Creeping Bentgrass Cancer Research Night

On Saturday night Creeping Bentgrass played at the Coast Riders bar in Blackpool.

This was one of the rare charity events that we arrange ourselves. They happen roughly every two years and this year marked a move from Staining Village Hall to the Coast Riders bar on Cropper Road, south west of the end of the M55. A massive thanks must go to Peter, Janet and team at Coast Riders. They were really superb and very accommodating.

Around 70 people gathered and as we knew at least one person in every party, it was a very jolly start to the night as we welcomed lots of friends. A few friends of friends had travelled a long way: two ladies from Spain and a party all the way from Australia!

We unveiled a couple of new songs including Roy Orbison's Leah, one of his B sides that was especially requested by Pete from Coast Riders and I played my own version of a Bert Weedon instrumental, Red Guitar which is very lively and seemed to go down very well with the audience.

We had a few special guests. Peter and Shelagh Cooney have supported us several times and we have developed a couple of songs to do together as a foursome.

Chrissie Turkington joined me for the first time to perform the Dolly Parton bits of Islands In The Stream. We played it once years ago at an informal party night in Edinburgh but this was her first performance with me on a club stage and she nailed it, making the song a very memorable part of the night.

Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie were kept busy with a raffle, bottle tombola and hot pot supper to sort out and by the end of the night we had raised £425 for Cancer Research and had a load of fun doing it. In fact reaction from both the venue and the audience has been such that a much earlier return than the usual two years may be called for! Watch this space. Our dates can be found on the band blog's side column.