morecambe 2014
Winter Gardens report - 26/07/2013
History
They say that history does repeat itself and in the case of Morecambe 2014,
that is certainly true. Just like last year, the weather was beautiful during the day
and only spoiled itself late in the evening at the end of the event. The audience
was again quite healthy - just like last year, let's face it, we are always going to
struggle to fill such a cavernous area as the Winter Gardens and there were
plenty of available seats for members and the passing public to use - but it was
a nice enthusiastic crowd who attended throughout the day and filled the
majority of the available seating right up to the end of the event at 10:00pm.
As well has the Formby gang being back in Morecambe, again just like last year
we had the rock n' rollers just up the road and it all made for a nice friendly
atmosphere in the cafes and bars in the town centre.
Happy Memories
The Winter Gardens brings back happy memories of when we were at the
Blackpool Winter Gardens in that it is right in the centre of town with a massive
car park right behind the theatre building. Inside the theatre it was evident that
much work had been done since last year's event, dressing rooms re-vamped, improved décor and painting had been carried out - but
Evelyn Archer and her team still have a mammoth task ahead to restore this lovely old building to its former glory.
Whilst the sun was beating down outside, inside the audience stayed nice and
cool in the relaxing atmosphere of the interior of this famous old building, those
immortal lyrics, "a bobs worth of dark and a vision of love" come to mind!
Members travelled from all points of the UK to be there just for this one day
event and were not disappointed by the quality of entertainment offered. Kate
and John Howard must have had the longest journey with a round trip of 750
miles from the Isle of Skye - and that is a trip that Kate makes regularly to be at
the Blackpool conventions, her dedication knows no bounds!
As usual, we were well supported by passing public and obviously GFS
members – at least 50 performed throughout the day and whilst we never will
have a complete day of Formby music, it was happily noted that the great
majority of players did stick to George's repertoire.
The Band
The entertainers were backed by our faithful and trusty band of Matt Richards,
Dale Norman and Tony Thornton and once again, they played everything that
the performers could think of. There are also slots for players who prefer a
backing track - and this does give the band a time to rest - but the vast majority wisely chose to use the musicians on hand and no one was
disappointed in their performance.
An appreciative Morecambe public kept drifting in and out all day and enjoyed what they saw. Groups of tables and chairs at the back
encouraged them to sit, have a coffee, linger and listen, and cool off.
Matt Richards played his ‘new’ (to us) red, electric ukulele. He’s had it a while
but not played it in the society before. It reminds us that if George were alive
he would be using today’s technology. Matt also played the keyboard and
normal uke brilliantly.
Arthur Roe (grandson of Neville and Sylvia) was easily the youngest and
smallest of those who went on stage, his brightly coloured yellow ukulele was
nearly as tall as he was, his dad, uncle, and grandparents are all either
musicians or talented singers so Arthur will surely be back with us again, a star
for the future perhaps?
The Buskers
Whilst the entertainment during the afternoon was in full swing, some of the
younger members (Cameron Aitken, Catalina and Francesca Davies and Stuart
Lowther plus not so young John Taylor and the brilliant Alan Yates) busked on
the pavement outside the theatre and within a short space of time, an
appreciative pavement audience generously dropped over £80 into a uke case
which was then kindly donated to the Winter Gardens Restoration Fund.
Alan Kershaw sat at a table and sold back numbers of The Vellum magazine
and right next to him, Kathryn Pollard and Pat Taylor worked throughout the
afternoon in the George Formby Society shop. Caroline Stewart was busy
throughout the day in organising some of the concert sessions and then
completed her busy day by superbly comparing the last session in the evening.
This is still Caroline's first year on the GFS committee and she has proved her
worth so many times in so many different ways, without a doubt, she has been
a real asset to the George Formby Society this year.
Uke Raffle Presentation
An event which actually happened at the June convention was finally
concluded when the annual GFS uke raffle winner came on stage and was
awarded his prize. Trevor Williams hasn't attended a convention previously but
after he was presented with the uke by society president Gerry Mawdsley,
Trevor did take to the stage to sing George Formby's "Grand And Healthy Life".
Gerry also presented to Evelyn Archer, two framed photos of George Formby
and one of Laurel
and Hardy, to be displayed in the theatre bar.
At the end of the evening Evelyn announced that we had raised £1200 for the
further restoration of the theatre.
I will say this about the GFS, no matter how many ukulele clubs spring up within
the UK and no matter how many "workshops" appear on that scene, nothing
can compare with the activities that are available to the Formby crowd. On this
occasion, the chance to appear on the stage of a legendary theatre where in
the past George Formby and a host of stars have appeared, plus of course, the
Blackpool conventions where players of all grades have the opportunity to
appear in front of a capacity audience in the biggest hotel in the resort, the
chance to listen and to learn from the best exponents of the George Formby
sound to be found anywhere throughout the world, all for a £20 annual
membership fee which without any shadow of a doubt just has to be
extraordinarily good value.
My sincere thanks to Gill Walley for her very helpful notes.
PP - 26/07/2014
Left to right: Tony Thornton, Matt Richards,
Caroline Stewart and Dale Norman
Caroline with Alan Kershaw and Cathy Darlington
Francesca Davies, Stuart Lowther and Cameron Aitken
A stalwart of The GFS - Alan Southworth
The real star of our day, The Morecambe Winter Gardens