790 The Crusaders “Had to Turn Away” 1965

The group formed in 1958 as The Keynotes, renamed the Crusaders in 1960 and Insight in 1966 (not to be confused with the Crusaders based in southern California). They were based at Brownhill Road Baptist Church in southeast London. Their music evolved from southern Gospel to blues to heavy rock (www.1960schristianmusic.com).

“My memories of the Keynotes, Crusaders, Insight. I first attended Brownhill Baptist Church in 1963. I went with my father to see what facilities they had for teenagers as the church I had been attending was small and only catered for children up to about 12 years old. The day we attended was the Sunday School anniversary and I was astounded to see the Keynotes playing a song or two in the service. As a budding guitarist I was sold on the place and have been there ever since, currently playing guitar in the worship band every Sunday. The line-up then was David Hawken – vocals, Keith Churchman – lead quitar, Les Bamber – rhythm guitar, Adrian White – bass guitar and Tim Anderson – drums. Over the years the name changed through the Crusaders to Insight and the line- up changed – Keith and Tim stayed throughout, Bruce Duncan replaced David as vocalist, Bob Frost replaced Adrian as bass guitarist and Les left and wasn’t replaced. I got involved with them as I had a Morris 1000 van and together with Keith who also had a van became their unofficial roadie. They played Christian coffee bars throughout the South-East and either myself or Jeff Whyler would often present the gospel message to the young people. Some of us went most weeks to a local bible study group run by someone from another local church” (Dave Bridle, personal e-mail). 

The Crusaders “Had to Turn Away”