Christchurch- Sunday

We had a sunny and trouble free trip down to the south coast. The hardest part was finding the venue. Justin from the theatre crew guided us through the one way systen to the stage door and after unloading and setting up we went for a stroll down to the harbour cum marina. It was a lovely afternoon, so different from the day before.
The audience numbers were down a bit ( They've had a lot of different shows there in the last couple of weeks) but we played well (even though I managed to wear the wrong shirt for the second half- it must be my age or I'm going colour blind)
Monday is another day off as it's a bank holiday. I wonder if I can get the grass cut?

Cromer- Saturday

What a wet and miserable bank holiday! We had to cope with torrential rain and a traffic jam on the way to Cromer, but managed to arrive in reasonable time. Alex and Nathan, the Theatre staff were on hand to help us unload and move our kit down to the end of the pier. Many thanks to them for that.
We decided to use the house PA but our own monitors (something we've done several times on the tour so far). All seemed well until the PA went off during the first number. The audience took it all in good humour and we restarted the show and had a trouble free show after that.
We got away in good time but struggled to find our way home in the thick fog that covered Norfolk. The satnav came in useful once again.
What is it about the seaside and bank holiday weekends?

Nina Dusky

Here are a few pictures of Nina that were taken at the Shrewsbury concert- the one where the camera was left behind.

Good Friday- day off

Good Friday was a day off so I arranged to collect my camera from Shrewsbury. It took a bit of arranging but the Theatre Severn management kindly sent my camera to another venue in the town for me to collect. Sue and I drove over and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours exploring the town with all its ancient wooden framed buildings. A lovely town and one I'd happily return to to explore further.
Here's a photo or two from the camera showing the venue.

Dunstable- Thursday

Who'd a thought it? The best night of the tour so far. A good sized audience, all enthusiastically clapping cheering and signing along to all the songs. AND the band played a blinder! Who could want for anything more?
Thanks to Steve and Nathan for the backstage assistance. And what a backstage! We backed the van in, unloaded what we needed and left the van parked next to the stage. How impressive is that?
Richard's mum came to see the show for the third time, along with Richard's partner Honey and other members of his family. He's got a cold or manflu or something so having such a good audience response made him feel so much better.
Spare a thought for Nina's husband who travelled up from South Wales to see the show, but was caught up in the worst gridlock for years as everyone and his uncle tried to get away for the weekend. They all chose to drive down the M4 & M5 and he didn't arrive at the theatre until after the show ended!
Day off today followed by Cromer Pier Pavilion on Saturday and the Regent in Christchurch on Sunday. Hope the weather brings the crowds out.
Oh, and the grass still needs cutting.

St Helens- Wednesday

A frustrating day for us all. First of all there was the phone calls to try and locate my camera. They have it but it's going to be an extra journey to collect it. We tried to work out if we could divert to Shrewsbury on the way to St Helens but it wasn't possible in the time we had.
Then we were told by the agent that we couldn't gain access to the venue until 5.00 which was a blessing in disguise. We've done the show so many times that we can almost set up in our sleep. However the traffic on the M6 was terrible again and while we arrived at the venue on time (having driven down a one way street the wrong way) Mike was caught up in an accident and didn't arrive until an hour before the show. We had a quick sound check and played the show before a small but very enthusiastic audience. Thanks go to Mike, Mike, Mike, Tony and Jordan for making us very welcome.
We then set off on a trip around St Helens looking for a takeaway and found one after about ten minutes driving in circles. Then we went looking for a petrol station and finally we set off for home.
After the traffic chaos following the Shrewsbury concert where it took an hour to drive from Spaghetti junction to the M42, with traffic from the M5 and M6 funnelling into one lane, and then to drive along for mile after mile with no work being carried out......!!!!
Anyway, we left the M6 at junction 15 and took the A50 to the M1 and home. I was glad to let Richard drive that stretch and I had a doze in the passenger seat.
This was the toughest day of the tour so far. Nothing specific, just a load of frustration really.

Shrewsbury- Tuesday

A good show at a brand new venue. Highly enjoyable and thanks to Steve and his crew for making it so.
We had a bit of a tour around Shrewsbury in order to find it because the postcode we'd been given was for the old venue and that closed in February, but the sight of the brand-new Theatre Severn across the bridge was impressive to say the least.
Our executive producer Sandy Kelly flew over from Ireland to see the show and she gave it the seal of approval. However, amid all the fuss we managed to leave the camera behind and so there won't be any photos for the next couple of shows.
To add insult to injury we were caught up in a traffic jam on the M6 and took over an hour to drive from Spaghetti Junction to the M42. Two lanes were coned off for road works and when we finally drove through there were no signs of activity!
Grrrrrr!