Badges of Honour

Barry Garratt, the creator of the UK’s music patch and badge industry, is selling his own rare collection. Paul Rigby packs a needle and cotton.

The problem was, of course, getting your hands on the money. Rolling up on a fancy tour or some gig, standing there in front of the camper van with the driver as ‘back-up’ with an arm full of merchandise, mud up to your ankles… The tension was there alright. Then the promoter would turn up with his team of ‘grufters’, ready to lighten the load. Barry Garratt would watch them, stuffing the pockets of their jackets, filling bags and throwing those bags over their shoulders, carrying as much as their arms would take. Then they would go. Would they ever return?

Barry Garratt, ‘Mr Patch’, ‘Mr Badge’ and, hey, what the hell, ‘Mr Pewter Cross’, the man who created the music patch and badge industry in the UK – the now-retired owner of the patch and badge colossus – certainly wasn’t there to enjoy the music. Oh no. The biggest acts in the history of music might have been bombarding his ears, but Garratt’s gaze was elsewhere.

“All I wanted was to make sure I got my money,” he says. “That was my main object. If you weren’t sharp and aware, then you didn’t get paid. Eventually, the grufters – people who would take all your patches and sell it to the punters going into and out of the gig – would come back to the promoter, …

by Paul Rigby
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