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Hi Everyone. I hope, like me, you are enjoying the warm weather.
June Clubnite Having 'test driven' a possible new venue last month (more on this
later), the June clubnite, 18th June, will take place back in the
Goldenhill Workingmen’s Club.
After our usual playing circle we will be hosting Julie Best as our guest and can
expect some wonderful accordion music entertainment. Many of us heard Julie as a
guest player at the 'Time to Sing' event at Knutsford last year where she excelled. She
comes from Carlisle, and plays in many different styles of music. During her years on
the competition circuits she gained 3rd place twice in the advanced UK championship
and won the UK Premier Duets three times with her colleague, Jean Corrigan. We can
look forward to something special.
April Clubnite - Steve Roxton & Jean Dauvin
Tuesday 16th
April
Our guest artists, Steve Roxton from Middlesbrough
and Jean Dauvin from Normandy, brought their lovely
wives, Maggie and Therese, to our concert in April at
Goldenhill club. Steve and Jean’s last duet
performance at our club was in July 2012 and our
account of that event included ‘anyone who could not
make it missed a treat’. This time, in my view, their
performance was even better.
Our entertainment began at 7.30 pm with a playing
circle. About 20 of our playing members gathered
together and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves entertaining the audience with music from our ‘circle
book’. This set the scene for the whole evening and after this performance Steve Roxton took the stage.
Steve’s first solo spot included The Wild Rover, some lively bierkeller songs, a Russian medley and Luce
e Ombre. Then he was joined by Jean for the Cuckoo Waltz and Marches des Accordeonistes Lyonais.
Jeans’ first solo spot included La Marche des Mineurs, Brise Napolitaine, La Paloma and Tico Tico.
Then he was joined by his wife, Therese (she prefers Te Te), when she came on stage to sing Padam
Padam, La Vie En Rose and Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me.
During the interval we had our raffle, with an abundance of prizes, and our attendant members’ award,
which wasn’t won and rolled over to May.
In the second half we enjoyed a superb performance by Steve and Jean and Te Te provided ‘the icing on
the cake’ when she sang Cherry Pink, Perhaps, Perhaps Perhaps and No Regrets.
NNoorrtthh SSttaaffffss AAccccoorrddiioonn CClluubb
NNeewwsslleetttteerr MMaayy//JJuunnee 22001199
NNoo 448822
We planned to finish our concert evening at 10.00 pm but the audience was enjoying the music so much
that I hadn’t the heart to bring our concert to a conclusion. At about 10.30 pm Steve and Jean played Now
Is the Hour and Auld Lang Syne, and we all sang along. What a great way to conclude a fabulous
evening!
Best wishes, Mike.
Players' Theme Night Tuesday 21st May
This month our players’ night was different from our norm in many respects. Your committee had decided
to hold it as a trial in a different venue, the Bistro at ‘Belong’ in Newcastle, so, prior to the event, we were
all hoping for a very successful trial. At this juncture, we had looked at several possible venues and we
felt that ‘Belong’ was the best we’d seen so far.
Although we anticipated a few teething problems, when Barbara and I arrived at about 6.30 with Tony
and Steve to prepare for the evening, we were surprised by the number of residents who were present in
the bistro. Furthermore, there were no available tables for our club members – we had plenty of chairs but
there was a dearth of tables. In spite of this, in my view we
had a great night and we learnt some very useful lessons.
I have been encouraging our playing members to provide
some variety in their entertainment and I was delighted when
Helen and Bruno turned up with two of their friends – Phil
on the guitar and Kerry on the tambourine. After the interval
this newly formed quartet played and sang Wooden Heart,
The Leaving of Liverpool and The Wanderer. I thoroughly
enjoyed their performance and at one point, when they were
playing The Wanderer, Barbara and I were able to rock and
roll. They have promised to perform for us again and (wait for it), Phil is joining our Monday group for
accordion lessons – brilliant!
Vivienne and Peter’s performance (pictured
above) was another success story and that’s an
understatement – they were excellent. A few
weeks ago I’d asked Viv if she’d encourage
Pete to do some singing at one of our club
nights, so I was pleasantly surprised when
they turned up on the night ‘raring to go’.
They took to the floor at about 9.45 (Viv on
the accordion and Pete on vocals) and they performed Banks of the Ohio, The Water Is Wide and
Singing the Blues. The audience
thoroughly enjoyed singing the choruses
and this proved to be a superb way of
finishing the night’s entertainment.
During the evening Betty and Ken (above
right) played a duet. They played Swiss
Miss and following on from their debut,
they’re now practising other duets. Paul
on the accordion and Lee on the saxophone played Try A Little Tenderness, All of Me and Georgia.
What a treat! - and yet again another excellent injection of musical variety.
Over the course of the evening lots of other people played solos,
including the following (the theme for the evening was ‘water’):
Geoff Burndrett - Scotland the Brave and Chase Me Charlie, Betty
Nixon – Cruising Down the River, Ken Hall – Banks Of the Ohio,
Ann Millward (above left) – Captain Pugwash, The Banks and
Braes of Bonny Doon, Portsmouth and Hebridian Water, Moira
Hague (left) – Marie Elena and Pokarekara Ana, Tony Britton
(above right) – Handel’s Water Music, Somewhere over the
Rainbow and My Heart Will Go On, Steve Hughes – Onedin Line
and Sleepy Lagoon.
We had about 35 club members present at our clubnite and due to the lack of space/tables, we were very
cosy, the ambience was excellent and some of our soloists were less nervous about performing in this
‘close knit’ environment. Everyone I’ve spoken to noticed the difference but in several other respects
Belong doesn’t satisfy our requirements. Let’s keep looking!
Mike Richards
THE NAO UNITED KINGDOM ACCORDION CHAMPIONSHIPS 70th Anniversary
26-28 April 2019. Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool
As we prepared for our entry into the Newcastle Music Festival early in 2019 our MD Steve Houghton
enthused about the forthcoming NAO Accordion Championships to be held in Liverpool and expressed
interest in entering our band for an event that caters solely for accordion players, at some future time.
Three of us, ‘recent recruits’, were intrigued and
decided to attend the event at the Adelphi Hotel from
Friday 26 to Monday 29 April with our respective
spouses.
What a great decision! The Adelphi is a magnificent
building situated in the centre of the city It is the perfect
location for partners for whom a full weekend’s
accordion experience requires diluting with a little light
sight-seeing and a perfect treat for the rest of us who
chose to steep ourselves in the wonderful skills of
accordion players of all ages. The huge sparkling
chandeliers lit up the trade stands in the lounge and time
was spent enviously browsing new instruments. Steve
Houghton joined us and was thrilled to find mention of
his old teacher in the magazines on the memorabilia
table.
Competition classes ranged from those for under 7’s to
seniors, with solos, ensembles, bands and entertainers
from many countries. Even late starters and returners
were catered for. It was difficult to choose which
classes to watch. We gazed in awe at the lightning
speed of fingers as they flashed up and down the
mystery keyboards of button accordions in virtuoso
performances of a great variety of music.
We were enthralled watching the Masterclass presented
by Frederic Deschamps. He improved what appeared to
be perfect performances by correcting seating positions
and bellows techniques. He fastened one small boy’s legs together with his father’s belt to show how
button accordions with their ‘cut off’ corners need to be held and several players had the bass straps of
their bellows fastened up to prevent opening from the bottom and consequent loss of air. Fascinating!
Saturday evening saw the cutting of the 70th
Anniversary Celebration Cake, with the youngest (3yrs) and
oldest members doing the honours, followed by a lively ceilidh. It was good to see the young people
letting their hair down!
On Sunday following some wonderful entertainment classes I was pleased to represent the North Staffs
Accordion Club in the Vintage Orchestra, all playing elderly instruments and performing a selection of
music including an Al Jolson sing-along. This was followed by the Prize Presentation of a huge number
of trophies and certificates. Qualifying Classes had been held for entry into competitions in China and
Portugal.
It was hard to choose a favourite performance but some of my highlights included the performances of the
Scottish Shand family children (no relation to Jimmy Shand) - three children who performed in the under
12, 13 and 14 classes; the wonderful Irish Royal Meath Ensemble; in the Entertainment Section the
‘RonniElaine Entertainers’ who played, sang and danced a selection from Oliver and the magical Israeli
‘Friends of Emil’. And of course the sensational Junior Virtuoso Annalize Bodell.
We had a wonderful time and are already planning next year’s trip. We hope you will join us!
Viv Cowie
The Magic of Musicality by Steve Houghton (aged 60 and a quarter)
My musical experience began at St Thomas’s Primary School in my home town
of Kendal in 1968, where I passed a musical aptitude test at the age of 10 and
began to learn the violin. I was upholding a family tradition as my dad played at
school and my granny played in a chamber orchestra. My first violin teacher
was Christine Price, who went on to give birth to sextuplets in 1976.
Starting Kendal Grammar School in 1969, I began private violin lessons and
entered for the Westmorland Mary Wakefield festival in 1971. I placed well
down the field in my first and only entry into a solo section of a music festival
to date! After I progressed to a second teacher, who played in the local chamber
orchestra, he suggested that I enter for my first music exam at grade 4.
However, I got cold feet and, overwhelmed by the prospect of a scary exam, I
stopped playing at age 14 after 4 years. However, Mum and Dad encouraged me
to continue with music if I found interest in a different instrument.
My Eureka moment came whilst watching Yorkshire TV’s Junior Showtime series. I was intrigued by
several young accordion players and thought I’d like to try the accordion as it looked easier than the
violin (but then, what isn’t?). I’d love to know who my inspirational players were; 45 years on, they’re
probably now amongst the accordion elite. My dad tracked down a well-used gold-sparkled Settimio
Soprani 80 bass with a single wrist coupler, and set about finding a teacher.
After trying a few disappointing leads, a tip-off led him to contact Peter Barcock who played in a local
dance band, the Hi-Lites, and coincidentally worked in the office block next to my dad’s work. A deal was
struck, and Peter graciously came to my house, free of charge, for a Tuesday night lesson every week for
the next 4 years until I left for university in 1976. Armed with the
Sedlon Accordion Method tutor books, from Mamelok’s in
Manchester, Peter taught me the basics plus his own preferences
for fancy bass runs, a light bass touch, and of course the classic 3, 2
fingered bass (not the trendy 4, 3, 2 fingers used today). Together
we visited NAO festivals at Perth (1973) and Brighton (1974), plus
several visits to the local Carlisle festival, where Peter himself
entered the Entertainment section and was subsequently featured
on Border TV local news.
Having an enthusiastic teacher listening, we now felt the Settimio Soprani sounded rather rough, so Dad
set about learning how to improve it; replacing, tuning and sealing reeds with hot wax, plugging bellows
leaks etc. Fortuitously a better quality Hohner Verdi V 120 bass came up for sale around that time, which
we eagerly snapped up for £80 and which I still own. Dad then took over the Settimio and taught himself
to play along with me.
My grammar school celebrated its 450th
anniversary in 1975 during my lower sixth year,
and a student teacher who danced with the
Kendal Morris Men hatched a plan to form a
celebratory school Morris team of 6th
form boys.
I was roped in to learn a few tunes ranging from
Bean Setting (Bampton) to Constant Billy
(Adderbury). Our team duly performed at the
school’s summer fete, the chairman of governors’
garden party (not as posh as it sounds!) and the 450th
celebration Medieval Banquet in the school hall,
complete with jesters, jugglers and serving maids.
I moved to work in Cheshire in 1983 and joined NSAC in 1989, after seeing an advert in Newcastle
library. George Karklins invited me to join the recently formed band, where I played 3rds alongside Ron
Slack, and later Roy Degg and Joan Bamford, still using my Hohner. If you were around in the 90’s, you
may have heard Peter Barcock playing as an NSAC guest artist in 1991 and again in 1995. As the band
developed I moved to 1sts, took over the MC role after Dennis Wakefield retired from the band, and
became band MD in 2012 when Geoff Millward took a well-earned rest after 19 years at the baton.
My family had an interest in folk music and had taken me to
ceilidh dances, which steered me towards dabbling with folk
tunes and eventually forming a ceilidh band of musicians
from my local church, in 1990. We were an 8-piece band
called Fiddlestix, with ages from teens to middle aged,
including my future wife Cathryn playing guitar. I trained up
a couple of callers and we performed around 6 – 8 gigs per
year, ranging from church events, to weddings, birthdays and
WI meetings. The group slowly disbanded around 2001 as the
younger members left for University or work elsewhere, and
two older members moved to South Wales, where they formed their own ceilidh band. Cathryn, now my
lovely wife, learnt to call a few dances to teach to her school pupils, which led on to the two of us
forming a calling duo for more recent ceilidhs, but using recorded music only. I’m glad we have been able
to pass on our English folk dance knowledge to several new players and callers, in true folk tradition.
I used the Hohner for many years while I saved for my first brand new instrument and bought a double
cassotto Paolo Soprani Super Paolo 120 bass from Gina’s Accordion World in 1993. Although being a
fine instrument it was straight tuned and didn’t sound right for ceilidhs, so another trip to Gina’s in 1995
added a double cassotto Guerrini Classic 96 bass with a sweet musette to my collection. I still play both
instruments, depending on the style of music.
After taking the baton for the band I don’t find time to play very much at the moment, although I always
have a burst of activity after being inspired by the young players at the annual NAO festival, currently
held in Liverpool each spring; if you’ve never been, I thoroughly recommend a visit. Cathryn and I
continue to call for occasional ceilidhs, and sometimes convene an ad-hoc ceilidh band from talented
musicians at our current church.
I am deeply indebted to Peter, without whom I would never have developed my current skills and
understanding of accordion technique and the magic of musicality that have made all of this possible.
Thanks Peter!
Photos : 1 With Roy Degg in 1990
2 Band at Queen’s Gardens 1990
3 Peter Barcock as guest at our club pictured with Mike Richards, 1991
An evening with the North Staffs Accordion Band – an extract from the church magazine with kind permission from author, Pat Nutt.
St. Werburgh’s Church held their first fundraising event of the year on 6th
April, when North Staffs
Accordion Band visited us. At the same event we were entertained by local talented guitarist Barry
Mosley. We had a great evening. We were entertained by 16 very accomplished and friendly musicians,
including someone well known to us all, Viv Cowie. The orchestra also received excellent support from a
Mr Cowie, who provided necessary sound effects in the rendition of ‘Magnificent Men in Their Flying
Machines’. The orchestra leader chatted to us between items, introducing the songs and telling us a few
jokes, and we had song sheets
provided so we could sing along with
the band. Plenty of singing and foot
tapping to a wide variety of songs.
A break for refreshments offered our
three ‘Trolley Dollies’, (or should I
say Trolley Grannies), an opportunity
to hand around the wine and biscuits.
I would like to say we had to
‘squeeze’ people in church to join us,
but, unfortunately, we had plenty of
empty seats. However we who went
along had a memorable evening and if you were unable to go you missed a treat. £183 was raised for our
Church Funds.
Community Music this Month by Tony Britton
Playing at local care homes currently tends to be towards the
northern end of The Potteries. Our latest visit, however, saw us
venturing a little further south to the ‘The Chimes’ Care Home in
Penkull.
The smaller homes can only accommodate 3 or 4 players, so it’s
good to draw on local players. Pictured are regulars Tony, Ann,
Betty, and on this occasion, Mike representing our southern players.
As well as providing community music, our charity funds benefit
from a small donation from the homes.
Diary
Accordion Tuition
Pauline Hardwick Tel 01782 397298 accordion and/piano
Stefan Andrusyschyn Tel 07958261024 accordion and piano
John Romero Tel 01606 270148 accordion and keyboard
Club Management President Steve Houghton 01270 768178
Committee
Chairman Mike Richards 01782 642101
Secretary Steve Hughes 01782 787935
Treasurer Mike Richards (acting) 01782 642101
Safeguarding Mike Richards 01782 642101
Tony Britton, Helen Brown, Ken Hall,
Paul Hobbs, Margaret and Lee Slater.
Newsletter Editor Lily Lynch - [email protected]
Band Bookings Betty Nixon - [email protected]
Web address - www.northstaffsaccordionclub.co.uk
REGISTERED CHARTITY No 1180528
Holditch Working Men’s Club
Mondays except day before
Clubnite
6.00 - 7.00pm Band music practice
7.15 – 8.30pm Beginners’ class
Bradwell Workingmen’s Club:
Tuesdays other than 3rd
7.00pm 'Fun' music with use of bass
7.30pm Pre-rehearsal session and
8.00-10.00 Band rehearsal
2nd Thursday 12.30 –3.30p.m. Solo and group session
Goldenhill Workingmen’s Club
3rd Tuesday of month 7.30pm Club night
June 18th Julie Best
July 17th Players' Night
August 20th Players' Night (theme)
September 17th AGM and Players' Night
October 15th Players' Night (theme)
November 19th Helen Rich and Walter Perrie
December 17th Celtic Fettlers
Band Appearances
Saturday 22nd
June 1.00 pm Medical Institute, Hartshill
Sunday 21st July 11.00 am Hanley Park Bandstand