We were real-life Riot Women in 70s, then our dream died... until one day Kurt Cobain came to visit

IT was the punk era of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, when rebellion and a just-do-it ethic counted for more than musical prowess.

- FRAN BOWDEN

Two polar opposites Gina Birch, an energetic 21-year-old from Nottingham, and Ana Da Silva, a chilled 28-year-old from Madeira - met as art students in 1970s London.

And before long - just like in the new BBC1 series Riot Women - the pals had brought together other women and formed a punk band.

In 1977 The Raincoats were born - a group that would one day be booked to tour with Nirvana.

Punk particularly appealed to Ana, who had grown up under the authoritarian Portuguese Estado Nova regime, where people were even banned from kissing in the street.

She recalls: "It was like a door opened and I embraced a lot of it and then became a part of it. I expressed myself in a way I liked to."

As for Gina, she moved to the capital after her A-levels, looking for adventure, and was living in a squat in Notting Hill.

She says: "I had two rooms at the top of a house in this cul-de-sac where lots of musicians and artists lived. It was very dilapidated. Everything was in a state of decay."

It was at this time that she first spotted Ana at art school.

Gina, now 70, recalls: "I noticed her because she was very, very suntanned, she had hair down to her waist and she was a little bit older.

"We'd go to the local café and Ana would order a black coffee and a glass of water. I didn't know anyone who had a glass of water. In Nottingham we would have orange squash or Ribena."

The pals started going to lots of gigs - The Roxy was a favourite haunt - and particularly loved the music of The Slits, an all-women band.

Gina says: "It was so new and fresh and unformed in a way. It was shambolic. It was about mischief, it was about camaraderie. It was about breaking the rules as a young woman.

"It opened my eyes to the fact I could do it. Previously, it had been men. Suddenly there were four women in charge of their own destiny."

One day Gina bought a guitar without even trying it.