And when he turned his hand to teaching in 1972, more than 400 students were lucky enough to learn accordion, guitar, drums and piano under his guidance.

“ How can you possibly fit all that into your noggin?” I asked when he mentioned the Christmas carols.

“ I can’ t explain it,” he shrugged.“ Tunes just seem to stick in my mind.”“ Fair dinkum – that’ s it?”“ Yeah, that’ s about it!” He not only knows the tunes those fingers prancing over the keys always hit the right notes. He plays flawlessly.

An obvious question was: when and where did his passion for music start?

“ When I was seven, a friend and I were walking up Sydney Street in Riverstone when we heard wonderful music coming from the Symons’ house,” Brian explained.

“ Pat Symons was on the front verandah and told us her sister, Patricia, was inside with a music tutor, learning the accordion. We hung around until the lesson ended. When the tutor came out, I told him I was interested in learning too.

“ Cutting a long story short, he arranged lessons for me with Enzo Toppano – one of the finest accordion players and teachers in the country. His studio was in Five Dock, and such was the support of my parents that every Saturday my dad would drive me to guitar lessons in Blacktown, wait until I was done, then drive me to Five Dock, wait again, and

drive me home.” Brian put that talent to use early. At 12, he and fellow Riverstone High student Brian McCombe formed a duo called The Woodpeckers.

“ Our first performance was at Ron Judge’ s 21st at the old Riverstone Football Club Hall. I was on accordion and Brian was on drums and vocals for‘ Banks of the Ohio’,” Brian said.

Later, the Woodpeckers expanded into a bigger band The Zodiacs joining Gary King, Phillip Chapman and Stan Austin.

“ We were kept busy playing at pubs, clubs, 21sts and weddings – I kept records, and we played at 110 weddings at Vineyard’ s popular Belvedere Lodge,” Brian said.

“ The Zodiacs had a big turnover through the years around 30 musicians until we disbanded in 1990. I moved to Bundaberg, worked in a Mitre 10 store and joined a local band, Abbey Road. Eighteen months later, I was back in Riverstone.”

Back home, he continued performing and teaching first in a studio and later mobile. For many years he performed with great school mate and“ little brother”, guitarist Ron Benz, who sadly passed away in 2022.

Many readers have seen him play fourhour gigs at the Windsor Mall Rotunda on market days.

Readers still get the chance to hear this musical marvel perform when he performs with the Macquarie Towns

Music Club which meets at Richmond Neighbourhood Centre on the third Friday of each month

Now, to end with a delightful story Brian and Sue shared. They were sweethearts at Riverstone High and stayed together into their late teens before going their separate ways. Both married and had families and didn’ t meet again until nearly three decades later in 2000, when Sue recently widowed received a call from Brian offering condolences.

“ Well, when Sue and I were together all those years ago, we sat in a photo booth for a picture. That little photo went into my wallet, and it’ s still there today,” Brian explained. Mmmm indeed!“ When I contacted Sue, I was separated from my wife later divorced and finally, after all those years, we became husband and wife,” he said.

I sneaked a peek as Sue gently lifted that small photo from Brian’ s wallet. I’ m certain I spotted a tiny tear.

Isn’ t that lovely?