Greenlaw is a small village in the old county of Berwickshire. In the 1960s, the population was about 500. In spite of this, Greenlaw spawned a number of bands at a time when bands were not nearly so common. ‘The Castle Kings‘ were a rock ‘n’ roll band who achieved some fame in the early 60s. This page is about the bands which followed them. They were ‘The Blackadders‘, ‘Clockwork Orange‘ and ‘Bedtime Story‘. This was essentially the same band with various changes of name and personnel. Tam Todd was the bass player in all 3 bands.

If anyone has additional info or has spotted mistakes in what’s here, please let me know via my Contacts page.

Greenlaw War Memorial and Town Hall

The Blackadders

Start Date: 1964(?) As far as I know they bought equipment from the Castle Kings.

End Date: 1967

Personnel

Bass: Tam Todd
Vocals: Alastair ‘Chippy’ Douglas
Vocals/Rhythm Guitar: Bill ‘Pedro’ Davis
Drums: Douglas ‘Spug’ Middlemiss
Lead Guitar: Duncan McGregor, replaced by Bill Green

Tam Todd, Zoob Lyall(?),
Douglas Middlemiss, Duncan McGregor, ?

Bill Green?, Tam Todd, Chippy Douglas,
Bill Davis, Douglas Middlemiss

Tam Todd, Chippy Douglas, Bill Davis,
Douglas Middlemiss, Bill Green?

Clockwork Orange

Start Date: 1967

End Date: 1969

Personnel

Bass: Tam Todd
Vocals: Phil ‘Jesse’ Rae
Drums/Vocals: Derek ‘Deg’ Laidlaw
Lead/Rhythm Guitar: Raymond ‘Ray’ Telford
Piano: James ‘Jays’ McLean
Keyboards: Norman ‘Nor’ Dodds

Although Clockwork Orange appears to end in 1970, it’s not that simple! An almost complete change of personnel had taken place by mid-1970. Jays McLean left in 1968, followed by Ray Telford, Phil Rae and Nor Dodds in the first half of 1969. At that point, Roy Ashby and Alex. Nisbet joined Deg Laidlaw and Tam Todd in the band. Nor Dodds re-joined (briefly!) as keyboard player. Soon after, Deg Laidlaw left the band and was replaced by Colin Purves on drums. Gus Townsend joined as singer shortly after and the band changed their name to Bedtime Story.