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A Nutty French Woman Production!
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Mega christmas party
review
We
are all under strict orders from TDL
not to over-run our allotted 7 minutes (be afraid, very afraid)– this
has to be the biggest ever FaB Club party – and certainly in the
biggest venue – at South Ockendon Village Social Club, not quite decked
with boughs of holly, but certainly very festive. We are joined by lots of old and new
friends throughout the afternoon and the sound of FaB club performers fills
the hall.
“Hands
across the sea”
written by Trevor
Barham for Claudine and
Adrian kicks off this very special afternoon for FaB Club; such songs in our
souls set the pace and tone for this happy sad day.
A Fab Club virgin-
Cheryl -sings
in public for the first time with a song called “It’s time”. Written and accompanied by Claudine – it celebrates the personal journey
Cheryl has made in the last the last year –to paraphrase the song
– the butterfly has definitely been set free.
Margaret
“Lady Formby” and her legendary 12in instrument brings
us an “Island in the Sun” – well its certainly
warmer in here than it is outside, and this brings us a bit of extra
Caribbean warmth.
“The
dreamer” is
donated by the lovely Sally Vincent
– great voice and lovely guitar work as ever. She tells me she wrote it
when she was a teenager and has just rediscovered it. Look out for her EP on the NFW
Productions website.
Alan
Neville is next up, so to
speak – and specially for Claudine performs the rather naughty “Heather”
– always definite favourite with all FaB Clubbers, tut tut. It definitely isn’t cupboard
love….
The return of Quiet Awakening raises the tone, after recently debuting
both on Link FM and the last FaB Club GAFS session. They perform “For a Day” again
for us – a wistful and haunting song.
The dance troupe
jive to the beat of Status Quo “Rocking all over the World” and
then giving us a cover of “Hot Stuff”…Thanks Tony, Abby,
Cheryl, Ed and of course Claudine… all the way from Harlow and joined
by various other FaB Clubbers too… this year we have the space to
dance!
Buffet break is
overseen by Linda – what an amazing spread!
And so to the next
chapter…..
Dennis
Homes , always
entertaining, kicks off with a chat about being envious of double
acts,,,,apparently nobody wants to play with him…oo er.
He introduces
alter ego Syd, and launches into some awful………..ly funny
Lines and
cockneyesque jokes. Much groaning
and laughter, sometimes in the right places
Tone
def leopard then take to
the floor, spitting out gazelle crumbs from their sandwiches, and dedicate a
snog…..sorry, a song to Claudine and Adrian…”Not Tonight
Claudine” .well crafted lyrics as ever. All the while being
molested by Sue…how does he maintain the right chords? Clever Trevor.
Claudine then
introduces those who have been generous enough to carry on the good work that
she has begun.
Next up is Les Elvin, who plays a love song. “The
Roseville Fair” Nice picking style, a gentle song well
performed. He is the first to fit
in a second song,, “Wild Mountain Thyme”, which has the audience joining in.
Sally
Vincent and Alan Neville
then perform as a duo, one of Sallys own compositions called “Let’s Be Children Again”
(?) Always nice to hear harmony, and the two guitars work nicely together
too.
John
Clarke follows Sally and
Alan, and introduces his daughter Bethany.
They perform ye olde classicce, “Cry
Me A River”, with Bethany dong a creditable vocal. Suites her voice well….hopefully
we will hear more of her! John
remains on stage, and sings a love song called “Tides Change Direction”,
teaching the chorus as he goes along. Nylon Strings too!
Mark
Read ends this section
with “Sunset Vision”, which has some quite descriptive
and poetic lines. Sung with tenderness and pathos, nice work.Mark.
Another break and
time for some (more) cake!
Ski
(Louise) performs one of
her own numbers emotionally – with a chorus.. written for Claudine “Best wishes and Bon Voyage”
– with lots of familiar references to fun, friendship and laughter in
the last few years and hoping that Claude comes back to see us.
Stephen
Lillywhite – half of
International Men of Mystery dazzles us with his hammer dulcimer – a
celtic medley finishing with “Miss Patterson” – a perfect
act to follow the lilting style of Ski – taking us into dreamy mists
and mysterious worlds.
Big fat sexy man
himself hits the stage next – mr Jo Midgal
and one of his fascinating instruments
- this time a synth guitar.
He performs “Allison Gross” with one of
his unique arrangements using modern electronic techniques to energise this
traditional number, overlaid with
his strong vocals.
Terry
Jones from Hillbilly
Express performs solo today.
So many different acts and styles this afternoon – so this time
its “Runaway” from Del Shannon which gets us all
singing along. How
did he hit those top notes?
And now for
something completely different –Jail
does a number called “Parting Shot”
dedicated to the other teachers at Ockendon School – and deploying his unique
perambulatory delivery. He then
ropes in Claudine to play chords! And the audience on shakers and any other
things that make a rhythmic noise – our very own answer to Jilted John.
The glorious Mike Parrott closes this third half, with a medley from
the CD “The least worst of Mike Parrott” (allegedly) – “Missing in
Acton”/”Vote for me (Eurovision song)”/”It’s a
girl I’m searching for”/”Merry Christmas
Fab”/”I miss her enormously” Fab stuff Mike..
Time for MORE CAKE
And to work off
that cake, Barbara
and Margaret perform one
of their sinuous dances for us next – full of Eastern
promise…followed by an upbeat Tabla…
Another FaB club
stalwart joins the stage next – Steve O’Kane – with one of his beautiful love
songs called “You make it easy”.
And a poem for Claudine – about the joy of sharing
events like this with others.
Helen
Islip is next with the seasonal
Chris De Burgh song, “A spaceman came to Earth”, with its catchy
ly ly la ly ly chorus, which everybody joined in with.
Liz
Montgomery takes the mic, and
recites one of her many excellent poems.
This is a new and topical
one, about xmas shopping at the Lakeside Shopping Centre.
Descriptive and
humorous as ever, the audience respond enthusiastically and deservedly with
the chant of “Lakeside”. She impresses even further with a
verse in French in honour of Claudines roots. (this is not reference to Claudines
hair colour) Great stuff as ever!
Peter
Walters does what I think is
the first unaccompanied “Traditional” spot of the day. He sings
two songs in a rich and strong voice; clearly someone who has performed
before. Very professional, very
enjoyable.
Trevor then introduces “Rockin’ Bob”..all the way from the deep
South………...of Essex.. “Million Dollar Baby” and
he performs it with his usual polish. (Dubbin)
and boy;
don’t he look dapper!
The next act is Paul Steele, who sings “Hard Edges and Tender
Hearts” in a gravelly and strained kinda voice,,,,early
Springsteen/Cocker after smoking a pack of Camels and 20 no.
6……..,,,but it suits the song really well.
Then he plays
“Every day Its Getting Closer” in the same style….interesting
to hear a new interpretation, and nice too when someone makes you think of a
song differently, as when Joe Cocker did “Help from My Friends”.
The guitaring is
pretty good too!
The next guy up should fail and die
miserably……because it is Len Reeder
who kept interrupting me when I was warming up for my own performance. He
even confessed it was no accident, and that he was doing it with the
intention of making me forget the words when I was singing!! Sabotage! The
swine!!
Actually we are fine friends, and he
actually plays “First cut Is The Deepest”, and plays it very
well. He acknowledged thanks to Claudine for the opportunity to perform and
improve, in which he was speaking for everybody I am sure.
Mon Dieu!! La Grande Finale!! The Leopards, who have been magnificent in sorting out
the running order (and amazingly ended up dammed close to the proposed
Schedule, despite
some people not even turning up) perform “A Wee and a Shave”
Followed by
“Auld Lang Syne”
C’est le fin!
Merry xmas!!
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