Tyneside Shadows Festival 2017

[dave robinson]

We're on our way back now after a lovely afternoon meeting up with a few old friends. Great to see Alan & Vivian, Iain Purdon, Tommy & Diane, Margaret & Jim, Kevin, Alan Arrowsmith and the team. I also had the pleasure of meeting Roger Cook too, it's always good to put a face to a name.
Two good bands, The Fentone Four and Legend with the icing on the cake Bruce Welch with whom we had a nice chat.
It's been a long time getting over this illness and you don't realise what you have until it's taken away from you, it's five years since I saw these people and it was great to come back again.

[erk]

Just back home after stopping for a meal on the way. Pat and I had a brilliant weekend and our thanks go to all who organised and helped out at the festival, plus all the players and bands. All being well we'll be back next year and I might be tempted to bring a guitar! A special thanks to Les Williams and his wife for letting us share a table with them and making us foreigners from Cheshire feel welcome. Thanks again everybody involved.

Eric

[AlanMcKillop]

Another great weekend spent in the company of friends and music lovers. Great to see Dave and Joy after such a long time, when he didn't enjoy the best of health, you were looking well Dave.
Like Dave, it was nice of Roger Cook to introduce himself, another face to put to a name. Bruce looked well and it was great he took the time and effort to make the long drive north.
Looking forward to Scarborough when some of us will meet again.

[djnevster]

A memorable weekend with some superb music but more importantly a friendly and relaxed atmosphere,
The occasion of the 20th anniversary and watching musicians with decades of experience got me ( a relative youngster!) thinking about how important it is to appreciate these events while we can.
Only a few weeks to Scarborough……
Neville

[tim.cooper5]

Hi All,

Great that Bruce made an appearance.
Any pictures at all?
Did he stay long?
Assume he didn't get on stage at all?
Was it a surprise or did you know Bruce was coming, certainly good of him to make an appearance.

Tim

[TonyA]

I would like to say what a wonderful weekend we have had, this was the twentieth anniversary of the northeast clubs putting on a weekend celebrating the music of The Shadows', that's twenty shows, no means feat. Many congratulations to the prime organisers, JIm and Margaret and of course Tommy and Diane and Lawrence for all the work they do.
Saturday started slowly but soon filled up, allowing the many players to play along to backing tracks.
Ian McCutchen and his band Shazam put on a great set, Ian seeming to get better the more times we see him. After refreshment on Saturday evening Sunday started again with solo players and a little later solo players with a band.
The Fentone Four gave us a very polished performance playing less well known tunes which were a pleasant change.
Early afternoon saw our star guest arrive, Mr Bruce Welch looking good and relaxed, he signed autographs and chatted with many of our visitors, Bruce sat and watched Legend do their set consisting mainly instrumentals and several Cliff songs, it was great to see David Martin again with the rest of the boys.
We raffled a super semi acoustic guitar and raised some money for our chosen charity Motor Neuron Disease, in memory of Paul Williams, a missed club member.
Many thanks go to all those who travelled many hours to get to the northeast, the birthplace of our leader Hank Marvin.
A special thankyou to Dave Robinson and his wife for deciding to come and to our Scottish fans Alan and Eddie.
Final Thanks must go to Bruce in supporting our club and showing that the effort we put in to furthering the memory of The Shadows is appreciated
Tony