Walsall collector to showcase his 410 drums on TV
He has a passion for drums and now a musician from the Black Country is featuring on TV for his large collection of equipment.
Alan Buckley from Walsall has more than 110 drums kits and 300 snare drums, of which some date back to the 19th century.
It has lead to the 79 year-old, who still performs as part of the Sir Alan's Hot Groovers group, being asked to feature on the Collectaholics show.
It was filmed at the White Lion pub in Caldmore around Christmas time last year over several days and will now be screened on BBC2 this Thursday from 7pm.
Mr Buckley, who is known as Sir Alan in music circles, believes he has the largest collection of drums around.
On his explanation for the collection he said: "I am a drummer, I collect drums. I have been on many programmes before. They checked me out and wanted people who collected things.
"I have got 110 kits and 300 snare drums. I have got the largest collection in the world."
Over the years Mr Buckley and his collection have been in regular demand by enthusiasts, writers and performers across the World.
His collection has gone on tour to the NEC, the Amsterdam Drum Show, appeared on GMTV and has gone on show at Walsall Museum.
At the time of the exhibition Mr Buckley said: "One of the highlights of the exhibition is a recreation of the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool with an early 1960s drum kit of the type played by Ringo Starr.
"I'm looking forward to exhibiting some of my collection in my home town of Walsall and talking about the history of some of the drums which go back to wartime and even further."
It included a large collection of brightly decorated snare drums and a selection of bass drums beautifully painted with scenes capturing the spirit of the jazz age.
Mr Buckley initially started playing the piano as a child before being introduced to drums aged eight. His passion for collecting really grew when he started a jazz festival in Malvern in the 1980s.
His love of music has also seen him successfully organise more than 40 festivals throughout central England.
The programme has previously featured people with a wide selection of items including a Star Wars fanatic with 35,000 pieces of memorabilia and someone with an array of train signs.
Mr Buckley passion developed in 1948 when his father bought him a new, and better, drum kit. Mr Buckley says he has fond memories of the day that the new kit was bought - he remembers going to Birmingham and selecting it.
The new kit was a Beverley Genius - a white kit with two tom toms, 24 inch bass drum and a 6 1/2 inch brass snare drum. He said it 'looked great and it sounded great' – especially when Alan played the kit with his 78rpm record of 12th Street Rag.
In 1956 he bought himself an Ajax drum kit white marine pearl 20-inch bass drum, two tom-toms and a 5 inch snare drum. The Ajax kit lasted well into the 1990s.
This early fixation with drums started the embryo of a drum collection but it was to be some years before it turned into the full scale endeavour that it has become today.
In the meantime Mr Buckley was a regular musician on the circuit. He also became a regular industry music writer specialising in drums and drummers.
