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Kon-Men, The.

A group of four students at St Mary's College in Blackburn who started a folk singing group in the mid-1960. The group became hugely popular throughout Lancashire. The four were Timothy Fee (vocals), Anthony Eastham (guitar and vocals), Bernard McCall (guitar, mandolin and vocals) and Peter Ledwick (guitar). The group became a trio after the departure of Peter Ledwick.

The group was formally established after Fr Kevin O'Neill, an English teacher, heard them rehearsing in school. He quickly arranged a gig for them at the YMCA in Blackburn so they had to decide on a name. In the absence of any other ideas, they chose Kevin's initials and became the Kon-Men. They soon became popular and were regular performers on Saturday evenings at the NALGO club in Blackburn. Eventually they were contacted by Rev Brian Brown from the Christian Education Movement who wrote a weekly column (under the guise of the Pop Parson) in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. He arrived conferences for young people throughout Lancashire and he started to use these Kon-Men during these conferences in order to give talks interspersed with music and also as a grand finale to the week-long events. These conferences were held in towns throughout Lancashire and resulted in the group performing at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.

They appeared regularly in various youth clubs, pubs and other venues throughout Lancashire. Their repertoire included songs from the Kingston Trio, the Spinners, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Ian Campbell Folk Group. On Christmas Day, they visited one of the hospitals in Blackburn to sing seasonal songs in the wards. After winning a local talent competition, they were contacted by Marie Reidy, owner of Reidy's Home of Music shop in Penny Street, Blackburn. She had given the Four Pennies their chance of fame, the name having been taken from the location of Marie's shop. Marie realised that the young men, by then in the 6th Form, were likely to go on higher education and she felt that she could not hold back their studies. After leaving school, Timothy went to the Rose Bruford College of Drama and Perfrormance in Sidcup. After qualifying, he joined the Royal Festival Ballet and subsequently became executive producer of Emmerdale where he was responsible for some of the most dramatic story lines. Bernard went to Durham University where he graduated in Latin. His 34 years as a teacher included 23 as a Deputy Headmaster at schools in Barry, Cardiff and Bristol.