There is a well known saying, "Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man". I have always thought that within the George Formby Society that this saying was never more appropriate - until now. With the retirement from the GFS committee of our long-standing chairman, Dennis Mitchell, that well known saying has been turned on its head - literally! For the 2014/2015 54th year of our existence, the new chairman is a lady! Not the first lady to serve on the GFS committee, but certainly the very first lady chairman. Caroline is very welcome to the position and is well qualified for it. She is totally immersed in the GFS and her love of Formby is as strong has any male (or female) member. A highly intelligent lady who is forever coming up with new ideas for the best way forward in the future. I am personally delighted to welcome our first lady chairman, I won't say anymore but will let Caroline tell you her Formby story. Peter Pollard Meet Caroline Stewart I started playing the ukulele in June 2011 and in November of that year I happened to see the Skinner on Formby documentary. Within a week I had bought a banjo uke, joined the Society and booked up to go to the March 2012 Convention in Blackpool. And that as they say was that! Only it wasn't quite the end of the story, in fact it was just the beginning of my amazing Formby journey. My first convention was a strange affair. I hated it and I was ready to leave by tea time on the first day but I stayed for Kitty's raffle, Gerry's auction and the evening concert and thoroughly enjoyed myself. By Sunday morning I was warming to it and after the beginners lesson I was a fully fledged Formby convert. Since then I haven't missed a convention, have made scores of friends, hosted my own Formby Events in my village, visited a number of GFS branches, ran my own beginner groups, done George Formby talks and started learning to restore banjo ukuleles. In September 2013 I proudly made it onto the Committee as Assistant Treasurer and after a year of enjoyable but sometimes hard work on the committee, I was elected Chairman of the George Formby Society at the 2014 AGM. This was one of my proudest moments and I am honoured to work with our superb committee to ensure the continued success of the George Formby Society. There are hundreds of Ukulele Groups up and down the country and while I must admit that they aren't really my cup of tea, anything that gets people of all ages singing and playing a musical instrument just has to be a good thing. However, the George Formby Society is not just another ukulele group. It's true that you will probably find more ukes of various shapes and sizes than you can shake a stick at but that isn’t the reason we join the Society. Those of us who are lucky enough to be able to congregate in Blackpool at Conventions do so to meet with others to celebrate the life and music of George Formby OBE. We are in awe of his playing prowess, amused by the saucy lyrics in his songs, fascinated by his interesting life story and one or two of us try desperately to imitate his comical run which is usually accompanied by cries of 'Mother!'. So, yes, we take our ukuleles along to try to emulate our hero. We share playing tips and tricks with one another but the reason we are there is because of the man - George Formby. It's all about George!

Some of Caroline’s GFS moments