Another highly successful weekend at The Imperial Hotel with a packed house once again on Saturday and a very good attendance on Sunday. Chairs had to be brought from other rooms in the hotel to accommodate the capacity crowd that had gathered to enjoy a weekend of Formby entertainment in the Lancastrian Suite, the largest of the convention rooms within the Imperial. This is the weekend when the AGM is always held and takes place at 10:30 on Sunday morning, this being the 51st AGM in the Society's wonderful history. Members and potential members came from throughout the UK and also from Europe, Australasia and the United States to be with us. Francesca Davies The weekend started in great style when Francesca Davies was first on stage and members queued up to entertain throughout the day. In the evening George Formby was once again featured in the film "It's In The Air" with "Let George Do It" shown on Sunday - two classic Formby films. These days the GFS is all about youth with many young members mounting the stage. Michael Pickles, Tommy Bland, Lewis Clifton, James Bassett and the aforementioned Francesca Davies all gave good performances and showed why they will be stars with the GFS for years to come. Alan Kershaw Not everything revolves around youth though. 66 year-old Alan Kershaw has hardly been in the GFS more than 18 months and has graduated from non-player to one of the best entertainers of the weekend - not only that, he is also a highly enjoyable master of ceremonies. In short, a real find for the GFS. Caroline Robson Another young lady who has made a massive impression on the concert-going membership is Caroline Robson. Caroline mounted the stage for the first time in June and was back this weekend looking forward to singing once again for the membership and looking her best in an ENSA military uniform. This weekend was of course a 1940's themed weekend and we had some wonderful interpretations of 1940's dress. Annual general meeting 2012 At the AGM there was no opposition to existing committee - which is a bit of a shame, either the committee are getting it all right or the members just can't be bothered to get involved anymore then paying a subscription. The committee don't obviously get everything right but they do try their best and they do put many hours of unpaid service in to the cause of the GFS to ensure that everything works throughout the weekend and also throughout the year. GFS Shop The GFS shop again did good business and once again the membership should be grateful to Kathryn Pollard and Pat Taylor who (as usual) gave up their weekend to work on behalf of the members. Others who work unstintingly are Alan Chenery who is always in the Imperial early on Friday to make sure all the sound system and wiring are set up correctly and is the last one out on Sunday evening as he has to dismantle all the equipment before returning home with it. Committee Members Members of the committee are either working in the shop, working at the entrance to the room processing membership and renewal applications, organising the concerts, giving tuition, mounting a display of archive material or just being on hand to do whatever might crop up to ensure that problems are kept to a minimum. They should all be applauded for making the weekend the success that it was - and the whole thing will be repeated in just a few short weeks on November 17th and18th - I can't wait!
september 2012
Another highly successful weekend at The Imperial Hotel with a packed house once again on Saturday and a very good attendance on Sunday. Chairs had to be brought from other rooms in the hotel to accommodate the capacity crowd that had gathered to enjoy a weekend of Formby entertainment in the Lancastrian Suite, the largest of the convention rooms within the Imperial. This is the weekend when the AGM is always held and takes place at 10:30 on Sunday morning, this being the 51st AGM in the Society's wonderful history. Members and potential members came from throughout the UK and also from Europe, Australasia and the United States to be with us. Francesca Davies The weekend started in great style when Francesca Davies was first on stage and members queued up to entertain throughout the day. In the evening George Formby was once again featured in the film "It's In The Air" with "Let George Do It" shown on Sunday - two classic Formby films. These days the GFS is all about youth with many young members mounting the stage. Michael Pickles, Tommy Bland, Lewis Clifton, James Bassett and the aforementioned Francesca Davies all gave good performances and showed why they will be stars with the GFS for years to come. Alan Kershaw Not everything revolves around youth though. 66 year-old Alan Kershaw has hardly been in the GFS more than 18 months and has graduated from non-player to one of the best entertainers of the weekend - not only that, he is also a highly enjoyable master of ceremonies. In short, a real find for the GFS. Caroline Robson Another young lady who has made a massive impression on the concert-going membership is Caroline Robson. Caroline mounted the stage for the first time in June and was back this weekend looking forward to singing once again for the membership and looking her best in an ENSA military uniform. This weekend was of course a 1940's themed weekend and we had some wonderful interpretations of 1940's dress. Annual general meeting 2012 At the AGM there was no opposition to existing committee - which is a bit of a shame, either the committee are getting it all right or the members just can't be bothered to get involved anymore then paying a subscription. The committee don't obviously get everything right but they do try their best and they do put many hours of unpaid service in to the cause of the GFS to ensure that everything works throughout the weekend and also throughout the year. GFS Shop The GFS shop again did good business and once again the membership should be grateful to Kathryn Pollard and Pat Taylor who (as usual) gave up their weekend to work on behalf of the members. Others who work unstintingly are Alan Chenery who is always in the Imperial early on Friday to make sure all the sound system and wiring are set up correctly and is the last one out on Sunday evening as he has to dismantle all the equipment before returning home with it. Committee Members Members of the committee are either working in the shop, working at the entrance to the room processing membership and renewal applications, organising the concerts, giving tuition, mounting a display of archive material or just being on hand to do whatever might crop up to ensure that problems are kept to a minimum. They should all be applauded for making the weekend the success that it was - and the whole thing will be repeated in just a few short weeks on November 17th and18th - I can't wait!
september 2012