HARKINS BIKE..……what a strange name for a Band I hear you say……….well here the story begins….…..are you sitting comfortably……..then I"ll begin..……most of the Band knew each other and most frequented the same local watering hole "The Grey Horse, Brayton" and it was here where the "bike ride" began.

One Saturday night in the pub when most of us happened to be there we decided to go for it and have a go at something that we had discussed on and off previously, "lets have a get together and see how it goes". Alan (Drums), Graham (Guitar), Gary (Vocals….oh…and tambourine) and Me – Steve (Guitar) by chance that night we got talking to a guy who had just moved into the area, it turned out he played bass and was looking for a band to play in, what a stroke of luck, he was up for it so the first rehearsal date was set for the following Sunday in the Grey Horse.

Hope you"re still with me…….."The Grey Horse" had a resident quiz master "Mr Dave Harkin" or Super Dave to his mates. (who sadly passed away in April 2017).

At the time of my story Dave was in the pub on the Thursday night before our first rehearsal, sat at the bar after the quiz with Landlord Graham and our new Bass player.

Our new Bass player announced he was leaving and was followed 10 minutes later by Dave Harkin, who promptly returned shouting "someone"s nicked my BL@#DY bike"!!!! After an extensive Police investigation (not really, I added that bit for drama!!) our Bass player was found to be the guilty party, it turned out he had taken the bike to ride home on as it was raining, in fairness to him he did return it on the Friday but by this time the "Who nicked Harkins Bike" posters were up in the pub. Needless to say our new Bass player was that embarrassed that he didn"t turn up at the pub on the Sunday for our first rehearsal and hasn"t been seen in the pub since……although he is welcome back.

The band was now a bass player down and when talking about what we should call ourselves "Who nicked Harkins Bike" was mentioned and seemed quite appropriate, it was quickly shortened to "Harkins Bike", a new Bass player found (Geoff).

Gary knew Jude who came along and turned out to be a great singer ….and that"s it, the "Bike" band was formed for hopefully a long fun filled ride. Although, just to clarify one issue ……we are sometimes seen advertised outside venues as "Larkins Bike", Hawkins Bike" or even "Our Kids Bike"………it"s the same band!!!!…..blimey it would have been easier if Dave"s surname had been Smith!!!!!

Seriously though "Harkins Bike" are a group of friends who socialise together and do what we do with the band because we enjoy it. For that reason we work hard at what we do and hopefully that shows in our performance, we will always try to accommodate venues requirements and will work with you to ensure we make the night a success…..at the end of the day we do this because we enjoy it and for that reason if you enjoy it so do we.

As mentioned earlier we lost our namesake and friend Dave Harkin in April 2017. He was a big part of his local pub The Grey Horse and is greatly missed.

Dave was a great supporter of the band and we were given the privilege of performing a song for him at his funeral.

We are proud to be allowed to carry on his name.....

Dave Harkin RIP.