A Weekend Tonic: Rest, Reset, Enjoy

Is an apt description of our first ‘terrific weekend’ Formby convention of the year. Despite the “Travel disruption… and ‘Ee don’t the wind blow cold’ all were quickly forgotten once inside where it was warm and friendly….” It was a terrific attendance, the best for March, according to Charlie since Covid. The words of Dickie Speake's song, performed by Jon Baddeley sum it up perfectly. “At the George Formby Society, It’s nice to meet old friends and have a chat, We talk about our Vellums, we talk about our strings, We talk about our bridges, pegs and lots of little things We’re having a real good time,…” Newcomers immediately felt at home, whilst old timers caught up. Charles Clarke likes meeting people and “hearing their stories and having a laugh. People are very friendly” Andrew Higham loves the “friendship and meeting new people” and enjoys “the fantastic Formby players but also when members go on stage for the first time it’s the great reaction they receive. There’s nothing like this convention really and it’s fabulous”

The Blackpool experience

Timetables placed round the room highlight all the activities available over the weekend, including films and concerts and timing of all events. The archives provide an opportunity to learn more about our George. “it was an interesting sight seeing Beryl’s scarf, an odd but non the less a fascinating piece of Formby memorabilia” (Jamie Routledge). The new boards on the back wall attracted a lot of attention. Plenty of opportunities for retail therapy – with the GFS shop selling all things uke, and may more goodies, the auction- amazing how our President manages to sell all the old technology, and the raffle- a chance to win something non Formby and possibly alcoholic… whilst the uke sales provide the chance to increase one’s uke collections and share expertise and advice. Saturday’s Films were dedicated to George, with a compilation created by Peter Pollard of George playing one song from each of his films, from “Boots Boots “in 1934 to George in Civvy Street in 1946. The second film was ‘The Friday Show’ which was George talking about his life, in his own words with no pomp, no ceremony, just humbly with sincerity. Sadly, he died just eleven weeks after the broadcast, so it’s a good job we have this film.

“Faces old and new it’s nice to see,”

Frances Lister commented, ”Good to see all the GFS branches represented at the meeting and its always a treat to see Andy Eastwood along with Helen and Poppy’. A lovely surprise to see Gabriella La Foley. She always entertains with great songs and fun lyrics. Another treat was seeing Daz Barry who managed to get over for the day. Another returning face was Jonathan Richards whom we haven’t seen a very long time.” He’s still “got it!” They weren’t the only ones, Chris Webster, Caroline Stewart and Simeon put in an appearance. Good to see Gerry Mawdsley on stage after a long break with a couple of mates and still the same humour. ”One knows the words, one knows the tune and I’m in the middle!” On the Sunday morning the Jazz band was also back to the delight of all.

Our members come along from near and far…

New member Fiona Shaw was determined to go ‘on stage even if it was out of her comfort zone and successfully achieved that. Fiona, originally from New Zealand, is now living on the Isle of Man, has been a martial for T.T. races. She said that the strangest question she’s been asked was, ‘What year did George Formby win the T.T. races?”. There were people from Scotland, and even Ireland. Also from the Isle of Man was Martin B who helped plan last year’s successful visit. During T.T. week the film ‘No Limit’ is played on a loop. Martin drives a Beer Bottle car - his company car, He also makes Bushy’s Shuttleworth beer. Unfortunately, Martin and his brother were only here for the day. Martin was presented with the Raffle Uke which he won. His brother shared a letter from George Harrison who in 1999 wrote…” that everyone should play a uke’ Two Members from Majorca, Peter and Collette Hague, play the uke, but not at the conventions because they can’t put the uke on the plane, it has to go in the hold which they won’t entertain. They both like George and the uke and first heard two men playing ukes in a restaurant twenty years ago; they told them about George and the Society and the rest is history.

We have some lovely Concerts, both afternoon

and night,

Don’t worry if the words have gone, someone will put you right, The stage was filled all weekend with members performing singly, in pairs or in groups. We were treated to a variety of Formby songs as well as other genres. Great to see the women were ably represented, so not just the men! Kyle Evans, a member now for 10 years performed the two songs he sang on that occasion to show ‘how far I’ve come!” Stuart Lowther commented that “It’s always a joy to see people who have progressed with their playing and performing. I get to see the fruits of everyone’s labour, knowing the hours they have spent practising for their minutes on the stage and are always a pleasure to watch.” Jamie Routledge stated, “One of my favourite moments from the weekend was John Walley and Stuart Lowther’s duet singing ‘Pleasure Cruise’. I found it absolutely hilarious when they both stopped waiting for the other to sing the next line…! Another one of my favourites is Matthew Richards, His skills on the uke and piano are amazing, but his best talent has got to be the joy he brings to the audience. Beaming from side to side, it’s like he puts a spell on the audience, sharing his happiness and thrill to be playing.” Charlie Evered admitted “I was honoured to perform with John on Saturday afternoon. It is a strong mark of the longevity and bright future of the society when you see a duet with an age difference of 68 years.” Our Georgie left us lots of happy songs, Auntie Maggie promised to be home by nine o’clock, Fanlight Fanny she’ll get cracking with my stick of Blackpool Rock Frank’s on his tank out in the Middle East As always, the band played on, Matt Richards, Steve Thomas and Dale Norman who are all accomplished musicians who not only accompanied the players but also performed themselves.

Sign of the times…

Fiona Shaw searched the internet and learnt to play from zoom lessons on Facebook, tuition videos are on You Tube. Fiona bought a banjolele in the auction and now has plans to renovate it. “At the last Zoom lesson, Charlie Evered sent me the link for how to do the vellum, I got the vellum, bridge and strings from the shop at the same time, and Stuart & Lewis' video is very easy to understand, just have to put it into practice!” There’s the George Formby Society Facebook page as well. The different branches also have their own Facebook page. Members can choose to read a digital copy of The Vellum, so we need to keep up with and use the technology to our advantage. Although we had an excellent feature in the ‘Blackpool Gazette’ marking George’s 65th anniversary, we will be lucky if the GFS gets similar publicity in September when we will be celebrating our 65th Anniversary.

Congratulations…

One person, Peter Pollard has done a fabulous job over the years, walked miles round the conventions, sweated guts and tears to put George’s films on DVD, to digitise every copy of the Vellum, filming meetings, and taking over the shop. The Formby website is fantastic and such a wealth of information and is regularly updated and reviewed. It’s so important in keeping members up to date and to spread the word about George and the Society. Peter really deserved his Gold Award for his services to the Society, presented on stage on Saturday night. Charlie Evered commented that he “felt honoured to witness Peter Pollard being given the very highest honour the society can bestow, The Gold Award. I have no doubt that with our Peter I would never have got anywhere in the world of George Formby and certainly not attended Blackpool.” It was a well- deserved and long-overdue award.

Everybody wants to do their bit…

Summer Valentine who joined the committee last September mentioned that “A huge amount of work happens behind the scenes, and everyone involved deserves recognition for making it all run smoothly. My role focused on organising concert compères and workshop hosts.” Great to see our younger members playing an active part in running the conventions. Jamie Routledge made his debut as a compere whilst Charlie helped as an organiser, as well as comparing himself. According to Charlie, Stuart Lowther was a good tutor on the sound desk and ‘threw him in at the deep end on Saturday Evening and Sunday morning Concerts’ We all survived and the sound over the weekend was brilliant. Summer was “especially grateful to those who volunteered their time to make it happen. Looking ahead, we’d love more people to get involved—so if you’re interested, please reach out! I also welcome any feedback or ideas, as it’s important that our conventions continue to reflect what members want and enjoy.” If anyone feels like helping with selling of raffle tickets or taking over the GFS Shop, please speak to Kathryn Pollard. Kathryn has run the society shop for many years and is retiring. When Kathryn goes so does the shop. If you want to keep it, then we need someone to take it over. How about learning a new skill and working on the sound desk? Unlike the band – there are no breaks apart from those timetabled at the beginning and ends of concerts. Stuart spends “hours sitting at the desk, keeping an eye on what is going on, but it’s nice to have the chance to go and catch up with friends” …go to the loo and grab a drink!

We’re having a real good time, there’s nowhere

else in earth I’d rather be,

So how about persuading all those branch members who don’t come to Blackpool to join us? They don’t know what they’re missing. As one successful meeting ends, we can now begin to count the days to the next one. To quote George’s last word on Film/TV, “Good night, good luck and god bless” Gill Walley - April 2026