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Fortes Mentum Mark l Musicians

Ronald Regan - Bass Player

Frank Bennett - Vocals

Barry Clark - Lead Guitar

Alan Ward - Organist

Keith Giles - Drums /Vocals

Danny Beckerman   Deceased  - Piano/Song Writer

Fortes Mentum Mark ll Musicians

Ronald Regan

Frank Bennett

Keith Giles

Rod Creasy -Organ

Bob Flag  (ex Riot Squad - Sax/Flute/Song Writer

Stuart Wicks - Organ

Tony McGill - Lead   - Guitar ( just found him!)

Paul Coles - Lead Guitar (Germany only)

Here are some photos, past and present but there are lots more on the Gallery page.

Danny Beckerman

 

 

Danny is well documented on the net but sadly died of lung cancer before I made this site.  There are many stories about Danny but  his involvement with Fortes Mentum is on here. 

Click on the Fortes Mentum page or Google 'Danny Beckerman' for further information about Danny's remarkable career after he left Fortes Mentum.

 

 Danny then

                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

Ron Regan                      

 

Ron is now 62 (Feb 2009) and has never left showbusiness! 

When Fortes Mentum finally finished around 1970 he went

on to formThe Balloon and Banana Band with Bob Flag. This was a zany comedy/music group appearing mostly in FringeTheatre.  They became Nuts & Bolts when they got in ex Nitwits professor Tony Traversi.  This line up lasted for around a year or so until Bob left and Ron got in Cyril Lagey (also ex Nitwits) and Howie Morgan.  The act become part of British comedy folklore history. For over thirty years they performed all over the world and after a two year stint in America with Barnum & Bailey in 2001 they came back to London.  Howie and Cyril had died before the USA job and then Tony died in 2002 so Ron decided to concentrate on the family property business, but not for long!  From being 'the baby' of Nuts & Bolts, Ron is now 'the daddy' in The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra - a wonderfully zany and refreshing comedy/musical team, and guess what?  - travelling the world again!  Ron is married to ME!  a fellow performer  Maggie Regan, has two children and three grandchildren all of whom are showing nanny and grandad's performing flair!

 

Ron now

 

 

                                                                             Ron with The LPSO  www.lpso.co.uk

  See Ron with Nuts & Bolts on                

  www.nutsandboltscomedy.com

 

Frank Bennett

Frank Bennett is still entertaining the crowds, and is one of

the greatest singers around. He appears regularly at venues across the UK  and recently did a spot at Rons sixtieth birthday party in London where he was a big hit. Frank has toured with lots of 'names' including David Bowie, Gene Vincent, Jeff Beck, Johnny Kidd, Ritchie Blackmoore, Kenny Lynch etc., Frank also works with his wife in  business and is generally in good health and wealth!  He is a lovely man and very, very funny. Asked to describe himself in two words, Frank replies 'vain bas***d' He is also keen to revive Fortes Mentum!   Whadya think?  Check out our comments page where there is a lovely story from Franks wife.       

 

Frank Then

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank now                                                             No Change !!!!!

  

  

 

                                                                           Keith Giles

Keith Giles is still very much involved in music. He lives in Croyde where he works as a masseur and is a very keen surfer.  He plays  with local bands and mentors promising young musicians in the area. He likes to spend quite a few months of the year in Australia where his son and family live and here below is a pic of him now - still looking super cool!    to be cont/,,,,,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Ward                                   

 

Alan is the lovely joker who is always sending funny emails and jokes! He is  married with one son and two grandchildren now and he lives in St Albans, Herts. Clever lad our Alan, he works as part of a design team designing oil rigs and drill ships but his hobby is still very much music! After Fortes Mentum, Alan joined Creola Music with Barry  and a couple of other bands but in his words, when his son came along it was time to 'settle down' However he still plays with various local bands. He hasn't changed a bit!  (all the old girls still think he was the best looking! sshh!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Alan then        

 

 

 

                             Alan now

 

                                                                             

 

 

 

Barry Clark

Barry now lives in the USA and is still in the music business! He owns a very successful retail business selling musical instruments as well as playing them over in Wisconsin. We met up recently in Las Vegas  and had a really lovely time with him and his wife.  More about Barry when he sends me his memories!

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Flag 

Bob and his wife share their time between homes in London and Japan so trying to tie him down is almost impossible!  Although Bob is still a very keen musician, he has fingers in many pies!  He is over seventy now but he and Ron are still close pals who see each other when they can.  Bob is acedemic and he very cleverly is translating his wife Takae's book from Japanese to English  (well I can do that!  Geordie to English  nee problem like!) Anyway these two brainboxes are well and still in the public eye. Bob is also writing a book on his life in the music and entertainment business so we wait with great curiosity to see who sues him first!  Only joking!  Bob has never been one to mince words but he really is an amazingly interesting character so his writings should be explosive!  Hurry up Bob!  (I will publish old photo's as soon as I can)

Bob now

 

Stuart Wicks   to come

 

Tony McGill

  

Tony th en

In May 2009 we received a lovely e mail from Tony McGill. I was amazed to hear from him because my old man has the memory of an elephant and for the first time in all the years I've known him he actually slipped up and omitted Tony from his memoirs!  How could he??!  I showed him Tony's e mail and he did a great cartoon-slap of the forehead and it all came back to him!  After his stint with Fortis, Tony went on to play with some other great bands! 'Autumn-Music' was an early collaboration with Ian Murray (Becket) and Neil Peart (Rush) playing gigs at such memorable venues as the Marquee and the Greyhound. After that he joined 'Second Hand' who also recorded under the name 'Chillum'  I am reliably informed that their albums are very collectable and are selling for big bucks so if you have any in your collection you are in luck! During the late 70's and early 80's Tony did quite a bit of session work for various companies such as Warner Brothers, Mushroom Records,    Arista and Virgin and also played with a band called 'Alaska' which had a minor hit record on the Warner label.  During this time he became deeply involved in composition and started writing pieces for Radio and TV. In the early ninties Tony studied 'Composing For Film' with Amit Sen and then became an enthusiastic part time lecturer in Composition and Musicianship for music training organisation Access To Music.  He taught at West Herts College and after receiving a Cert Ed from the University of Greenwich he became the Head of Music at the college.  Clever lad our Tony!!!   In 2007 he gave up teaching to concentrate on composition and is currently working on an album of his own compositions. Tony has promised to keep us informed as to the release date and also of his future exploits.  Other musicians Tony has worked with are: Jim Labaigue (Dreamtime)  William Murray (Kevin Ayers/Amazing Blondel/Paul Kossoff) John McCoy (Gillan Band)  Barry Blue (producer)  Derrick Griffiths (Actor/Musician)   Lol Coxhill.

                                                                                             

                                                            Tony now

Record producer Vic Keary left and Tony

on the right

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

                           Paul Coles

 

Ron is speaking to Paul Coles as  I write! He is 64 now and lives with his wife near Dover, they have  four  grown up kids and seven grandchildren.  Paul is very interested in music theory and at present is studying guitar. We are trying to persuade him to get into computing so that he can Google Fortes Mentum, but Paul is so deeply into his music he will not be swayed!  I dont see much chance in getting an up to date photograph from him as he is so busy. But he is still very much one of the band of brothers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod Creasy

Rod Creasy is another member of Fortes Mentum who has sadly passed away. In the words of Rod's father, 'Rod led a bit of an unproductive life' but he produced lovely children.  Ron spoke to Rod shortly before he died in 2005 and he sounded very upbeat. He wasn't working  but had said he was playing guitar which he now preferred to keyboards, and that he was taking it easy. There is a lovely story from Jo Bennett on the contact and comment page about Rods son.