We will be meeting this Tuesday 16^th May.  Doors open at 8pm with a hybrid meeting as usual. We will start with any players on the stage who want to play or practice playing to an audience, then we will move on to having the rest of the evening as a Practice Night. This way we can cater for most people’s preferences in one night, if you prefer to play on stage please arrive sooner rather than later and we will see the stage performances first.  As usual there will be Tea and Coffee on sale at 20p a Cup.

See you at 8pm this Tuesday 16^th May.

David.

Our dates till the end of the year are:  3^rd Tuesdays of the month  8pm – 11pm

Our other nights up to the end of the year
16^th May 2023
20^th June 2023
18^th July 2023
15^th August 2023
19^th September 2023
17^th October 2023
21^st November 2023
19^th December 2023
 

As we are connoisseurs of great music I thought you would like to hear about Angel Radio, a great station you can listen to online, and one which has great tunes you may want to play on the accordion.

Angel Radio was the brainchild of electrician, art & design technician and former pirate radio operator, Tony Smith. This unique station, Angel Radio, was launched in 1999 to bring music and memories into the homes of older people at a time when most other radio stations were concentrating on much younger listeners. It was also Tony Smith’s ambition to provide an opportunity for older people to participate in the running of the station, including the creation and presenting of programmes. 

Angel Radio began in 1993 as a pirate station broadcasting on FM and shortwave. After 3-years on-air, operating without a licence, the station was raided and taken off-air in 1996. In 1997 Angel Radio ran its first licensed broadcast for one month. After running a dozen temporary licensed broadcasts, Angel's programme schedule had developed into the station's sound that you hear today. The first 'proper' broadcast using the nostalgic sound 100% of the time was in Portsmouth in February 1999. It was designed as a 24-hour a day ‘memory box’ with presenters playing music from the 1920s to the early 1960s and providing friendly, informal, memory-jogging chit-chat. The first broadcast proved so popular that several further short-term licences enabled the station to become more established.
 

In 2006 Ofcom announced that they would be issuing the first full-time community radio licences. Angel Radio was there at the very beginning of experimenting with, and legalising “community radio, the most significant innovation in terrestrial broadcasting in the UK this century, and probably the last” (Tony Stoller, 2021). There are currently around 300 community radio stations serving small communities of interest around the UK. Having been on air continuously since February 2002, Angel Radio is the longest running community licensee in the UK and is still unique in both the music it plays and its aim to offer mental and physical stimulation to older people, provided by older people, in a relaxed, informal atmosphere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
 

Angel Radio’s team of 70+ volunteers are mostly aged over 60, many in their 70s and 80s. Angel’s oldest volunteer, now sadly passed away, was still presenting 3 shows a week at the age of 94. But Angel is also keen to encourage intergenerational listening and understanding. At one point the youngest regular phone caller was aged 4 (listening with grandparents) and the oldest was 104.

You can listen to the radio station online, the following page gives you options of how to listen online https://www.angelradio.co.uk/internet

To see the Weekly schedule see their home page https://www.angelradio.co.uk/

There is still time to book to attend St Audries Bay Accordion Week taking place from the 14^th July to 21^st July. To book your accordion ticket contact the team on email sabaccordionweek@gmail.com. The ticket (£100 per person for the whole weeks event) lets you attend the festival. You will have to book accommodation on top of that, which can be, but does not have to be, at St Audries Bay Holiday park. You can choose to sort alternative accommodation if you like and drive in to the site each day. 

To book accommodation on the St Audries Bay Holiday Park contact 01984 632515, you can also book a nearby bnb/hotel or other accommodation and travel in to the holiday park for the Accordion Activities.   Although it’s a distance away, the trip is well worth it if you want a great break away with good accordion company and music. There are usually 8 to 10 people from Leyland club that book to go to this event. I know of 8 who have booked for this years event already. If you have any questions about the event you can ask us at the club on Tuesday night. 

Jools and His Orchestra are playing at the Blackpool Winter Gardens on the 20^th July at 7:30pm. Tickets cost between £51 and £62. 
To book tickets visit https://www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/events/jools-holland-his-rhythm-blues-orchestra/

The next ONLINE meeting will be 7th June starting at 8pm, we have an online catch up with local members and others from far and wide. This is held on Zoom.

The night starts at 8pm and will be a chance to chat about accordions, find out what others have been up to, or even play a tune for us.  Please share the link below with any accordion folk who might be interested in joining us. If you want to chat about accordion stuff, listen to others play the accordion, or give us a tune then please join us.

I will send out a reminder for anyone who forgets the meeting is on, but the meeting will be on, and here is the main announcement of it.  We did have a number of us on the last meeting and we had a great range of music being played and lots of chat about various pieces of music. 

Simply click this link to Join our Zoom Meeting at 8pm on the 7th June.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82237487230?pwd=LzlLdC9RMCtkb1RMMmVoSXZVR0lMQT09 

Meeting ID: 822 3748 7230 
Passcode: accordion

The link above is the same for every online meeting we have, it doesn’t change from month to month. You can test your computer works with the link at any time. If you get a message saying you are waiting for a host to let you in, or something similar, then your computer is set up correctly to join the meeting on the correct dates/times.