Forty years on Tim Davey recalls local TV's The Rainbow People.

In the summer of '69 everyone of a certain age was wearing flowers in their hair, dreaming of San Francisco and wondering how to make it "happen".

It was the age of the hippy and popular music found itself on the cusp of change as the Seventies loomed and the Swinging Sixties receded.

But it was also the days when local independent television really was that – independent.

Unlike today it made things happen by producing regional shows of its own.

One of those shows was a series called The Seeds Of Love, which featured modern versions of traditional British folk songs.

This featured the talents of a group of young singers called The Rainbow People.

One of those "People" was Keynsham mum and singer Sam Milliner. Another was a certain Pete Budd, now, of course, long-established as a member of The Wurzels.

Both agreed the 40th anniversary of this show being screened should not go unheralded.

Which is why in a few weeks' time a new four-song CD featuring tracks from that long ago series is being released to raise money for a good cause – a local prostate cancer appeal.

Looking back over the years, Sam recalls how she and Pete first met.

"It was at the True Blue Club (Bristol Rovers' social club at the old Eastville Stadium) when I was 14, and had just been on TV's Opportunity Knocks.

"He was with his group The Rebels.

"We met at gigs frequently over the next couple of years and got on well.

"Pete got a job at Tiffany's (the legendary night spot on Clifton Down, now the site of a private hospital) with The Rainbow People.

"It was the summer of '67 and they were a girl short.

"John Miles, who was his agent at the time, contacted me.

"I passed the audition.

"I was 15 years old then and still at school, but it was the summer holidays so I was taken on temporarily.

"We did well from the beginning and soon had a manager, Jim Buckingham, who quickly got us a recording contract with Pye and a producer/songwriter, Guy Fletcher.

"We recorded three singles with him, and local BBC and ITV became very interested, particularly in Pete and I because we were locals and looked like brother and sister and our voices sounded great together.

"We had a series on Radio 4, we did several Radio One Clubs, then Patrick Dromgoole from HTV, then the region's independent television company, met us and asked us to make a one-off programme about West Country folk music.

"The title and theme song The Seeds Of Love was a classic example of this type of music.

"The show was a success and we were offered a series.

"So, 40 years ago this summer we filmed another five programmes.

"Unfortunately, ITV went over to colour just a few months after, which meant our series, shot in black-and-white, was never networked.

"In the meantime we had been signed by a big London agent called Arthur Howes, who was working us all over Europe.

"We toured with Gene Pitney and The Beach Boys and appeared on Swiss and German television.

"We were working ourselves into the ground and receiving very little money.

"We came back to England skint and broken.

"We did our last gig ever at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool in July 1970, exactly three years from the formation of the band."

Sam returned to Bristol and worked at the Locarno ballroom, followed by a stint singing at the Grand Spa hotel.

Here she found herself working again with Pete – and it was there that Sam also met her future husband, Steve.

Pete went on to join Chantilly Lace, and then The Wurzels.

"I did a couple of adverts with them when they were sponsored by St Ivel, but lost touch after their hit records.

"Steve and myself had our own band, Morning Glory, and we travelled Europe and the Middle East until the kids had to go to Wellsway School, Keynsham.

"After that we did what we could locally and Steve got his piano teaching qualifications.

"But whenever we bumped into Pete we talked of recording, although we were all busy earning a living and never got round to it."

Until now, that is.

Last winter, Sam and Pete decided they would record together again.

"We chose three songs from The Seeds of Love TV series as it was the 40th anniversary year.

"We also remade Pete's 1979 hit Morning Glory, which was written by The Rainbow People's songwriter Guy Fletcher. "

Pete says in the few years that The Rainbow People were together they had "so many wonderful times that I would not have missed for the world".

The HTV series The Seeds Of Love was just one of those marvellous moments.

"Filmed in and around Bristol, each song was taken to a location with dance routines and character costumes, and presented in light-hearted way with the six Rainbow People enjoying every moment of it.

"Unfortunately, the economics on the road with a six-piece band didn't work in our favour, despite the fact we were all such good friends.

"So, alas, we had to go our separate ways.

"It was several years later that Sam and myself were back on stage together, this time singing with the Eddie King band at the Spa Ballroom in Clifton and working with some of the best musicians anyone could wish to work with, including her husband-to-be Steve on keyboards.

"The banter among the band is something I will never forget.

"Sam and myself have always been good friends and I think we were destined at some time to sing something as a duo.

"What could be better than some songs from The Seeds Of Love series?

In fact, the title song.

"I hope people will try and listen out for it.

"Meanwhile I'll keep on Wurzeling in true West Country tradition."

The Morning Glory CD is being launched on Monday, September 21, at The Crown, West Harptree.

It will cost £5 but will not be available for sale until after that date.

For more details, call 07899 725703.