THEY'RE COMING HOME, THEY'RE COMING HOME, THEY'RE COMING......

Ah well, it was good while it lasted! The "boys" played to the best of their capabilities and, guess what? It wasn't good enough - well what do you expect for £100K/week?!

So, the England shirt is packed away until Euro 2012, and we can concentrate on the music! The last couple of weeks has seen us play 3 events that have ranged across the whole spectrum of gigdom - being the "warm-up" act for the England team, a Christening, and a pub gig - all of which were special in their own way!

Number 1: The East Cheshire Game & A Gig, which has been profusely trailed on here, and elsewhere. We kicked off in the "big tent" at 6:30pm, and were scheduled to play right up to the start of the England v USA game at 7:30. A challenge in itself, as folks were still dribbling in when we started, and we knew we had our work cut out to draw them in! However, things got a tad more interesting when we were told that the generator that was to power the 10 foot video screen had gone on the blink, and we might have to finish at 7:10pm so that they could switch generators!! No matter, we carried on regardless, the generator got fixed, we built to a climax with "I Predict A Riot", and finished our set just as the National Anthem struck up - brilliant! Shame about the result!

Big thanks and congratulations to Lara and everyone at the ECH for a fantastic, sell out night - a wonderful event, and for a really worthwhile cause.

Number 2: Gary & Lisa's Christening Event: 3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon, 2 band members on holiday (no prizes for guessing one of them was Dave, the other was Chrissie - again!), so it could have gone either way. Now, I know we say on this blog that we will even play funerals (sometimes it feels like we are - e.g. The Spinners!), but this is the first time we have done a Christening! However, it was BRILLIANT! Lucy stepped in for Chrissie again, and did a wonderful job (I've included her FB picture, to make her feel good!), the atmosphere was great, and we got THREE encores! If any other bands are reading this (yeah, like they would!) we can thoroughly recommend spending your Sunday afternoon playing at a Christening!



Number 3: The White Lion in Disley: Several Big Plus marks for us with this, including the fact that England had failed to top their group so weren't playing in the football, AND we managed to get to the pub without being stopped by the police! Those of you who are frequent readers of this dross, may remember that, on the way to the gig at the White Lion last February, we were pulled up by Cheshire Constabulary for having illegal cargo (i.e Chrissie & Matt) in the back of the van, and a £60 fine was incurred as a consequence! This time, we were much more circumspect, no illegals in the back of the van! Once again, the audience was small but perfectly formed, and we had a really good (if a little hot!) gig - the purchase of the 18" stage fan was a good move, although it did not do the perfect cooling job, because it was absolutley bloody sweltering in there!!

We have a couple of weeks off now, Paul's away for a week, and maybe Dave will be back in time for the next gig (private party in Bolly!) - looks like people still want us as we've had requests to play next January and next NOVEMBER (yes 2011!) already!

ENGERLAND, ENGERLAND, ENGERLAND - AND ALL THAT!

OK, we've given you a bit of a rest on here , for a few weeks, so it's time to disturb you again - and this time it's in a really good cause! If you get yourselves down to The East Cheshire Hospice on Saturday evening, not only will you have the opportunity to jump around with us for an hour, you will also be able to celebrate along with hundreds of other people, as the England's team takes its first steps along the path to what is almost certain World Cup victory! The Hospice are laying on a 10 foot screen so we can all see the national team humble the mighty USA in the first match of Group C. Just be sure to get there early - doors open at 6:00pm, and we'll be on stage by 6:30 - our task being to get the crowd in a right jovial mood before the game starts. There's a bar (of course) selling a wonderful selection of Storm Brewing beers, and there will be barbecue to feast on (whatever the weather). All in all, an ideal opportunity to get some great music in, watch the boys win AND support one of the most worthwhile causes in Macclesfield - I'm sure we all know someone who has benefitted from the care provided by the Hospice, and they need over £6000 PER DAY just to keep going. Tickets are available via the Hospice website



While we are on the subject of good causes, just a few words about our last gig; this was the Time Out Group Spring Ball held at the Belfry hotel a couple of weeks ago and, as last year, it was an absolute joy!

Once everybody had been fed and watered, and the speeches made, the floor was prepared and all hell broke loose! The dance floor was full from the first chords of whatever it was we played first, and it barely cleared at all for the next 2 hours! Not only did we have the patron of the charity, Annabel Tiffin, strutting her stuff, we saw a return appearance on stage, of her husband John - who is a blatantly frustrated rock star - the way he battered that tambourine during "Come Up & See Me" was remarkable, and it was pure chance that he did not injure himself or have somebody else's eye out! We also had brilliant participation from a number of other guests, and special mention must go, once again, to "Uncle Peter" who followed the instructions he was given, for the night, to the letter before unleashing himself on his public at 12:15am with a reprise of his legendary interpretation of "Johnny B Goode"!! I'm pretty sure that neither he, us, nor the populus of Handforth will ever be the same again, after that!!

Here are a selection of photos taken on the night which, hopefully give an idea of the fun that was had