THE Guardian this week takes a trip down memory lane to remember Warrington's international country rock band.

Poacher were the first and only UK country group to have a record in the American country Billboard charts.

The six original members, who formed in 1977 after meeting in the Poacher pub, Winstanley, appeared on more than 100 television programmes and even had their own Scottish TV series, Poacher Sings.

Bass guitarist Allan Crookes said: "I was working at Dawson's music store on Sankey Street and one day Tim, who I just knew as a customer at the time, came in with the first Eagles album. I had never heard anything like it before. He asked me if I wanted to meet with his band, The Freewheelers, at the Poacher pub that night and that's where it began really."

The group played Wembley nine times and supported a string of country singers, including Johnny Cash and Ricky Nelson.

Although the band only usually reforms for sad or fundraising events, at least five of the eight members are still heavily involved with music.

Vocalist and musician Tim Flaherty and string-banjo player Pete Longdon are now members of successful celtic band The Bogtrotters.

Tim, aged 57, of Orford, said: "We travelled all over the place in the group - America and all throughout Europe.

"We are still very close. I would definitely like it if we could reform."

Allan Crookes, now of Knowsley, is a music technology teacher and has his own recording studio in Dovecot, Liverpool.

He is currently working on a voluntary project, which is aiming to run courses for the visually and physically impaired. In his spare time he performs with band Hambone.

Allan said: "People never used to know who I was then after the band appeared on TV I was walking around Warrington and people knew who I was. It was the strangest feeling in my life."

Pianist Steve Millington is still heavily involved in the business and also runs his own recording studio in Woolston.

Sharing his skills with pupils and prisoners, Pete Frampton has in recent years held guitar workshops for inmates at Risley and Walton prisons. The star, who shares his name with 70s rock star, Peter Frampton, now oversees performing arts at Wigan School for the Arts. He also plays in the Padgate band, Escape Committee.

Pete said: "I wasn't in the band to begin with but I lived above Dave Warwick's (manager of the band) office and they rang me to see if I would be interested in joining the band. I joined and then a month later I was playing with the band in Tulsa. There are so many good memories."

Member Adrian Hart, formerly of Golborne, still lives in the region but was unable to be traced for the article.

Original member Stan Abernathy now lives in Spain and Peter Haddock, who left the band, was last known to be a prison officer in the south west of England.

Dave Warwick, who managed Poacher, said: "They had a huge hit in America with a song called Darlin' and Tom Jones actually covered it."

He added: "They had many successes - representing their country in Tulsa at the international music festival was definitely a highlight."

If anyone has any information on what Stan Abernathy, Adrian Hart or Peter Haddock are up to these days, contact Miranda Newey on 434111.