IT HAS been 50 years since a Gwent based band supported The Who in a gig in Cwmbran.

Pieces Of Mind, originally a six-piece from Newport and Cwmbran were formed in 1963 and played regularly across the region with a mixture of rhythm and blues covers and original songs.

On January 31, 1966, they were the main support band for The Who made up of Roger Daltrey,lead vocals, Pete Townshend, lead guitar, John Entwistle, bass guitar, and Keith Moon, drums, when they played a gig in Coed Eva Community College.

John Reardon, the lead guitarist, said: "We were very lucky, we got on quite well with a chap called Maurice (Mo) White who used to run the music centre in Newport. As well as that he got into promoting gigs around the south Wales area primarily in Newport and Cwmbran.

"He got in in a lot of big names such as The Who and because he liked us we supported a lot of bands from the early 60s.

“He booked The Who to play in the youth centre in Newport originally but there was a limited space so he decided that wasn't big enough.

"The Coed Eva Community College was a typical school hall. There were between 300 to 400 people there - it was absolutely packed."

The band members who performed that evening were Adrian Williams, lead singer, Robert Price, bass, Phil Edwards drummer, and John Reardon, lead guitar.

Mr Reardon said: "We shared a dressing room with them. One or two of the band chatted to us.

"What we had a habit of doing if we were playing with more famous bands - if they had a song in the chart we used to play it. We played My Generation that night. The Who were at the side of the stage thinking what the hell are they doing?"

The band re-formed to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2013 and have since played 26 gigs.

They are made up of Adrian Williams, 69, vocals, John Reardon, 69, guitar, Andy Gibbon, 69, rhythm guitarist, Vic Johnson, guitarist, 68, Robert Price, 68, bass, Steve Strong, 68, drummer, Phil James, 68, saxophone, Bob Teague, 64, keyboard and vocals, Ric Lawton, 63, saxophone, flute and backing vocals and Ted Dyer, 65, drummer.

Will Lowe who plays harmonica and backing vocals lives in Australia but is still a member of the band. Phil Edwards who played drums in the gig in Cwmbran with The Who died in 2014 and Rob Evans, bassist, died last year.