Australian Travelers,the Wheatsheaf Pub in Preston and a Great Night Out
Saturday night just gone was spent in the Wheatsheaf Pub in Preston and managed by my nephew Brian and his lovely wife Liz and what a night it was ! Two of my nieces are off to Australia for a month come December and a nephew is going on a 12 month working Visa.Having lived in Oz for 35 yrs and motor homed it 3 times they are in for a great time This particular night was dedicated to the 3 rellies to wave them goodbye for a while.A great band were performing at the Pub and they were great (this pub is very popular and reminiscent of packed pubs in my youth) Brian and Liz supplied a “FREE” hotpot and with the red cabbage also provided it can only be described as “bloody lovely”.Lots of my family turned up for the night and the ambiance was fantastic.Christmas is just around the corner and more of my family will be joining me for what promises to be one of the best Festive times ever !.Needless to say I had plenty to drink (and eat!) and actually got out of my pit the next day at 1pm !!
Guy Fawkes,Bonfire Night and Mischievous Night every November 5th
Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605,failed was caught,tortured and rather than being hung,drawn & quartered he leapt of the hangman’s scaffolding breaking his neck thus missing out on the other gory stuff!! He was caught in the catacombs beneath the House Of Lords when the King would have been in attendance .November the 5th was always a great time for us kids in days gone by.We would spend weeks before the “burning” day collecting anything that would burn ! Old furniture,trees,tyres ( not recommended) and build bonfires that always had a “den” within.Night before bonfire night was known as mischief night,where we would knock on doors and run off and other “stuff”(all these events were before Halloween became popular) Bonfires were built down back alleys (heaven knows why because alley ways were very tight!) We would make Guy Fawkes effigy’s (life size) and sit outside pubs,clubs,cinemas etc asking “Spate a copper for the Guy) which at times proved to be quite lucrative ! Proceeds were supposed to buy fireworks that were available at most grocery,paper shops but mostly spent on toffees or fags (cigarettes)On the night (Nov 5) we would chuck our Guy on top of the finely constructed bonfire and set it alight. Darkened skies were full of exploding rockets,ground fireworks consisted of rip raps,bangers,catherine wheels,roman candles and more.Spuds were thrown into the embers and once taken out of the fire in their very blackened skins we ate the tender potato.Often parents would provide home made treacle toffee,Parkin and other treats.This years bonfire we had Lasagna and Hotpot and the obligatory alcohols ! Because Nov 5 falls on a Sunday this year bonfires were lit on 3 different days.Altho these evenings are great there are,sadly,people who get hurt or burnt and I believe a busy night for local Hospitals.Animals are usually terrified of this event and owners are continually advised to keep them indoors.Those days were some of the best in my life with not an electronic gizmo in sight,oh Happy Days
Memories of my Youth and Marty Wilde et al
Last night I went to a show at our local wonderfully old theatre “The Grand” to see my singing British hero of the late 50,s and 60,s who is still performing live at the grand old age of 78 and he didn,t disappoint ! His guests artistes included the wonderful Mike Berry,talented still Eden Kane and the very lively Mark Wynter all backed up by Marty,s very accomplished Band The Wildcats.The theatre was packed to the rafters with people mostly my age and from that particular era when FUN was in abundance,people were usually polite and life in general was of a happy nature.Marty opened the show with a couple of songs and immediately had the crowd mesmerized. All other singers sang hits that belonged to them.Highlight for me was all our singing different arrangements of hits from the 60,s using acoustic guitars only while the wonderful band had a well earned break.Marty Wilde has ALWAYS been on my list of Stars I wanted to see and I wasn,t disappointed.Blackpool is fortunate to attract great performers from Yesteryear to date and brilliant stage shows are common here at very reasonable prices an my next theatre attraction (unless some other artistes appear) will be the wonderful Christmas Pantomime “Cinderella” and I will joined by another 8 members of my large family (really looking forward to that) “He,s Behind You !”
All throughout the splendid show I sang,clapped, jived (in my mind) and refrained from throwing my underpants on stage.Another great night with hopefully more to come
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 