Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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10th December 1997

After the great success of our opening night and the flood of people who called to tell me how much they had enjoyed the club and the guest artist Steve Roxton, I had to look forward to our first night without a guest artist! I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would not be the only one there with an accordion, I would have had to learn how to stretch half a dozen tunes across three hours. I was not to be disappointed, we had FOURTEEN players keeping us entertained providing non stop music throughout the evening.

The evening started with Richard Eastham playing a few numbers before bursting in to song. This was followed by Ken Tracy with his "Swiss Miss", Andrew Harrison, Tom Bennett, Helen Berta with a nice version of Plasir D'Amour followed by Jay and Jeff Ward from Blackpool playing us up to the break with Jeff on the accordion and Jay playing the keyboard, Jay and Jeff play at Fleetwood Freeport - if you visit there you may be lucky and catch them at it. After the break, we were entertained by Graham Howard, Keith, Agnes and Jackie Sagar, more from Helen Berta, Jay and Jeff and a tune from myself. Walter Perrie played a couple of Scottish Reels before the break and at the very end of the night he played another couple of tunes before I had to call time and try and end the evening, - this was slightly difficult as no one seemed to want to go home. I had to be strict about finishing at 11pm as some people had taxi's booked, baby-sitters waiting for them or work the next morning. When I got home I was ready for another evening as soon as possible, I did not want to wait a month. I have survived though and I am looking forward to our next meeting this Wednesday 14th January 1998 when we have Walter Perrie from Preston and Tom Cowing from Hexam in concert. Remember that even though we have a guest artist every alternate month, we still have two half hour sessions allocated to local players on those nights so remember to bring your accordions along. We all look forward to hearing amateur and professional players together. Quite a few people have rung me and asked if I can re-book Steve Roxton before he returns in November, The problem is that Steve lives in Jersey and works every night playing the accordion, however Steve will be playing at the Accordion Festival here in Lancashire on 26th - 30th March, I took advantage of this and I persuaded him to delay returning to Jersey for two days, so that he can play for us, I have therefore booked a special night on 1st April a week before our 8th April club night where Steve will be the guest artist, we will still have the 8th April night as normal. The Accordion Festival is now only ten weeks away and I am looking forward to four days of accordion music/workshops/trade stalls/etc. The festival is held at Pontins at Lytham on 26th -30th March , and anyone who would like further details of the festival can ring 0990 331199. If you are going to the festival could you let me know, I then have an idea of who to look out for at the festival and who to save seats for at the concerts. I arrive at the club about 7pm to start setting up. If you arrive between 7pm and 8pm then it is nice to hear people having a practice before the crowds arrive. Thanks to all the players who play during the breaks and before the club starts, you are an essential part of the nice atmosphere that exists at the club. In the last newsletter I mentioned a young lady who played during the break but I did not know her name, I can now tell you that it was Hazel Haddon, keep up the good work Hazel. I held back on a membership fee until the new year and have worked out that I can keep it down to £3 per year per person, membership is per calendar year, running from January to December. Membership fees can be paid on any club night, the advantage of being a member is that you will pay a lower admission fee than non members, you will receive the club newsletter every month, be informed of any special offers before non members and when possible I will offer discounts on any events we organise such as the club Christmas dinner. When we have a guest artist appearing the admission will be £2 for members and £2.50 for non members, on the months where we do not have a guest artist, the admission will be £1 for members and £1.50 for non members. The admission may have to be increased when large costs are incurred in obtaining certain artists but I will consult with you if this is likely to occur. I look forward to meeting you all again on 14th January 1998