Leyland Accordion Club Opening Night
After noticing that the assistants in the music shops I visited had
little idea what an accordion looks like, and even less of an idea about
how to play one I found I had to travel to find anyone who could talk
accordionese. I then discovered that my local clubs were at Stockport
and Wyre, these were not exactly on my doorstep and I felt that, although
I enjoyed visiting these clubs and will still continue to support them,
there was a great enough distance from both of them to Leyland that a
club here would go down well. I looked round for a venue and found the
Highfield. The place is well known in the area, on an A road and has a
nice atmosphere. The first thing I did was ring up the local clubs and
tell them of the birth of Leyland Accordion Club. A phone call to Steve
Roxton, and we had our opening night guest artist.
The newspapers were informed, leaflets produced, interviews given and photographs taken. After a lot of phone calls and organisation I could only sit back and hope that the first night would be a success
Steve Roxton - Our first Guest Artist
I had received about thirty promises from people who had phoned or spoken to me in person, this gave me some confidence in the evening going well. A last minute rush to buy coffee, crisps, raffle prizes, raffle tickets, notice board and it was time to open up. By 7.40 we had our first visitors through the door and things were looking good, I decided to delay the start to 8.10 because quite a few people had only just found the place.
It was time to start the show, after my opening speech
I played Plasir d’Amour and then was followed by Richard Eastham
and Tom Bennett - this filled in the first half hour before our guest
artist played. I must congratulate these two players who, despite not
knowing what to expect at an accordion club, gave us some good entertainment.
Steve Roxton’s first spot had us listening to Whistling Rufus, Under
the Double Eagle, Under Paris Skies, The Entertainer, Luci E Ombre, Plaisance
Fox, Bourrasque, Montys Czardas, Retour Des Hirondelles, Bel Fiori, Ungamin
a Paris and Reine De Musette
After the break I played a piece to start the second half. Tom and Richard
played again, then we held the raffle,
After the break, I opened the second half with Ozlo
Waltz and was followed by one piece from Tom and one from Richard. Then
it was on with the raffle followed by our first guest artist Steve Roxton
.
Steve played us to the end with The Peddlars, La Danza, Carnival of Venice,
Perles De Crystal, Wien Blebst Wien, Johnny Cash Medley, Macnamaras Band,
Danny Boy, Scotland the Brave, After all these years, Moon River and finally
ending with a German Medley. We finished the night off with three of us
playing a number of well known tunes, supported by Steve Roxton