Pam Baddeley as compere reminded members about dressing up for March’s meeting and stated that the lesser known song you opt for then the greater likelihood of your appearing. ‘Maybe Francis Terry could do all the songs in costume at once’ was Dickie’s irreverent suggestion. He performed a sterling job on the keyboard again in Chris’s absence. By September people should finally know what they will perform so that there is plenty of time to sort out costumes. Pam plans to watch the film first for ideas as she dreads the sewing and admits she’s hopeless. Gladys, (in matching shoes, top, tights and fingernails) revealed that she has already chosen her costume and is now keeping her fingers tightly crossed until September in the hope that she’s chosen to perform her preferred number! I bet she’s not the only one. However, Jane, an accomplished all round performer, isn’t worried as there’s plenty of time yet to sort things out. (Oh to be talented and confident)
During the meeting, Paul Kenny admitted to liking his women and and describes himself as a ‘womaniser’. All very innocent, of course. Let’s hope he manages to find one! Maybe one day Paul will be leaning on his lamppost waiting for that certain little lady to come by. Alan Yates was only four years old when he joined the society, but he’s grown a bit since by at least 5 foot! Trevor Weskin and Kevin Bridgewater performed for the second time in twenty five years and admitted to being a ‘bag of nerves’, so will they be game for a repeat performance in September? We wait and see. And how nice to hear Malcolm Rigby perform for the first time. He sang ‘Hill Billie Willie’.
It was too good to miss, but miss it many members did and that was the DVD shown by Peter Pollard on Saturday night instead of the usual film. It was a wonderful collection of news clips, outtakes of ‘The South Bank’ show and some of George’s home movies, all knitted together like a patchwork quilt. At times there was no dialogue, but every frame was still valuable because it allowed George to ‘speak for himself’ and come over as a real person rather than a film character or parodied Northern stereotype. His ‘smoking’ today would have been ‘airbrushed out’ to make it politically correct! (As happened to a picture of Winston Churchill with his cigar recently)
It was a real treat during the showing to spot the young stars – Des O’Connor: Stephen Grapelli (performing ‘Leaning On A Lamppost’) Or even spot the youthful GFS members – John Walley as a callow youth, with hair, also Ray Bernard, Bob Flynn and Bill Logan (the first president) with his stirring tribute to George. You could even spot old Blackpool and note that apart from the shape of the cars nothing much seems to have changed! Did you spot George’s ‘mistake’? When performing ‘She’s got two of everything’ he stopped playing! Why? Did a string come off and was he putting it back? This was from George’s appearance in the TV show ‘Top Of The Bill’ which miraculously has survived intact.
Did you also notice that ‘Trouble Brewing’ and ‘It’s In The Air’ had the wrong titles? Not Peter’s fault, but the programme makers! Maybe they hadn’t reckoned that it would be watched by so many ‘experts’!
Interesting snippets included the shots of the huge crowds ‘gawping’ at George’s funeral cortege; humorous moments, too, when Beryl was seen leading George off by the ear; embarrassing moments also when George appeared embarrassed, like a tongue tied youth at the interview about his engagement to Pat Howson. Then you caught glimpses of him entertaining the troops and it must have crossed everyone’s mind – how many of those men actually came home at the end of the war? He appeared care-free when he was playing leap frog in some home movie footage, How many people would play leap frog today or would they prefer computer games instead of simple pleasures?
It was interesting to note the early camera work when on some frames George’s head was too close to the top of the frame- so close that he was almost decapitated!
So Saturday evening began with the DVD made by Peter Pollard and ended with his promising to be home by 9 o’clock...He was already late! Finally Alan and Peter played a ‘slower’ version of ‘Wigan Boat Express’.
The hotel once again provided some nice touches, our customised sandwich menu, but then it is in their interests to do so as we are a captive audience and there is a distinct lack of outside eateries. They even provided a voucher for money off a three course meal – provided that you could raise a loan to cover it. There’s maybe the title for a new Formby song, “You don’t need a voucher for that” although maybe to afford a three course meal – you do, and judging by some of the comments it was rated as very good to OK. But is Ok good enough?
It was lovely once again to see the former Imperial Concierge, complete with medals and memories of George and his family attend the concert. He remembers keeping ukes in his lodge for safekeeping. He left to attend a service on the front but promised to return in September.
The Sunday afternoon drew to a close with Dickie Speake and Dennis Mitchell admitting they could end anything – and they did! It was left to Sean Rutter to close Sunday night. He was amazing, so confident and actually kept going when, for once, the band went wrong.
Now for some eavesdropping. On Monday morning, John and I were having breakfast in the Imperial and sat next to a couple who never stopped talking. Comments such as “The whole of Blackpool will be transformed”, “The Wintergardens are in a transition period,” and “We’ve got the George Formby Society here” etc etc. Who was it? Our ears were burning. John couldn’t resist! At the end of breakfast he introduced himself and was surprised to find it was non other than Alison (and we’ve both forgotten her surname despite looking it up), the manager of the Imperial! She said that she was delighted that the GFS were back and hoped we would stay “forever” and was very enthusiastic about he whole “new scene” at Blackpool.
So, another meeting is over and it is back to reality. Don’t forget to put your names down for the special ‘film concerts’. 2011 is a very special year for George and his society. Just how special depends on YOU. The sub-committee is working hard to plan the weekend and we intend that year 2011 will be George’s Year. ‘Formby mania’ must sweep these islands!
