Caravan Club Rally at Sheringham High School

We had Ray Royle depping on drums because Mick was doing a solo gig. Mark Buller (the agent) had told us not to arrive early this year because there was something on. But I had yet another good run over to arrive at just after 6:30pm on a cold but dry evening to find Ray already parked up. The governor for the night, Trevor, came over and explained that the Salvation Army had booked the hall until 7pm so we would have to sit tight. As it was, it was 7:30pm before we could get access. There were a few people we know from other events including Willie and Mark from the East Buckenham rally and so we had some help getting the gear in. Even so, any thoughts I had of using harmoniser and 12 string evaporated in the rush to get set up for an 8:15 pm start. But I made sure I found time to restore the T1 bass setting to 0dB for guitar. Nigel had anticipated the ‘no bar’ situation and had kindly brought some beer to power the band – most welcome indeed. We got changed into the black shirts, white ties and white waistcoats and took to the stage to open up with “Flingel Bunt”. I had briefed Ray on the set list in the week and he fitted in just fine on this opener and the following “Just One Look – Heartbeat”. The on-stage sound was very good and Nigel and I had no trouble switching lead lines and harmonies around to cater for the absence of Mick. From the off we got warm applause for everything and even some dancing. A few numbers in Nige got Ray to volunteer to sing “Living Doll” which we busked quite easily; though I chickened out on the double string guitar solo! We wigged up to do a fine Beatles Medley; only really caught Ray out on the change from “I Feel Fine” to “She Loves You”. Considering we only had the two voices and we had to switch harmonies around on the fly it went pretty well. I asked Nigel gently to do a country routine and he obliged leading us into “Crystal Chandelier - Your Cheating Heart”. This brought out the barn dancers and was well received. The slowies also filled the floor. I did “Raining in my Heart” mid-set and Nige did “Words” to finish. We had to judge the Easter Bonnet competition in the interval. Ray had stepped out for a blow so that left me and Nige and Tony (from the committee) to do the judging. Guided by Trevor we made the right selections and everyone was a winner! We resumed for longish final set with our dedication to Dave: “Under the Sun” Now, in the break Willie had asked for a quickstep; so we obliged at this point with Nige stepping up to sing “Lady is a Tramp”. Willie and his dance partner did a fine exhibition and he (and the band) got a great round of applause for it! I kept the ‘strictly dancing‘ theme going by calling for a waltz with: “Around the World”. Even though I’m still struggling to remember the chords as I try to concentrate on the vocal, this filled the floor and was well appreciated. I got my long lead out to do a Shadows Apache walk with a couple of girls on the toy guitars. While I was out there I was able to confirm I had done the right thing with the guitar sound which was right back on form. The rhythm section sounded good as well with a full bass filling the bottom of the soundscape and Ray’s drums filling the middle: with my chordy fills between lead guitar phrases, you didn’t didn’t miss the rhythm guitar. A class sound! We finished to huge applause. It took me a couple of minutes to struggle back onto the stage. Then we rocked it up with a selection including: “Searchers, Crazy Little Thing and Move It” Seeing them flag a bit I called for the “Halfway, Wonder of You, Sweet Caroline, Hi Ho” sequence. This filled the floor with sing-a-longers so well that I had to call “Amarillo, Hey Baby” to bring us to the final number: “Wonderful Tonight”. This also filled the floor and I was able to sign off the band to an enthusiastic response in the solo. We were delighted with the reception we got and banged out “Saw Her Standing There” to encore. As we packed up we got a lot good comments and Tony was keen to book us back for next years Easter do. I congratulated Ray on his fitting in, saying it seemed like he’d been with us for years not a couple of hours. The voices had stood up well from the long run of gigs and, if anything, had benefitted; with a noticeable increase in power and, in my case, I also felt I was achieving a smoother transition from chest to head voice. We completed load up with some help from the happy caravaners. As I set off home I reflected on the fact that a year ago Dave did most of the lead vocals and how, by stepping up to the plate in the tough times following Dave’s untimely demise, Nigel and I can now carry off fronting and lead singing at gigs to get successful outcomes. Got home about 1:15 am pretty tired and remained so for a couple of days. Poor Nige went down with the lurgi in the week and I ended up with ‘bad guts’. We do well for our age but we are not supermen!