Bedford pensioner records single he wrote 42 years ago

Life in retirement is certainly anything but slow for Barrie Hyde.

Not only has he published two novels and presented radio shows, he's now found the time to record a single he wrote 42 years ago.

The 67-year-old, from Bromham, said: "It all came about because I present a radio show on Black Cat Radio. I played a couple of tracks recorded by Gilly Lee, a fellow presenter at the station.

"It transpires that as well as being a singer/songwriter, she also owns a recording studio. I said to her in passing that as a young man I always dreamed of recording my own songs. She replied, ‘why don’t you?’."

He added: "I laughed but she insisted that I send a couple of songs over. After a fair amount of persuasion, I bit the bullet and emailed two across.

"These are songs I wrote back in the 70s. She contacted me and said her producer Greg Stephenson wanted me to record one of the songs at the studio.

"I was staggered."

The single Sweet Lady May has just been released and - what's more - it's now available on Spotify and Amazon

But will it be a hit?

"Who knows, I may be the first 67 year old to make number one," said Barrie, who has also volunteered at the Bedford Heights vaccination centre.

"I doubt it very much but it’s been fun. The great thing is I'm living a young man's dream as an old man in his dotage."

You can listen to it on Spotify here