 |
Stewart led a quiet and sheltered life until suddenly being thrown out into the world one day in February 1962 in the Maternity Ward of Surbiton Hospital. After a childhood full of life-threatening experiences such as playschool, shopping, school, shopping and the sixth form he walked out of his local comprehensive relatively unscathed (at least physically) and walked up the road to an Electrical Research Association, called ERA, where he got a job as a technician and then went shopping. This seemed an ideal time to make use of the opportunities of the world of further education, so he decided to carry on working at ERA for a further five years until at last giving in and going to Brunel University. After many years on the Escape Committee Stewart finally tunneled his way to freedom and got a job in mobile communications as a Radio Frequency engineer which still gives him something to do during the day. To this day Stewart delights in playing the same notes as many of his guitar heroes of that time, but not necessarily as fast or in the same order. As for the hair… well, easy come easy go… Who knows what would have happened to him if a friend in the sixth form hadn't introduced him to a local Methodist church Sunday night youth fellowship, called SNYF. Although raised an Anglican (C of E) it was through his good friends at SNYF that Stewart discovered a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which thankfully has continued to grow to the present day. Since then he has always been involved in leading worship, particularly through music. One day Steve invited Stewart to fill in for the guitarist in a band called Chrysalis who were doing a gig at the local football ground… |
|
 |
Andy Mitchell
has been singing since the age of fourteen and since then has taken lead roles in many musical shows and concerts of varying styles of music. She is also very involved in worship and evangelism in her own church and others nationwide. As Director of Programming for successful monthly cabaret evening, she puts together all aspects of the programme including music, drama and all other media, and is responsible for all production. She is the founder member of a group set up to put on shows to raise money for charity and produces and directs their shows as well as performing in them. In addition to which she performs and choreographs shows for other companies. |
|
 |
Steve Foster
was born in December 1959, in Solihull in the West Midlands, way before a lot of music (like disco, punk and modern romantic) had been invented. However, jazz had already been around a long time and has managed to persist to this very day. Steve has had no formal drumming tuition whatsoever which may come as a big surprise to anyone who knows nothing about drumming. His career, if you can call it that, started through playing drums/percussion using diverse instruments such as Twigglets (Original flavour), spoons, chop sticks, school desks and eventually bongos. He joined a pub-based band in 1978 called ‘The Maggots’ (a subtle name, metamorphosed from ‘The Beatles’) where he learnt important life skills such as eating curries and avoiding buying drinks. Unfortunately, like the Beatles, the band eventually split due to various members becoming too big for their boots and wanting to pursue solo careers (I wish!). After gaining his degree in Biology at the University of York, he moved to Nottingham in 1983 to do a PhD on Population Genetics; a weird choice really considering he had vowed never to go near this subject after his horrendous undergraduate experiences. Anyway, while at Nottingham, he was invited to join a band called ‘The Opera Buffs’ and after being sacked for being too old (all the other members looked as if they were still at school), found God and in 1989 joined a Christian rock band named “Solid Air” who performed covers and original material. They were billed as “Probably the Best Nottingham Rock Band in the World” and produced two albums in Steve's time, released through Plankton Records (OK, so you've never heard of them). Unfortunately, the band split in 1993 coinciding with Steve moving to Chesham to start a job working as a Research Entomologist protecting UK crops from pests. Yes, he spends all his time running up and down fields shouting and waving his arms at bugs and stuff! In 1995 at a Kings Church gig the drummer was taken ill (this often happens to drummers) and Steve was asked to stand-in at the last minute. Afterwards, the guitarist asked Steve if he was interested in joining a band called ‘Chrysalis’. Intrigued by the name, for entomological reasons, he met up with Mandy, Nicki et al. and agreed to play a few gigs. 10 years later and at least 150 performances of the ‘Millennium Medley’ (Oh, Good Grief!), he is still waiting for permission to leave. Likes: Loud, fast rock numbers that annoy keyboards’ players. Dislikes: The colour purple (no, not the film but the shirts) and wearing anything too formal such as ties |
|
| Eddie McManus |
