A Night in Liverpool

Last night we played at Croxteth Hall in Liverpool for a Silver Wedding and Revewal of Vows party. To all extents and purposes it was a wedding party.

It's a while since we've been to Croxteth and with new developments we took a wrong turning somewhere, but got there in good time without too much panic!

David knew the lucky man and he had arranged for a DJ to take over later in the night so that we could join the party as guests. There were a few people there that I knew as well so it was a very pleasant evening for us!

70 Years of Billy Fury

Yesterday found us out at the Billy Fury event in Liverpool. 17 April 2010 would have been Billy's 70th birthday but for the tragedy of his early death in 1983.

We met up with David and Jeannie for breakfast in Blackpool and then drove down to Liverpool where the Billy Fury, In Thoughts of You fan club were celebrating his life at a meeting at Billy's statue on the waterfront next to the Mersey on which he worked for a short time.

There were already a number of people gathered at the statue which was covered in flowers, cards and balloons. As one o'clock drew near it was hard to count everybody but I'd have reckoned between 150-200 people.

The fan club arrived with refreshments and set up tables and Billy's Mum, Jean Wycherley arrived looking and sounding cheerful, smiling and chatting to Billy's fans and friends. A chair was found for her and she sat at the foot of the statue whilst cameras blazed away from all sides.

Colin Paul, the well-known performer, who includes a Billy tribute in his act, hosted the day for the fan club and called everyone over to the Maritime Museum on the nearby Albert Dock where a room had been booked.

There was a raffle, a quiz to identify Billy's songs from a split second of the opening - we decided we wouldn't stand a chance given we were surrounded by hardcore Billy fans, but in the event we'd have made it into the bottom ranks of prize winners had we written our ideas down!

Then a few songs from Colin Paul before another refreshment break following which we had a bit more music.

He sang a new tribute song to Billy, The Gentle King which was superb. Colin had written the words to the song himself and I'm sure all Billy fans will be delighted if they order a copy of his CD, available through billyfury.com.

The Colin called a few performers from the audience. Jean Wycherley sang In Thoughts of You to rapturous applause. The big man with the big heart, Paul Staines from London gave us a song, there was one from someone whose name I didn't catch and then Colin was calling David and myself up. Talk about a build up! "...privileged to work with them at Sunnyside..." and more - thank you Colin. All we can say is that if Billy was the "Gentle King of Rock and Roll" then you are the true Gentleman of Rock and Roll, it is likewise a privilege for us to know and work with you.

We had no instruments of course and we don't do backing tracks or karaoke, so we did an acapella version of Billy's Like I've Never Been Gone, sharing a mic as there was only the one - I got horrendous bristle burns from David's beard...

The only disappointment of the day was that Billy's brother, Albie, was too ill to join us. He has to have dialysis several times a week and was in hospital on the day. Albie, we wish you well and hope to see you at some future event.

Nice to see Colin again, Marie, Frank and Pat, Margaret, Mags, Paul, Mike, Mark (Little Elvis!!!) and to meet new friends too. Several people were heading down to Mill Hill where Billy rests and where there will be another meet and event today. We can't make that one but send our love to all our friends who will be there.

Photos will eventually appear at Flickr, hopefully later today.

Croxteth 2008

A scorching day yesterday at Croxteth Park, Liverpool, where we played for the sixth year running for the Open Day.

No fairground this time so we had less competition from other attractions and consequently had a good-sized audience in front of us for the day. They were good-natured and enthusiastic and we hope you all had as good a day listening as we had playing for you!

We have had confirmation now that we will be playing again at Garstang's Festival on Thursday 21 August - our usual spot near the car park and council offices on the corner of the main street.

Wet One at Croxteth

Rain did not stop play until 4:15 but it was a dryer day for us than it was for the audience.

Our 6th year at Croxteth Park Open Day was the quietest so far as the weather kept people indoors.

A hardy few came out to play - we were never without an audience and sometimes it got into double figures... Compare that with the 12,000 who turned up one year and it certainly was a quiet one!

The fairground hadn't set up due to the wet ground so we were without any real competition for the noise stakes and you could hear us quite a way away.

Look at that marquee! Croxteth were certainly making sure we were kept dry and the weather kept changing its mind about what to do but by 4:15 it seemed to have set in to rain hard for a while and the marquee was starting to drip so we called it a day.

John's old school chum Jackie turned up with a few props - her school beret and the old school tie plus the now infamous french dictionary whose frontspiece we ripped out in the 6th form to make a fag from dog ends when we had all run out of fags. It was ghastly... It wasn't even in english of course!

She even brought a photo of Larry the Lamb... ahh...

What do you mean; you haven't a clue what I'm going on about? Check out my nostalgia pages - most of these reference are on the readers memories page.