Another successful convention comes to a close and although it looked as if we might struggle to get through the weekend owing to the absence of people in vital roles through illness, committee and non-committee people rallied together in typical GFS spirit to ensure that the weekend went without a hitch. Our chairman Dennis Mitchell could not be with us this weekend and president Gerry Mawdsley was unwell right from the start – but he did manage to be there even though he took no active roll other than the Saturday night auction. The attendance on both days was again very good and as usual people traveled from far and wide to enjoy the GFS experience and the delights of Blackpool. A Blackpool which was continually bathed in sunny weather from start to finish but most of the Formby crowd stayed mainly in the Lancastrian Suite of the Imperial Hotel rather than bask in the warm sunny weather. One member who traveled from Nashville, Tennessee was Johnny Foodstamp and he certainly 'stamped' his personality and showmanship on the audience with his own interpretation of Formby hits - he did a great job and endeared himself to one and all, proving that George Formby songs can be sung in so many different ways. Gerry's in capacity over the weekend allowed me to exercise my vice-president role for the first time in about 15 years and I was privileged to open the weekend and to close it on Sunday night. and what a weekend it turned out to be! Wonderful performers and a great crowd to perform to, with (speaking personally) Saturday evening being the highlight for me. MC for the whole of Saturday evening was a role I enjoyed immensely and my only regret was that I could not be in my usual video position to take advantage of what was a very memorable GFS Saturday night. One hero of the weekend was Andy Poppleton who on Sunday morning at a few minutes' notice, offered to take the tuition class when Gerry was unavailable. Andy did a great job and will surely be asked to fulfill this role again in the future. Other volunteers who unselfishly donated a great part of their weekend to working for the GFS were Christine and Alan Kershaw who ran the raffle table all weekend and Pam Badelley and Daz Barry who between them organised the concerts throughout the two day event. Our sincere thanks to these loyal and dedicated members for coming to the fore when committee members were in short supply. One familiar face who was missing was Francesca Davies – but Francesca was appearing in a show called “One Dream – The Beryl Marsden Story”, Francesca was playing the young Liverpudlian singer from the 1960’s and was performing at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Follow this link to see Francesca in action. Andy Eastwood came for the full weekend on what must have been a couple of days off from his usual role as a professional entertainer. Once again, Andy's return to the GFS stage was a total success. Andy has made a great success of the ukulele and the songs of George Formby (plus loads of talent from him) and the GFS membership is rising every month. The weekend goes by so quickly and it is so difficult to absorb all that is going on, but one good thing is that there is another convention always on the horizon and it won't be too long before we are all renewing friendships once again.
june 2013
Another successful convention comes to a close and although it looked as if we might struggle to get through the weekend owing to the absence of people in vital roles through illness, committee and non-committee people rallied together in typical GFS spirit to ensure that the weekend went without a hitch. Our chairman Dennis Mitchell could not be with us this weekend and president Gerry Mawdsley was unwell right from the start – but he did manage to be there even though he took no active roll other than the Saturday night auction. The attendance on both days was again very good and as usual people traveled from far and wide to enjoy the GFS experience and the delights of Blackpool. A Blackpool which was continually bathed in sunny weather from start to finish but most of the Formby crowd stayed mainly in the Lancastrian Suite of the Imperial Hotel rather than bask in the warm sunny weather. One member who traveled from Nashville, Tennessee was Johnny Foodstamp and he certainly 'stamped' his personality and showmanship on the audience with his own interpretation of Formby hits - he did a great job and endeared himself to one and all, proving that George Formby songs can be sung in so many different ways. Gerry's in capacity over the weekend allowed me to exercise my vice-president role for the first time in about 15 years and I was privileged to open the weekend and to close it on Sunday night. and what a weekend it turned out to be! Wonderful performers and a great crowd to perform to, with (speaking personally) Saturday evening being the highlight for me. MC for the whole of Saturday evening was a role I enjoyed immensely and my only regret was that I could not be in my usual video position to take advantage of what was a very memorable GFS Saturday night. One hero of the weekend was Andy Poppleton who on Sunday morning at a few minutes' notice, offered to take the tuition class when Gerry was unavailable. Andy did a great job and will surely be asked to fulfill this role again in the future. Other volunteers who unselfishly donated a great part of their weekend to working for the GFS were Christine and Alan Kershaw who ran the raffle table all weekend and Pam Badelley and Daz Barry who between them organised the concerts throughout the two day event. Our sincere thanks to these loyal and dedicated members for coming to the fore when committee members were in short supply. One familiar face who was missing was Francesca Davies – but Francesca was appearing in a show called “One Dream – The Beryl Marsden Story”, Francesca was playing the young Liverpudlian singer from the 1960’s and was performing at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Follow this link to see Francesca in action. Andy Eastwood came for the full weekend on what must have been a couple of days off from his usual role as a professional entertainer. Once again, Andy's return to the GFS stage was a total success. Andy has made a great success of the ukulele and the songs of George Formby (plus loads of talent from him) and the GFS membership is rising every month. The weekend goes by so quickly and it is so difficult to absorb all that is going on, but one good thing is that there is another convention always on the horizon and it won't be too long before we are all renewing friendships once again.
june 2013