Leyland Accordion Club - 9th February 2000
I had to laugh today when I spoke to one of the club's players and asked if they were going to be at the club on Wednesday, they said that the Leyland Accordion Club was one place that they would not miss unless they had a sick note, either they really like our nights or I am an ogre! I hope it's the former. Our February night started with Jay and Jeff Ward in fine form playing Jambalaya, Le Bal De La Marine, Summer Evening In Santa Cruz, Dream and Quando Quando. Dugald Mcallum was our first solo player with Waltz For Tracey, March To The Stars and the strange sounding Cowshed Ballet! Dugald you have to have the prize for the funniest title of the night. Speaking of funny song titles, I love these country and western titles I heard recently, Mama Get a Hammer-There's a Fly On Papa's Head, I'm So Fed Up Without You It's Almost Like You're Here and How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away. Basil Berry then took to the floor to play Deep Purple, a tune from La Boheme, Shadow Of Your Smile and The Onedin Line Theme on his white Sonola. Elaine then took the floor to Play Highland Cathedral and Maggie which she announced was her full repetoire, she is currently learning another tune to increase this by 50%. I was up next but I forgot to write down what I played, I do remember playing Air On The G String. I had set the scene for Tom Bennett to follow me and take you up to the first break. Tom started with Moonlight Serenade and then, after announcing that I had said he was slowing down each month with his playing, he announced he was going to play a fast one just to show me he could play fast stuff as well. I reminded him that I had given him the tune a year ago and it was only just ready now, he thanked me for bringing that fact up, he then did a good job of Luci E Ombre. It was now time for the break and a chance to meet some of the new people at the club that night. After the break, we started with Jay and Jeff playing Barcarole, Autumn Leaves and Lady Be Good.
Basil Berry
Our next players were Marylyn and Betty who played some excellent duets which they were entering in a forthcoming competition. The first piece was Fascination followed by As Time Goes By and then Georgia On My Mind. I hope we can see more of this pair at the club their playing was excellent and like the rest of us they were up for a good laugh. Chris Green was another new player at Leyland Club, Chris started with Lynette and then played Schweizergrub which is a Swiss Greeting. Well done Chris you're another player we look forward to seeing more of. This took us to the second break after which we started with Dugald Mcallum playing his second spot with The March Of The Miners, Jig Of Slurs and The Judges Dilemma. Fans of Dugald Mcallum will be interested in one of the items over the page about him playing in Leyland on Saturday 3rd June. Basil then gave us his second appearance of the night, you may remember that I asked in the last newsletter if players with more than three tunes to play could hold some back for a second spot later in the night, well this system worked well and it was nice to see players up twice in the night. Basil played Musetta's Waltz and Serenade In Blue. Tom Bennett then played Edelweiss, Running Bear and Matchstalk Men. When he announced that his last piece was short, easy and slow I know that it was Mike Ellis who shouted out "Is it David Batty" ! I also know that Mike can play the accordion but so far he has been denying you all the pleasure of hearing him play. Mike only started 6 or 8 months ago but I know he knows enough to play one tune for you, your card is marked Mike. This tune that was Short, Easy and Slow was the Andrew Lloyd Webber tune Phantom Of The Opera which Tom Played well…. For anyone else it would have been average but for Tom it was played well. Our next player Mildred Moran did not have an accordion with her so I lent her mine, after fastening her backstrap up she searched for the bellows straps but my accordion does not have any, instead it has a switch behind the accordion which locks and unlocks the bellows so I had to unlock the bellows for her. Mildred then played a marvelous selection of Tyrolean and Irish Music, I was impressed with Mildred's playing and I was also interested to hear my own accordion being played by someone else, for those who do not play I can tell you the instrument sounds different to the audience than it does to the player, I know Mildred's playing was better than mine but I am talking about the sound of the instrument, it is interesting for players to hear their own instrument played by someone else. Maybe we can get some accordion swapping going on at the club for those who either want to hear their own instrument played or who think the grass is greener on someone elses accordion. Maybe we could also organise a wife swapping novelty night where all men take home their own wives! Leave that one with me but I will give you men one handy tip, if you want to know if you have had a good time at a party all you have to do is look at the expression on your wife's face. After Mildred, I then played the Sailors Hornpipe Medly and Sally. Marilyn and Betty then returned to the floor to play Kathleens Waltz before we finished the night with Jay and Jeff Ward playing Pennies From Heaven and All of Me. As you can see we had a brilliant night, met some new people and once again had as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. I am really looking forward to this month's concert where we have guest artist Jan Zukowski who last played for us just over a year ago in January 1999. Many of you had not heard of Jan when he first played at the club but I was secretly looking forward to seeing the reaction when you heard him, I saw many jaws dropping and people promising to give up the accordion when they got home, so I know we are in for a treat this Wednesday when he returns to play for us again. I think you will need to get to the club early this month to get a decent seat, doors open from 7.15 and I look forward to seeing you there….
David Batty
St Patricks Day
On Friday 17th March we have a party. This is Saint Patricks Day and there will be a brilliant night of Irish singalong entertainment from Steve Roxton who many of you saw in November when he was our guest artist. This is not at The Highfield but at The Wheatsheaf at Town Road, Croston (turn down the side of The Highfield and it's 1 minute on the right), join us for a one off brilliant Irish themed night of entertainment from Steve. The show starts at 8pm to 10.30 pm, admission is free and the night will feature Steve in his Irish / party / singalong / entertaining mode so bring along your best singing tackle. I can guarantee that this is going to be a brilliant night. Tell all your Irish friends and join us for a great let your hair down night!
Radio Lancashire Broadcast
Radio Lancashire invited me on to their Lancashire Arts program with
Jackie Williams on Sunday, I was on live from 1.45 to 2.03, the news ran
a bit late as a result. I was pleased to be on there talking about our
club and what we do. The presenter was well prepared she had printed out
pages from our website which she found interesting. That was yesterday,
this morning (Monday) radio Shropshire interviewed me on the phone because
they had looked on the Internet and were using our website as background
reference material before a broadcast about a school which is teaching
it's children to play the accordion. This also went well and they gave
our website address out on the radio.
Trouble at the Mill.
In the last newsletter, I told you that we had a new Manager at The Highfield and that another one was imminent. The latest one came to talk to me at our practice night on 23rd February, he said that he was not happy with our forthcoming nights this year because he wanted to hire the room out to a step aerobics group for three nights per week and make more money than he gets from hiring the room to us for one, I told him we had a contract to the end of December, he argued that there was no contract and his Area Manager had told him he could do what he wanted. I told him that anyone in business knows when a contract exists and if that is what his Area Manager has told him then he has been supplied with duff information and I would have to sue The Highfield if there is any breach of contract. He asked for my phone number because The Highfield did not have it!! Even though I have been booking with them since 1997. He said he would ring me the following day, the 24th February. I heard nothing until Tuesday 29th February when I received a phone call at 10.10pm from the new Manager. He stated that his Area Manager said he could do what he wanted so he was cancelling all our future bookings so he could advertise the room for block bookings to step aerobics and line dancing groups. He was cancelling this Wednesday and all future bookings. That night I did not sleep at all, I was busy making contingency plans because our concert was only 8 days away. The next day I rang the head office of the company who own The Highfield and asked to speak to the Area Manager, when I did get a phone call from him on the Thursday I gave him so much hassle on the phone, I said I had been told that he had authorised the Manager to cancel our bookings, that we had a contract with The Highfield which although verbal, was still legally binding, and I would either see it enforced or I wanted the official address of The Highfield for the delivery of Legal Documents. I told him that I was not playing at this Accordion Club I was serious about all this. I said that I have a few days to get another venue and we would meet in court afterwards, I would have no other course of action but to stand some of us outside The Highfield looking sorry for ourselves while the newspapers took photographs of us for the headline "will anyone give us a home for our concert on Wednesday". I said I had done more to publicise The Highfield than any of the 8 or 9 Managers it has had since we have been there. I told him that the pub below often gets around half a dozen visitors of it's own while we are bringing 50 to 120 the same night. The area Manager was very apologetic for the way we had been treated and assured me that we would be in The Highfield on Wednesday and that our future nights were assured. He then said that if for any reason in the future a contract would have to be renegotiated then it would be done at a meeting with him present as well as the Manager of The Highfield and that any changes agreed would involve a long period of notice. He gave me his mobile phone number and told me to ring him if I have any more trouble. I felt sorry for him having to deal with me, I was so annoyed at the situation but I knew I was legally right. I don't like large businesses thinking they can intimidate a smaller organisation and I was not going to back down. I did have contingency plans in case this Wednesday night had gone pear shaped, we would have had our concert a couple of minutes down the road from our normal place as an emergency measure but we did not need this in the end. I have a feeling that, with all the hassle that has gone, on the Area Manager may be at The Highfield on Wednesday to see what all the fuss was about. Although I know we will have a good turnout because Jan is playing. If you were trying to decide whether to have your heart operation or be there on Wednesday then it would help us if we have a good turnout because I am sure the Area Manager will be taking an interest in this week's meeting to see whether his Manager was making a just a bad or a terrible decision. If you get a drink from the bar please leave your glass on the bar upstairs rather than take it back if you go for a refill, that way I have an idea of how much their takings are up when we are there, one Manager once told me that we only add £25 to their takings but I counted over 80 glasses on the bar that night and the girls downstairs complained they had run out of glasses and had to come and get some from us. This is the second time we have had this trouble but this time I wanted no prisoners, lets hope we get treated better in future. The area manager today (Monday) asked that we meet on Monday 13th March so keep your fingers crossed, I may have another battle on my hands….
Our Internet Website
Our Internet website has had 22631 visitors as at 6th March 2000, that's 1187 visitors since last month. This month I have added a notice board where anyone can add a message or advert without asking me, this allows others to write things on this part of our website allowing them to contact others for help advice or to buy and sell items, this is a bit like the classifieds in the newspaper but you can put the ads there yourself without asking anyone or paying anything. I have also added a search facility on the site, visitors can now search the site by typing the word/s they are interested in and clicking a button. I can see what is searched for and it makes interesting reading, even though I don't understand some of the things people think they may find on the site. Examples from last weeks requests include notice board, newburgh, lessons, button, Pictures, tunes, secondhand accordian, roadtrain, radox, plaisir d'Amour, photowise, nomansland, music, instruction, french and granada. This also allows searching of every word from our past newsletters.
Accordions For Sale
Hohner Marino 4 for sale, price £2000, very good condition, straight tuned, 120 bass 41 keys, 4 voice instrument with five bass couplers and 11 treble couplers, Double Cassotto. Ring Eric on Rosyth (Scotland) 01383 419784.
Our own Jeff Ward has recently bought a new accordion and is selling his Vermona 5 voice 41 treble 120 bass 13 treble couplers and 5 bass couplers double cassotto. This black accordion knows lots of tunes and as you know it has a fabulous sound, it's a bargain at only £690 Telephone Jeff on 01253 859367
An Observation
It's strange, isn't it. You stand in the middle of a library and go 'Aaaaaaaggghhhh' and everyone just stares at you. But you do the same thing on an aeroplane, and everyone joins in.
Leyland Festival
I have secured a one hour spot in the bandstand at Leyland Festival on behalf of the club, on the 3rd June Dugald Mcallum and the rest of the Weaver Valley Accordion Band will be playing on our behalf between 4pm and 5pm. There are only four bands booked and we have the best spot straight after the crowning of the festival queen, the other bands play from 5pm to 8pm, more details next month.