Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England. If you came to this page via a search engine then you have just found one page of our archive of 160+ monthly newsletters which may contain the information you are looking for. You can also click HERE to go to the main site which contains a wealth of text files, audio streams, video, musical information, items for sale, notice board and contact information for the UK accordion scene For Accordion CD's DVD's Music Books and other items for sale visit our shop at |
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Leyland Accordion Club - 21st February 2001
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Our February Concert
Our February concert was the first local players night at our new venue of The Priory Club. I was hoping that our players would not be put off playing by the fact that we now have a stage with decent lighting and a good sound system. Our first player was Alan Gelling who started with Tulips From Amsterdam, Cuckoo Waltz and Under The Waves. Alan was coping well with this new environment and went on to play Dark Island and Silver Threads Amongst The Gold. Our next player was Tom Bennett who was playing for the first time since his heart operation. Tom's selection started with Return To Sorrento followed by Xara and Luci E Ombre. I am looking to hearing more from Tom now he is back on the accordion scene. Chick Stephen was next on the stage playing Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Lassie From Lancashire, I'll Be Your Sweetheart and Somewhere My Love on his button accordion. Our next player, Dugald Mcallum, started with three Scottish marches followed by La Valse Des As, and a tune I have only heard him play, March Of The Miners. Dugald's great performance was followed by a selection of tunes from one of our younger members Alex Cowland. This was the first time that Alex had played at the club and I hope it was not the last. Our next player Eddie Iddon was making a return to the club after his performance in November. His first piece was a Magnate version of Memories followed by a Pearl Fawcett arrangement of Robins Sunrise. These superb pieces were followed by a slow Polish foxtrot - Persuasion. It was now time for the fist break of the evening where the usual tea and coffee were on sale while plenty of social intercourse took place. After the break, we started with Agnes Maclaren on her MIDI'd accordion, and the second version of Dark Island of the night which was followed by The McDonalds Of Glencoe and Scotland The Brave. Bill Agnew now had the job of following Agnes's MIDI performance, this Bill took in his stride as usual. His medley of tunes included If You Love Me before he started a tape player on which he had recorded some backing music to accompany him while he played a selection of slow tunes prior to his return to straight acoustic accordion accompanied by lots of foot tapping and singing from the audience. John Baranek then started his first spot of the night playing My Happiness on his new five row button accordion, this was followed by Waltz Of the Toreadors and a Polish polka. John's great performance led us nicely to the second break of the night which was closely followed by the raffle. To start the last hour of the evening I started with Sailors Hornpipe Medley which is always being asked for. This was followed by Plaisir D'Amour, Triste Sourire and Whispering Hope. It was now time to wake everyone up by getting them singing with The Wild Rover, this was followed by an instrumental version of Sally. Eddie Iddon had the job of following me and restoring the audience's love of accordion music with La Rosita, La Paloma and a great Magnante version of Dark Eyes. It was now getting close to finishing time and also time for the return of John Baranek with La Valse Nouvelle, The Harry Lime Theme and the Gallarini version of Siboney. There was now just enough time left for a good singalong ending to the night courtesy of Bill Agnew with titles like Moulin Rouge, I'll Be Your Sweetheart, Irish Eyes, Molly Malone and many more. I was really pleased with the new venue and with the great players who had entertained us all evening. As usual, there was plenty of talking to do at the end and we only left the premises at 11.35pm.
David Batty
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Tin Hats At The ReadyThe Russian Space Centre plans to bring the 15 year old MIR space station down to earth this Thursday March 22nd, this is the day after our concert. The countdown to its destruction will begin on Wednesday when its solar batteries will be charged to enhance control of its descent. Mir is due to enter the earth’s atmosphere at 05.32am GMT on Thursday with impact on earth scheduled for between 06.50am and 07.00am GMT. If, and it is an if, all goes according to plan, the craft should break up above the Pacific somewhere between Australia and Chile. A slight change of entry angle or miscalculation could mean that it ends up anywhere! Most of the space station is expected to burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry , but it is estimated that around 1,500 fragments of the craft weighing a total of up to 27 tons could reach the ground! Mir’s return to earth has caused panic in Japan with the country’s news media full of disaster scenarios. Public fears were heightened last weekend when it emerged that Russia had taken out $200 million in insurance policies against Mir-related damages! |
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Saint Patricks DayOn St Patricks Day a gang of us descended on the Wheatsheaf at Croston for a three hour concert of Irish and singalong music from Steve Roxton. The place was in party mood that night with lots of singing and dancing until 11.30pm when he finally called it a night, people who had gone in early in the evening for a meal were still there at 11.30pm, we found a few new visitors to the club and the agent from the entertainment agency who deal with the booking stayed for the night and now has a much elevated view of the accordion. |
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Accordion FestivalThis Saturday 24th of March is the date for our next accordion workshop featuring the teachings of Steve Roxton. This event runs from 10am to 5pm. Don't miss this chance to get some expert tuition in a workshop environment. The workshop is ideal for all levels of players from absolute beginners to advanced players. Steve has over 40 years as a professional accordionist behind him and therefore has plenty of inspirational material to share with us all. The event costs just £20 per person which includes lunch. Doors open at 10am, lunch is 12.30 to 1.30 with a 5pm finish. I will be taking bookings at the club on Wednesday from those of you who have not yet secured your place, or you can post your cheque to the usual address for the amount of £20 payable to Leyland Accordion Club. I need to know numbers before this Saturday so I can order the meals. The previous workshops featuring George Syrett and Walter Perrie have been very popular with everyone who has attended. The above photograph shows Colin Ensor trying to agree a compromise on speed with the drummer at our first workshop while our second workshop had Walter Perrie stripping his own accordion down to show us what a cassotto chamber looked like. These workshops require no music reading ability, absolute beginners welcome. This one day workshop will inspire you to improve your skills no matter what level you are at now. |
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England Football TeamI received a phone call from Talksport Radio who, when looking on the Internet for a local accordion organisation, found our site. During my phone call with them, I found out that the reason they were ringing was that England's football team have a new assistant manager called Tord Grip who plays the accordion, and they wanted an accordionist to speak on the radio who could also play some requested tunes. I gave them the phone number of Steve Roxton who was interviewed on the radio and on TalkSport on Satellite TV that night. They asked him to play Que Sera Sera to give all the sports fans an idea of what it might sound like if Tord Grip was playing to inspire the team before a game, the next day they contacted him again and asked if he could talk a bit more about the accordion and then to play our national anthem before the England versus Spain match which he did. That night England beat Spain and they asked him back a third time to play again to celebrate Englands win against Spain. They decided, that he was "the official accordionist to team England" as far as they were concerned. They have said they plan to use him more often on their programmes and will be back in touch with him. I am not a football fan, but it's great that, simply because the assistant manager of our national team plays the accordion, we get our instrument featured on National Radio and Satellite TV. I hope the website brings us more publicity like this. |
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Our Internet WebsiteOur internet website has had 35221 visitors as at the 18th
of March 2001, that’s 1089 visitors since last month. I am pleased
to see that the webring I set up last month is working well. This is a
navigation bar which is placed on our website to give visitors to the
site forward and back buttons which they can use to visit other sites
on the Internet that are of immediate interest to UK accordionists. This
webring is called "The UK Accordion Scene" and encompasses shops,
suppliers, other clubs and anybody I feel is part of The UK Accordion
Scene in any way. Because the Internet is a global entity, if you search
for 'Accordion' you will get thousands of sites around the world which
are not of great relevance to UK accordionists. With the webring navigation
bar on the front page of the approved sites, visitors can easily go forwards
and backwards through the sites which are linked together, they can click
a button to jump to one of the sites at random or to get a list of all
the sites in the ring, allowing them to choose one from the list. Anyone
who has their own UK accordion site can click a button to apply to join,
so far we have been joined by seven other sites with more applications
pending. The noticeboard I added to the site recently is now getting a
lot of use, accordions are being bought and sold on our site, friendships
made and advice sought by our members and visitors.
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Jazz And Swing BreakThere are just a few places left now on Alan Venn's Jazz and Swing Break at Blackpool on the 2nd to 4th of April. Featured players include Harry Hussey and The Raikes Paraders. For details Telephone Alan on 01204 840279. |
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A Word Of WarningA Texas man was sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing a musician who did not know the song he requested! The man became angry with accordionist David Saenz because he could not play “El Guajolote,” or “The Turkey,” so he shot him in the head with a .38 handgun. David Saenz often played the guitar and accordion and sang for his neighbours. He died at the scene with the guitar and accordion at his feet. The killer testified he was not drunk when he shot Saenz, but also claimed he had no memory of the murder. He was sentenced by a jury on Thursday and, under Texas law, will be eligible for parole in 30 years time. |
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Accordion WorldI have received the subscription details for Accordion World Magazine from the editor David Keen, if you start your subscription in February/March the cost is £11.20 for 5 magazines, April/May - £9 for 4 magazines, June/July £6.80 for 3 magazines, August/September £4.60 for 2 magazines or October/November £2.40 for one issue. If you would like to subscribe to this publication then send your cheque to David Keen, Accordion World, 86 Brookdene Avenue, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD1 4LF. Telephone 01923 236880. |
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Chester CeilidhChester Accordion Club are holding a Ceilidh at Whitby, Ellesmere Port on Friday 30th March. Roy Hendry and his Scottish Ceilidh Band will be providing the music. Tickets are available at £5 per person from Lyn on 0151 339 9850 or from Geoff on 01244 342 160. |
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Coach Trip To ParisMartin Cruttwell is looking to organise a coach trip to
visit the Paris Accordion Scene, this would be around the 24th or 25th
of May for a long weekend/week to visit a few guinguettes, dine &
dance to French accordionists, and see sights. The cost is expected to
be in the region of £100 to £150 per person plus insurance.
Martin is hoping to put a group of about 12 people together for this trip,
if you are interested then give Martin a ring on 01759 371383.
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Why Accordions Are Pitched SharpDid you know that the reason accordions are pitched slightly sharp is so that in the early days they could be played in an orchestra with “just intonation” instruments like violins, voice, horns, woodwinds. When they go higher in pitch, they (horns, etc.) tend to “lip the pitch” or bend it upward due to lip pressure. Working with the accordion would now make the accordion sound ‘flat’—and therefore bad. So most accordions were tuned 442 to avoid this problem in orchestras, and all ‘true’ studio professionals utilize this procedure to this day. You may find some manufacturers who tune their accordions to concert pitch A at 440 but most tune slightly sharp to allow the instrument to happily co-exist alongside other instruments in an orchestra or band. |
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Caister FestivalYou have heard me mention Caister Accordion Festival many times in the past, the only problem with this great festival was the distance you needed to drive, from Leyland, past Lincoln, Kings Lynn and Norwich to the Norfolk coast. The good news is that the festival is moving to Bridlington. For those of you asking where Bridlington is, head east, past York until you get to the coast and you are there. Bridlington is halfway between Scarborough and Hull. This is an easy journey from Leyland which gives us a choice of another accordion festival within easy reach. The venue is The Spa Complex, Bridlington. The Spa Complex will hold all the workshops, concerts and events during the day, the only downside to this venue is that, unlike Caister which was all contained within a holiday camp, visitors will all stay in local hotels which are hand picked to ensure that none of them are more than five minutes walk from the venue. The hotels are all accordion friendly, meal times are planned to fit in with the festivals events, accordion playing in the hotel until the early hours of the morning has also been agreed with the participating hotels. Guest artists which have been booked so far include Fintan Stanley, Gary Blair and Marcosignori. You may have heard that Foster And Allen are going to be there but this is not so according to Mick and Tony who, at the moment, have no plans to attend. I have had some great times at Caister, I only hope that the spirit of Caister can be kept at Bridlington with the distributed hotel arrangements. If you would like further details of this forthcoming event, then telephone Loretta on 01501 820 910. |
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AWCC Boat RallyYou may remember the newsletter when I wrote about Preston Maritime Festival and the great time we had there entertaining with the accordions. This year the same boaters are holding the same Ribble Cruise which travels along the canals, up the river Ribble and in to Preston Dock. I was officially asked to provide entertaiment for this years AWCC Boat Gathering in the docks. For those who don't remember, myself and Tom Bennett took our accordions on Harry's boat for the sailing and we, along with Harry, entertained the crowds and boaters. This included sitting precariously on top of Harry's boat playing while it navigated into the docks, on the jetty each night for the people in the boats and for the gathering crowd as well as the illuminated sailing which involved playing on top of the boat while about 30 boats sailed around the sides of the docks entertaining the crowds who had turned up for the event. This year's boat gathering is expected to have around 50 boats, with an average of 3 to 4 people per boat. A marquee is being hired for the event, and club members are welcome to attend. It is hoped that this event will take place in the week of the 20th to the 27th of July but, due to movement restrictions because of the foot and mouth outbreak, this date may have to be put back. Boat movements are restricted until a fixed period has elapsed since the last outbreak. I will give you further details when I have them. |
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Brandoni 96 BassNew Brandoni 96 bass four voice piano accordion for sale,
black and silver, with mother of pearl keyboard. 11 treble couplers/3
bass couplers. It has a superb Musette/Brill sound. with zipped rucksack
case. The Price is £2,100. This is only for sale as I have decided
to concentrate on the button accordion. Telephone me on 01759-371383
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This WednesdayWe have a great night lined up on Wednesday at The Priory Club with the return of Steve Roxton from Jersey as our guest artist. We last saw Steve at the club in November 1999 when we had a great party. I know that we are going to have a show that should not be missed on Wednesday. Doors are open at 7.30pm and, with the amount of entertainment we have planned, I am expecting an 11.15 finish. I look forward to seeing you there, remember to get there early for a decent seat. As usual we will be warmed up by some of our local players. Tea and coffee will be on sale during the break at 20p and with all the singing you will be doing you will probably be ready for a drink. The Lancashire Evening Post will be doing a write up on the club this week. I normally see theatre reviews in the paper so I decided to ring them to ask if they could do a review of our club which they agreed to do. Drag your granny down and lets give them a night to remember. |
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