Spencer Drinkall began playing the clarinet at the age of thirteen and a year later was awarded a scholarship by the Liverpool Education Committee. He was principal clarinet of the Merseyside Youth Orchestra for three years before joining the Army as solo clarinet of the Cheshire Regiment Band. Part of his army service was spent studying at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall. On leaving the Army, Spencer taught clarinet at the Coventry School of Music for seven years. In 1975 he was offered a job in the Symphony Orchestra of the Performing Arts Council, Transvaal, South Africa and spent four years there playing Opera, Ballet and Symphony Concerts. Spencer Drinkall and his “cellist wife Hilary” came to live in Hertfordshire in 1980 when he took the post of Clarinet and Saxophone teacher for the North Herts area. (May 1986)