The Copple Family archive

In 1665, Penny Bevan Jones married Tony Copple in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England.

On 16 November 1968, James was born. On 25 November 1970, Debbie was born. Tony was into audio recording and was present at the births with his tape recorder. He continued to make recordings over the years while the kids were young. (He also filmed them on standard 8mm, adding sound on magnetic stripe.)

These audio recordings were on reel-to-reel tape. Many of the recordings were binaural stereo.

In the age of home burning of CDs, an hour of recordings from the first ten years have been lovingly committed to the permanent medium. One of the original tapes is brittle and breaks easily, so this was just in time. The other tapes are still in fine condition. The original recordings were made directly on to these tapes, so quality has not been reduced by dubbing. The CD sound is exceptional considering the age of the recordings, and the stereo ambience is preserved.

First Decade
At Christmas, 2003, during a visit to UK, Tony gave copies of this CD to his mother Joan Wood, James, Debbie and Penny.

Track Listing

  1. God be in my head - from Penny & Tony's wedding, 17 April 1965
  2. James: day 1, 16 Nov 1968
  3. James: three weeks
  4. James: early words
  5. James: Ba ba blacksheep
  6. James: Bugs bunny (1972)
  7. Birth of Debbie, 25 Nov 1970
  8. Debbie: early words
  9. James and Debbie
  10. We will rock you
  11. Here we come a marching (by bHari Bevan Jones)
  12. Away in a manger
  13. Yellow Submarine (1974)
  14. James and Debbie sing, 1978 (Part 1)
  15. Family sings
  16. One two three
  17. Carols
  18. James: Piano 1
  19. James and Debbie sing, 1978 (Part 2)
  20. Debbie reads to Granny (Joan)
  21. James piano composition (1980)
  22. James piano 3
  23. Tony, guitar
  24. Beeston choir
  25. Fairest Lord Jesus, Dersingham 1 - James solo
  26. Dersingham 2
  27. Dersingham 3
  28. James: In the Bleak Midwinter
  29. Debbie: Where is Love, and Food, Glorious Food
  30. EXTEND Party - Beeston quartet


Second Decade
At Christmas, 2004, Tony sent copies of "Second Decade" CD to his mother Joan Wood, James, Debbie and Penny. Penny gave a second copy to the staff of Beeston Hall school, where two of the recordings had been made about 27 years before, including the better quality recordings from the Greaham's production of Jesus Christ Superstar, for which James played drums. The "Jesus Christ Superstar" CD contains music from two rehearsals for the show, and a copy was sent to James.

Track Listing - 2nd Decade
  1. God be in my head - from Penny & Tony's wedding, 17 April 1965
  2. The Shepherd King, Beeston Hall School, 1976
  3. The Shepherd King, concluded
  4. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Beeston Hall School, 1978
  5. Joseph, cont.
  6. Joseph, cont.
  7. Joseph, cont.
  8. Joseph, concluded
  9. Jesus Christ Superstar, Gresham's, 1986
  10. Jesus Christ Superstar, cont.
  11. Jesus Christ Superstar, cont.
  12. Jesus Christ Superstar, cont.
  13. Jesus Christ Superstar, concuded

This alternative label for "2nd Decade" was used for the copy sent to Beeston Hall School.


Tony's web site