The group, with the exception of Gary Wright who was still at his apartment in Chelsea, was now living at Woolwich Green Farm an old Tudor farmhouse in Berkshire surrounded by a manmade lake. Chris Blackwell had bought the house at auction after spotting it one day while driving with producer John Gilbert.
With the house came Doris a live-in housekeeper who had been looking after the previous owner following the loss of his wife. He was an elderly gentleman and had farmed the plot for years, he must have wondered what was happening to his house. Doris had a penchant for too much whiskey and the group still remember the greasy plates of egg and bacon presented to them one day by a slightly worse-for-wear Doris, her head covered with a turban/scarf tilting slightly to one side with strands of matted grey hair falling from beneath it.
Doris seemed enamoured with waiting on a pop group but her position was soon terminated and then things really started to rock ‘n roll. The dining room was set up for music as was one of the outside barns and many long and creative nights were spent with various combinations of Spooky Tooth, Traffic, Family and later a wayward Trevor Burton who had quit the Move in order to devote his talents to less pop orientated music.
Trevor moved into Woolwich Green Farm promptly dislocating his shoulder in the process by falling from Traffic’s jeep whilst at their cottage.
Some months later his fellow brummie mate Denny Laine would join Trevor as they formed Balls with Steve Gibbons and Alan White. The pair lived for a while at the Spooky farm.
In fact Mike Kellie became the second drummer for Balls but the unit was short lived. There were journeys into London town to the Speakeasy – the occasional pub crawl and many a night spent jamming.
