History
They say that history does repeat itself and in the case of Morecambe 2014, that is certainly true. Just like last year, the weather was beautiful during the day and only spoiled itself late in the evening at the end of the event. The audience was again quite healthy - just like last year, let's face it, we are always going to struggle to fill such a cavernous area as the Winter Gardens and there were plenty of available seats for members and the passing public to use - but it was a nice enthusiastic crowd who attended throughout the day and filled the majority of the available seating right up to the end of the event at 10:00pm.
As well has the Formby gang being back in Morecambe, again just like last year we had the rock n' rollers just up the road and it all made for a nice friendly atmosphere in the cafes and bars in the town centre.
Happy Memories
The Winter Gardens brings back happy memories of when we were at the Blackpool Winter Gardens in that it is right in the centre of town with a massive car park right behind the theatre building. Inside the theatre it was evident that much work had been done since last year's event, dressing rooms re-vamped, improved décor and painting had been carried out - but Evelyn Archer and her team still have a mammoth task ahead to restore this lovely old building to its former glory.
Whilst the sun was beating down outside, inside the audience stayed nice and cool in the relaxing atmosphere of the interior of this famous old building, those immortal lyrics, "a bobs worth of dark and a vision of love" come to mind!
Members travelled from all points of the UK to be there just for this one day event and were not disappointed by the quality of entertainment offered. Kate and John Howard must have had the longest journey with a round trip of 750 miles from the Isle of Skye - and that is a trip that Kate makes regularly to be at the Blackpool conventions, her dedication knows no bounds!
As usual, we were well supported by passing public and obviously GFS members – at least 50 performed throughout the day and whilst we never will have a complete day of Formby music, it was happily noted that the great majority of players did stick to George's repertoire.
The Band
The entertainers were backed by our faithful and trusty band of Matt Richards, Dale Norman and Tony Thornton and once again, they played everything that the performers could think of. There are also slots for players who prefer a backing track - and this does give the band a time to rest - but the vast majority wisely chose to use the musicians on hand and no one was disappointed in their performance.
An appreciative Morecambe public kept drifting in and out all day and enjoyed what they saw. Groups of tables and chairs at the back encouraged them to sit, have a coffee, linger and listen, and cool off.
Matt Richards played his ‘new’ (to us) red, electric ukulele. He’s had it a while but not played it in the society before. It reminds us that if George were alive he would be using today’s technology. Matt also played the keyboard and normal uke brilliantly.
Arthur Roe (grandson of Neville and Sylvia) was easily the youngest and smallest of those who went on stage, his brightly coloured yellow ukulele was nearly as tall as he was, his dad, uncle, and grandparents are all either musicians or talented singers so Arthur will surely be back with us again, a star for the future perhaps?
The Buskers
Whilst the entertainment during the afternoon was in full swing, some of the younger members (Cameron Aitken, Catalina and Francesca Davies and Stuart Lowther plus not so young John Taylor and the brilliant Alan Yates) busked on the pavement outside the theatre and within a short space of time, an appreciative pavement audience generously dropped over £80 into a uke case which was then kindly donated to the Winter Gardens Restoration Fund.
Alan Kershaw sat at a table and sold back numbers of The Vellum magazine and right next to him, Kathryn Pollard and Pat Taylor worked throughout the afternoon in the George Formby Society shop. Caroline Stewart was busy throughout the day in organising some of the concert sessions and then completed her busy day by superbly comparing the last session in the evening. This is still Caroline's first year on the GFS committee and she has proved her worth so many times in so many different ways, without a doubt, she has been a real asset to the George Formby Society this year.
Alison Yates did a great job of creating two large posters which were on display on the pavement outside the theatre to advertise the event. Later in the evening, Gerry Mawdsley auctioned one of the posters for £35 and the other poster was given to Evelyn Archer (the president of the ‘Winter Gardens Trust’) for her Winter Gardens archives.
Uke Raffle Presentation
An event which actually happened at the June convention was finally concluded when the annual GFS uke raffle winner came on stage and was awarded his prize. Trevor Williams hasn't attended a convention previously but after he was presented with the uke by society president Gerry Mawdsley, Trevor did take to the stage to sing George Formby's "Grand And Healthy Life".
Gerry also presented to Evelyn Archer, two framed photos of George Formby and one of Laurel and Hardy, to be displayed in the theatre bar.
At the end of the evening Evelyn announced that we had raised £1200 for the further restoration of the theatre.
I will say this about the GFS, no matter how many ukulele clubs spring up within the UK and no matter how many "workshops" appear on that scene, nothing can compare with the activities that are available to the Formby crowd. On this occasion, the chance to appear on the stage of a legendary theatre where in the past George Formby and a host of stars have appeared, plus of course, the Blackpool conventions where players of all grades have the opportunity to appear in front of a capacity audience in the biggest hotel in the resort, the chance to listen and to learn from the best exponents of the George Formby sound to be found anywhere throughout the world, all for a £20 annual membership fee which without any shadow of a doubt just has to be extraordinarily good value.
My sincere thanks to Gill Walley for her very helpful notes.
