Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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11th March 1998

Peter Whiteley and Adrienne Sharpe were our guest artists on 11th March, they played Tyrol Night, John McGregor, Mary Printy, Panis Angelicus, Corinne, Snow in Summer and Scala Chromatica in the first half, but first we were first warmed up by Basil Berry playing September in the Rain, Dancing in the Dark, The Nearness of You and So in Love. Basil was one of the players at the recent MRI Scanner appeal accordion concert organised by Lytham St. Anne’s Art Society, the other players were Joanne Finnegan, Jean Southern and Andrew Figg. Each player played a 20 minute solo spot and a finger buffet was organised for the break. With the ticket admission and raffle money the event raised £450. Well done Basil and everyone else involved. Tom Bennett was next with his Theme from Love Story and Bridge over Troubled Water. I played The Long Long Trail and my new improved (fewer mistakes) version of American Patrol on a borrowed accordion, mine being away at Allodi Accordions in London, I had sent it there for tuning and servicing. I have just got it back two days before the festival, after being without it for a month. I found it very difficult to play at first, this shows the importance of playing or practicing on a regular basis. Now I cannot blame my accordion for wrong notes or playing too fast, I will have to find a new excuse in future. I was surprised to learn from the tuner that my accordion was older than I am, it was made in about 1960, I already knew that it was not a new accordion but I did not realise that it was that old! Rebecca Postlewhite gave her debut performance at Leyland Accordion Club with Twelfth Street Rag, Speranze Perdute, Roll the Barrel and Granada. Rebecca recently gained a Distinction in her Grade 5 practical, well-done Rebecca. Walter Perrie then enthralled us with Made in Paris, “La Valse des As” and La Danza before handing the stage over to Peter Whiteley and Adrienne Sharpe for their final session, in which they organised a musical quiz where everyone had a pencil and paper and had to guess the persons name contained in each of 19 tunes played by Peter. There were two winners with 17 correct answers, so peter played a tiebreaker, for one of them to win a musical pencil (I never did find out what a musical pencil was). They also played Valse Lyrique, The Doreen Waltz, Prelude for two accordions, Ozlo Waltz, Kingsbury March, Beautiful Days, Luci E Ombre and finally finishing with Alpine Breezes. Anyone who has still not paid their club membership will find that this is their last free newsletter, Membership of the club is by subscription to this newsletter at the bargain rate of £3 per year, this is the amount it costs per year just for the stamps to post it, a bargain at twice the price even though I say so myself. Anyone who has not paid their membership or visited the club in the last three months will be missed out of the mailing in future, this is only fair to those of you who pay for your newsletter. By not sending out free newsletters, the savings in stamps, envelopes, paper and time will allow me to produce a bigger and better newsletter for the rest of you. At the moment the newsletter is going out to well over 100 people per month. Some people have told me that they actually read it! I am glad as it’s normally about 4am when I put the final touches to it. Our next club night is only a few days away, On Wednesday 1st April, Steve Roxton will be playing for us before he returns to Jersey. I look forward to seeing you there.

Wyre Accordion Festival: There is a one day accordion festival on Saturday 11th April at the Marine Hall Complex, Fleetwood. There will be competitions throughout the day from 9am and trade stands where you can buy new and used accordions, backstraps, tapes, music, accordion mugs etc. Lunch is provided and there is a Hot Pot following the evening concert which features Barbara Anne Martindale and the Arnbach Akkordeon Orchestra, also the UK Junior Accordion Champion Johnny Lee Leslie will be appearing. Admission during the day is about £2.50 and for the evening concert £7. Contact Gina on 01253 778764 for more details.

Following a request in the last newsletter for players for a charity accordion concert in aid of The Brittle Bones Society, I am pleased to say that we now have players, a date and a location for this event. This is to take place at St. Wilfreds Club, Longridge on 27th May 1998. Admission £2.50, 8PM Start. Tickets are available from Gertie Masterson, Longridge Pet Store 01772 783528 or you could pay at the door. Refreshments are available, and a raffle will be held during the evening. The players who have confirmed they will play are David Batty, Walter Perrie, Rebecca Postlewhite, Tom Bennett, Jay & Jeff Ward and The Klavacords Duo (Leo and Les Thurston). I am sure that this is going to be a good evening and I look forward to seeing those of you who can make it.

A Charity fundraising evening is being organised this Saturday 28th March by Walter Perrie, this is a social evening in aid of the Jose Carreras Leukemia Research Foundation. The admission charge of £3 gets you in to the house and pays for your supper, Walter will be playing a few tunes during the evening and his daughter April will sing and play the flute. Simply turn up at 1 Elmwood Drive Penwortham nr Preston at 7.30pm. All welcome. Tel. 01772 748537

Barbara Anne Martindale from Canada is guest artist at Stockport Accordion Club on Tuesday 7th April. You can contact Rob Howard on 0161 480 8858 for further details.

Wyre Accordion Club have a guest artist at their next club night but who it is exactly, is a secret! Tom Duncan announced this at the last Wyre Accordion Club meeting and said that he will not tell anyone who is playing. When I later asked him for their name he said he was not telling me because if I find out, I will put it on the Internet! Maybe it’s Lord Lucan, or Salman Rushdie!

The International Accordion Festival will be taking place as you receive this newsletter. Most of you, have indicated to me that, being local people, you will not be attending the festival because day tickets are not being allowed, and in order to be at the festival it is a requirement that you have to book a chalet, which few of you want to do when you have a perfectly good house just a few miles away, this is understandable. For those of you who fall in-to this category I will include a report and photographs of the festival in the next newsletter. One or two of you noticed the small print on your receipt from Pontins stating that day tickets are available from reception for your family and friends to visit you. When I contacted Pontins about this they confirmed that day tickets and evening tickets to visit shows and the camp are available as mentioned in the terms and conditions of booking but, because this is a private hire event, the organiser can, if they wish, decide not to allow tickets to be issued. I know that because of the day tickets offer mentioned on your paperwork, some of you were going to try and get friends in this way but be prepared to be disappointed if you cannot manage it.

Q: What’s a Bassoon good for ? A: Kindling for an accordion fire.

Did you know Only one accordion per person is allowed through customs in Turkey. The word accordion comes from the German word “Akkord”, meaning harmony or agreement. John Lennon, Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens were all accordionists. In 1883, Tchaiskovsky’s Suite No 2 in C Major was written for the accordion

Where’s Fred, I thought he was with you? He’s over there, we’re playing an accordion duet but I finished first. Q: Why do some people automatically hate accordionists? A: It saves a lot of time.

On Sunday 12th and Monday 13th April, Jay and Jeff Ward will be playing in the Bandstand by St. Anne’s Pier from 2pm to 4pm. Why not have a day out and listen to their Accordion and Keyboard performance. It’s worth it.