In The Potteries in the mid 1950s the traditional jazz scene was flourishing. The best-known band was The Ceramic City Stompers who played Fridays at The Embassy Ballroom in Burslem - which quickly became very popular. Although the CCS were the main local band there were many more musicians wanting to play something similar. As he approached the end of his National Service, George was contacted by his friends who were putting together a band and were short only of a clarinet player and a drummer. Ever practical and realising that clarinets were easier to transport than drums - very few had cars in those days - he made his choice. This left another friend who was two or three months further away from his demob as the drummer of the Alpha Jazzmen.

When some of the CCS decided they wanted to form a new band, replacements - including George - were drafted in and everyone moved round to some extent. I first met George when we both played for Pete Brown's City Jazzmen and when Pete joined the Zenith Six, George came with me as I restarted The Five Towns Foot Warmers which ran through until the early 1970s.

George could always be relied on to give a solid performance and was a good friend as well as a very sound band member. If we weren't playing on a Saturday, five of us would travel up to The Manchester Sports Guild for some of its great jazz followed by a meal in the nearby Silver Pool. It was a bit hard on the driver, who had to keep a clear head, but there was always the thought that it would be somebody else's turn to drive next time.

In 1982  George and his family moved to Bedfordshire for his job and eventually ended up in Hertfordshire. From that time he stopped playing clarinet and sax, devoting his time instead to his other musical love, choral singing which he enjoyed very much and in which he was still singing until quite recently.

Although the Foot Warmers had an orthodox four-piece rhythm section, the front line had George on alto and clarinet along with Bryan White on clarinet and baritone and Ken Hughes on trumpet. This gave quite a bit of flexibility with each of them being able to lead. Two of the tracks included here were recorded in the mid 1960s for an LP. They are No-one Else But You, which we started to play after hearing John Chilton's Swing Kings play it at MSG, and Big House Blues which has George taking the lead. The third track is a short extract from a recording I made at a rehearsal when I realised I didn't have any recordings of George playing his clarinet.

When I heard the news of his passing I was saddened, of course, but it did make me look back with pleasure to a great bloke, a good friend and a musician with whom it was always a pleasure to play.

Thanks for everything George.