Who would have thought these last twelve months would have turned out as they have? To start this review, I reminded myself of the last convention we attended back in November 2019. It all seems so far away now when I remarked that Kathryn and myself had only two more Blackpool meetings before we retired from running the GFS Shop. We were hoping that someone would come forward to take over from us and carry on the vital work of raising funds for the GFS.

GFS SHOP MANAGERS

The latter part of that statement was solved when Steve Langford and his wife Su, came forward and from June of this year, they have quietly but successfully run the shop from their home in Daventry. Concerning the two conventions that I mentioned, they were lost, as was the rest of the convention year - resulting in no GFS activity at national or branch level. Sadly, that remains the situation today.

ALL MEETINGS CANCELLED

All because of the dreaded world pandemic known as COVID-19. The first time we have ever had a year without a convention in the Society's fifty-nine year history! Our plight is slight when you consider the devastation the virus has wrought throughout the UK and the rest of the world. Even so, with no conventions, no branch meetings and no meeting face to face with Formby friends, it has proved to be a massive loss for all. Everything that the GFS is involved in requires people in a room, listening to people on a stage singing and playing and that, of course, was out of the question.

TO ORGANISE A MEETING IS UNTHINKABLE

To even consider how one might organise one of our concerts was unthinkable. As the virus encroached on everyone and everything, the decision to meet at any level of GFS activity was taken away from us all by something called Lock-down. No meetings whatsoever, no get-togethers with friends. That is how things stand nine months later in January 2021.

FOUR VELLUMS

Not everything was written off though. Thanks to Vellum editor Tony Thornton and his regular contributors, the four magazines that help to make up the GFS year were all issued on time. As the nation battled with all the unprecedented issues, people in lock-down took to the internet to help them work from home and also for amusement as well. We all became familiar with words like mute and un-mute and Zoom.

TWO FILMS ON BLU-RAY

DVD

2020 saw the first issues of two Formby films, Keep Fit and Trouble Brewing for the first time on Blu-Ray DVD. Both films were issued by Network. The two releases are of excellent quality and both discs feature an extensive picture gallery and subtitles for the hard of hearing. The release of these two films gives hope that more of the Formby film collection will be selected for future Blu-Ray consideration. There was a time when Formby films on videotape were few. Then with the advent of DVD, every one of the twenty films is now available. The Blu-Ray additions are the icing on the cake.

GFS E-CONVENTIONS

No meetings since March for the Society but not all bad news. The GFS has also utilised the Zoom application to hold their committee meetings and the GFS Banjo-Uke raffle was successfully concluded with the draw taking place from the home of raffle organiser Kathryn Pollard with the result made available on this website. Chairman of the Society, Steve Langford organised three Virtual E- Conventions on the GFS Facebook page and Vice-President Andy Poppleton has organised some very popular Zoom Beginners Classes with more to come soon.

2021 A TESTING YEAR

The year of 2021 will be a testing year for our Society. Whilst a vaccine is now beginning to circulate, perhaps it will be some months before the NHS can inoculate the entire nation. Once the task is completed, maybe we can all pickup the pieces and enjoy each others company once again in a concert atmosphere.

SUPPORT THE GFS

The GFS will need all the support that we can give and that means paying the membership subscription as quickly as possible. This is the sixtieth anniversary year of the GFS and that is a wonderful achievement. In normal times I feel sure that the Blackpool conventions would be full of celebrations but who can tell when the next convention will take place? In these troubled times, there has been no opportunity to pay subscriptions at the conventions but you can still pay online or by post if you prefer. This Society is very special to us all and we cannot afford to place it in jeopardy by neglecting what is after all a modest amount. I grant you that there are no conventions at the moment but let us look to the future and ensure that we can all do our bit to keep the Society in a healthy state. Conventions will come back and those who attend will testify that there is no better place to come to enjoy all that is best about George Formby. People come and people go and I am sure that there will be many members who never come to Blackpool. Once you have tried it, you will want to come again, so please, let us all do everything that we can to ensure that this wonderful organisation is with us for many years to come. The Internet and social media sites do a great job to keep George Formby’s name from being forgotten. I cannot help thinking though, what would happen if there was no George Formby Society? Who would organise a national event or perhaps produce a magazine? Facebook is good up to a point, but most of what is posted is soon buried under many more postings, much of it irrelevant and flooded with adverts. The GFS is too good and actually too precious to lose. Support the GFS in 2021 and I’ll see you all in Blackpool one day soon!