Witton Park, 2014

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Witton Park, Blackburn, playing in the courtyard from the doorway of one of the stable units. The weather was kind to us this year but in the past we have found it necessary to have somewhere we can nip back into to shelter equipment from rain!

Slightly smaller audience than in past years. We weren't sure whether people hadn't heard about the event or whether it was that the cafe that used to occupy the corner building has now gone. Though others said it was quieter throughout the park than usual on that day.

The Glee Club over at the mobility scooter stable were in fine form though!

Singing In The Rain at Witton Park

Today we played at Witton Park in Blackburn. I think it would be true to say that the weather could have been kinder! But we managed to attract a good sized audience at least during the early afternoon before the rain really set in.

We had gone armed with some bin liners to put over the speakers and we managed to stay dry by playing from inside the entrance to one of the old stables around the courtyard.

And we had a bit of help when we took on the Take That song, The Flood!

Witton Park 2012

Last Sunday saw us back in the courtyard at Witton Park in Blackburn for their annual fun day in conjunction with Myerscough College. The event included a collection of classic cars, some of which made me come over all nostalgic!

I worked out it was our 7th year at Witton! We first went to that same event to play in 2006.

And 2012 was a stand-out year. The weather was excellent - all sunshine and not a spot of rain. The chairs laid out for the audience were filled all day long - they were full when we got there with people waiting for us to arrive! We had a great day and unleashed a sprinkling of new songs into the mix including one of David's current favourites - Elvis's "You Gave Me a Mountain".

Our thanks go to Witton Park, Blackburn Council, Myerscough College, Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie our faithful roadies and minders, and of course all those wonderful people in the audience!

Photos courtesy of Jeannie Lancaster

Back in Witton Park

Today we were back in the courtyard at Witton Park Blackburn for the Family Fun Day.

Whilst we had an audience throughout the afternoon the weather had not been so good. We clocked just 9 degrees temperature as we drove to the park. It was fine but dull and cloudy so no big crowds today. Frustratingly the sun came out half an hour before we finished - just that bit too late to tempt people out!

A huge thank you to those who came to see us. We will next be at Heskin Hall in Chorley in the marquee following the Annual Steam Fair on Saturday 4 June and the following day at Myerscough College's Open Day.

Witton Park

Last Sunday saw us in our usual spot at Blackburn's Witton Park. That spot, more specifically is in the old courtyard near to the cafe in the doorway of one of the stables.

We've been honoured to be asked to play at Witton Park for several events during the year over the past five or six years and when the weather is good to us we always get a large audience. In fact even when it's tippling down and we are dry in our stable, people are often willing to sit or stand in the rain to listen! Hardy folk in Blackburn!

On Sunday it did rain a couple of times but not for long and there was a really good atmosphere in the courtyard.

There was a fairground farther down from us, displays of birds of prey and small animals, tractor rides and Myerscough College had lots of displays on too.

We tried out a few new songs for the first time - if young girls start to film us doing a Take That song we couldn't have been too bad... unless it's now on YouTube labelled "Two old wrinklies try to do..."

We'll be back at Witton on Spring Bank Holiday Monday.

National Family Week, Picnic Day at Witton Park

Another fabulous afternoon for us at Witton Park today as we played in the courtyard for a Family Picnic Day as part of National Family Week.

We unveiled two new songs. David has been wanting to sing Tell Laura I love Her ever since we got together - he has a thing for songs with a death in them...!

Actually he's been suffering from a chest infection all week so he did really well today. The wives overheard a member of the audience saying "I wish I could sing like that even without a chest infection..."

Bah! I'm sure he was just out to get the sympathy vote!

The other new song was Concrete and Clay familiar to any 60s child but not often heard these days. You'll definitely hear it from us in future!

Blackburn's fast becoming our second home this year - we're at Turton Tower on Saturday 24 July 2010 and will be performing at the Walking Festival Showcase at Sunnyhurst Wood on the evening of Friday 30 July.

Witton Park

Yesterday was our first visit of the year to Witton Park in Blackburn. It was for an Open Day event arranged by Myerscough College and there were all sorts of things going on. We had reptiles, snakes and a hog roast going on near us and there were carriage rides, tractor and trailer rides a large fairground and lots of stalls throughout the park showing the different courses and career paths the college caters for.

We were in our usual spot in the courtyard and what a fabulous day we had. People were waiting for us when we turned up in the morning. "We saw you last year and hoped you'd be back!"

We set off at 11:00am and apart from a 20 minute break for lunch we played straight through until gone 4:00pm. I know my fingers were smarting somewhat from the guitar strings!

A string broke during Cliff Richard's Move It and I finished the song on keyboards with a piano sound. Of all the songs... It's in the key of E with far too many black keys involved!!!

Apparantly 8,000 came through the gates and whilst they didn't all come to see us, we had a decent sized crowd watching us all day with a few people staying with us for the full day.

We're back at Witton on Spring Bank Holiday Monday. It's a family picnic day event so bring your picnic or buy it from the cafe in the corner of the courtyard and come and join us for another day of music!

Walking Festival at Blackburn

Yesterday we were playing at Witton Park in Blackburn at their Walking Festival.

We had a steady stream of folk coming to see us and stay for a while and the weather wasn't so unkind that anyone needed to dash for cover.

The Mayor and Mayoress came for a word, the Mayor showing great interest in the keyboard.

Thanks to all those who came to support us and the event!

Witton Country Park Gig

Ooh, ahh, agh my back! Sigh, it was a long afternoon and now I've carted all the equipment back into the house from the car I'm ready to flop!

True there was a bit of rain, but actually it didn't put the audience off at all and they sat through it without any complaint.

The sun came out at intervals, the space in front of us stayed full all day and David was sporting a Billy Fury T-shirt.

It's been a bit of an autograph day as well for us. We don't get too many of those but sometimes when one person asks it can start a chain reaction going. So there's a few people in around 5 years time will be wondering who on earth it was that signed that bit of paper they found in a book or on a shelf or in a drawer!

News for those who normally travel to see us at Garstang Music and Arts Festival in August. This year we are unable to make the usual Thursday spot but the festival has been extended to the Bank Holiday Monday and we will be appearing, probably in our usual spot on Bank Holiday Monday 31 August 2009. Confirmation of the exact place and times later!

Witton Park Gig

We played a gig at Witton Park, Blackburn on Sunday, setting up in our usual spot in the courtyard which was set out with straw bales for the audience to sit. Quite a number turned up. It was a nice day (until later - see below) and we ran out of straw bales but thankfully not out of songs!

There was a lot going on besides us. There was some chap dressed up in a duck outfit collecting entries for a duck race. I couldn't resist the temptation and called to him over the mic - "Collect a bit for charity, there's a duck..."!

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon it was so sunny I couldn't read the LCD display on the keyboard which led to this rather unfortunate necessity...

From lunchtime, though, we kept hearing thunder rumbling in the far distance, although it remained warm and sunny through the afternoon. Then as we were considering calling it a day and just as we were halfway through the last chorus huge raindrops started to fall. We finished, yelled "Thank you, goodbye!" and yanked plugs from sockets and dragged the equipment into the shelter of the ex-stable that we use as a base.

Almost immediately the Heavens opened and thunder, lightning and hailstones the size of marrowfats were bouncing all over the place.

A great day with none of the usual requests for "just one more", as the audience dived for cover too!

Witton Park Gig Report

Well the weather forecast was anything but good, but in the event it was quite kind to us!

We took up our usual spot in one of the outbuildings around the courtyard at Witton and were soon joined by an enthusiastic crowd of people as we went through a country set, then folk and Irish before moving onto a few 1960s numbers.

Lunchtime came and it was still fine and most of the crowd stayed put whilst we took a break and came back to let Bob play his mandolin to John's keyboard to get everyone tapping their feet to "Bluebell Polka".

We went back to do a few more country hits then started on the 1960s with the bit between our teeth. "The Young Ones" (our signature tune for obvious reasons!) then "Halfway to Paradise", "I'm a Believer", "The Wonder of You" (gives the audience a chance to go "Whoa-oh-oh-ohhh!"), "Please Please Me", "When You Walk In The Room" and onwards through the afternoon to "The Wanderer", "Johnny B Goode", "That'll Be The Day" before finishing with "The Night Has 1000 Eyes".

Fran and Jeannie were kept busy giving out cards and seling the odd CD although Jeannie found time to wrap a couple of snakes around her neck, perhaps getting a little mixed up? No dear - it was a "feather boa" you were after!

If you were there, then thanks for the support - the rain caught up with us later on in the afternoon but it wasn't going to deter the hardy folk who were sitting listening to us and umbrellas came out, hoods went up and feet kept tapping!

Thanks also to the organisers, to Blackburn Council and Myerscough College, who were instrumental (sorry about the pun!) in getting us there and who were showing some of the animals and other resources used by them in their courses that are held at Witton.

Our next public appearance is another Myerscough Open Day on Sunday 3 June from 10:30 to around 4:00pm, this time at their main campus at Myerscough Hall, St Michael's Road, Bilsborrow, just north of Preston.

Bye Bye Cassettes!

Ah, what memories these conjure up for a generation of people who wooed their partners with a well chosen selection of songs on a personal cassette!

The news has just announced that cassettes are no longer to be made. This is probably good news for the countryside, as one thing about cassettes I don't miss is the miles and miles of cassette tape wrapped around hedgerows and flapping in the breeze!

The band's music has been recorded and mixed on computer but in the 1990s I bought two identical hi-fi cassette decks so that I could record on one, play it back and record on the other, building up tracks (and background noise). Many units had two decks anyway but normally you could only record on one and it invariably ran at a slightly different speed than the other!

No such problems for me as I put the album together. Yes, I know it's taking a while but I'm still doing bits every now and then, honest!

It struck me the other week that the Yamaha keyboard is 9 years old and I won't be able to replace it easily if (when?) it dies. So I've been recording onto the PC all the backing tracks I've recorded on the keyboard so that hopefully I could think of a way of coverting them to a more modern keyboard if needs be. At the very least we could use them on mini-disk or CD for a gig or two. But that's not necessary yet!

You can see us next weekend at Witton Park, Blackburn - Sunday 13 May in the courtyard from 11:30am to 4:00pm. Come and say hello!

John's Solo Track at Billy Fury Website

This month the track at http://www.billyfury.com is a solo instrumental by John - the Beatles track, "Fool on the Hill". Available for download only during May.

Don't forget to join us in the courtyard at Witton Park, Blackburn during the afternoon of Sunday 13 May! We'll be playing a full range of music from folk, through Country, to 1960s and rock and roll!