George Formby
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I' THE GEORGE FORMBY Vol. 9 No. 4 Newsletter1 oo Oct 2003 ·* :'* * * Crewe, * Frodsham * Llandudno * Bhtci<IIOOI * Fleetwood * Wigan Pier * Wardngton ' * l-Ice, let's mal<e the year 21104 big Yea•· r f Specially Produced for George Formby Fans by Stan Evans, The Hollies, 19 Hall Nook, Penketh, Warrington, Cheshire WAS 2HN Tel or Fax 01925 727102 - 2- Welcome To Newsletter No. 100 Happy 1OOth by Brian Edge- Stan Beats Geot·ge to his 1 001"! Our congratulations must go to Stan Evans on the publication of the one-hundredth edition of the George Formby Newsletter. This 20-page magazine is always eagerl)' awaited by hundreds of readers each month. It has been an enormous boost for par1ici pating branches that arc able to keep their members informed of past meetings future events, and at the snme time cnrning generous commission on sales. The Crewe Society currently benefit to the extent of £100 a year, which is a welcome contribution to society funds. Stan however has no magic formula for publishing his magazine as it all goes down to dedication and hard work. It is not unusual for Stan to be in his office at ten in the' morning and still be there at midnight and often into the earl)' hours. His newsletter has ne\'er failed to come out on time which is a great record considering all his commit ments and the dodgy temperament of photocopying ma chines. So our thanks to Stan from all your readers for taking up the late Wally Cronshaw's suggestion, that we nl>cded a branch newsletter and by so doing furthering our main ob jective in perpetuating the memory of that great entertainer and comedian George Formby. Long may the publication continue. Many tltank5 Brian. Much appreciated, but I couldn't ltm•e kept lite Newsletter going "itlwut the aid people like yourself who comtantly hunt around for mm!5y items and articles. It's grand to go to tlte concerts and see The late Wally Cronshaw whn pestered the life out of me to start e1•erybody reading their Ne)l!5letters. Tltatrk.s to aU wlw con this Newsletter. Cheers, Wnlly. tribute am/ to those who purcltafe attd read the Newsl.etter.f. **************••••••··························· It's A Grand Idea!!!! -Inthelastissueweaskedyouropinionon whether we should call 2004 Gt'orgc's Year to give everybody a chance to stage some thing special for George's toOth Anniversary, and the reply was YES!!! - Chark~ Stewart and Alan Chenery agreed as May is too soon for Blackpool and they wish to combine it with events in July in Blackpool and Fleetwood. LiYerpool agree because they wish to hold something special without overcrowding the May month. "We are getting too old to dash all round theN. West in one month." N. Wales agreed because they have a heavy Llandudno programme early May 2004 and it will give them an opportunity to plan something special for George at 11 later date. Alan Southworth (Westhoughton) agreed as he thinks it is impossible to cram all the events into one month. Jon Baddeley, "Yes, but emphasise on May as the main month" Pat Ralston wishes to stage an event, on behalf of Jack .Jones, hut nearer lu . Jnd< ' ~ annh·ersary in June. So we arc doing great on dates to give George a wonderful I OOth Anniversary. - 3- Wigan Pier, Great News! Some years back we had a wonderful rapport with Wl gan Pier. They would invite us each year to play there nnd entertain the crowds and we took the opportunity to usc it to raise funds for a special need child or Alder Hey Children' .~ Hospital. However, on the last occasion Wl~ arrived there to find thnt it was all fenced off with 6 foot high wire netting and the area where we normally played was closed to the puhlic. Apparently this was the instructions of new manngemcnt that had taken over and they defi r nitely were not Formby fans. Fortunately we found a spot outside the George Orwell Puh so the day wasn't wasted. I've just had a meeting with them re. a George Formby lf}Oth Annh·ersnry, and was happy to find that the old manngement is now bnck in control, - and they are delighted to help. The result is that the main hall Is booked for Sunday 23nl May for a George Formby Special. The programme will cover 11 short history of GF Senior with songs, his mother Snrnh .Jnne Booth with songs, GF .Juninr with songs, followed hy a George Formby concert. DENNIS LEE--I mentioned it to Dennis and asked if he would consider coming over for the occasion (Well he is a Wigan lad) He said that he won't make any promises hut he will give it some thnught. We'd he Yery pleased to sec him. ~ * ***~~························································•••********** Chas & Dave-cJ Hughes are selling a Chas & Dave(LiveShow) tape/ CD and it's one of the hest tnpes I've ever bought. Apart from their own lnand of songs, surh n.~ "Rnhhit" - "Gertcha" - "Snooker Loopy" - nnd "Ain't No Plcnsing You" they have added a number of evergreens like: "Easter Parnde" - " Always"- "April Showers"- "Who's Sorry Now" and many rJ . more. One lively medley they sang went on for about 15 min . a ·!1, 'tif ' .. ~ utes and I'm surpri~cd they had the energy to keep going. It's a great tape and only £1.99. A hnrgain. ··;.. ~ ·. 1. **** **** ** ** ***************************************** ' 6~ Max & Harry Nesbitt-Harry,onthc right, must h:wc hccn one of the most dynamic uke players in • '. (I j I' the world. lie was a very fast player, and the way he threw the ukc around and twi~tcd it, always keeping in time with the .f J}, orchestra, was really hrilliant. I .... , , · ~ ... I "I Bnth were hnrn in Capl~ Town: Max 1903- 1966 and Harry 1905-1968, they came to the UK in 1927 anti within 4 months they were playing at the London Vaudeville. They were IJUite successful songwriters with over 2110 songs pub lished. Two of their songs were "Georgia's Gotta Moon" and "I Kiss Your Little Hand Mndame." Their act cnnslsted of Joke .~ and patter, finishing ol'f with a song they hnd written. Brilliant act. - 4- Crewe Teed Up for August Show But Nearly Tead Off The Crewe August show was the usual success but behind the scenes things were anything but usual. Whilst Jonathan and Pam were cn,joy ing a second honeymoon in the Channel Islands, Stan Evans wa .~ com plaining that he had arrived too early due to lack of holiday traffic and conversely Margaret Moran had to go back home due to a surfeit of traffic in her particular area. Chris Metcalf, suffering from a post operative illness could not attend so his place had to be covered by Tom Raiswell. Connie went sick at the 6.15pm and to cap it all the electric supply to water boiler failed. NO TEA? - At 7.20 Harry Jones advised me in no uncertain tones "there will he hell to play if there i~ 110 tea!" Harry was all ready to go out to find an alternative boiler when he and Alan Chcnery had a final look at the hall's electrical equip ment that resulted in Alan turning a switch that resolved the problem. A hig round of applause is due to Alan and Harry, as they did not get one on the night Mack and Millie McGee from Leeds arrived early- at 3.45prn in order to get a good scat! It was great to have them with u~ again. rt was alsn :sl~-~~ good to see Jack Crimes with us again after his illness, and also music to the ears to hear very good reports from Gerald from the drums whil e Angela. Beadle as to the improvement in his health since his big op. rt As hl ey 's mum, operates the was Cyril and Sheila's Golden Wedding on the day and they sound svstem. got their just applause. Other surprise guests were Derrick Jones & Simon, Peter Gratton, Wyn and Fred Stc\'enson, Pat ChenCQ', Eve Stewart and her friend. It was good to sec so many other new faces amongst the ninety-eight who turned up for the show. The M.C. was Stan Evans and the Concert Producer was Alan Newton. The artistes taking part were as follows: - STEVE HASSALL (drums) "It could lull'e been a Great Deal Worse" & "You Can 't Stop me from Dreaming. '' ARTHUR NEWTON "It's Tumed Out Nice Again" & "Sitting 011 the Top of R/ackpool Tower." CLIFF ROYLE "Swimmi11 IMth the Wimmi11" & "Fifty perce11t of it's Mine. " VERA JONES "Old Tyme Medley." MAC MCGEE "I Don't Like," "Somebot/y's Weddi11g Day," "Raiui11g in My /I earl'' & "/Jml'll For get me not Lane." WALTER KLRKLAND "You Can 't Keep a Growing Lad Dow11" & Bones Medley. CYRIL PALMER "Wirat'll I do" & "Hula /lem•e11. " ALAN CHENERY "lit tire Little Back Room Upstai~," "11re Wigtm float 10<pres. ~," "Tire l.auca.~hire lad allfl hi. ~ Uke" and "11re Wimlow Cleaner." BRJAN EDGE "I'm Givi11g Lessmu oil tire Ukulele to tire Girl Wlw Lives Ne.'d Door," & " Afr Wu i~ a Traffic Warden Now." ALAN NEWTON & STAN EVANS "I Wi~lr 1 Noel Murphy, by way of Derri ck Jones Could Play tire Ukulele. " JIM KNIGHT "A Long Writes in to say wh y Paddy's not in Time (,'one" & a hones medley. PETER GRATTON work t o d a~ ·.