No Limit Anniversary A new experience for yours truly was when for the first time ever, I took to the stage without a instrument, to join Caroline Stewart to sing "I'm Walking Your Way" in the special Saturday evening presentation of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the making of the film, "No Limit". The film is full of action and entertainment and also has some great songs. No Limit was the obvious choice for Saturday evening and then the presentation of the songs from the film took place immediately afterwards when we entertained a good sized Saturday night audience. Lewis Clifton was first up to perform the song that he has made his own and probably one of the most memorable Formby songs, "Riding In The TT Races". Gerry and Vivien Mawdsley then entertained us with another favourite of mine, "Riding Around On A Rainbow" which is sung in the film, mainly by Florence Desmond. It is another great sequence when George and Florrie and all the TT riders are travelling on the boat to the island for the forthcoming races and finding themselves in the bar, they let rip with this sadly underrated number.. Dale Norman then came on stage to perform "In A Little Wigan Garden" which has also been a convention favourite for many years - and then it was our turn! Caroline had dressed appropriately in a lovely 1930's dress and hat and me and my trusty flat cap positioned ourselves for our big number. Initial problems with the hand-held microphones meant that we had a false start, which of course didn't help the nerves, but once we had decided to use the regular microphones it all went quite well. All this, introduced magnificently by John Walley, immaculately dressed in a white tuxedo. George and Florrie would have been proud of us all! The weekend... The rest of the weekend was the usual display of talent and friendship with a reasonably good attendance throughout the weekend, not full but quite comfortable to say the least. Another nice moment was when Gerry Mawdsley turned up with some barbershop singing friends and proceeded to display his 'proper' singing voice in a barbershop song and the quartet came up with a very sweet harmonising sound - is there no end to this man's talent! The aforementioned Caroline Stewart did a quick costume change after the "No Limit" presentation and turned up looking immaculate in evening dress to compare the rest of Saturday evening. Top performances from so many of my favourites, Johnny Key, Ray Reynolds, Francesca and Catalina Davies, Alan Southworth, Lewis Clifton, Stuart Lowther - I could go on and on! Lewis Clifton's Archive Displays Our new archivist, Lewis Clifton had done a fabulous job with the display screens, probably the best display that has been seen at the conventions, on the front side facing the audience, rare images and interesting notes about the film and the people involved in the making of what is definitely one George Formby's best films - and on the reverse, George Formby's Leading Ladies was the feature and again, rare images and notes told a great story. Well done Lewis, a brilliant job! Everybody once again pulled their weight behind the scenes to make the weekend go so successfully and everyone left with many memorable moments of a great weekend.
JUNE 2015
No Limit Anniversary A new experience for yours truly was when for the first time ever, I took to the stage without a instrument, to join Caroline Stewart to sing "I'm Walking Your Way" in the special Saturday evening presentation of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the making of the film, "No Limit". The film is full of action and entertainment and also has some great songs. No Limit was the obvious choice for Saturday evening and then the presentation of the songs from the film took place immediately afterwards when we entertained a good sized Saturday night audience. Lewis Clifton was first up to perform the song that he has made his own and probably one of the most memorable Formby songs, "Riding In The TT Races". Gerry and Vivien Mawdsley then entertained us with another favourite of mine, "Riding Around On A Rainbow" which is sung in the film, mainly by Florence Desmond. It is another great sequence when George and Florrie and all the TT riders are travelling on the boat to the island for the forthcoming races and finding themselves in the bar, they let rip with this sadly underrated number.. Dale Norman then came on stage to perform "In A Little Wigan Garden" which has also been a convention favourite for many years - and then it was our turn! Caroline had dressed appropriately in a lovely 1930's dress and hat and me and my trusty flat cap positioned ourselves for our big number. Initial problems with the hand-held microphones meant that we had a false start, which of course didn't help the nerves, but once we had decided to use the regular microphones it all went quite well. All this, introduced magnificently by John Walley, immaculately dressed in a white tuxedo. George and Florrie would have been proud of us all! The weekend... The rest of the weekend was the usual display of talent and friendship with a reasonably good attendance throughout the weekend, not full but quite comfortable to say the least. Another nice moment was when Gerry Mawdsley turned up with some barbershop singing friends and proceeded to display his 'proper' singing voice in a barbershop song and the quartet came up with a very sweet harmonising sound - is there no end to this man's talent! The aforementioned Caroline Stewart did a quick costume change after the "No Limit" presentation and turned up looking immaculate in evening dress to compare the rest of Saturday evening. Top performances from so many of my favourites, Johnny Key, Ray Reynolds, Francesca and Catalina Davies, Alan Southworth, Lewis Clifton, Stuart Lowther - I could go on and on! Lewis Clifton's Archive Displays Our new archivist, Lewis Clifton had done a fabulous job with the display screens, probably the best display that has been seen at the conventions, on the front side facing the audience, rare images and interesting notes about the film and the people involved in the making of what is definitely one George Formby's best films - and on the reverse, George Formby's Leading Ladies was the feature and again, rare images and notes told a great story. Well done Lewis, a brilliant job! Everybody once again pulled their weight behind the scenes to make the weekend go so successfully and everyone left with many memorable moments of a great weekend.
JUNE 2015