The Mews - The Happy Cats

The Mews

The Bongo Bash

"It's gonna' be a corcka"!! Marty claimed on the gigs page. He was referring to the Bongo Bash at Stourport on Severn which is an annual convention for owners of certain Mazda camper vans known as Bongos. Filled with dread at the prospect of spending a gig with fans of vans, we made our way to the venue in rural Worcestershire. The park was very pretty and was flanked by the Severn. The reason for going was because we were almost meeting the Happy Cats half way. I think we all took about four hours to get there, including Nick and Sheila who travelled up from Devon.

Over the last few years, most of the gigs we have attended have been full of fans of the band. There have been some where you get the impression that they are on first name terms with all of them. It was thus a real treat to see this trio of seasoned campaigners having to win over a crowd again. And it was quite a crowd. Heaven knows where so many Bongo owners came from but at first they kept their distance, all on their camping seats outside of the performance area. Gradually, children first, they moved closer as Marty, Les and Brian won them over. When the second half began it was a regular Cats gig with the audience joining in and the dancing underway.

cats1
The first half........

The music was excellent as usual and there are Happy Cats fans driving Bongos now in all four corners of the land with Take My Hand in their CD players. Hallelujah made an impression. I have only seen them perform this once before and Marty had the words on his lap. Now it is a full blown production piece that made the Bongo people really sit up and take notice. The rest of the set was familiar territory so they had the crowd singing, waving and dancing and rather hoarse by the end.
Ian, the organiser caught the band at the Cottage Inn last year and was certain they would be just right for their bash. He was right. It was a “corcka”!!!!
There was a magical spell at the end when the sky was filled with Chinese lanterns released in memory of one of their former members.

One of the comments on their forum says that the Happy Cats were an inspired choice for the Saturday night. That was the lady whose son joined them on stage for a while with a toy guitar. Well, it was great to catch up with them again and we are looking forward to the next one.

cats2
The second half after the Bongo people warmed to the band.....

John Grenfell

Photos by Nick Adams

Andrew & Beverley Craggs

Andrew & Beverley Craggs are celebrating the New Year with their first gig at Chino’s, Camden Street, North Shields, on New Years Day, they will be joined on stage by special guest Rachael Rhoades, who played fiddle on our first album “Follow The Moon” this is to be a very informal gig and rumour has it there maybe other guests, they have even managed to talk their old Dad in on the act, so I’ll wet my whistle with a pint of Guinness, play a bit of sax, and give them a toot on the flute!!

The band will be on stage at 8.00 till 10.00.

Chino’s is situated on the same street as ‘The Maggie Bank’

Sounds like good fun, see you there,

Cheers,

Marty.

Charity Geordie Night

A MESSAGE FROM FRANK.

A big thank you to everyone who attended my “Geordie Night” charity gig at Forest Hall Con Club on 5^th December. The generosity of The Happy Cat followers never ceases to amaze me, I sold out the £10 tickets in record time, and the donations for the raffle were overwhelming. A special thanks to Keith Barrett who sponsored the evening by paying for the band, and with the broth and stottie cake sandwiches also being sponsored, every single penny that was raised on the night went to St Oswald’s. I am very pleased to announce that we raised a staggering £2,082.00 which is our best so far!! A big thank you to Marty, Les & Brian, who were absolutely sensational on the night!! The pulling power of the band makes the job of selling tickets an easy task, and makes for a brilliant evening, cheers lads! So once again a big thank you to everyone for your fantastic support for all the charity gigs we have done this year, the generosity of The Happy Cats supporters is now officially ”LEGENDARY” and as you well know, that is not a word I use lightly!!

The next charity gig will probably be at “Amici” Forest Hall, this side of Easter.

Yiamas,

Frank Law.

Marie Curie Cancer Care

To The Happy Cats,

Thank you so much for supporting Marie Curie Cancer Care with your very generous donation of £126.00 from your Halloween Ball. Please accept this letter as your official receipt.

Marie Curie Hospice provides a free service for people with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, and for their families and friends from across the North East region. At our purpose built hospice in the west end of Newcastle we care for over 400 people as inpatients as well as offering an extensive care service for out- patients.

Complementing the work we do at the Newcastle hospice, our team of dedicated Marie Curie Nurse’s work across the region offering people end of life care in their own home, which is a key objective of Marie Curie Cancer care – giving patient’s choice in where they spend their final days.

All our services are offered to patients free of charge.

We very much appreciate your support, and if you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Barbara Cranston

Community fundraiser

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jimmy Barret's 80th Birthday Party

A new Photo Gallery has been published of Jimmy Barret's 80th Birthday Party in October at Amici.

Photos supplied courtesy of Kunal Basak

More Articles...

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next > End >>

Page 2 of 5