so now is single and celibate. No interest in women whatsoever also remains strictly teetotal to this day. No vices at all really – you can trust me my dear I am totally harmless!!! He smokes a pipe and has his hair dyed grey to give him an air of maturity otherwise his boyish good looks would be too much of a magnet to susceptible young women.
Hobbies. Reads as much as he can find time for, Sci-Fi particularly but anything else that comes along. Likes Terry Wogan in the morning and then switches over to radio 4. Is a big fan of the Archers and probably heard the first broadcast. Derek was once a model maker of some note (probably an absentee note on one of his truant days). He had a co-authorship in a book with the catchy title “How to build OO scale Commercial Vehicles”. For some reason it didn’t hit the best sellers list, probably needed a bit more sex and violence in it. The film rights are still up for grabs.
He then turned his attention to the Worcestershire Volkswagen Owners Club where he spent many happy years in their good company. He competed in the High Speed Engine Change competition for many years and won lots of times. His fastest time for the 2-man team was 1 min 28 secs to remove and replace the engine in a Beetle.
Up until about 12 years ago Derek had very little interest in music and then accidentally tuned in to a Country Music Programme on the radio and heard Garth Brookes singing “Friends in Low Places”, stayed tuned and heard Willie Nelson’s version of “You Were Always on My Mind”. That was it; he was hooked on C & W music. When he mentioned this to his new girlfriend it turned out that she was regular at the Truckstop at West Bromwich (sadly now gone) where they had live Country bands every week. It was there that he saw Linedancing for the first time and decided to get involved. After a while he started to help out with the teaching at Norman and Shirley’s class at Stoke Prior. Norman had to pack in there due to failing health and Derek offered to take over temporarily. From there, his involvement gradually grew and he is now involved 24-7-365 in Linedancing and Country Music.
As the current regular DJ at the Redditch Westerners gigs his highest accolade has been “He’s not much good but he works cheap” which just about sums him up. A deep and abiding love of Country Music is the driving force that keeps him dragging his weary old bones round the dance floor and hauling all that heavy sound equipment on and off stages all over the Midlands. If you haven’t yet been to a Westerners gig why not come along and jeer at him with the rest of us!
