In the beginning...

Nearly 30 years ago, Alistair Telfer, a member of St Pauls United Reformed Church, Harmans Water, Bracknell , formed 'St Pauls Youth Fellowship'. He encouraged some of the youths (?) in their desire to make strange and LOUD noises on stringed instruments. He was inspired enough to take up a guitar and join said youths in the singing of Christian songs. And so started a long-term mission to bring modern music to the congregation of St Pauls - and beyond.

Wearing mainly flared trousers, our line-up consisted of 2 or 3 acoustic guitars, lots of enthusiastic singers and the odd recorder (very odd!). We would perform at church socials, enchanting people with such songs as 'The Bell Song'. 'Oh Sinner Man' and a mean rendition of 'The Gypsy Rover' (Ah Dee Do Da Dee Day Dee ..!).

Revelation...

After many years of honing our craft and paying our dues, we had developed into a 'real' group. We had 12-string acoustic added to our guitar line-up and were enhanced by flutes (still retaining the 'odd' recorder). Encouraged by our minister Don Wilkins, we were, with the Youth Fellowship, helping to lead worship at St Pauls and other churches in our area. So we decided an identity was needed. After much deliberation ('Genesis' was already taken and 'White Sabbath' was rejected) we chose the name 'Revelation'.

As we were becoming more accepted as a 'Worship Group', we thought it would be good to get some of our repertoire down on tape. After some unsuccessful (and disappointing) attempts at being recorded by other people, we decided to produce a recording ourselves. So in 1994 our first album 'Chapter One' went on sale (all on audio cassette). Produced by Alistair and recorded at St Pauls, it had 20 tracks, including some piano solos by St Pauls' organist, John Rogers, and our first self-penned (by Simon) song - a version of 'John 3:16'.

'God Gave Rock & Roll to Us'

In September 1994, after a three year interregnum at St Pauls; The Revd Peter Flint, his wife Judith & their four children arrived in Bracknell . For Revelation this was to be a revelation ! - Peter's daughter, Olivia, was a drummer and eldest son, Matt, played keyboards - both were happy to join Revelation. Over the next 3 years our style changed totally, from the acoustic folk of our past to a future as a Christian Rock Band. The acoustic guitars were gradually replaced by electrics, a bass and we were using mics for the vocals. Our sound became much more defined - we were ready to handle the new generation of worship music that was emerging at the time. At this point in our career, Alistair handed on the leadership of the group to Simon.

In late 1997 we decided it was time for another recording. This time we booked into the South Hill Park recording studio (Not very spacious, strange smelling, but only £16 per hour). We recorded twelve songs over two days!! with the help of sound engineer Mike Sparkes (who had previously recorded the Spice Girls' first efforts!). It was a brilliant time of fellowship and fun and the result was our second album All Together Now.

How Many Revelations?

As we became more competent as a band, we were getting bigger and more varied gigs. We discovered (the internet was kicking in!) that there were lots of groups called 'Revelation'. So in summer 2000 we decided on a name change..A modification of the word 'encompass' gave us our current identity.

Ncompass

We released our new album, Breakfast at Dorothy's at the end of 2004. Breakfast was produced and recorded entirely by Matt Flint at St Pauls. It took us about 2 years to finish this project. The difference in recording technology between this album and our first, is vast and means that we, hopefully, let loose a very professional sounding CD.

End of an Era/New Beginnings

During 2005 we were sad to say goodbye to Matt, Oliva and Lorna, and in 2006 we parted ways with Tim. With the loss of such high quality musicians we have had to re-organise and renew our musical style. Gary joined us at just the right time, as Simon switched to playing the bass. We look forward to singing God's praises at every opportunity.

We would like to thank all those who have been involved in any way with the band in all it's incarnations. We hope you like the music and can feel in some way responsible for the way things have developed.

Thank you to the people of St Pauls for your continued support and encouragement.

Special thanks & love to Stella & Joyce