Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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1st April 1998

The 1st April was an extra night to our normal nights, this was because we were able to book Steve Roxton before he returned to Jersey following his appearance at the International Accordion Festival. The night started with Tom Bennett playing Skye Boat Song and Flower of Scotland followed by myself playing Return to Sorrento. Then our guest artist took over, Steve played and sang so many tunes during the night that that I lost count and I have probably missed out a lot of them from my list, he started the evening with Whistling Rufus and continued with Under Paris Skies, Under the Double Eagle, Reine De Musette, The Entertainer, Bel Fiore, Dark Island, La Danza, The Pedlars, Luci E Ombre, Monty’s Czardas, Retour des Hirondelle, an Irish medley then into a Scottish medley, a Jim Reeves Medley, my favourite - a Johnny Cash Medley and Several Foster and Allen numbers all before the break. After the break and the Raffle we continued with myself playing another number which escapes me at the moment before I played two duets with Tom Bennett, next George Hicks played the Maigret Theme and asked for any requests, he was asked for Sweet Georgia Brown which he then proceeded to play as though he had been practicing it all week, well done George. Walter Perrie then played a few tunes before Steve started his second spot of the night, I have not been in touch with Walter due to work commitments and therefore I cannot tell you what he played but I can assure you that they were up to his usual standard. Then Steve Roxton started his second half, in this we were treated to a Mantovani medley, Ja Tror Po Sommaren which was a Swedish folk tune which Steve sung in Swedish, Perles des Crystal, In Munchen Steht Ein Hofbrouhaus, Fairy Dance, The Music Man, Sailors Hornpipe, Who Were You With Last Night, Trumpet Hornpipe, Bourrasque, Plaisance Fox, Oslo Waltz, Auld Lang Syne and Land of Hope and Glory. Following this Steve asked George Hicks to find an accordion and join him for an old time singalong medley which was a sample of the type of stuff that Steve and George played after one accordion festival a few years ago, they started playing after everyone was supposed to have gone back to their Chalets and ended up entertaining about 400 people until about two in the morning. This singalong took us to 11.15 and ended with the whole club on the dance floor arms in the air singing Land of Hope and Glory and You’ll Never Walk Alone. Steve had quite a queue waiting to buy his tapes at the end of the night, it had been a brilliant evening and I went home with my ears ringing and a sore throat from all the singing. Afterwards Steve told me that when he finished, he was all warmed up and ready to do another hour and would have quite happily carried on if I had let him. Now, I cannot stop whistling that Johnny Cash Medley, it looks like I am going to have to learn it soon. I am looking forward to seeing you all this Wednesday, I hope as many of you as possible bring your accordions along, we need to hear you even if it is just one tune, other people are interested in seeing what level you are at and following your progress, keep practicing and I will see you on Wednesday 8th April. Remember if you play then I will have to play less, what more encouragement can I give you! David Batty

Many accordionists like decorating their accordion cases with stickers, with this in mind I have come up with an idea for a Leyland Accordion Club sticker which I am currently producing. I have sketched the picture, but I may redraw it on a computer before producing the final product, these will be given away free to club members, I will send them out free with one of the forthcoming newsletters. These will also be available to non members who will be able to buy them for a small sum to cover costs.

Birth of a new Accordion Magazine A new accordion magazine called Accordion World has been produced in response to the growing accordion movement in this country. The magazine is a generous A4 in size, 24 pages, and some colour pages too. The magazine is currently a quarterly magazine out in March, June, September and December. A UK subscription costs just £9.50 including postage and packing, this was calculated at 4 issues at £2 per issue and £1.50 per postage equaling £9.50. If you would like to subscribe to Accordion World then send a cheque made payable to “David Keen” at 86 Brook Dene Avenue, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD1 4LF, or telephone 01923 236880. Tell him where you found out about the magazine it will help him with his marketing. As a generous offer by David, I will have 20 to 30 copies of the magazine to give away at the club on Wednesday 8th April. This will not be enough for one for everyone so after the raffle I will distribute these by drawing raffle tickets until the magazines are gone, to ensure as many people as possible get a copy, I will have to limit it to one magazine per person. For those not lucky enough to get one of these free copies, I will also have subscription forms available at the club.

Don’t Forget the Wyre Accordion Festival Only three days after this club night before there is a one day accordion festival on Saturday 11th April at the Marine Hall Complex, Fleetwood. There will be competitions throughout the day from 9am, trade stands to get your music etc. Lunch is provided and there is a Hot Pot following the evening concert which features Barbara Anne Martindale and the Arnbach Akkordeon Orchestra, also the UK Junior Accordion Champion Johnny Lee Leslie will be appearing. Admission during the day is about £2.50 and for the evening concert £7. Contact Gina on 01253 778764

Walter Perrie held a social evening in aid of the Jose Carreras Leukemia Research Foundation. Walter was playing the accordion as was Basil Berry and Walter’s son, his daughter April sang and played the flute. The evening raised £150 in total. Well done Walter and family for hosting this event and those of you who attended.

I have found a great book for anyone wishing they can play the accordion without sounding like they are wearing gloves, the book is called L. O. Anzaghi, complete method, theoretical - practical progressive for Accordion. I know it is a mouthful but it is a big book so why not a title to match. The book is larger than A4, that is larger than this newsletter, with 220 pages of music, exercises, diagrams, photographs and text. The book is printed in very black ink which is important when you are peering over your accordion at the exercises whilst trying to untangle your fingers. This is an excellent book for any accordionist. The book starts with photographs of the insides, showing the reeds, bass mechanism etc. Correct posture and fingering is demonstrated with photographs and then it’s on to the exercises, which are well laid out. When demonstrating left hand music, an arrow from the note on the stave points to a photograph of the left hand of the accordion showing you which button is represented by that note - it’s foolproof. I will bring my copy to the club for inspection on Wednesday. The book costs £20.50 which sounds a lot but is less than the cost of two accordion lessons, the book is available from Music World at Fleetwood, telephone 01253 822046. Music World are running the festival on Saturday so I will be surprised if you cannot get a copy there.

Q: What is the difference between an accordion player and a terrorist A: Terrorists have sympathisers.

The Leyland Accordion Club Website has had 2262 visitors as at 6th April 98. Barbara Anne Martindale from Canada announced at last week’s festival that, before she came to England, her friend over in Canada rang her up all excited, he had found a mention of her on the Internet, it was on our website. Leo and Les Thurston who were sat in the audience pointed me out and told her that I was the person responsible. I wasn’t joking when I said that we have a world wide audience watching what we are up to.

Get your tickets to our charity accordion do at Longridge on 27th May, on sale at the club, only £2.50, bring your friends along.