December
Last Updated
30/12/2001
Club Accord December 2001 Newsletter
A Happy New Year to all our members and friends, lets make the new year one full of music, accordion music. Please, please bring your accordions to club, especially on club nights, so we have a good variety of music. club is only what we make it, we try to keep everyone entertained, booking really good artists if possible every other month, but we depend on members for club nights.
The Christmas party was a lively affair, our guest for the night was Luke Lewis who plays the banjo, an all round entertainer. He can play the accordion but I think he was a bit intimidated playing at an accordion club. We hope you enjoyed him, maybe not to everyones taste but we can not always please everyone although we try. Luke began by playing the banjo and taking us back to the 40's with George Formbys songs like "Aunty Maggies Remedy", and "Mr Woo". Luke certainly has the right "sound" and after a few more famous Formby songs he then changed to the mouth organ and what a great player he is. Still in the mid 20th Century mood he played the theme from "Dixon of Dock Green" and "Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter", then we heard a few Flanagan and Allen songs such as "Underneath the Arches" etc. In between playing he told us a few jokes and swapped a myriad of hats to go with the various songs and moods. To end the first half he played the themes from "Dads Army" and "Last of the Summer Wine".
Next came the food, thank you to everyone for bringing such a lovely selection of food - most of which was all eaten this year! We held the raffle of around 20 prizes - thanks to all the contributors, and Lou Ambrose won the Attendance Award. Tracey began the members section with some seasonal music like "Walking in the Air", from the "Snowman" and then a complicated version of the "Sleigh Ride". Neil came next with a Scottish medley "Bonnie Anne" and "Laird of Drumblair" and finished with a set of hornpipes "Locomotive", "Belfast" and "High Level". Erica carried on the seasonal theme with "Silent Night", and "First Noel" and ended with a Tango. Our youngest member Charles was next, and he started with "Wish yourself a Merry Little Xmas", "Silent Night" and then finished with a few old singalong favourites. Nancy, with Paul accompanying her on the mouth organ, played "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", "White Christmas", "To Old to Dream" and "Under the Bridges of Paris". They ended with an old Xmas song "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot". Our next member was Tony who played his Midi accordion with more seasonal songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Wish yourself a Merry Little Xmas".
Luke returned to play more George Formby favourites with a little help from members who he invited to stroll around with him to the song "Strolling". More members joined him to play a variety of instruments that he had "lying around", such as maracas and tambourines. They joined in with "A little Bit of Blackpool Rock", "Leaning on the Lampost", "Sitting at the Shoe Shine Shop" and the "Silly Song". Luke finished off with a set of Al Jolson numbers.
All in all it was a great evening for those who came. Angela thanked Carol and the Club for having us, and also the raffle ladies for their help. Tracey kept us up to date with the latest happenings from the accordion festivals. At last the accordion seems to be being recognised as a "real" instrument.
We start the new year with a good list or artists and full programme. January is a club night with the theme "TV, Film, Radio, and Theatre". In February its the excellent John Kirkpatrick, a renowned box player who hosted the Radio show "Accordion around the World" on Radio 2, and a real professional. Lets hope more members bring their accordions and play - please. Club subscriptions are now due - they are still the same price £5 each or £7.50 for two at the same address.