Sunnyside 2011 - Friday 18 March

Phew - it's been one of those weeks out on the road eating up miles and not getting much chance to sort out photos or thoughts!

So let's go back just over a week to last Friday and we piled everything in the trusty MPV and breathed a sigh of relief as we considered that, had it had rafters, it would be full to them!

We were taking our full set of gear down this time so with PA and speakers, keyboard and guitar, gig bag, stands and luggage and four people, we zoomed off down the motorway, stopping at every second services - drat these pills...

The hotel we've used the last two years is now a Travelodge and a communal breakfast-free area so we were staying at the Sunley Conference Centre of Northampton University, who were providing a large room for the Friday night jam session.

Lots of familiar faces there from years past and also some new ones. Some that I knew from the Billy Fury forum but had never met.

In fact the first thing we saw was the Danmobile! Daniel Heeney, is a long-standing member of the billyfury.com forums but it was our first meeting. "Long-standing" suits him - he's a tall fella! And I loved his act on Friday night!

Cathy and Jean were on hand to give me my first cuddles, Katie, Marie and Jan hadn't been able to make it alas! Likewise a few others but there was a good crowd of us. The Furygirls' favourite, Johnny Storm was there to wow them with his voice. Miss Franny came over all accusingly at me because he did one of her favourite Michael Bolton songs - er... yes, it's a while since we've done that one I know...

MC, the fabulous Rob Dee called us up. Creeping Bentgrass took to the stage area and we set off with a Billy song - Like I've Never Been Gone, one of my favourites!

We had a bit of help with Johnny B Goode (below) - he can be a bit of a handful that one!

And at the end of the night we were surprised but very honoured to be asked back to play a live backing for all the performers from the night to sing Billy's best known hit, Halfway to Paradise.

All the photos from Friday night are in a set at my Flickr account and the video of Like I've Never Been Gone is at the band's YouTube channel.

Saturday night report to come...

Suspicion at Sunnyside

Am soooooo much in need of sleep after wonderfully welcoming weekend (a bit of alliteration for you there!) at Sunnyside, Northampton for the Billy Fury weekend.

A more detailed entry to come but for now before I climb or crawl up the stairs to dreamland... the opening number from our set last night: Elvis's Suspicion. G'night all...

Something Fishy...

The scanning - as you may just have noticed - has slowed down a bit as I've been very busy at work and not at home all that much to do any scanning! However, I'm pulling a few 1981 shots together for this entry.

In the summer of that year we visited the summer fair of the local branch of BLESMA - the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association.

At that time there were still a couple of old soldiers there who had lost limbs in World War One I seem to remember and their prosthetics included the use of old fashioned hooks to replace a hand.

There was a small fairground laid on for visitors as a fund-raising venture and Gill won a prize on one of the stands. She wanted a goldfish. We hadn't banked on this, but she most definitely wanted a goldfish and a comb, screwdriver or a small and tatty plastic toy wasn't going to sway her away from wanting a goldfish.

We arrived home with this small, over-hot and suffocating little fish and it lived for a day in a large glass mixing bowl until we could buy a small plastic tank to put it in. Gillian decided it would be named "Eric the Twink". I've no idea where that came from...

Eric, against all expectation, did not die half an hour after getting him home. He stubbornly held onto life, requiring the purchase of said plastic tank so that Fran could wash out his bowl and make more cup cakes...

We grew fond of him and a few friends were found for him. He did then eventually pop his clogs not long after the new friends came... But these grew to need a larger tank and a couple of them, a large goldfsh called Jaws and a shubunkin called Bluey are seen above.

Jaws eventually grew to around 6 inches in length and, exactly as with model train sets, we realised that if we wanted a more scenic environment then we had to shrink the scale somewhat and at Christmas 1981 a 3 feet long tropical fishtank made an appearance.

The fish were much smaller, more colourful, much more varied in shapes and behaviour and ...er... bred like rabbits...

But the hours of pleasure (or hypnotism) we got from sitting and staring at the large tank was brilliant.



Large versions of the photos: goldfish and shubunkin, guppy, fish tank

CBG in Catforth

Last night Creeping Bentgrass played a social "Dance Nite" at Catforth Village Hall. My SatNav tried to take us down a dead end again. Luckily we recognised it as one that we tried before, having to turn back when it became a rut and yawning chasm-filled dirt track. Instead we did a somewhat circuitous route to get there... The journey back was much quicker as we decided to ignore the SatNav!

We set off with the usual country and folk sets to an enthusiastic audience. As the hall warmed up (literally), a couple of balloons exploded quite spectacularly close by my head - talk about playing under fire...!

We had a break whilst a hotpot supper was served and then came back complete with sparkly ties to play through the late 50s and 60s sets and a selection of smoochy ballads for dances "in hold" as David described it...

A great night with plenty of folk on the dance floor and lots of happy faces singing along at the tables.

We usually play for around 3 and a half to four hours on such nights and lots of friends ask how we can play so long.

Well if you play guitar regularly you just build up corn on the ends of your fingers and although some of it wears off after a full night's playing, as witness last night's photo of my fingers, it doesn't hurt any more than feeling a little tender and this morning my fingers are back to normal again.

The next gig is the annual Billy Fury bash in Northampton in a fortnight. Looking forward to that!!!

Blackpool Snowbound, 1981

The snow that blanketed much of the country in December last year had happened before in Blackpool in 1981. On the evening of Sunday December 13 1981 Blackpool suddenly realised that an almost unheard of amount of snow had fallen within not much more than an hour.

A full eight inches of snow had covered the ground and was left merrily to freeze overnight. The resulting ruts meant that it was impossible to turn off a main road into a side street if no one had done it the night before, whilst the snow was still soft. The snow was so packed and hard that it was like being on rails. All that turning the steering wheel did was make the car judder whilst the ruts took you in the direction someone else had gone before!

These photos were taken several days later on the 17th December and the snow still hadn't gone. This is a view of Bank Hey Street looking south towards the Tower and Victoria Street. The first photo was taken from the pedestrian bridge over the Promenade. It was demolished in 2010 as part of the Promenade and sea defences refurbishment.

Traffic travelling south on the Promenade Road had to use the offside lane unless they were turning into Talbot Square due to a stubborn and unofficial traffic island!

Return to Blackpool Promenade and Beach Index Page

Hazel O'Connor: The Bluja Project

Last night we went to see Hazel O'Connor singing with The Bluja Project at Fleetwood's Marine Hall.

With Hazel onstage were saxophonist Clare Hirst and providing a really solid and feisty piano accompaniment, Sarah Fisher.

I met Hazel back in 2007 when I was introduced by Ingrid Pitt, the actress at a Memorabilia show, who said to her, "This is John, he's a fabulous singer!" Which, being said to someone I consider to be a fabulous singer, was a bit embarrassing at the time! Once Ingrid had gone back to her own stand, Hazel grinned and dug me in the ribs and said "So? Fabulous singer eh?"

At that show I bought her album Hidden Heart which had a very strong Celtic influence and was acoustic in its backing. Well worth a listen, by the way. So I wasn't sure what to expect when we turned up to find friends Chrissie, Alex and Ellie waiting for us. There were a few punk hairstyles in the audience and I knew everyone (myself included) would be waiting for her to perform that wonderful song, Will you from the film Breaking Glass. And with a saxophonist in the group it was a pretty certain bet!

It came towards the end of the set as could be expected and was as good as you could expect. Not as in "as good as you could expect with just two musicians" but seriously "as good as you could expect". Sarah filled out the backing throughout the night quite magnificently on the electric piano and Clare's saxophone solo was every bit as good as the original 1981 single. Hazel's voice remains as haunting as it was.

But it wasn't the only reminder of those wild punk rock days. Eighth Day and D Days, everyone singing along to the former and spellbound by an excellent arrangement of the latter whilst Hazel's delivery and swinging arms took us back to... can it really be 30 years ago???

Swing arrangements, a healthy dose of jazz, blues, a cover of Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars and a stunning version of the Four Tops classic Do What You Gotta Do - which Hazel said she had first heard as the B side of Nina Simone's hit Ain't Got No/I Got Life. I never knew that! It is however my favourite Four Tops song of all time.

And my sad realisation is that nobody under the age of 30 will know what a "B side" is...

A special mention to a great support act: Tensheds

Fabulous night! There are still more dates on the tour and I'll tell you what - I'd go again!

Links:
http://www.hazeloconnor.com
http://www.blujaproject.com

Waiting for the Accident

An exciting interlude on my way to Edinburgh today.

Approaching the city from the south via the town of Biggar, I found myself following an extremely aged large saloon, possibly a Jag XK120 or XK140 which was bouncing about, half covered by plastic sheeting on the back of a trailer being towed by a large 4x4.

It was bouncing about because the twerp in the 4x4 couldn't grasp that the trailer was wider than his car and he was driving right up to the edge of the road, sometimes kerbstones, sometimes grass verge and sometimes fairly large rocks.

The trailer, being wider than the car was obliged to travel on the rough grass verges, bounce over the rocks and mostly scrape the side of its wheel along the kerbs. I kept well back, waiting for the trailer's tyre to explode and shred...

However, there isn't always justice and he eventually turned off, narrowly missing being hit by an oncoming wagon. Perhaps he later got out of the 4x4 and did a double take at the trailer and vintage car, saying, "Where the hell did that come from?!?" He certainly didn't seem to know it was there!

I was driving so I've no photo to add to this - you'll just have to imagine me driving along in the choking dust that he kept throwing up from verge and gutter...

I'm Just Boasting!

I know. I shouldn't. But I missed it the day when my photos at my Flickr account reached half a million views.

So today I'm celebrating 550,000 views instead!

Bunting. Fireworks. Trumpets. Hurray!

Thank you! I couldn't have done it without you. It doesn't count my viewings...

1981 Travels

I'm still scanning through the 1981 negatives although happily into December now. Some great pics of Blackpool in snow to come...

This time though there's a few of different places we went to in late 1981, starting with one of Lytham.

After I uploaded this one to my Flickr account (link to large versions below) I had a comment that it looked pretty much the same 30 years ago that it does now. Only the amount of traffic had changed.

It's a problem we all face and one that catches us all out. We take photos of what we expect to change and what we want to remember. The things that only change after a lifetime we don't bother photographing. And yet I wonder.

I haven't been back to Lytham to look at the view from this same spot but maybe I should. The comments I get on my older photos at Flickr are ones that have stirred memories for people. Shops long since gone. Rides on Blackpool Pleasure Beach that no longer exist.

Buildings tend to look the same over a lifetime but what or who resides in them changes. Shop frontages change and people like to be reminded of their past.

So where does that leave photographs like this one of Inskip parish church? The church itself is unlikely to have changed in a mere 30 years. But what about the churchyard? What changes to trees and shrubs, flowers? Has the churchyard filled up with graves or have some older graves disappeared. How many graves would there be in the churchyard of a small rural village? The answer would probably be surprising.

Many of those churches have been there for 800+ years. How many funerals are held in a week? Mutiplied by 52. Multiplied by 800...

Finally here's a photo of Oldham. I had worked there for a while in 1972 and I think this visit in 1981 may well have been the last time I went there!

Has it changed? I suspect so. But at the least I'd be surprised to still find Freeman Hardy Willis still selling shoes there!

Large versions of the photos: Lytham, Inskip Parish Church, Oldham

Creeping Bentgrass at Catforth, 5 March 2011

I'm told there are still a few tickets left for our show at Catforth Village Hall on Saturday 5 March 2011.

Starting at 7:30pm through until 11:30pm the night is advertised as a "dance nite" and the admission fee of £10 includes a hot pot supper.

More details about the event available by following the link, including contact details of the organisers for tickets etc.

You can find a map here.

Black and White, Sepia and Just a Dab of Dulux on a Postcard

Here's another of the postcards I bought last week at the antiques place.

This was posted from Southend-on-Sea on 21 August 1939 and shows the bright lights of that seaside town before they were extinguished a short while later for the war time blackout.

This started out as an ordinary black and white photograph, taken in daylight. Then the sky area was masked over whilst it was printed, then the mask moved to allow a dark sky to be exposed onto the paper. Before that happened a small disc (possibly a coin on the original enlargement) was placed on the paper which has remained white under it to act as the moon.

Then the finished print was sepia coloured for the brown effect of the sky and foreground detail before certain bits were treated to an artist's touch to add the yellow red and blue highlights. The sea was given a blue wash which proved too tricky to bother about having anything other than blue lights on the pier and seafront to the right of the photo! A clear bit was added for the moon to "reflect upon". A bit of green paint was literally scribbled over the dark garden area to the right of the pier boardwalk and there we have the final result - Valentine's post card G.5936 (this is a real photograph).

It was sent to the Blades family in Retford, Nottingham with the message almost all as one sentence:

Southend. Having the day here today been lovely but had a thunderstorm this afternoon there's Percy and Mrs J. and J here. Cheerio Molly xxx

On the Wireless...

This morning we were the studio band for Preston FM's Saturday Brunch, a light-hearted music and chat magazine-style radio programme.

We had an absolute ball, the programme had some great guests including Neil Thomson from Blackpool's Grand Theatre and Henry Metcalfe, currently playing Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Preston's Charter Theatre.

We got to play seven songs with a range of different styles from Gypsy Woman (Country) through Irish (Fields of Athenry) to 60s folk (The Boxer), through the 1950s and 60s with Billy Fury, Buddy Holly and Creedence Clearwater Revival and we finished the show with a rock and roll self-indulgence - Johnny B Goode!

A little added pressure was provided with the presence of the organisers of a local Battle of the Bands! Here were two guys well into their music. Luckily they seemed satisfied with what they saw and heard! Well at least they didn't laugh!

Our thanks to the show's presenter, Mark Howard (runs a marathon during the show to take the mic to different people around the tables) and the really laid-back "techie" Richard, patiently keeping his hand in the air counting down the time until Mark looked up to see it!

We loved it! I keep trying to scrape the smile off my face, but it's stuck...

Irritable? Downright Grumpy Bowel...

It's been something of a trying week...

At some point on Sunday I became aware of a twinge, a soreness low down in the abdomen. Admittedly we had been out for a meal on Saturday night which was mega in proportions and most enjoyable. But the soreness turned to pains and didn't stop.

By Tuesday I was thinking fondly of starting to whimper quietly and got myself down to the doctor who took a sample ("Ooh, your sugar's sky high!") and my temperature ("Oh, look at that! You're quite poorly!") and felt my stomach and abdomen ("Yeowwww!" - no, that was me...)

So my bowel was diagnosed as the culprit and I've been taking some rather sensationally sized pills and capsules since then.

... For your amusement I attach a scan showing my normal-sized capsules for the blood pressure and two of the socking pills they've given me for this... I ask you - does it even look humane?!? The first attempt wasn't too sucessful but at least I've managed to get used to the horrendous size of the tablets and so far the score is - down the gullet: 23 and halfway down the gullet and back to disappear down the sink: 1 - a clear victory I think...

The Ladies-Over-The-Water asked whether the doctor had diagnosed diverticulitis?

I can't recall the Doc saying diverticulitis - I thought she was saying she had to divert her gaze because of how cute I was...? Or was it something about divers being ticklish? No actually I can't remember her saying anything like that - it was more the description than any name and I was somewhat diverted anyway as the prodding really made me wince... I did sort of lock eyes with her in a fixed gaze but then when I started breathing again I was able to look away and begin to hear again. It is definitely not that bad today! But it wasn't that bad the other day until she tried to make her fingers disappear in an abdominal hole of her own making...

A Line of Curiosities

I'm soon going to have to move onto something else. The black and white negatives I took in 1981 are almost inexhaustible! I'm into October now (but have been for a while) and whilst there's some good memories to be had there, I need to start seeing things in colour again for a bit!

Taken 21 October 1981 - but all still there for the taking in colour - in the Lancashire town of Poulton-le-Fylde, near Blackpool, there is an extraordinary line of old and curious things all with stories to tell of bygone ways of life. The stocks were a cheap method of punishment where miscreants and law breakers were pinioned by the legs on market days where they could be pelted with rotten vegetables (or rocks, depending on how vindictive you were feeling). At least in the stocks you could defend your face with your arms. The pillory, which pinioned arms and head was a much harsher punishment, not in itself but in the damage caused by missiles! The market cross behind the stocks is set on a Jacobean pillar mounted upon steps. The stone table affair behind the market cross is the "fish-stones", where bartering for goods took place.

Behind those is a whipping post where people were publicly flogged. We talk of poverty these days forgetting that people throughout history in this country knew that if a harvest failed then they were likely to starve to death. Stealing food was a serious crime in such times. People were as likely to be deported to Australia or hanged as they were to be flogged for stealing a loaf of bread. Deportation meant being chained in a crowded ship's hold for months on end, sitting, sleeping in your own and everyone else's filth and amongst those who had died on the way. Happy times... Luckily for the crims, Human Rights ensures that these days it's only the innocent who have to suffer...

In 1981 the village centre was still open to traffic. This road was later returned to a cobbled surface and pedestrianised. Once we get some sunshine again I will go and retake these in colour!

Lincoln at Night

On Tuesday night I arrived in Lincoln, prior to running some Project Management training at the university. After checking into the hotel I needed to stretch my legs and found a large shopping mall opposite the hotel.

Whilst most of the shops were already closed and others were in the midst of closing, I did see this excellent view of the cathedral from a bridge over a river, which I later found to be the River Witham. I'd left the camera in the hotel and mentally kicked myself. Dodging into a Costa, I decided during the course of a small latte that it was too good a view not to record and after the coffee walked back to the hotel, returning with the camera. The superb dark blue sky had gone black of course by the time I got back, but even so, it was worth the taking I think! I hope you agree!

Return to Work Index

Star Wars - The Weather Strikes Back

Saturday 10 October 1981. Blackpool was experiencing some rather heavy gales. And that means hefty! Mostly when the weather forecasters say "There will be 70mph winds" Blackpool folks say "Yeah? So...?"

The second (now the 5th) Star Wars episode - The Empire Strikes Back - had just been released and the Illuminations featured a fabulous full-sized X-Wing fighter along with a fairly decent R2D2 and a downright dubious C3PO!

The wind had broken the fighter craft in two and had also torn a laser gun from one of the wings.

Because the film had just been released this was newsworthy stuff. There would be no daily papers the following day as it was Sunday and so, like the prepared boy scout that I never was, I found the number of the news desk at the News of the World and told them what had happened and that I'd got some pictures if they wanted to buy them.

I could sense a definite interest and as the chap was about to tell me the local address to take the film I heard a commotion in the background and then he said in a shocked, excited voice "Sorry lad, we've got our front page spread now - a bomb's gone off..." The phone immediately went down.

The IRA had exploded a bomb in Ebury Bridge Road next to Chelsea Barracks. Two people died and 39 others were injured. I may have been the first person outside London to hear of it.

Large versions of the photos: top photo, bottom photo

There are also two more photos of this event at Flickr.

Pleasure Beach at Night 1981

Taken during October 1981 here are a few photos of Blackpool Pleasure Beach at night.

This shows one of the very early rides of the Pleasure Beach and certainly the oldest still in existence, the Hiram Maxim Flying Machine. Maxim was interested in flight which was in its infancy at the time and he built several of these machines which must have given thousands of people their first experience of what it must be like to fly in an aeroplane. As it spins, centrifugal force lifts the gondolas outwards from the base.

It has recently been announced that the Magic Mountain ride is to be demolished to make space for a more modern attraction. A fairy grotto dark ride, it was built on the southern half of the Pleasure Beach at a time when this space was reserved for children's rides.

I rode this myself as a young child in the 1950s and used to love watching the robot, an animated mannikin figure that "played" an organ console at the front of the ride. It's visible on the photo if you look hard. The ride dates from 1934 but sadly 76 years is all it will get.

And from the older rides to one that was bang up to date when the photo was taken. The Revolution was Britain's first looping roller coaster. It was (and is) a short track. Riders climb to the starting point on a level with the top of the loop and the ride goes down a dip, around the loop and up the other side then repeats the journey backwards. In order to have the power to climb as high as the starting point there is a catapult mechanism at either end to give it a boost.

Return to Blackpool Pleasure Beach Index Page

Garstang Festival 2011

This year we have been booked for 3 days at the Garstang Arts & Music Festival.

You'll be able to see us on Saturday 20 August, Saturday 27 August and Bank Holiday Monday 29 August. For a preview of what you can expect here's a video of two old geezers playing Concrete and Clay at the 2010 festival!

A Peek in the Tram Sheds

10 October 1981. A nice man did something that no one would do today. He allowed me to go into the tram sheds on Rigby Road Blackpool for a look round and to take some photographs for an article I was writing for The Lancashire Magazine.

"Just mind those inspection pits - we don't want to have to fish you out..." he said. By heck, they were daring days...

The first thing that caught my eye were the two battered and ancient trams in the corner that were then serving as engineering cars.

These Blackpool Standard trams dated from the 1920s and whilst this may not have been the best way to see them, at least they had been saved from the scrapyard!

The last of the 1953 Coronation Class tramcars to remain in Blackpool. They had a history of jumping the tracks apparently and it was also said that the weight of them wore out the track too quickly to be economic.

The granddaddy of them all - the 1904 Dreadnought tram was the very first tramcar to be preserved and is the last of its type. It has been restored more times than I've had hot dinners. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration. The original preservation came in the 1930s with the arrival of the double-deck Balloon trams. Then a restoration was carried out at the end of the 1950s and once again for Blackpool's Centenary in 1976.

The 1934 open air trams replaced the earlier open-sided Toastracks and became known as Boats due to their streamlined bow. They are the oldest original public service vehicles in routine service.

As such they are of particular interest to tram enthusiasts all over the world. This one was back in Blackpool after a spell on the tracks in Philadelphia, USA.

Looking from the rear of the shed with a couple of the illuminated fleet seen on the left of the photograph.

No automated washing in those days! A one-man-operated tram gets a wash and brush up from two workers at the depot.

Crashes between trams have always been thankfully rare occurrences. The worst occurred when a tram was unexpectedly diverted by the points at a loop into the path of an oncoming tram.

Return to Blackpool Tram and Bus Index Page

Windermere Sunset

The last entry of the 4 October 1981 Lake District set.

We had ended the day at Ambleside and before we set off back we watched the sun disappear over the horizon from Waterhead, the northern tip of Lake Windermere.

We walked along the lake edge for a while drinking in the tranquillity and loving the colours in the sky.

This sort of photograph was notoriously difficult to print and I've never seen these black and white photos look so good!

Return to Lake District and Cumbria Index