Back home from Whitby

I got home from Whitby Folk Week yesterday afternoon. I've written about the pubs in Whitby several times before (particularly in 2009, 2010 and 2013) and not a lot has changed since last year.

JDW's Angel Hotel (from JDW's website)

The Angel Hotel (not to be confused with the Little Angel on Flowergate) by the harbourside was taken over by Wetherspoons early last year, raising hopes that it would impact on the prices of beer locally which, apart from the reliably cheap Sam Smiths pub the Jolly Sailors, seem high to me with my North West perspective. In fact, we found that Wetherspoons' prices weren't much less than the average for the area, starting at £2.95 a pint. It has also been refurbished in a more modern style than the usual Spoons decor. In one way it is a typical JDW house: if you're stuck behind people ordering meals or various coffees, you can wait a while to be served, which is frustrating when all you want it a pint, although to be fair, this wasn't the fault of the staff who were working hard.

Whitby Abbey Blonde
(from the brewery's website)

It was good to see the products of the new Whitby Brewery, which was set up last year. I tried two of their beers, Abbey Blonde and Platform 3, which is specially brewed for the Station Inn. I found them a bit too malty for my taste - even the Blonde - but other people were clearly enjoying them.

As for the music, I stuck to the fringe this year and spent a lot of time time in informal pub music and song sessions, particularly in the Station, the Elsinore and the Golden Lion. Our Lunchtime Legends rock & roll gig had the Elsinore packed out again on Wednesday lunchtime; it was great to have several young children aged between 4 and 9 bopping along, waving their hands in the air to anthems like Daydream Believer, and generally taking the opportunity to be silly like all the adults around them. Young Jessica was given the mike to sing a word-perfect chorus of Poison Ivy.

My week ended in the Station at a lively song and music session, although the non-folkie elements present loudly demanded old pop and rock & roll songs from me: it sounded like the whole pub was singing along to Those Were The Days. So much for my intentions to be more 'folkie' in my material on the last night.

Some good beers along the way: Saltaire Blonde, Wold Top's Golden Summer and Headland Red, and Ossett Silver King were highlights for me during the week. An honourable mention goes to a golden beer called Carnival Ale from the Truefitt Brewery of Middlesbrough, which I had in the Golden Lion.

It always seem a bit flat the day after you get back from holiday, but I've already booked my accommodation for next year, which will be the 50th Folk Week.

Whitby Legends

If anyone is in Whitby next week, why not come along and say hello?

Legends at Liverpool Beer Festival

Our Lunchtime Legends gig at the Liverpool Beer Festival went well, despite a late start due to the sound man, Ash, being delayed by bad traffic. Our usual line-up was augmented by Jez Lowe on bass; he had driven over from York especially to play with us. The late start meant we couldn't afford to have a sound check and we had to rely on Ash sorting it out during the first number and, to be fair, he did a good job. During our second spot, the audience began to loosen up, dancing in front of us and hands in the air waving to anthems such as Daydream Believer and Hi Ho Silver Lining. Because we were running late, we had to shorten our set, which was a disappointment and we had no time to play the encore that was being called for. One woman said how she was so pleased to hear us singing Terry by Twinkle, as no one ever covered it, and she bought a copy of the CD that it's on. We sold a few CDs, which was very nice.

One of the perks of playing at a beer festival is you get some free beer, although for obvious reasons you're expected not to get legless. We were given a George Wright beer first, followed by Liverpool Organic Styrian and then one from Brimstage. All good beers, in good nick too, and after 90 minutes of singing, very welcome. It was good to see some friends there at the festival too, including Harri the real ale drinker from Finland. He gave me a few photos he'd taken of me at the Southport Beer Festival.

After the session closed at 4.00 p.m., we went to the nearby Augustus John for a pint before taking ourselves and our instruments home. Beartown Kodiak Gold was my pint. In the evening, Chris (keyboards) and I went for a few pints in the Guest House in Southport. A good way of rounding the day off.

Beer festivals galore!

The Philharmonic Dining Rooms

The CAMRA Liverpool Beer Festival begins today; no point in rushing down as it's ticket only, and is sold out according to the website. I'll be there on Saturday as the band I'm in, the Lunchtime Legends, will be playing during the afternoon session. Should be interesting, especially in the light of my previous criticism of this festival's arcane ticket arrangements, although I have always acknowledged that running this festival is a massive task and the venue is wonderful.

As the Liverpool Beer Festival is a big occasion, a number of pubs like to join in by putting on their own festivals for drinkers to go to before or after their visit to the CAMRA one, or instead for the ticketless. So, if you don't have a ticket, you still have these fine choices:

·   The Dispensary on Renshaw Street has a festival to the 24 February with up to 50 beers on. Tel: 0151 709 2160.
·   The Augustus John is behind Blackwells bookshop on Brownlow Hill and is running its Beer and Cider Festival to 23 February.
·   The Ship & Mitre, 133 Dale Street, is running its real ale festival to 24 February. This pub usually has about 12 real ales on anyway, and frequently runs themed festivals throughout the year.
·   The splendid Philharmonic Dining Rooms (to give the pub its correct name), 36 Hope Street Liverpool L1 9BX, is running a festival until 24 February.

If you want, you can have a festival pub crawl around the city. As they're all pubs, there is of course no charge to get in.

Legends' Beer Festival Gig

It seems highly likely that the Lunchtime Legends, the rock & roll band I play with, has been booked to play on the Saturday afternoon of the Liverpool Beer Festival, which is on 21 to 23 February 2013 in the Liverpool RC Cathedral crypt, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool. Admission to this festival is by ticket only; so find out more about that, go to the festival website. 

Whitby Legends 22 August

If you're in the area of Whitby in North Yorkshire next Wednesday lunchtime, we're playing our 21st consecutive annual rock & roll party at the Elsinore Hotel, Flowergate, Whitby. This gig celebrates twenty full years of the band's existence - not bad for something that began as a one-off jam session. It's bang in the middle of Folk Week, and we know that some in the festival hierarchy have in the past been less than enthusiastic about what we do, although after all these years irritation has dwindled to resigned acceptance.

It begins at around 12.30 p.m. Special limited edition anniversary T-shirts will be on sale - come and grab one while stocks last. The pub sells real Cameron's Strongarm, and Tetley's and John Smith's bitters on cask.

Legends strike right note for Queenscourt

Our Lunchtime Legends gig on Friday (free entry - pass round the hat) raised £120.50 for Queenscourt Hospice. Thanks to all who came along, danced the night away and donated to this wonderful local charity. I'm still happy to accept donations if you weren't able to be there!

Till the next time then.

P.S. a late donation has increased the total to £130.50 - thanks.

Lunchtime Legends in Southport

The Legends at a previous
visit to the Park Golf Club

Next Friday 11 November, the Lunchtime Legends will be making their fifth visit to the Park Golf Club in Southport.  The band play a wide range of classic pop songs by artists as diverse as Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley, Dusty Springfield, Sandy Posey, Brian Hyland, the Kinks, the Shirelles, Eddie Cochran, PP Arnold, and many others.  They have their own distinctive style, using an unusual array of instruments for a rock & roll band: acoustic guitar, accordion, keyboard and drums.

Everyone is invited and admission is free; there will be a collection for Queenscourt Hospice, the local charity the band has raised funds for three times previously. It all begins at 7.30 p.m. at the Park Golf Club, Park Road West, Southport, PR9 0JS, which has ample parking and real ale.

The above is adapted from the press release I sent the local papers.  The Legends consist of Candy Rell (vocals), Chris Harvey (keyboard, accordion), Clive Pownceby (drums, vocals) and Nev Grundy (vocals, guitar).  Yes, it's the band I play with.

In the spirit

As previously posted, the Lunchtime Legends played a fundraiser for the Firefighters Charity at the Bay Horse in Adlington, near Chorley.  There had been stalls in the pub throughout the day followed by a hog roast to help raise money, but our bit was in the evening.  It was a good night; we got some nice comments about our songs, there was a quiz in which most of the questions had a fire-related theme, and real ale.  Nothing spectacular - Adnams Bitter, Jennings Cumberland, and Abbot Ale as a guest, all in good condition.  The Abbot sold out first, which suggested to me that a stronger beer as a regular might go down well there.  The pub is old and stone-walled, with a well-kept bowling green and is surrounded on most sides by fields.

I did feel a few people didn't get into the spirit of the evening when they had their phones out to find out the answers to the quiz - is a pub quiz (especially one for a charity) that important?  And it's interesting that some people are so divorced from live music that they don't know how to react when they enter are a pub and find themselves unexpectedly faced with a band playing a few feet in front of them, rather than on a stage 200 yards away or on TV.  Vaguely embarrassed, they suddenly adopt fixed grins to show they are good sports, well able to deal with this eccentricity before their eyes, and scuttle out of sight.  Others walk past staring straight ahead, as if avoiding looking at something squashed on the road.  Quite funny, really.

Still, it was an enjoyable night overall, and the whole event raised more than £750 for the charity.

Lunchtime Legends

I meant to post this a couple of days ago:  if you happen to be in the area, the 50s & 60s band I play with, the Lunchtime Legends, will be playing a gig at the Bay Horse Inn, Babylon Lane, Adlington near Chorley, PR6 9ER, tomorrow evening Saturday 30 April.  It is a fundraiser for firefighters and our bit begins at around 7-30pm.  The Bay Horse is a real ale pub which usually has Jennings Cumberland plus a guest beer.

Legends gig postponed

Unfortunately, our Lunchtime Legends gig at the Rivington Bowling Club that I mentioned here a few weeks ago has had to be postponed until later in the year.  Disappointing, but these things happen.  I'll post the new date here when it's been arranged.

Lunchtime Legends next gig

We're off to Rivington Bowling Club again on 26 February for another night of rock & roll. It should be good fun, if our gig there last November was anything to go by. We had decided that we would probably be treated as background music, but we couldn't have been more wrong: these people had come out to have a good time - dancing, singing along, with a woman of, ahem, middle years sliding down the body of her partner to the music, much the embarrassment of the young people present (there were a few). Yes, embarrass the young - always good fun! And real ale from Prospect brewery too - wonderful.

Whitby music

Double rainbow over Whitby

I've just returned from Whitby where I've been for the Folk Week. I didn't get to many formal concerts, although I did see the great John Kirkpatrick, a great singer of mostly traditional material and expert squeeze box player, and a joint concert of Keith Donnelly and Les Barker, two of the funniest acts on the folk scene. I spent more time in the fringe sessions and saw some spectacular singing and playing, particularly in the Station Inn. The Elsinore also has some busy music sessions in the evenings, and a couple of afternoons I played in a couple of impromptu singarounds there.

Legends looking, er, legendary.

Our own Lunchtime Legends rock & roll session ("the premier fringe event of Folk Week") in the Elsinore on Flowergate at Wednesday lunch time had a set of 32 songs, probably the longest set during the whole of Folk Week, and we're not even booked to play! It was packed out as ever and seemed to go down a storm. A charming young girl was giving me nice smiles while I played and bought one of our CDs, so I asked her her name. She told me, and mentioned her age was: "Five and three quarters." Our opening act was the excellent Jim Causley, who got into the spirit of things with songs he associated with his mother (he is a lot younger than us!). For a change we were joined by a bass player, Joe Gannet, who joined us to good effect, giving the sound a bass presence it sometimes lacks. John Kirkpatrick (mentioned above) has opened for us twice: 1998 and 2008.

Going to Whitby is like going on holiday with friends, as there are so many people I know there, some I see only once or twice a year, but quite a few from the Southport and Merseyside area.  All in all a great week, with the weather mostly good, but as usual it was all over far too quickly. I hardly took any pictures, but the one included here was of a double rainbow I could see from the small yard of our holiday cottage.

We went on a pub crawl in Whitby; I'll write about that in a day or two, in case anyone chooses to visit this lovely fishing port (although the amount of fishing gets less every year).

I also saw some traditional dances from most parts of Britain, and they are rather more varied than the "bells ands hankies" image, although there were plenty of those around. Here is a YouTube video of the parade of dance through the town, taken across the road from the Elsinore, which you can see clearly.

Lunchtime Legends Gig for Haiti

With thanks to Peter Ballentyne who took these and many other photos of our night.  And thanks to all who came along and danced ... and gave to the cause.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Legends fundraiser

Our band, the Lunchtime Legends, played our fundraising gig for Haiti on Friday night at the Park Golf Club. It was a great atmosphere, with people up dancing and waving their arms in the air for 'Hi Ho Silver Lining'. We raised a total of £207. Thanks to everyone who helped make the evening a success.

I ended up leaving my PA and my car at the venue until the next day after I'd had a few post-gig pints of Thwaites Bomber. Our next gig is in Whitby next August in the Elsinore ~ the pub where it all began in 1992.

P.S. (added 17 March):
Late donation ~ total now £213 + 28% Gift Aid = £273

Lunchtime Legends ~ Gig for Haiti

The Lunchtime Legends rock & roll band, of which I'm a member, will be playing a gig for the Haiti earthquake appeal on Friday 12 March at 8.00 p.m. The venue is the Park Golf Club, Park Road West, Southport. Admission £3, with children under 13 free. The music is classic pop and rock & roll played in our own individual fashion.  You don't have to take my word for it: a review in Folk North West magazine said: "Cheerful ... a lot of fun to be had."

The Legends have 6 albums under their belt, some of which will be on sale at the gig, including their recent EP 'Daze', that was premiered in August 2009 to much acclaim on the Whitby Folk Week fringe, where they have played every year since 1992 as an antidote to squeeze boxes and diddly tunes.

Come along and rock & roll for an excellent cause. Thwaites Bomber is the real ale on sale.

Postcode: PR9 0JS. Loads of free parking on the street and in the car park.

Lunchtime Legends New EP

My West Coast band (from West Lancs and Merseyside), the Lunchtime Legends, will be performing our fab new EP, “Daze”, in the Elsinore, Whitby in Yorkshire on Wednesday 26 August ~ at lunchtime, of course. This is our 6th release, and our first on Boozaphone, a subsidiary of Cock Robin Music who have issued all our previous 5 albums since 1995. If you’re in the area, please come and see us. Otherwise keep an eye on this blog for our next gig in the Southport area

“Daze” features the following classic songs:
1. Days.
2. True Love Ways.
3. Saturday Night At The Movies.
4. Terry.
5. Runaway.
6. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.

It features Chris Harvey on keyboards, Candy Rell on vocals, Clive Pownceby on drums and me on vocals and guitar. It's only rock & roll, but we like it.

£5 [plus £1 P&P if by post]. For more details, e-mail LunchtimeLegends@aol.com