Myerscough Open Day, 2001

Sunday 3rd June 2001. Every year Myerscough held an open day on the first Sunday in June. This was open to the general public and gave locals a chance to look around all the areas of the college which put on special displays or activities and which also gave prospective students a chance to talk to staff and find out about courses.

These two bunnies were perhaps a bit overwhelmed, but were supporting each other and were at their most appealing. Their pen was large enough for them to stay away from petting hands, if they so wished.

Meanwhile in the Animal Academy, dogs came to be groomed - this chap in particular had to look his best for his upcoming role in TV's Magic Roundabout!

The Floristry team had displays of their own and offered visitors a chance to get hands on with a touch of flower arranging.

The Equine Arena was packed with spectators as students put the horses through their paces.

Likewise, the Plant Centre was well attended all day, whilst entry to the tropical glasshouse had to be regulated at times in order that the temperature didn't drop too much.

There were stalls and displays from local crafts and farm produce suppliers. Here visitors got close to a display of birds of prey.

In the college forge, students were clanging away at lengths of glowing hot iron, showing how decorative ironwork was fashioned.

In the college Mechanisation sheds, students were displaying the rally car and both modern and vintage tractors. At the tool bench these students were taking apart bits of machinery looking confident and knowledgeable in response to my "Can you pick up some bits and look as though you are doing something with them?"

There was quite a bit of interest shown in this large bit of farm machinery. How often do you get to stand close to a combine harvester?

Likewise children were thrilled to be able to clamber onto the large motorised lawnmowers in the Turf Management sheds, though they were a little disappointed that the keys were safely locked away and that the machines couldn't be driven out to mow the meadow...

The Arboriculture staff and students - ever willing to do their Batman bit, gave demonstrations of roping and tree ascending. They were paying particular attention to detail as we had at the time a party of American Arboriculture staff and students visiting from Clemson University USA.

The College's Pony Trekking Centre at Dinkling Green had brought some of their ponies down and eager youngsters, including our neice Heather, queued for rides along one of the tracks across the grounds.

Another popular display was the sheep shearing that took place half a mile along the road from the main campus. Having all our hooved animals housed away from the main campus had served us in good stead during the foot and mouth crisis earlier in the year as some land-based colleges with working farms on the main campus had had to close their doors altogether to students and all but essential staff.

Work Index

Creeping Bentgrass at Myerscough College Open Day

This year is the sixteenth year we have played this particular event. We always have to keep a wary eye on the weather as with any outdoor gig, but this year apart from one short but quite heavy shower and a bit of wind which made a gazebo near us think it wanted to be a kite, we managed very well.

You can usually find us opposite the entrance to the college bar - The Stumble Inn - so on a really good day we can have quite a large audience sitting at tables or just standing about, drinking and enjoying the music.

And it even got warm enough for me to get all giddy and take my jacket off!

Creeping Bentgrass at Myerscough College Open Day

Sunday morning saw us up bright and early to set up the new PA and speakers at Myerscough College where we have been a feature of their Open Day for a goodly number of years. Our first appearance was in 2002!

The old PA and speakers required three trips to the car. The new ones require just a single trip! And once in the car fully loaded I could see through the rear window instead of having to rely solely on side mirrors to see behind me!

Mobbed! Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie find our name in the programme and interrupt proceedings to show us! Setting up took a while longer than usual as I had to balance all the settings before I felt comfortable. Once done it should be like the old equipment that we hardly ever tweaked apart from the overall volume.

This year for the second time we were playing opposite the entrance to the Stumble Inn - the college's on-campus pub and tables and chairs were set up so that people could sit with a drink and listen to us.

We set a new record I think on Sunday - we played for about 6 hours! My fingers tips weren't so bad at the end strangely, but the arthritis in my index finger knuckle gave me gyp later and on the following day! And my back was rather sore - a solid-bodied guitar is ok around your neck for an hour or two but six...? That singer is a slave driver!

And here we are (were) in 2002, with Bob Snape on bass, playing on a very rainy day, with towels spread over the keyboard to keep it dry and my old Sumbro Japanese Stratocaster copy! At the time we were all members of staff at Myerscough. Only David remains on the staff there now.

Creeping Bentgrass at Myerscough College 2014 Open Day and Country Fair

Following our Saturday night at Coast Riders Diner, we were up early to play at Myerscough College's Open Day and Country Fair on Sunday. Thousands of people attend this annual event and for safety it is a no-car zone during the day. Apart from a few tyre-screaming motor sports activities taking place in specially designated areas, that is!

So we were on the campus before 9:00am and set up opposite the entrance to the Stumble Inn - Myerscough's bar. I'd taken the special edition unpainted Stratocaster with me and played it early on in the day. Lovely to play it again, though the standard Strats give me a more controllable tone I find and I was back on the cherry red guitar after lunch.

Tables and chairs had been set up outside the Stumble Inn and ensured we had an audience for the entire day. The rain managed to stay away apart from one brief shower and the sun was kind to us too!

In fact the only downer came a couple of days after when a friend of Fran's reported that she was talking to someone who had been to the Open Day.

"Oh, did you see Fran's husband and his friend playing music?" she had asked.
"Well, there were a couple of old geezers..." came the doubtful reply.

Myerscough College Open Day 2013

Sunday 9 June saw us at Myerscough College, performing at their Open Day for the twelfth year running.

We were both suffering a little from sore throats - we stayed away from the more raucous stuff until much later in the afternoon when we seemed to have powered through and all the symptoms disappeared!

The college has carried out a bit of building since last year and we were in a different place than usual, away from the stream of people walking to and from the car park. But people seemed to find us easily enough, including three ex-colleagues from 20 years ago when I worked at Preston College.

The sun was a bit fierce and I always forget that when playing a guitar the underside of my left arm is exposed. That was sore for a few days...