OUR paths first crossed in mid October1989 when Mike Peters appeared before the Welsh Language Society and received a standing ovation, when he said that he and the band would fight for the language’s survival.

It was easy to see the beginnings of his campaigning spirt, which later became evident after his cancer diagnosis. He was fast becoming a spokesman for his generation, a modern-day bard with a message.

A week later, it was the first time Mike and the Alarm band members were due to sing to a live audience in Cardiff with the Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir after the release of the single A New South Wales a few days earlier on October 23,1989.

It was early evening when fans rolled up into the St David’s Hall. Mike pops his head around the door and notices that the merchandise store was doing well but observes that it was not the case for the choir. He said that will change after people had seen tonight’s performance.

The concert was a benefit gig and Mike delighted in saying that the proceeds would be going to the Welsh Language Society adding: “Our language is dying, and we need to continue to fight.”

And then it’s time to go backstage where Mike walks around with the air of a man who has seen it before.

Mike then reminisced about singing with Bob Dylan. He described the rock legend asking him to join him for ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’ when the Alarm opened for him on his 1988 American tour. He said it was an experience of a lifetime.

The conversation came to a halt in the green room when all the refreshments had run out due to the 110-member choir and we overheard one singer saying: “Bugger it, I’ll just have to have a pint instead.” This caused him to laugh out loud. I felt Mike had a certain down to earth charisma about him.

After the support band had warmed up the crowd it was the turn of the Morriston Orpheus Choir. Much to the singers’ amazement, their renditions of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Calon Lan, turned the hall to something resembling a rugby stadium.

This impressed Mike as he returned backstage to begin tuning up. The band were sounding like the Everly Brothers’ harmonies when they were interrupted: “Ready when you are gents.”

The band walk to the stage singing Devolution Working Man Blues. The crowd was ecstatic as the band walks on stage and were heard singing along with every song the band performed.

Mike gets the chance to tell the cheering throng that he can’t speak Welsh but is learning and added: “This great country belongs to us,” he adds to thunderous cheering.

At the end of the show Mike is given a Welsh flag, which he drapes around his shoulders before performing A New South Wales with the Morriston Orpheus Choir behind him. As the song ends, Mike is emotional with tears in his eyes.

Backstage, Mike reflected on the concert and said: “I am proud to be Welsh, but if my father hadn’t moved to Wales, then I wouldn’t have been.”

The experience of a rock and roll lifestyle continued with breakfast at a plush Holiday Inn at London’s Swiss Cottage the following morning.

The conversation was intense as Mike was preparing for a round of radio station interviews whilst persuading the hotel staff to launder his stage costume clothing and have it ready for the evening.

It wasn’t long before the band’s press relation’s guru picks us up and takes us to Greater London Radio where we meet presenter Tim Smith.

Mike tells the listeners that the Alarm are playing that night at Euston’s Shaw Theatre, but tickets had already sold out and explained that this was achieved without any real publicity.

Then it was off to Radio One to do an interview with presenter Mark Goodier. Through the glass we could see Steve Wright was doing his thing live on air, while we waited for another studio to become free.

During the radio interview Mike speaks up for his music and for Wales. He chooses his favourite track, John Lennon’s Imagine and explained: “Because I’m a dreamer, and if I wasn’t a dreamer, I wouldn’t be here.”

After the radio stations it was back to the hotel where he picks up his clean clothing and picks up his wife Jules and headed to that evening’s gig, where fans who were at the Welsh gig the night before were also there.

Mike told the London audience: “To be born in Wales is not to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth; it is to be born with music in your heart and poetry in your soul.”

The next day Mike was back in Cardiff and dropped into the Wales on Sunday offices.

It was suggested that it would be good idea to have photographs of Mike with the decline of the industrialisation of the old South Wales in the background.

We headed out towards the Rhondda Valley, and en-route we saw a couple of abandoned mines, where upon Mike said that this backdrop was ideal.

Mike, in thoughtful mode, said it was sad see the mining industry in Wales in such a bad state, but this was why he had written about the situation by writing the song A New South Wales which was recorded in collaboration with the Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir in the hope of a brighter future.

On the way back to Cardiff Mike said that he was interested in seeing how black and white photographs were produced.

Inside the Wales on Sunday darkroom, which was full of enlargers, trays of chemicals, the films were put through the process after which we chose a number of images to print up from the negatives.

Under the enlarger, I demonstrated some of the darkroom printing techniques before developing the prints in the trays.

I gave him a set of photographs at the end of the session before taking him to the newspaper’s production area, where the pictures from the Cardiff concert with the choir and the London gig and the images we had just printed were being designed into the magazine.

Mike was not your typical musician leading a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, but a fighter. He showed no real interest in hype or shooting star fame.

He was a man with passion. He raised funds and awareness for cancer research through concerts held in unusual locations like Mount Everest and Mount Fuji.