GEOFF WELLBANK
December 2003 Update: Geoff Wellbank (Fleetwood, Lancashire, England) sends these photos of his Wurlitzer 630TA white & gold and tells us a little about himself and how he came to be a fan of Ken's.
Hello Bill
My name is Geoff Wellbank and I was born here in Fleetwood Lancashire England in 1934. Thanks very much for your prompt reply. A bit about myself then, perhaps in 1949 I visited our local cinema and was very interested in a record that was played in the interval, after three or four visits to the same cinema i was told by one of my ex school friends that the record was by an American called Ken Griffin & was playing the Cuckoo Waltz, a day or two later found me in the local music shop ordering a copy of the same, i still have this record today although its about shot at!!! Over the next 20 or so years I managed to find a few more of Kens records mostly in second hand shops or car boot sales,Sometime later I was listening to the radio program called "The Organist Entertains" hosted by Arthur Lord, he said the next record is by the late Ken Griffin, I was stunned, I had no idea that Ken had died.
By now, my son & daughter both grown up & in their own homes & on The Internet, I see them both quite often & we are on line for an hour or so, we have learned a lot about Ken, his instruments and his playing ability. I have a large book of info made up by my daughter Karen, from the information that you and your fellow enthusiasts have written, I myself have a Wurlitzer 630TA white & gold which I play very badly, a shame really as the organ is in mint condition having had only one owner from new.
Many thanks for the video & CDs of Ken, I never thought that I would ever see Ken in the flesh as it were, the recordings and the video are excellent considering the time of the recordings, the wow you spoke of dose not appear to be on my copy, I must be the lucky one! The thing that stuck me most was how easy Ken makes it look, and I know that it isn't, I've always thought that I could tell the difference between Ken and those who strive to sound like him, but after listening to Kurt, Frank & Eric I'm not all that sure. I admire them immensely.
A fellow Ken enthusiast,
Geoff.