From Pam Quinn's scrapbook

A photograph, frayed, folded and fascinating: Barrie sits at his kit in a bare ballroom, smiling in his stripy jacket (also modelled by Phil Wainman!): note the four-piece kit with three cymbals, and the piano off to the right.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get this photo restored! See here
 
 

Old and battered though the evidence may be, we get an amazingly clear view of the very characteristic way Barrie Wilson holds his sticks: the left hand grip is quite different from the right-hand one. 

'He was very proud of that grip,' Pam recalls. 'Our dad used to see other drummers who held their sticks differently, and he always said that was part of the reason why Barrie was so much better than them.'

This was the grip that Barrie must have been taught to use in the Boys' Brigade. 'My Mum's brother, who is now a vicar, is probably the one who got Barrie involved in the Boys' Brigade,' Pam now recalls.

Also among the memorabilia sent to BtP by Pam Quinn is a pair of Ludwig drumsticks, the 10A 'Ray McKinley' model.

He seems to have used Ludwig 2S sticks pretty consistently with Procol Harum: see here (1971), here (1973) and here (1975)

A faint legend, 'To Sue love BJ' , is still visible on this pair of sticks. The lucky dedicatee was a friend of Pam Quinn's, still in touch with the family. She was badly ill with rheumatic fever as a child.

'He sent the sticks to cheer her up when she was in hospital,' says Pam, who remembers that, 'Sue had a thing about him: when she would knock for me and Barrie answered the door, she ran away!' (RC)

Footnote: two methods of gripping drum sticks: on the left, the grip used in marching bands: on the right, the 'matched' grip that is more common in rock. Note how Barrie, in the picture above, hooks his index and middle fingers right over the left stick in order to get maximum power.

More on BJ's grip here (search for 'Barricades & Tidbits') or here

Ken Willis adds, re. "This was the grip that Barrie must have been taught to use in the Boys' Brigade" above.

BtP's assumption is spot on. When I was in the Boys Brigade I was taught exactly the same grip. I can't comment on its usefulness, 'cos I ain't no drummer, but when I first saw a photo of BJ's characteristic grip, I immediately thought "I know where he learned that!"

Regards (and Shine On!)