Mandy & The Girlfriends has been played on NTS in shows including The Windmills of Your Mind w/ Taylor Rowley, featured first on 20 October 2022. Songs played include Unchained Melody.

Mandy and the Girlfriends were a 60's group of girls-singers/instrumentalists originating in Hull, Yorkshire. When they made the LP they were touring American army camps in Germany in 1967. The group consisted of Mandy Smith(singer), Margaret Wedgner (rhythm guitar and vocals), Merle Pryor(keyboards and vocals), Hilary Morgan(drums) and Betty Beaumont(bass guitar).They were all teenagers at that time. The LP was made in under 24 hours. Merle Pryor was the lead singer on the song Money and Mandy Smith sang Straght Shooter. The LP was made to sell to the American servicemen. The group stayed in Germany on that particular tour for three months after which Margaret, Merle and Betty left. The group continued with other members, while Margaret and Merle formed another all girl group- The Honeys (Not to be confused with the American girl group) (see www.honeysduo.co.uk). All of the above group originated in Hull except for Merle Pryor who was born and grew up in Leyton, London. There were no particular music influences to their music, just popular songs of the day.