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!

Myerscough College Open Day 2016

Sunday 12 June 2016. Everything was looking good for this year's open day at the Land-Based campus of agriculture college, Myerscough.

The weather started out fine and sunny, though the forecast was for rain around late afternoon. In the event though it arrived a bit before schedule and by 1:30 we had to admit defeat and move all the gear out of the wet. Our wet-weather alternative spot were showing the Euro football to a disinterested few and that was that. Hopefully we'll have a sunny day all day next time!

Myerscough College Open Day

Sunday morning saw us up bright and early to set up the new PA and speakers at Myerscough College where we have been a feature of their Open Day for a goodly number of years. Our first appearance was in 2002!

The old PA and speakers required three trips to the car. The new ones require just a single trip! And once in the car fully loaded I could see through the rear window instead of having to rely solely on side mirrors to see behind me!

Mobbed! Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie find our name in the programme and interrupt proceedings to show us! Setting up took a while longer than usual as I had to balance all the settings before I felt comfortable. Once done it should be like the old equipment that we hardly ever tweaked apart from the overall volume.

This year for the second time we were playing opposite the entrance to the Stumble Inn - the college's on-campus pub and tables and chairs were set up so that people could sit with a drink and listen to us.

We set a new record I think on Sunday - we played for about 6 hours! My fingers tips weren't so bad at the end strangely, but the arthritis in my index finger knuckle gave me gyp later and on the following day! And my back was rather sore - a solid-bodied guitar is ok around your neck for an hour or two but six...? That singer is a slave driver!

And here we are (were) in 2002, with Bob Snape on bass, playing on a very rainy day, with towels spread over the keyboard to keep it dry and my old Sumbro Japanese Stratocaster copy! At the time we were all members of staff at Myerscough. Only David remains on the staff there now.

Creeping Bentgrass at Myerscough College 2014 Open Day

Following our Saturday night at Coast Riders Diner, we were up early to play at Myerscough College's Open Day and Country Fair on Sunday. Thousands of people attend this annual event and for safety it is a no-car zone during the day. Apart from a few tyre-screaming motor sports activities taking place in specially designated areas, that is!

So we were on the campus before 9:00am and set up opposite the entrance to the Stumble Inn - Myerscough's bar. I'd taken the special edition unpainted Stratocaster with me and played it early on in the day. Lovely to play it again, though the standard Strats give me a more controllable tone I find and I was back on the cherry red guitar after lunch.

Tables and chairs had been set up outside the Stumble Inn and ensured we had an audience for the entire day. The rain managed to stay away apart from one brief shower and the sun was kind to us too!

In fact the only downer came a couple of days after when a friend of Fran's reported that she was talking to someone who had been to the Open Day.

"Oh, did you see Fran's husband and his friend playing music?" she had asked.
"Well, there were a couple of old geezers..." came the doubtful reply.