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 December 2005
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Our December ConcertOur December meeting was our Christmas party night. With generous donations of food from all who attended, we were busy setting out the plates and food while the first players of the evening took to the stage. First to play was Gordon Priestley playing My Treasure and Tiptoe Polka. Basil Berry was next with In The Mood, S'Wunderful, Body And Soul, Oh Lady Be Good and Fascinatin' Rhythm. Steve Roxton was our next player with Un Gamin A Paris, Le Denicheur, Reine De Musette, Peter Street, Pigalle, La Seine and Les Parapluies De Cherbourg. It was now time for us to start with the food. As people made their selection from the buffet, Jay and Jean played a selection of pieces on accordion and keyboard, - Innamdrata, Carioca, Luna Rosa, What More Can I Say, Lady Be Good, Romany and Lets Fall In Love Down Forget Me Not Lane. The rest of the evening is very hazy on who played or what they played because I was busy sorting out food and other things while I left it to the players to organise themselves, taking turns to get up and play if there was a gap on the stage. Anne Agnew played her keyboard, while Bill played the mouth organ. Tom Bennett and Mary Hall played Am Wegweiser together. Mary played Kleiner Esel Beppo and Abschied Vom Suden. Tom Bennett then did his solo spot with a good selection of tunes on his Midified accordion. These included Joy To The World, Here We Come A-Wassailing, Jingle Bells and then he got all lyrical when he played and sang the song C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s. Gina Branelli was making her first visit to the Priory Club along with William Langton, the pair of them played a selection of pieces together before Rebecca played Bianca Capanna and Skaters Waltz. Gerard Dawber responded to my request in the last newsletter and made his debut at the club playing a fine selection of pieces despite telling me he was nervous, it certainly didn't show. Well done Gerard, we hope to see a lot more of your playing at the club in future. During the evening, we assembled most of the people in the room on to the stage, or in front of it, for a mass photograph taken by Gina Branelli for an article she is writing about the club, to be published in her forthcoming magazine (details in the next newsletter when I know which issue it will be in). I apologise to anyone I missed out from this list (Oh, I forgot, I played too) because I was busy socialising or sorting things out and not writing down everyone who was playing. I can tell you that the whole evening was very enjoyable, we all sang Happy Birthday to one lad who was having his 21st birthday that night and, as usual, we stayed in the room until late. Later that night (about 1am), my son Mark (who had been in the club with us) was rushed to hospital by ambulance with me in hot pursuit in my own car. I'm pleased to say that he was released from hospital just in time for Christmas. David Batty |
99 Newsletters So Far!
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Stockport Air Raid SheltersAccordionists Rob Howard and John Jones lead singalongs of World War Two songs at the Stockport Air Raid Shelters on December 5th, 8th and 15th. These shows were at the end of guided tours of the underground shelters where, in 1940 and 1941, up to 7,000 people spent the nights to escape bombing raids. Accordionists were a regular and welcome form of entertainment in the shelters.
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This WednesdayThis Wednesday we have William Langton as our guest artist. William played a selection of tunes for us at our last concert when he appeared on stage with Gina Branelli. I know we are going to have a good night with William's enthusiasm and playing ability. I look forward to seeing you there. Remember if you have an accordion to sell then bringing it to one of our concert or practice nights, then displaying it on the stage with a for sale sign on it could be the best and most efficient way of selling it. People tend to have a look at any accordions during the break, or at the end of the evening if they are still there. Remember that we recycle old newsletters if they are finished with, so bring any unwanted newsletters to the club on any night and leave them on the table just past where Elaine sits by the door. From there other people (especially new visitors) can pick up any newsletters they haven't seen. See you there on Wednesday, doors open at 7.30 for an 8pm start. David Batty |
Club MembershipIf you have not paid your club membership yet, then you can pay this month at the club. Thanks to those of you who have paid, you will see 2006 on your address label instead of 2005.
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Accordion In A Kids Cartoon
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NAO North Central Area FestivalThis year’s NAO North Central Area Accordion Festival takes place on February 26th at the Glusburn Institute, just outside the village of Cross Hills in West Yorkshire, in the North of England. The competition also includes keyboard, piano and guitar sections, which take place on February 25th, whilst the Accordion and Ensemble sections take place on the Sunday. All competitors, jury and visitors to the competition are invited to a welcome evening event, which will take place at approximately 8.00pm in a local pub, the Kings Arms in Sutton-in-Craven after the awards presentation on the Saturday evening. There will be plenty of food, drink and music to keep visitors entertained. The competition will include prize money for the accordion, piano/keyboard and guitar entertainment sections, and also for the highest mark of the competition. The closing date for entries is January 31st. For further information including entry forms, rules, accommodation details, email: northcentral@ukaccordions.com or visit their website www.northcentral.ukaccordions.com. There is a welcome evening event which will take place at approximately 8.00pm in their local pub, the Kings Arms in Sutton-in-Craven with food drink and plenty of accordion music providing the entertainment.
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Celtic Connections FestivalThe Celtic Connections Festival takes place from 11th - 29th January 2006. This annual event is one of the largest winter music festivals in the world. The main venues of the festival are Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, The Piping Centre, The Barrowlands, the Tron Theatre and Glasgow Cathedral. Bands featuring accordion include the Scott Harvey Ceilidh Band, Session 9 (Scotland), Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies (England), Le Vent du Nord (Quebec), Cherish the Ladies (USA), and Les Yeux Noirs (France). Accordionists appearing at the festival include Sandy Brechin, Phil Cunningham, Mairearad Green, Gary Innes, Donald Shaw, and Angus Lyon. This festival includes concert performances, talks, debates, master classes, workshops, the annual finals of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Awards, a Showcase Scotland weekend for promoters, a legendary Festival club and much more. On January 28th, in the Clyde Foyer at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, there will be a workshop titled 'Come and Try: Accordion', at 11am, and 'Accordion Techniques', at 2pm. |
Our WebsiteOur internet website has had 88,365 vistors as at 15th of January 2006, that's 1162 visitors to the main page of our website since last month. I have been doing a lot of work on the Accordion Radio station this week, updating playlists, adding new content, taking some of the old material off it. The radio station has had 1228 listening hours in the last 30 days, the average listening time per visit is 35 minutes, this means that 2105 times in the last 30 days a person has gone on to the site and listened to the radio station for around 35 minutes. That is quite a lot of listening time and quite good listener numbers to be attracting in one month. With all the new content on the station, we might get some people listening for more than they normally would, or coming back more often to listen to the station. |
Eastbourne Accordion Festival Time is getting short for those of you considering going to the third "Eastbourne Accordion Festival". This is to be held from the 17th to the 20th of February 2006, at the Cumberland Hotel, Eastbourne.
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How It's Made - AccordionI regularily watch a programme on Satellite TV called 'How It's Made', this is a programme that picks a small number of items which it follows throughout their production from raw material to finished product in the shops. On Tuesday the 14th of February, the programme is featuring Ambulances, Dining Room Furniture and Accordions. The programme is broadcast on the Discovery channel (551) on satellite TV, with a repeat an hour later on Discovery +1 (552). The programme is then repeated on Wednesday 15th of February at 4am on Discovery Channel and at 5am on Discovery +1. If you have ever wondered how an accordion is made, then this programme should be very interesting, Don't forget to mark it in your diary. How It's Made is broadcast on most days of the week, and is a very interesting program. It's like a greatly enhanced version of "The Potters Wheel", now tell me you don't remember that? |
Ronmar Accordion Orchestra CDThe Ronmar Accordion Orchestra have released a new CD called 'Ronmar Plays 2'. Tracks include Light Cavalry, In The Mood, El Relicario, Stars and Stripes, Moon River, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, Espana, Chappels Evergreens, A La James Last, Alexander's Ragtime Band and Sabre Dance. The CD costs £9.50, including postage and packing, from Ron Hodgson, 16 Hillcrest Avenue, Carlisle, CA1 2QJ. Telephone 01228 522466. If you are ordering the CD, or you are responding to any other information or advert in our newsletter, then please tell whoever you speak to, that you read about it here. Hopefully this will prompt people who have news or information we are interested in, to contact us with it rather than me possibly finding out second hand, or even not at all! |
Cheap Digital Cameras Buying a digital camera is an expensive business so I thought I would tell you about a good offer I found. Currently, Tesco at Leyland are selling some cheap digital cameras that you might be interested in if you are looking for a camera, at less than £40, which still takes good pictures. The cameras are £39.95 for a 5 megapixel model, or £29,95 for a 3 megapixel version. The term Megapixel refers to how many pixels or dots are in each picture, a 5 megapixel camera has around 5 million dots in each picture, a 3 megapixel has 3 million. The cameras will take about 20 or 30 pictures in the internal memory but, for just £9.95, you can buy an extra memory card (a 128Mb SD RAM Card) which will increase this to 180 pictures. The cameras are not as good as £100 to £200 models but they only cost a fraction of those prices. They have a good screen on them, a built in flash, self timer, and a few nice features like the ability to take videos with sound. If you want a cheap introduction to digital photography then it's well worth getting one of these sub £40 models. Each one comes with a carry case, rechargable battery, charger, a lead to connect the camera to a computer or printer and some software for editing your photographs on the computer before printing them. |
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