After the break, with the film camera whirring, Francesca was interviewed by Frank, during which she told him all about her career so far, making a CD and working with Ken Dodd. She did admit however, that before the meeting she had never heard of Frank Skinner and that her interview came as a complete surprise, only her mum and dad knew and they’d kept stum!
The cameras turned on the audience after Dennis Mitchell appealed to the audience to sit down and to give him a round of applause whilst the camera crew was filming them. It was their chance to be on TV. They did, but he then went on to receive a standing ovation when asking the audience again to imagine that he had just “done a smashing performance which was even more stunning that the first.”
The thrash ended that first afternoon. It was filmed ‘live’! It was chaos! Everyone wanted to be on it. Everyone was squashed in and on the photo thanks to Dennis Mitchell who told them to pretend they liked each other!
And the Deansgate Café was shut!
After the film, the concert continued. Kitty’s raffle raised a record £158 for the society. The auction of walking sticks, books and records also made a tidy sum.
To say that the first day of the meeting ‘Turned Out Nice Again’ really sums up the whole day. A special request from Frank Skinner to hear the ‘William Tell’ overture played on the uke by John Shreeve was a real spellbinding treat for all members. It ‘Turned out nice again’ when the film crew who could have spent their evening painting Blackpool red, and sampling the nightlife, returned to the meeting as ‘ordinary people’ and blended in. ‘Turned Out Nice Again’ from the band’s point of view? I’m not so sure! Certainly they were very much in demand. In fact for that first afternoon’s concerts they played more or less without ceasing as only one mini disc was used for backing! But what a credit to them and to George that none of them complained.
Sunday too, “turned out nice again” with a beginner’s concert and tuition classes run by Andrew Little. Frank Skinner was a guest at the latter. He, being the guest of honour sat on the front row surrounded by the youngsters whilst Andrew tried to explain how to play like George and the mysteries of the split stroke- a difficult right hand technique, but everyone had a go, even Frank and practise does make perfect.
The afternoon saw more concerts and more interviews. This time it was the turn of Gerry (our president) Dennis Mitchell (chairman), Peter Pollard (vice president) and John Walley, only they were taken outside the hotel, ‘on location’, on the prom in full view of the pier and the tower and any interested passersby. Good job the weather ‘Turned out nice’ with lots of blinding white sunlight and a strong wind which ruffled the hair. Everything went well and any fears which people had about not knowing what to talk about soon disappeared. One problem was that you couldn’t get close enough to take photos as the cameras could be heard clicking on the microphones.
After their successful interviews everyone returned for the concerts, followed by another highlight which was the handing out of George Formby sticks of rock. Apparently the previous day, Frank had been to a rock factory and made 700 commemorative sticks of rock. He put the F in Formby! These were handed out to members. How long will they last? Well, as one member commented, “You can’t eat George Formby, can you?” It makes you think! After the meeting finished the final interviews for the BBC team took place with Dennis Taylor explaining to Frank all about the shop and how it had started and now provides a link from the society to the rest of the world with online shopping for 24 hours every day. He did manage to persuade Frank to buy a mug decorated with chords, and pointed out that he could also buy three other mugs in different keys. However, Frank wasn’t mug enough to fall for that!
Again after a film, it was back to the concerts, but this time without the BBC and Frank. They had a train to catch back to London, where all this weekend’s filming would be processed into a complete programme during the next five weeks. The evening concert was compered by Gabriella Lafoley for the first time. Alan Chenery remarked that she has “bags of personality and has taken to it like a duck to water”. He also admitted to, “not having told her that!” She kept the audience entertained with the iniquities of buying a modern swim suit in which she claimed it made mature women look like lumps of play dough wrapped in clingfilm.
The final comment on whether the weekend actually did ‘turn out nice again’, must go to two ladies. Pat Taylor wife commented that “Frank Skinner was a really friendly guy who enjoyed the weekend and it was great because they (BBC) weren’t intrusive” whilst on a more personal note, Dorothy Seabourne (Arthur’s wife) said, “hasn’t he got nice teeth! I could take him home!”
It was a truly exciting and memorable convention. The hour long show, with the title ‘Frank Skinner in Search of George Formby’ is to be one of a series featuring famous entertainers. The society is still waiting for the transmission date to be announced, but if coincides with the Centenary celebrations then everything will have ‘turned out nice again’!
