Hot Weather Through no fault of the GFS, we were in a slightly smaller room for this weekend, The Washington Suite has been used now and again, memorably when Frank Skinner paid us a visit. Since then the membership of the GFS has increased to its highest level and it seems that everyone wants to be at a Blackpool convention. Saturday afternoon and evening attracted a capacity audience with standing room only for parts of the day. Entertainers in plenty throughout the weekend with again, some lovely performances. Saturday night was just one class act after another and I had the privilege of hosting the evening show - the only downside being that was that I was unable to video the proceedings. A shorter set of films was shown on Saturday evening to enable everyone to get on stage and of course to feature Kitty's raffle, Gerry's auction and the 2014 Grand Ukulele Raffle. It was nice to watch Gerry Mawdsley interview founder member John Walley, a short film that was created in 2010 to recognize the 50th anniversary of the GFS in 2011. Unsung Heroes Lots of people worked tirelessly to ensure that the weekend was successful and many dedicated members work and never go on stage to play - Unsung heroes is a good term for people like those who man the reception to ensure that members and prospective members are looked after when they enter the room. The sound equipment has to be installed at every convention and then the mixing desk has to be monitored throughout the weekend. The shop and the ladies who work there are ever helpful and do a fantastic job to ensure that the GFS maintains some sort of income. Our film shows don't just happen, Saturday nights collection of clips took one week to research and assemble and then someone has to work the equipment to show it to the members. Unsung heroes is definitely a good description! Visitor from Sweden One of the nicest bits of the weekend (personally speaking but I am sure this is the same for all), is to meet and say hello to old and new friends from all parts of the UK and beyond. Jonas Svensson traveled from Sweden and made a welcome return to the Blackpool stage for the first time in 11 years. Andy Eastwood came for the weekend in what could be termed a 'busman's holiday' as most of his time is spent working on stage entertaining throughout the length and breadth of the UK and beyond. Andy is a fantastic entertainer who has worked hard to create a successful show business career. He closed the Sunday evening with a memorable performance in the company of Alan Yates, another gifted performer. Memorable Performances It was also nice to see the lovely Davies sisters, Catalina and Francesca with us again, their performance of Andrews Sisters hits brought the house down! Also think that the best performance of the weekend was Francesca when she sang "It Could Be" which most people won't even know about. Francesca put everything in to the song and finished it with a great solo. Other ladies who caught the eye were Helen Pryor and of course Caroline Stewart who has a lovely singing voice. I also liked another emerging new face in Ryan Willetts who I believe is the son of long-term GFS member Stephen and proved to be just as accomplished as his dad on our favourite instrument. The Uke Raffle Saturday night had a fantastic bill of entertainment and is of course George Formby only. Also Gerry Mawdsley and Kathryn Pollard closed the year-long raffle for the Cartwright Uke - Banjo by drawing the winning ticket. Unfortunately the winner, Trevor Williams of Nottingham was not with us this weekend but I understand that he is (obviously) over the moon and could be in Morecambe to collect his prize. The winning ticket number was 05249.
JUNE 2014
Hot Weather Through no fault of the GFS, we were in a slightly smaller room for this weekend, The Washington Suite has been used now and again, memorably when Frank Skinner paid us a visit. Since then the membership of the GFS has increased to its highest level and it seems that everyone wants to be at a Blackpool convention. Saturday afternoon and evening attracted a capacity audience with standing room only for parts of the day. Entertainers in plenty throughout the weekend with again, some lovely performances. Saturday night was just one class act after another and I had the privilege of hosting the evening show - the only downside being that was that I was unable to video the proceedings. A shorter set of films was shown on Saturday evening to enable everyone to get on stage and of course to feature Kitty's raffle, Gerry's auction and the 2014 Grand Ukulele Raffle. It was nice to watch Gerry Mawdsley interview founder member John Walley, a short film that was created in 2010 to recognize the 50th anniversary of the GFS in 2011. Unsung Heroes Lots of people worked tirelessly to ensure that the weekend was successful and many dedicated members work and never go on stage to play - Unsung heroes is a good term for people like those who man the reception to ensure that members and prospective members are looked after when they enter the room. The sound equipment has to be installed at every convention and then the mixing desk has to be monitored throughout the weekend. The shop and the ladies who work there are ever helpful and do a fantastic job to ensure that the GFS maintains some sort of income. Our film shows don't just happen, Saturday nights collection of clips took one week to research and assemble and then someone has to work the equipment to show it to the members. Unsung heroes is definitely a good description! Visitor from Sweden One of the nicest bits of the weekend (personally speaking but I am sure this is the same for all), is to meet and say hello to old and new friends from all parts of the UK and beyond. Jonas Svensson traveled from Sweden and made a welcome return to the Blackpool stage for the first time in 11 years. Andy Eastwood came for the weekend in what could be termed a 'busman's holiday' as most of his time is spent working on stage entertaining throughout the length and breadth of the UK and beyond. Andy is a fantastic entertainer who has worked hard to create a successful show business career. He closed the Sunday evening with a memorable performance in the company of Alan Yates, another gifted performer. Memorable Performances It was also nice to see the lovely Davies sisters, Catalina and Francesca with us again, their performance of Andrews Sisters hits brought the house down! Also think that the best performance of the weekend was Francesca when she sang "It Could Be" which most people won't even know about. Francesca put everything in to the song and finished it with a great solo. Other ladies who caught the eye were Helen Pryor and of course Caroline Stewart who has a lovely singing voice. I also liked another emerging new face in Ryan Willetts who I believe is the son of long-term GFS member Stephen and proved to be just as accomplished as his dad on our favourite instrument. The Uke Raffle Saturday night had a fantastic bill of entertainment and is of course George Formby only. Also Gerry Mawdsley and Kathryn Pollard closed the year-long raffle for the Cartwright Uke - Banjo by drawing the winning ticket. Unfortunately the winner, Trevor Williams of Nottingham was not with us this weekend but I understand that he is (obviously) over the moon and could be in Morecambe to collect his prize. The winning ticket number was 05249.
june 2014