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!

Charity Night in Charnock Richard

Saturday 8 October 2016. This last weekend we played for a charity event in Charnock Richard - the village in Lancashire, not the nearby motorway services...

We were at the Football Club playing for one of Jack Gerrard's events. He's the man behind the Chorley steam fairs and all monies were going to Rainbow House.

We played to a fairly packed house and what a great crowd they were, singing along and loads of enthusiastic applause. We took another four bookings on the night, so we must have done something right!

Memorial Concert

Saturday 14 May 2016. We played a memorial concert for a young lady, wife and mother who died tragically of cervical cancer. She was too young to be called for a routine test and by the time the cancer was found it was inoperable.

Remembering Rachel.

Creeping Bentgass in Charnock Richard

On Saturday night we played at the Football Club in Charnock Richard. This was for a charity night organised by Jack Gerrard, who for many years has organised the Steam Fairs at Heskin Hall.

The night included a fish and chips supper provided by a van. The lady was already there getting prepared when we arrived and it turned out she had a very early start the following morning. I hope we got everybody out to pick up their suppers in time for her to get home and to have a few hours in bed!

The raffle was a jolly affair too with two of the tables enjoying a healthy competition to see which could win the most prizes. Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie also had some success!

We unveiled our version of Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale which gained us a huge roar of appreciation and we got many compliments at the end of the night which was very nice. A great audience throughout the night!

Charity Acknowledgement

Received today is a poster from the British Heart Foundation confirming our raising funds of £710 at the gig at Blackpool venue, Coast Riders Diner on 18 October this year.

I expect we will be arranging another charity event for next year - watch this space...!

Charnock Richard Charity Gig

Last night we were out at Charnock Richard Football Club to play at a charity night. What a brilliant night it was too, lots of people all round the room singing along with us. I unveiled my new solo song as a nod to Sheridan Smith's fantastic performance as Cilla Black in the recent TV 3-part bio - Cilla's You're My World. It certainly got a good reception - David might not let me sing it again...!

A cheque for £2000 was presented to Lancashire Air Ambulance from the Heskin Hall Steam Fair back in June and there was a huge raffle and the auctioning of a beautiful hand-made wooden old-fashioned lorry loaded with barrels. And I do like a gig where we pick up a couple of bookings for the future!

Creeping Bentgrass in Shrewsbury

On Sunday night we played at "Sean's Fundraiser", a charity event in aid of a very poorly little boy, critically ill with leukaemia and lymphoma cancer. We came to hear of this from his grandma, who we met through the Billy Fury networks.

And we met up with Mags and Marie, also friends from the Billy Fury website http://www.billyfury.com.

This fundraiser was held at the Albrighton Hall Hotel in Shrewsbury and included a delicious three-course meal and a charity auction and raffle before we were called upon to sing for our supper.

As the auction came to an end, there was one final lot - a chance for the organisers, Gaynor and Rhian and the auctioneer, Jeremy to undergo this ice bucket craze. "Crazy" is the word I reckon, but it is in a good cause. Rhian went off to change into one of the hotel's towelling dressing gowns but Gaynor sat down in all her glam and serenely took her dousing. (Is "serene" the correct word for jumping up and screaming?)

Anyway, well done to all three. Rhian was able to go and put her glamrags back on whilst Gaynor spent the rest of the evening in her dressing gown...

But there again, how many times (apart from at home with the gorgeous Miss Franny) do I get the chance to cosy up to beautiful ladies in their dressing gowns?

...and before you ask, the lipstick mark on her face is not my shade...

Blackpool Gazette Mention

We made the Blackpool local paper! The Gazette tonight has a spot about our charity do at Coast Riders Diner.

Have you seen it, Mum? Mum??? Thanks to the ever-gorgeous Miss Jeannie for sending them the details.

Cancer Research Receipt for 26 April Event

Click the image for large readable version

Many thanks to all who donated, whether you were there or not!

Coast Riders Gig For Cancer Research

On Saturday night Creeping Bentgrass played at the Coast Riders bar in Blackpool.

This was one of the rare charity events that we arrange ourselves. They happen roughly every two years and this year marked a move from Staining Village Hall to the Coast Riders bar on Cropper Road, south west of the end of the M55. A massive thanks must go to Peter, Janet and team at Coast Riders. They were really superb and very accommodating.

Around 70 people gathered and as we knew at least one person in every party, it was a very jolly start to the night as we welcomed lots of friends. A few friends of friends had travelled a long way: two ladies from Spain and a party all the way from Australia!

We unveiled a couple of new songs including Roy Orbison's Leah, one of his B sides that was especially requested by Pete from Coast Riders and I played my own version of a Bert Weedon instrumental, Red Guitar which is very lively and seemed to go down very well with the audience.

We had a few special guests. Peter and Shelagh Cooney have supported us several times and we have developed a couple of songs to do together as a foursome.

Chrissie Turkington joined me for the first time to perform the Dolly Parton bits of Islands In The Stream. We played it once years ago at an informal party night in Edinburgh but this was her first performance with me on a club stage and she nailed it, making the song a very memorable part of the night.

Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie were kept busy with a raffle, bottle tombola and hot pot supper to sort out and by the end of the night we had raised £425 for Cancer Research and had a load of fun doing it. In fact reaction from both the venue and the audience has been such that a much earlier return than the usual two years may be called for! Watch this space. Our dates can be found on the band blog's side column.

Charity Night at Charnock Richard F.C.

Last Saturday night we headed out to Charnock Richard Football Club for a charity night in aid of Rainbow House and Chorley Lions.

The night was organised by our old friend Jack Gerrard who organises the steam fair at Heskin Hall every year. The next one will be on Saturday 31 May by the way! An excellent night with a huge raffle - there were so many prizes there was almost one for everybody, although one table right at the front managed to avoid winning everything, taking their lack of success good naturedly as others got up from their seats for a third time!

We managed to get slightly lost on the way there but found the venue in plenty of time. Many thanks to Jack and the lovely Josephine and to the rest of the audience who seemed to enjoy themselves as much as we did!

Flyer for 12 October 2013 at Charnock Richard Football Club

Can it get any better? A night of music and fish and chips! Charnock Richard Football Club: directions

Creeping Bentgrass at Larbreck Hall 2013

Last night we played at Larbreck Hall Caravan Park. Since 2004 when my Dad died we've done an annual night here, donating our fee to cancer research.

For all of those years until this year Mum, who has a resident van on the site, has arranged things. Last year she announced it was her last one and the site owners, Roland and Edith Armistead took over. Not that she slowed down all that much - she was there running stalls, managing a guess the number of buttons in a jar and (OMG...) having her hair dyed orange to gain sponsorship.

Around 80 people packed into the barn to see us last night and they seemed to have a good time! Overall over £700 was raised for charity with Mum's contribution being a hefty" £220. Ah well... it'll grow out in a few weeks I suppose...

As always, the people from the site had done a great job on the stage dressing and we unveiled a new song on the night - the Everly Brothers' So Sad.

Staining Charity Gig 2011

Last night saw Creeping Bentgrass on stage at Staining Village Hall.

This was a night we had arranged ourselves and we had invited family, friends and people we have worked with year after year until they too can be classed as friends.

We do one of these every two years or so and they are informal, punctuated by guest appearances and a chance for us to try out new stuff to people we can trust to tell us if they don't work.

After years of having "Abba!" thrown at us we have capitulated and now "Fernando" and "Waterloo" (seen above being road-tested with The Creepettes - or is that the Bentettes?) are added to the repertoire.

We road tested a few last night in fact. The Single Girl, I Can Hear Music, You've Lost That Loving Feeling - the latter after we busked it in response to a request in Chapeltown a few weeks ago!

Then again, Jack who books us every year for his steam fair at Heskin Hall at the beginning of June has been asking for House of the Rising Sun for years. It is a bit of a voice-breaker but we have now come up with a bluesy version which went down a storm last night!

And talking of going down a storm - here was a bit of fun!

I walked off stage to leave David singing a West-End musical song - Love Changes Everything. It raised a few eyebrows but then I walked back on to join him in harmony from the second verse on and if we surprised the audience with a new style of song, then in turn we were blown away by the reception the song got at the end.

Thanks have to go to Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie for arranging raffles, hot pots and to willing helpers, Gill, Chrissie, David and Elaine, Claire, Shelagh, Janet and Doreen who dished out grub, sold raffle tickets, managed to separate people from money for the charities, to Marcus and his friend for arranging and manning the bar, to Shelagh and Peter Cooney for the guest spot, to the Bentettes: Louise, Marion, Janet and Shelagh, and to all of you who came from far and wide. A special mention to Harry and Maureen Whitehouse who had come over from Scarborough for the night. Harry is the head of the Peaksoft recording label and was responsible for convincing us to contribute to a CD of Protest Songs (see here) and he donated a copy for the raffle. Harry is also the man behind billyfury.com and so absolutely a VIP member of the audience!

A quick aside to Billy Fury New Zealand Fan Club Manager Moya Gleave here - Harry did stop a little short of giving me a "big sloppy kiss on the top of my head" but thanks for the thought...!

A huge thank you to all who came to see us - we didn't have much time to talk to anyone but it was great to see you there and we appreciate it so much!

After paying the expenses for the hall, bar and food we made £200 profit which will go to the two charities - a Cat Rescue Centre and Diabetic UK

Clubs and Pubs Weekend

Creeping Bentgrass were out and about this weekend.

We started on Friday night at the Longshaw Sports & Social Club in Blackburn. This was a charity night in aid of the Mayor's charities.

An upstairs function room, a stage and some rather hot stage lights! The crowd set the standard for the weekend, crowding onto the dance floor early on in the proceedings!

Then on Saturday night we played for a 70th birthday party (that's two of those in a week!) out at the Chetham Arms, Chapeltown. Again the guests made a beeline for the dance floor early in the night and a good time was had by all.

Our appreciation and thanks to those who booked us, particularly for the very kind compliments and feedback and today has been a nice, relaxing day which didn't start until long after normal get-up time...!

Charity Birthday Gig

Saturday was John's mum's 75th birthday. Ex-boxer Brian London's 75th birthday too so he told us that morning as we met up to have breakfast in our favourite cafe in Blackpool. But it was for Evelyne Burke's party that we played as part of an annual charity event.

Ever since husband Allan died five years ago, Evelyne has organised a charity bash at the caravan park where she lives in aid of Cancer Research. Over the years she has raised somewhere around £3000 at those events.

The afternoon is devoted to raffles, tombola, name the doll, the whisky wall and a bring and buy.

In the evening the band has played. Outside if the weather is fine and in a large barn if it's cold or threatens rain.

This weekend we were in the barn and David and I gave the residents and holiday makers 3 and a half hours of country, folk, sixties and rock and roll. We started with Don Williams' Gypsy Woman and ended with everyone in a circle singing You'll Never Walk Alone with a whole host of stuff along the way, including a first airing (without even a rehearsal) of Billy Fury's Maybe Tomorrow as part of a five-song tribute to Billy's memory.

Large versions of the photos: Evelyne, John and David

First Gig for 2009

Last night the band gave a performance to an invited audience of some 80 friends and family members at Staining Village Hall.

It was great to see so many people there, especially as some of them we don't see all that often. Old school friends had come from the Rochdale area, some family had come from the Chester area and Fran's brother and his wife drove up from Swindon to spend the night with us.

There were, of course lots of friends, family and colleagues from Blackpool, Cleveleys and Garstang to swell the numbers.

It was only the second time we had arranged a season-starter for ourselevs and this time any excess funds will be going to Cat Rescue (Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde.

Each member of the band shares their house with 2 cats and so it's a charity close to our hearts.

We had fun with some of Fran's friends last night who were calling for some Abba songs. Abba don't normally feature strongly in our act, though John did his best and included a snatch of Waterloo in the keyboard instrumental in the middle of Hi Ho Silver Lining!

Large versions of the photos: view from the hall, close view

Darwen Outing

Yesterday saw us out in Darwen, playing for a charity event in aid of cancer research at the home of our special friends, Christine and Brian.

It's a large garden and we had a gazebo in one corner just in case but the rain was good to us and stayed away whilst we played throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

A slight technical mishap - we'd taken our smaller PA system and then blew one of the speakers... A touch of repair work needed I think! Anyway the remaining speaker was made of hardier stuff and performed well for the rest of the gig!

And I gather whilst we were out and working, we had a track played on London's Radio Northwick Park - thank you to DJ Pierre Petrou and our friends at http://www.billyfury.com!

The track at the Billy Fury site this month is one of John's solo efforts - Tracks of My Tears.

First Gig with New Keyboard

We played a charity gig in aid of Sports Relief last night at Bispham Conservative Club arranged by the ladies from Sainsburys store next door. They raised over two thousand pounds for the charity altogether so a tremendous effort.

We did a couple of spots, starting and finishing the evening and there was a performance by Britain's Got Talent contestant Tom McLeod.

The new keyboard sounded good, but I'm still not totally familiar with it yet and there was a moment's panic when I couldn't find an entire folder of rock and roll songs. It took a while before I realised there were too many folders to show on one page and there was a page 2 button lit up! Duh!

Anyway we got everyone up dancing, which we were told was a most unusual feat!

Carrying all the gear down a very steep fire escape in the dark was a bit hairy!