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What a wonderful night we had down in Pershore last night. The show was sponsored by the Rotary Club in aid of the charity 'Global Polio Eradication Initiative'. The night's proceeds were for The Rotary Club of Worcester Severns' Foundation Contributions. It will be matched pound for pound by the 'Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation'.

All the staff at the Number 8 Community Arts Centre in Pershore were wonderful with the technical staff getting everything just right. This included the get-in, lighting, sound and of course, the 'get-out'. The front-of-house staff were fantastic too allowing the selling of our merchandise to proceed without any problems. The theatre was a sell-out with a great responsive crowd and we thank Alan Scrafton for inviting us to meet with all the officers of the Worcester Rotary Club after the show. We certainly look forward to our next visit to the theatre. We were also pleased to see Morgan's lovely wife Linda there. Once we were loaded up, it didn't take us long to make the trip back home to get a well deserved rest.

Sunday 10th April
Well, now that Morgan is back from his holidays, we all have to get packed ready for our cruise starting tomorrow

Friday 18th April
After picking up Jim and Morgan, Dave drove to Barnsley where we unfortunately missed and drove past the theatre and had to turn back. Geoff arrived a little later as he only lives nearby in Leeds.

This was our first visit to the Academy Theatre in Barnsley but were very surprised to find a neat little theatre. Privately owned, we arrived at the theatre right in the middle of dance lessons which is the other side of the theatre's facilities.

The front of house staff and technical people did a wonderful job for us. We even had the pleasure of being the first people to use the new front curtains which had just been installed. The audience were very responsive and we are looking forward to returning to the Academy in the future.

Wednesday 16th April
Well, well, what a great night we had at the famous Opera House in Blackpool. Dave arrived first and had his keyboards set up by the time Geoff, Jim and Morgan got there.

As we were top of the bill, we had the number 1 dressing room, Johnny Casson was also on the bill....what a funny man he is. Dave had already done the sound check and all that the three guys had to do was a sound check with the three microphones that were set up for them. The back stage staff were tremendous. While Dave was setting up he noticed the guitar player who was playing in the band for the other acts and he seemed to recognize the face and his playing. After the sound checks / run throughs they both made themselves known to each other and lo and behold they had both played together making two records many years ago, the guitarist was Kevin Neil who was the guitarist with the famous Carl Denver Trio! Kevin now tours with the Bachelors.

We had an audience of 2000 people who sat there and welcomed us and gave us a tremendous reception. All in all it was a great night and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Great night was had by all at the Barrington Theatre in Ferndown on Saturday April 5th. Jim met Geoffrey at Swinton and had an excellent and uneventful journey down to Ferndown. They could see the venue at 4:10pm but it took until 4:55pm to access it due to a cunning bit of town planning - it's easier to find the "The Hidden Gem" in the centre of Manchester !

The staff at the theatre - Manager Brian, Terry and his assistant on the sound and lights and Stage Manager Rob and all front of house people were very welcoming and extremely competent and helpful and the two most wonderful tea ladies ever born - proper tea, none of your luke-warm dishwater.

The show felt like it was on top note from the very beginning and that was confirmed by the audience reaction and a standing ovation, even an email sent to us at four minutes past midnight by four people attending the show. Many people thought that Dave was playing to tracks but it was all done live from the incredible Roland Atelier. The audience included Mayors and their Mayoresses / Consorts from several neighbouring local authorities, with so much gold about (Mayoral Chains) and it's price per ounce, made one think of a career change ! They were all very pleasant to meet and the hospitality afterwards from the Ferndown Mayor and her "Mayoress" (his description) which we trust was a joke, was enjoyed by all.

Dave was travelling alone down from Weston-Super-Mare where he was performing the evening before at an organ festival at the Sand Bay Leisure Centre for Byron Jones and had all the equipment set up by the time the rest of the guys got there.

The drive home for Jim, Geoffery and Dave was appalling with heavy snow right through the midlands which prompted Geoffrey to open one eye at some point and murmur in his Yorkshire accent "ooh! isn't it terrible, do you think we shall get home alright", before notching the heater up a tad more and returning to the depths of a comfortable sleep.....you know, it's tough at the top!

Morgan arrived at the theatre from his mothers in the south east where he had stayed the night before and brought along with him his daughter Clare and her son Thomas. They were placed in charge of the merchandise (CD's / DVD's / programmes), and very successfully too, we are just preparing an offer of a permanent position for them both!

Well, we left the UK in the rain, and flew to Singapore with
the fabulous Singapore airlines, so nice and peaceful, Morgan who normally never sleeps on a plane did get some shut-eye. We arrived at the incredible, clean and efficient airport in Singapore on time and in fantastic weather.
Then, a short taxi drive to the ship and if any of you have
sailed on the Aurora, you'll know what a glorious ship it is.

The performance the next day at two full houses with great audiences was a joy for any artiste, and the pleasure of meeting Dave's brother Albert and his wife Kathleen who were on an eighty-day tour of the world. Then getting down to some serious relaxation for the rest of the week during the voyage to Mombai in India. In Mombai we were treated to a horrendous drive through the bustling streets ending up with a visit to Gandi's residence.

Then sadly it was time to catch the flight back home and
back to the pouring rain. Anyhow, we're now looking
forward to our next show which is at the lovely Barrington
Theatre in Ferndown near Bournemouth. We know
there will be many of our friends attending the theatre.

Appearing at the Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham, Saturday 23rd February - well, after the un-eventful trip down to Cheltenham on the M6 and M5 we got lost with the main road to the theatre being resurfaced and blocked for the incoming traffic. Even our Sat Nav got confused!

Anyway, we eventually found our way to the theatre. As always we were greeted by Dave the Sound Engineer and the setup was not painful at all. Dave had already installed the three condensor microphones we needed along with the adequate fall-back speakers. The run-through and sound check with lighting plots done by Martin were carried out without any problems. In fact everyone involved in the show both back stage and front of house on Saturday evening were tremendous.

The dressing room was very comfortable as we started to get ready for the concert with cups of tea provided as well. On entering the stage on our opening number, the audience seemed warm and friendly right from the outset. They continued to be a great audience throughout the evening, and judging by the comments and the amount of merchandise sold, they certainly enjoyed the whole thing.

We packed our car with everything quite quickly and was off up that M5 motorway, getting out of the area much quicker than we arrived. Looking forward to our next visit to the Bacon Theatre.



	Monday 1st June What a wonderful night we had down in Pershore last night. The show was sponsored by the Rotary Club in aid of the charity 'Global Polio Eradication Initiative'. The night's proceeds were for The Rotary Club of Worcester Severns' Foundation Contributions. It will be matched pound for pound by the 'Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation'. All the staff at the Number 8 Community Arts Centre in Pershore were wonderful with the technical staff getting everything just right. This included the get-in, lighting, sound and of course, the 'get-out'. The front-of-house staff were fantastic too allowing the selling of our merchandise to proceed without any problems. The theatre was a sell-out with a great responsive crowd and we thank Alan Scrafton for inviting us to meet with all the officers of the Worcester Rotary Club after the show. We certainly look forward to our next visit to the theatre. We were also pleased to see Morgan's lovely wife Linda there. Once we were loaded up, it didn't take us long to make the trip back home to get a well deserved rest. Sunday 10th April Well, now that Morgan is back from his holidays, we all have to get packed ready for our cruise starting tomorrow Friday 18th April After picking up Jim and Morgan, Dave drove to Barnsley where we unfortunately missed and drove past the theatre and had to turn back. Geoff arrived a little later as he only lives nearby in Leeds. This was our first visit to the Academy Theatre in Barnsley but were very surprised to find a neat little theatre. Privately owned, we arrived at the theatre right in the middle of dance lessons which is the other side of the theatre's facilities. The front of house staff and technical people did a wonderful job for us. We even had the pleasure of being the first people to use the new front curtains which had just been installed. The audience were very responsive and we are looking forward to returning to the Academy in the future. Wednesday 16th April Well, well, what a great night we had at the famous Opera House in Blackpool. Dave arrived first and had his keyboards set up by the time Geoff, Jim and Morgan got there. As we were top of the bill, we had the number 1 dressing room, Johnny Casson was also on the bill....what a funny man he is. Dave had already done the sound check and all that the three guys had to do was a sound check with the three microphones that were set up for them. The back stage staff were tremendous. While Dave was setting up he noticed the guitar player who was playing in the band for the other acts and he seemed to recognize the face and his playing. After the sound checks / run throughs they both made themselves known to each other and lo and behold they had both played together making two records many years ago, the guitarist was Kevin Neil who was the guitarist with the famous Carl Denver Trio! Kevin now tours with the Bachelors. We had an audience of 2000 people who sat there and welcomed us and gave us a tremendous reception. All in all it was a great night and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Sunday 6th April Great night was had by all at the Barrington Theatre in Ferndown on Saturday April 5th. Jim met Geoffrey at Swinton and had an excellent and uneventful journey down to Ferndown. They could see the venue at 4:10pm but it took until 4:55pm to access it due to a cunning bit of town planning - it's easier to find the "The Hidden Gem" in the centre of Manchester ! The staff at the theatre - Manager Brian, Terry and his assistant on the sound and lights and Stage Manager Rob and all front of house people were very welcoming and extremely competent and helpful and the two most wonderful tea ladies ever born - proper tea, none of your luke-warm dishwater. The show felt like it was on top note from the very beginning and that was confirmed by the audience reaction and a standing ovation, even an email sent to us at four minutes past midnight by four people attending the show. Many people thought that Dave was playing to tracks but it was all done live from the incredible Roland Atelier. The audience included Mayors and their Mayoresses / Consorts from several neighbouring local authorities, with so much gold about (Mayoral Chains) and it's price per ounce, made one think of a career change ! They were all very pleasant to meet and the hospitality afterwards from the Ferndown Mayor and her "Mayoress" (his description) which we trust was a joke, was enjoyed by all. Dave was travelling alone down from Weston-Super-Mare where he was performing the evening before at an organ festival at the Sand Bay Leisure Centre for Byron Jones and had all the equipment set up by the time the rest of the guys got there. The drive home for Jim, Geoffery and Dave was appalling with heavy snow right through the midlands which prompted Geoffrey to open one eye at some point and murmur in his Yorkshire accent "ooh! isn't it terrible, do you think we shall get home alright", before notching the heater up a tad more and returning to the depths of a comfortable sleep.....you know, it's tough at the top! Morgan arrived at the theatre from his mothers in the south east where he had stayed the night before and brought along with him his daughter Clare and her son Thomas. They were placed in charge of the merchandise (CD's / DVD's / programmes), and very successfully too, we are just preparing an offer of a permanent position for them both! We are all sincerely looking forward to playing the Ferndown Theatre again in the future. Friday 14th March Well, we left the UK in the rain, and flew to Singapore with the fabulous Singapore airlines, so nice and peaceful, Morgan who normally never sleeps on a plane did get some shut-eye. We arrived at the incredible, clean and efficient airport in Singapore on time and in fantastic weather. Then, a short taxi drive to the ship and if any of you have sailed on the Aurora, you'll know what a glorious ship it is. The performance the next day at two full houses with great audiences was a joy for any artiste, and the pleasure of meeting Dave's brother Albert and his wife Kathleen who were on an eighty-day tour of the world. Then getting down to some serious relaxation for the rest of the week during the voyage to Mombai in India. In Mombai we were treated to a horrendous drive through the bustling streets ending up with a visit to Gandi's residence. Then sadly it was time to catch the flight back home and back to the pouring rain. Anyhow, we're now looking forward to our next show which is at the lovely Barrington Theatre in Ferndown near Bournemouth. We know there will be many of our friends attending the theatre. Monday 25th February Appearing at the Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham, Saturday 23rd February - well, after the un-eventful trip down to Cheltenham on the M6 and M5 we got lost with the main road to the theatre being resurfaced and blocked for the incoming traffic. Even our Sat Nav got confused! Anyway, we eventually found our way to the theatre. As always we were greeted by Dave the Sound Engineer and the setup was not painful at all. Dave had already installed the three condensor microphones we needed along with the adequate fall-back speakers. The run-through and sound check with lighting plots done by Martin were carried out without any problems. In fact everyone involved in the show both back stage and front of house on Saturday evening were tremendous. The dressing room was very comfortable as we started to get ready for the concert with cups of tea provided as well. On entering the stage on our opening number, the audience seemed warm and friendly right from the outset. They continued to be a great audience throughout the evening, and judging by the comments and the amount of merchandise sold, they certainly enjoyed the whole thing. We packed our car with everything quite quickly and was off up that M5 motorway, getting out of the area much quicker than we arrived. Looking forward to our next visit to the Bacon Theatre. We would like to thank Mr & Mrs J. Cummings and Mr & Mrs K. Raynsford for their kind letters and hoped they received the signed photos. November Cruise on the Balmoral Geoff - Jim - Morgan and Dave