“We love George Formby and George Formby

loves me”

So sang Pat and Geoff Silcock this weekend and my goodness we must love him to pack ourselves into the Washington suite on the hottest, most humid day in September ever. No windows, no outside doors open and no air conditioning as that only works when the heating is on! Never mind Steve Thomas on Sunday evening inviting us to “shake, rattle and roll”, it was more like steam, bake or boil. The heat did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of our members - despite the humidity having a less than positive effect on the ukes. As one performer remarked, “It’s either in tune, or being tuned and when I get on stage it’s worse.” Four cold showers were the highest number reached in one day by one member. A brilliant attendance, with new members new faces on stage and a couple from Australia and Canada. A fabulous weekend which saw the attendance back to pre-covid numbers.

ukes in d

“This is what the conventions are all about fans coming together to have a great time whilst celebrating the life and career of one of the greatest entertainers of all time, George Formby OBE.” said Kyle Evans There’s nothing like a thrash to settle the nerves, set the atmosphere and it’s one of the best ways for the society to come together, and play together - Ukes in D players crowd on stage, of all abilities, with all shapes and makes of ukes and have a good time. Mistakes don’t matter. It’s just fun. Anyone walking into the convention for the first time, can’t help but feel the warmth and magic in the air.”

a brilliant attendance

With a brilliant attendance the meeting took off with Andy Poppleton’s welcome, the first thrash and Daz Barry, the first compere was soon announcing the first performers. So many talented players trod the boards performing as individuals, in pairs, and groups over the sweltering two days. Lovely to see Francesca and Catalina, great to see Andy Eastwood, wonderful to see Joe Morell, whom we first met in Morecambe. So many cracking performances that it’s impossible to mention everyone although first time performers always get a warm reception. Fantastic to have new members and to see some new faces on stage. Andy Brown from Cambridgeshire, a complete beginner, performed ‘Lamppost’ with great competence and was so relieved when he’d finished. Shimeyon, another new face treated us to ‘Mother what’ll I do Now.’ And performed superbly. Thirteen-year-old Charlie Evered attending his first Blackpool convention charmed the audience as soon as he set foot in the room. He was on stage for his very first thrash and looked very comfortable. He performed confidently on Saturday night and didn’t put a foot wrong and received a tumultuous round of applause after his performance. Charlie has been playing the uke for three months, has used the internet to watch videos and research George. His best friend Matthew is the only one of his school mates with whom he has shared his talent and love for George Formby.

concert organisation

No longer do committee members walk round the room and tell members ‘You’re on next’, the lists are sorted by the concert organisers to ensure there are no gaps and the performers know when they are on, in theory at least. One piece of advice given by Dennis Mitchell years ago, was to ‘make the performers a star for eight minutes’ which isn’t as easy as it seems. One compere uttered the words, ‘Who’s on next?’ Looked at his list, looked at the organisers and remarked, ‘It’s me, but nobody told me’. Compere, John Walley came on stage with a mop after Tommy Quirk remarked it was so hot that he’d brought 17 towels! Matt Richards was warned that he’d got stiff competition from his mum who was catching up playing both the uke and keyboard. The performers themselves weren’t short of comments either… “Nobody listens to me in our house” ‘When you get older you forget what you’re going to do” ‘It’s a tongue twister, so don’t expect me to say it fast.’ Tommy Bland admitting he still feels nervous before performing, hoped the audience would not laugh when he performed ‘They laughed when I started to play.’ He was brilliant! Ray Reynolds ditched his usual partner Johnny Key for a furry creature and performed the Max Bygraves hit, You Need Hands’. Ray’s spot is superb and his furry creature was cute pink and hilarious. Ray belongs to the world of Music Hall and Variety and such performers today are very rare so we should cherish Ray and his talent. Just to prove that we are a totally inclusive society, when Dale Norman performed ‘Swimmin’ With the Wimmin’ on Sunday, it wasn’t just the women who were swimming as the men joined in. We are hoping that in the future we shall see bikinis and swimming trunks! Some hope.

this weekend’s films

The development of technology has seen mountains of change for the society. Years ago films used to be on reels and shown on a projector and had to be ordered in advance and sometimes they weren’t available and sometimes when they arrived bits would be missing and the quality was iffy. Now we have all George’s films saved on computer they are always available, and the quality is superb. George’s films are wonderful showpieces of him, the entertainer but also work as a social commentary to show just how much the world has changed. They absolutely celebrate the life and career of a great entertainer who was within living memory of many members when the society began. ‘Come on George’ - has George befriending a racehorse and then discovers that it has a reputation for attacking any jockey who comes near it just before a big race. There follows the inevitable gang of villains, car chases, as well as a girl for George. George was a former jockey himself when he was younger before turning to the music hall. The last few seconds of this film with George, Pat Kirkwood and the horse’s head are wonderful. ‘George In Civvy Street’- tells the tale of George demobbed from the army returning to run the pub, The Unicorn. George and his friend ‘Fingers’ try to revive the rundown pub, but face stiff competition from a rival pub, The Lion, on the other side of the river. To complicate matters further George falls in love with the pretty girl who works at the rival pub. ‘Remember the Unicorn’ and all publicity, music scores etc had this title. In the final week of filming the title was changed to ‘George in Civvy Street.’ In our archives we have the trailer for this film, but it’s never shown. Pity! So hot that Matt Richards had steam coming off his hands and any remnants of a formal dress code were quickly abandoned. Some men went trouser-less. Shorts with hairy legs was the fashion as we all melted, no ties, no suits, as were worn for the early meetings. Unbelievably Jonathan Baddeley was introduced as ‘having the best legs in the society’. He didn’t believe it, and neither did Bruce Cox!

the annual general meeting

The AGM held on Sunday morning was the only formal part of this meeting when suits were worn by committee members. Doors were locked, membership cards checked, and the meeting began. A minute’s silence for our recently deceased members, the Minutes of the last meeting read, our finances explained, the President’s report given, and the new committee for the next year elected. The modernisation of the rules was finally agreed but only after much discussion. Tony Thornton agreed to stay on as editor for the Vellum until a replacement editor could be found. Thanks were given to all the people who help to organise and run the meetings, because they’re all volunteers who do it as a hobby…Matt and the band, the tech team on the sound, the shop, concert organisers, compères and many others. These people are usually hard at work before the meeting and late afterwards when everything has to be packed away. Kevin and Cathy Staniland are so busy throughout the weekend glued to the sound desk and making the mysteries of all makes and types of devices work with the sound system. Garry Hampson and Dennis Lee were thanked because they’d performed in concerts and donated the proceeds to the society. The Llandudno Extravaganza was good publicity for the society and is to be repeated next year. Special mention too must go to Peter Pollard who over the years has produced videos of the meetings, taken photos for the Vellum written articles and reports, run the shop and maintained a fantastic website. He works tirelessly. The society is not just his hobby but a way of life. The society is magical. It creates friendships and lasting memories.

remembering dennis mitchell

Dennis Mitchell will be sorely missed because he was an inspiration, a very talented man of many parts. His organisation was phenomenal. He had a huge stage presence - was an excellent compere and performer, who worked tirelessly for the society. Peter Pollard created a moving 10-minute clip, shown after Saturday’s film, other members sang songs whilst Lewis and Stuart performed Dennis and Dickie’s famous duet ‘Umbrellas’ to perfection.

Something for everyone at the convention

Bidding on the huge range of auction items on display including a mandolin, GFS mugs, books, pictures, and a merino wool dressing gown; the raffle prizes too were laid out like a patient etherised on a table to tempt members to part with their money. Surprisingly the alcohol always disappears first. There were ukulele accessories, song books, T shirts, two ukuleles and all kinds of everything on sale in the room. Now if anyone fancied a bit of reading, the archive board was full of interesting Formby memorabilia, and at the back of the room branch meeting details as well as the alterations to the rules were posted up next to the archive display box with its moving exhibits. Two small rooms/ovens were used for the tuition classes, and uke sales which despite the attendees emerging beetroot red were well attended. The displayed ukes were similarly grilled. As George is now only accessible through films then the ukulele and his elusive stroke become the glue to attract many. What a choice of ukuleles are available today, plenty on sale, more on show on the stage. When the society began ‘Abbott, Ludwig and Gibson’ ukes were as rare as hens’ teeth. Thanks to Dennis Mitchell we now have the Mitchell Monarchs, and thanks to Eddie Utley we now have the ‘Dreamer’, our own home-grown models. Eddie Utley’s dreamer was the uke raffle prize and the winning ticket was drawn by Charlie Evered, although sadly the winner wasn’t in attendance.

gfs - back on track

September’s meeting closed with warm memories of a wonderful weekend with fantastic performances and harmonies. The atmosphere at the convention was heart-warming and the news that we will soon be back in November was great. The GFS is back on track and the future is positive. The Formby family is back up and running. GW - 19/09/2023