Creeping Bentgrass Christmassy Car Club Concert!

Thursday 14 December 2017. All awash with alliteration, no... that's it. I'm not going to be able to keep that up... Thursday night saw us battling torrential rain and hail in Fleetwood as we set up in the Cricket Club to perform at the Christmas Party of a local Classics Car Club.

We have played for this club several times in the past and strangely, whenever prizes for the best car are handed out, the judges have always managed to overlook my Mazda... However, no prizes tonight as the order of the day is to celebrate Christmas and have a party!

I'm trying out my new American Professional Fender Stratocaster for the first time at a gig tonight and it sounds lovely and is a perfect match for the old faithful cherry red guitar.

A surprise visit from Father and Mrs Christmas and... surely that's not a reindeer...!

Charity Night for Trinity Hospice at Coast Riders

Saturday 25 November 2017 saw us back at Coast Riders Diner and Bar for a charity night in aid of Trinity Hospice and in memory of the wonderful Janet Houghton, whose baby Coast Riders was.

There were stalls selling all manner of crafts, perfumes, cakes, jewellery and lots more. Coast Riders was filled to bursting with people. There was a tombola and a raffle. Miss Franny came home laden with handbags and other stuff...

Two old geezers got up on stage and played a bit - a bit??? I think it was getting on for four hours but there was quite a break for food and the raffle. Even so by the end of the night I had some sore fingers after playing guitar!

A fabulous night was had by all though and it was the sort of night that Jan - "Big Jan" as she was known on account of her being ... not that tall really - would have loved.

We made sure we played all her favourite songs and everyone - eventually - went home happy...

...once the vampires had been seen to!

Charity Night in Charnock Richard

On Saturday night last week we were on the road to Charnock Richard between Preston and Wigan. This was our fifth year playing for a charity event at Charnock Richard Football Club.

This was a really good night for us. There was a full room and they were all willing to sing along and enthusiastic in their applause.

We gained a lot of compliments also. It makes it all worthwhile for an entertainer!

There was a raffle and a couple of items to auction off for charity. Our grateful thanks to lomg-standing supporter Jack Gerrard for the booking and the pleasure of playing for you all!

Double 70th Birthday Party in Darwen

Saturday 3 September 2017. Last weekend we motored across to Darwen to play at a double 70th Birthday Party. One of the couple's birthdays was in June - the other in December. September was the obvious time then!

We had a great night with a full room and lots of enthusiastic people in the audience. Thanks all for the booking and the wonderful feedback and comments. It was a pleasure playing for your party.

Myerscough College Open Day 2017

This year is the sixteenth year we have played this particular event. We always have to keep a wary eye on the weather as with any outdoor gig, but this year apart from one short but quite heavy shower and a bit of wind which made a gazebo near us think it wanted to be a kite, we managed very well.

You can usually find us opposite the entrance to the college bar - The Stumble Inn - so on a really good day we can have quite a large audience sitting at tables or just standing about, drinking and enjoying the music.

And it even got warm enough for me to get all giddy and take my jacket off!

Creeping Guys With Guitars

In the past we have played a few gigs for a local car club so it was nice to get a call from their secretary the other week. 'We are having a meeting and social on Thursday 8 June,' she said 'and we asked the members what entertainment they wanted. They said "those two Creeping guys with guitars!"...'

Isn't it nice to be remembered! Ha ha! But of course, we don't take ourselves too seriously so we were only too pleased to go and play for their event. They have quite a few new members also since we last played for them so they were all seeing us for the first time and we got some great feedback. 'Your voices are great!' came one comment. 'It's quite rare for someone's voice to be so strong after 40...' Well, we'll let you know whether our voices change once we get there...

It was our first time playing at Fleetwood Cricket Club too - a nice venue with easy access and no stairs - that's what I like! I still have nightmares at the memory of having to carry our previous huge and heavy speakers down an unlit fire escape iron staircase one dark night because the club didn't want us on their front stairs. It was throwing it down with rain and the steps were very steep and slippery. We will not be playing there again!

But this night was not just about music - there were cars to be looked at and judged (thankfully by someone who knows more about them than I do...) This Morris Minor Traveller won the first prize, winning a hefty silver cup to be kept for a year by its owner.

I quite liked this Ford Consul Classic - the first UK car to have twin headlights if I'm not mistaken. I nearly bought one once for £60 when I was 17, but it was just that bit too expensive and I bought a Hillman Minx for £40 instead!

Heskin Steam Rally, 2017

Creeping Bentgrass were out playing at the Heskin Steam Rally last Saturday night in the huge marquee. For the second year the event was held at Malt Kiln Farm in Eccleston.

We started playing just gone 8:00pm and came off stage around midnight - just a short set then...

Always one of our favourite gigs of the year, we had a great audience again as the seats were all filled and the crowd standing around the bar got deeper and deeper. The dance floor got busy as we moved into the faster numbers and of those not able or willing to dance, there were a few of the circular tables who were swaying from side to side with linked arms!

This shows just half of the marquee - it is really huge and as the light outside faded into night, the stars came out over the dance floor!

Another fabulous night. Our thanks to organiser Jack Gerrard for his continued support - this was our 13th year playing at this event.

Our Second Golden Wedding of The Year!

Last night we were out on the edge of the Trough of Bowland - a beautiful area of countryside, forests and rivers in Lancashire.

We were playing for the Golden Wedding celebration of Jack and Margaret and the night was a great success.

The Priory at Scorton was the venue for the night. The audience were in fine voice and singing along to all the songs, which is always a good sign!

Then we were asked for The Twist which we have never played before, but I found a suitable backing style on the keyboard and we surprised ourselves - I even pulled off a passable piano solo! Certainly it filled the floor so you can look forward to us playing it at future gigs!

Golden Wedding Party in Garstang

Last night found us driving out to Garstang to play for a Golden Wedding party for two lovely people who have booked the band in the past, several years ago and remembered us from then.

The format of the party roughly followed the format of the wedding, 50 years ago, with speeches by the Best Man and Groom. There was an Irish Raffle. We hadn't heard of this before but basically prizes chosen had to remain on your table in front of you and more tickets were drawn than there were prizes. Once the stock of prizes ran out, winners were allowed to pinch a prize from someone else, which made for a lot of fun and a much-travelled bottle of champagne! The tin of beans didn't move about anywhere near as much...!

Barry and Marlene, it was a pleasure to play for you again, I just hope we have that sort of energy when another ten years goes by to Miss Franny and my own 50th Anniversary! Heck... I wish I had that much now!

And just to bring past gigs up to date, here's a couple I missed over the Christmas and New Year period...

The 29th December saw us out at Darwen, playing at the house party of some long-standing friends. Very informal and lots of fun. We were pipped at the post this year and missed out on a hat-trick of winning Brian's quiz...

New Year's Eve saw us playing at the Thurlby Club in Preston, where we had played earlier in the year. A game of Bingo was held to raise funds for necessary repairs to the roof. David won and donated the prize back with a wish that they did the bit over the stage first...! A really good night with a load of laughs!