When Alex attended the funeral of well known Melbourne vocalist Roland Bonet, it dawned on him that with the passing of time; the funerals of musical contemporaries were becoming more frequent - furthermore it was virtually only on these occasions that he got to see old muso mates.

This prompted Alex to raise the possibility of regular re-unions. He heard from his good friend Tony Buckley, a bassist living in Sydney, that the Sydney Musicians had been meeting on this basis for about two years. Subsequent discussions with John Fordham, Frank Leonard, Trevor Firth and Terry Stanhope led to the foundation of the Fabulous Fifties Musos' Group. The group is organised purely on an informal basis to encourage the musos to get together and have a few drinks while catching up with one another.

Since the first gathering of the Fab Fifties Musos early last year, the group has had visits from Bill Gowthorp, the Sydney alto sax player and Ron Lucas, a Canberra pianist, both former Melbournians.

Similar groups have formed as far afield as London and it is hoped that similar groups will be formed in Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland, in the meantime, any musician with information about mutual muso friends can contact Alex by email or by phone on (03) 9354 6103. Musos living in New South Wales, contact John Bignell on (02) 9938 2691. Musicians or Band Singers active in the fifties and sixties are eligible to join the group.

Any information or notable stories that you think are worthy of inclusion, feel free to E Mail to the Editor Frank Leonard.