Our first meeting of 1999 opened with myself playing Whispering Hope, Plaisir D'Amour and Oslo Waltz. I kept playing while our next player Roy Mabbutt got ready, it was his first time playing in front of a club, Roy, who plays a button accordion started with Under the Bridges of Paris, continued with Loves Last Word is Spoken and finished with Under Paris Skies. Well done Roy, we hope to hear a lot more of you. It was now time for our guest artist to open his first session. Due to the energetic nature of Jan's Zukowski’s music we decided to put him on for three shorter spots instead of our normal two, this worked well. Jan started with Trieste Overture by Pietro Deiro and continued with Preludio by A Volpi, Introduction & Rondo Capriciosso by Mendelssohn. After reading the last newsletter, Jan noticed that I mentioned how well he played Air on a G String by J.S. Bach, he then played this as his next piece, which, although slow can be as difficult as the fast pieces according to Jan. I now have an excuse for getting simple tunes wrong! Jan finished his first session with Mosaico Espagnol by Fugazza.

After the break we had our second new player of the night, Elaine - who looks after you on the door, has been practicing for about three months and played Maggie followed by Highland Cathedral, Elaine played better than I did but, she does have me at home and some of my talent must have influenced her, Ouch! - looks like no tea for me tonight. Linda Grant followed Elaine, following Jimmy Shands recent Knighthood reported in the last newsletter Linda played John MacDonalds March, Francis Wright Waltz which was written by Jimmy Shand, finishing with Bluebell Polka which Jimmy got in to the top 20 of the Pop charts after being played on Housewives Choice. Jimmy was born in 1908 and was sitting in a band by the age of 10, he later worked with my grandad and did not have an accordion at the time, my grandad had just bought a new one and gave Jimmy his old one to play, they then played entertaining workmates. Jimmy received an MBE at Buckingham Palace in March 1962 and his Knighthood in this years New Years Honours List. It was now time for the return of Jan for his second spot of the night. Jan started with Italian Fantasy by P. Frosini, Scherzo by J. Gart, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by F. Liszt, Hungarian Dance No. 6 by J. Brahms and finishing his second spot with Czardas by F. Fugazza. After the second break we had the raffle, this was followed by our third new player of the night Dave Sykes, Dave did well, playing a German tune Im Kinder Paradies - A Childs Paradise, followed by A Simple Waltz. Frank Scholes was next playing a selection of French music including Babette and Mademouiselle Du Paris. Frank is going into hospital today (Monday) and so will not be at the club on Wednesday but he says he will be there on the 3rd of March, we are having an extra meeting on that date. Rebecca Postlewhite was up next with her last performance before she returns to Oxford, Rebecca started with Triste Soirire, continuing with Washington Post, Liberty Bell and finishing with Flambée Montalbanaise. Basil Berry led us up to our guest artists last spot with Body and Soul and All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern. It was time for Jan's third spot, starting with Acquarelli Cubanni by Fancelli, 10Km A FineStrino also by Fancelli, a paso doble by Frosini called Jolly Caballero, a Mazurka by the name of Migliavacca, the polka Perles De Cristal, Jan's own arrangement of Riverdance, Carnival of Venice by Frosini and after shouts of 'More' Jan finished the night by giving us the choice of Sabre Dance or Minute Waltz, Sabre Dance by Khalhaturian sounded bigger so we chose that one. Jan played very well and cannot have failed to impress anyone who heard him, I heard lot's of good comments about the night and we look forward to Jan's return in early 2000. After the night was over we found out that Liz, Jan's wife had taken one car back home to Bolton with Jan's bag containing his car keys. So after unloading my car and having a brew we set off for Bolton to recover his keys, after returning to Leyland and dropping him off at the Highfield I finally got to bed at 3am while Jan set off in his own car heading back home to Bolton. I hope we can see Jan at the club again soon, if we do it will be a treat. I look forward to seeing you all again this Wednesday 10th February. 

David Batty

Hopefully that was an interesting blast from the past, now to move up to date with some items to keep you entertained during the lockdown.