Our November Concert

Our October concert night was going to be our first one in our new club room but at the last minute I found out that the room would not be ready in time so I had to make a hasty decision to have the concert in the church. I arranged for the heating to be on in the church and pinned a note on the concert room door pointing the way. We assembled in the church with Julie Best and Jean Corrighan set up on the altar ready to play. The night opened with Colin Ensor playing Music Maestro Please, Sweetheart Of All My Dreams, Getting Sentimental Over You and The Maigret Theme. Our next player Dugald McCallum played Indifference followed by Radetzky March. It was now Tom Bennetts turn to entertain us, first with a bit of reminiscing about the first club night ten years ago and then with Snow Waltz which he played on that first night, followed by Georgia and Sound Of Silence. It was now time for our guest artist Julie Best to perform her first spot of the night. Julie started with Fantasy Polka, Beautiful Days, Sprudle and Adios Seville. We were nicely settled in to listening to Julie now as the entertainment continued with Return To Sorrento, Snow Train Shuffle and Take Good Care Of My Baby. Julie was now joined by Jean Corrighan who is Julies normal playing partner. Julie and Jean continued with Triste Sourire which they said they learnt because they heard me playing it at Leyland. I don’t seem to remember my version sounding that good though! The music continued with Ole Casalero, Sids Races/Blaydon Races, Ballade Matinale, Amusante Overture and then a piece specially named for us. Julie and Jean spoke to their songwriter friend Angela Ivinson and as a result, to celebrate 10 years of Leyland Accordion Club, we now have The Leyland Waltz. I thanked Julie and Jean for this great present which was the next tune they played. I handed some copies of it out to the various people who had just heard it played and enjoyed it. To finish their first half Julie and Jean played Accordion Polka and Jacqueline Waltz. After the break, coffee and eating of the two cakes that Jean had made for us, we continued with Basil Berry playing Embraceable You followed by my version of The Black Mask Waltz. Julie started her second half with Hot Points, Zingarella and some French musette pieces. This was followed by Blackthorn Stick and some Irish Jigs. Cubanola led to Sway, Bambi Samba, Les Triolets, Montes Czardas, Tango De Souvenir, Cuckoo Waltz, Spanish Gypsy Dance, Magic Fingers and 12th Street Rag.Closest I’ll get to getting Juilie and Jean on the altar. Julie and Jean had done a great job of entertaining us on our 10th anniversary concert and we are really looking forward to inviting them back in the near future. David Batty

 

Our New Concert Room

The refurbishment of our new concert room is now completed. I didn’t put a photograph of it in here because it wouldn’t do it justice so I will leave you to see it on Wednesday. The wallpaper has been changed, so has the paint, carpet, tables, chairs, dance floor, curtains and even two major changes to the structure of the place which might leave you wondering whats happened to your regular seat! I hope you can make it along on Wednesday for our first event in the new room, it really is nice. On practice night most people were taken aback by the refurbishment and had a lot of praise for whats been done. We have fully working stage lights now, opening and closing curtains and even large lights in the ceiling above the player on stage, so for music readers there will be no problems seeing your sheet music. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

 

This Wednesday

This Wednesday is our Christmas Party open night event. We will be putting the food out on tables in a long row as usual and will have our concert as normal for the first hour or until the food is ready. Then its open night and I leave people to take to the stage as and when they feel like it, once the food is served there is no structure to the rest of the night, its just playing from whoever takes to the stage and lots of socialising going on while enjoying the nice food brought by all of us to the club. We always have a great December night at Leyland and this one will be the first in our new room so do come along, bring a little something to the Jacobs Join if you can and I look forward to seeing you there. This is the last concert night before Christmas, Doors open at 7.30 for an 8PM Start. I will See you on Wednesday…. David Batty

 

Pearl Fawcett-Adriano

Pearl Fawcett-Adriano is the guest at Stockport Organ & Keyboard Club on Thursday March 27th, 8pm, at The Guildhall, Wellington Rd South. Tel 0161 456 7492 for further information on the venue, tickets or admission price.

 

Accordion Extravaganza

On Sunday March 2nd an all-day Accordion Extravaganza takes place at Doncaster Racecourse, 10.30am till 10.30pm, organised by enthusiast Harry Kipling. There is a continuous day/evening programme of concert performances from a guest list that includes Pearl Fawcett Adriano, Romano Viazzani, Harry Hussey, George Syrett, Alan Young, Sam Pirt & The Hut People, Bill Sables (banjo), and the Burton Ensemble. There will also be workshops, a Roland V Accordion demo, refreshments, plus a trade show. Anyone who puts on an event like this surely deserves all our support. Contact Harry Kipling on 01430 860300; email: henrykipling@fsmail.net.

 

Blackpool Accordion Festival

Heather Smith is organising a new festival: Blackpool Accordions International 2008, from May 9th to 13th at the Dunes Conference Complex, Pontins Holiday Centre, Lytham St Annes, Blackpool. The guest artistes booked to date include: Domi Emorine & Roman Jbanov (a.k.a. the Paris-Moscow Duo), Ottar Johansen & Ivar Dagenborg (Norway), Giancarlo Caporilli (Italy), and the UK’s Romano Viazzani, Gary Blair, Bert Santilly and Harry Hussey. A unique feature is that this accordion festival shares the site with an organ/keyboard festival, with some overlapping features. Heather says: “This is a new accordion event, which will take place alongside the already well established annual Organ/Keyboard Festival, organized by Grant Neal (Sceptre Promotions and Keyboard Cavalcade magazine). We feel that the two music festivals running side by side will be a great success, the whole of the site being taken over by like-minded people!! A musical haven”. Workshops will take place during the day and there will be concerts each evening in The Dunes Complex, followed by Scottish dancing in the ballroom plus after hours music/jam sessions in the Queen Vic pub. The ballroom and Queen Vic are open to both accordion and organ/keyboard festival participants. The trade show includes Geoff Holter Accordions, The Accordion Shop, and John Douglas Music. For further information tel: Heather Smith 01482 805 387.

 

Club Membership

Many thanks to those of you who have paid your £5 club membership. This gets you in to our concerts for £1 discount over non members and it gets you this lovely newsletter sent through your door every month. If you haven’t yet renewed your membership then you can do it on the door at the club on Wednesday or in January.

 

This Wednesday – Christmas Party

As is our tradition we are having a Jacobs Join for our December Christmas Party concert night. For those of you unfamiliar with the term its where we all bring a little bit of food along and we put it together in to a big feast. I know most of you are used to our December Christmas do’s but for those who haven’t been before we bring along some pork pies, mince pies, sandwiches, cake or anything deemed suitable for adding to our Jacobs Join. We set the food up in the first hour of the night while the normal concert goes on in the room then the lights go up, food is served and the stage is left open to anyone who wants to get up and either play their accordion, sing, play a keyboard or anything else entertaining. This is the only night of the year where anything (suitable) goes on stage. If you have a party piece like you play the comb and paper then bring it along and give us a tune. Those of you who haven’t played in front of a crowd might like to know that this is a great night for making your debut, everyone is tucking in to the food, chatting and having a great time, so you won’t feel as thought your in the spotlight. This will be our last meeting before Christmas so its a good time to swap christmas cards, wish everyone a happy Christmas and generally have a good socialise with entertainment going on in the background. I look forward to seeing you all there, you will love our new room, its very nice. See you on Wednesday.

 

Stockport Air Raid Shelters

Accordionists Rob Howard and John Jones lead sing-alongs of World War Two songs at the Stockport Air Raid Shelters on December 6th, 10th, 13th and 17th, 7pm. The music comes at the end of guided tours of the underground shelters where in December 1940 and early 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, and the present day shows are also proving popular with the public. For further information : robaccord5@hotmail.com

 

NAO North West Area Festival

The NAO North West Area Festival was held on Sunday 25th November in the Marine Hall Complex and attracted nearly 300 entries. Organiser Gina Brannelli was delighted by the huge entry in which the adjudicators were also ask to select their choice of outstanding performances – Raymond Bodell selected 16 year old Santana O’ Connor and Leah Langton both students of Gina Brannelli, Frederick Parnell selected 7 year old Roseanna and 8 year old Alexander Bodell and Ken Farran selected Sherena Smith, a student of Harry Hinchcliffe. Musical Directors Harry Hinchcliffe, Betty Pollard and Lara Brincat were all praised with the standard of their ensembles and the day concluded with guest performances from Robert Thorn and Julie & William Langton. Also in attendance were NAO Officials Graham Laurie and Pauline Noon . It will be in this North West region – at the Metropole Hotel and on the famous Blackpool North Pier that the NAO UK Championships will be held next April (25th – 27th) where International Adjudicators Kevin Friedrich CIA President, Frédéric Deschamps CMA President and Gunther Zeilinger DHV representative are all to attend.Results and full details of the UK Championships 2008 can be found www.accordions.com/nao