Gerry Mawdsley joins GFS committee!
The Arena
The autumn 2005 convention was held in the magnificent
surroundings of the Arena within the Winter Gardens. We
have used this room once before but this was quite a few
years ago so it would be a new venue to most of the
attending members. To my mind this is the best venue for our
conventions within the Winter Gardens complex.Members (as
usual) travelled from far and wide with Kevin Garner and his
son Nathan probably claiming the furthest distance as they
had made their way from New Zealand to attend, “We’ve
been members for some time now and we love The Vellum,”
said Kevin. “We just had to come and see what it was like. I’m
learning to play the uke and hope to come back soon.”
The Uke Raffle
The main even of the weekend had to be the 2005 George
Formby Society Raffle. Tickets had been on sale to members
throughout the past year and this was the weekend when the
lucky winner would be announced. David Dopson from
Wallaston in North Hants won the Gibson UB2 in a tense
draw.
David: “I’m thrilled. I’m a new player and new to the society
so this is a real incentive to learn. The sound is beautiful –
even with my playing. My wife no longer leaves the room. I’m
a professional clown and hope to play for the children. My
father would have loved all this. He was a great George
Formby fan.
John Walley drew the winning ticket aided by raffle organiser
Kathryn Pollard
A New Committee
The executive committee was re-elected en bloc except for one
position. Peter Smith stepped down after five years as treasurer.
This is an onerous task that Peter executed with alacrity and we
thank him for maintaining our accounts in such good order. His
financial duties have been gradually taken over by Andrew
Gatherer.
For the last few years, Peter has also produced the song page
for The Vellum. This is a lengthy procedure and was a big help to
the editor.
Most of the songs are copyright so Peter had to get permission
from the owner to reproduce them. Then he constructed the
chord boxes and made up the page. He collaborated with
musical director Dickie Speake to ensure the accuracy before
sending the document to be included in The Vellum.
Peter also worked closely with subscription secretary Peter
Pollard who said: “I would like to thank Pete for the help he gave
me. He was (and still is) there to help me when things got difficult
and can be relied upon for help and advice.”
The committee members were unanimous in praising Peter’s
sense of fair play and level-headed decision making at
committee meetings.
The vacant position is now occupied by Gerry Mawdsley who
was elected as committee member. Gerry has been a willing
worker for the GFS.
He organised the placement of the plaque in Wigan
denoting the birthplace of George Formby, and is now
liaising with Wigan Council on the erection of a statue
to George.
Gerry is an accomplished artist with a long history of
professional entertainment – and one of our favourite
MCs.
At the AGM he said: “I’ve been a member for 31
years on the outside. Now it’s time for me to do
something from within.”
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2005 - 2006
Following the AGM, the new members are as follows:
President: Dennis Taylor
Vice President: Peter Pollard
Chairman: Ian Walker
Vice Chairman: Neil Forshaw
Secretary: Pam Walker
Assistant Secretary: Kathryn Pollard
Treasurer: Andrew Gatherer
Assistant Treasurer: Tony Kenny
Editor: Tony Thornton
Committee Member: Pat Taylor
Committee Member: Gerry Mawdsley
Society Membership
At the latest count there are 1,200 members - 70 of
them overseas. If you wish to join us please go here.