High Noon at the White Rose. 

27th June, 2024 Report Phil Barr videos Carl Davidson

With the very busy summer schedule under way and the sun burning down through the glass dome of the White Rose centre there was a real danger of both ukulele players and their correspondent withering under the heat and this in addition to hold-ups on the M1 and a last-minute mercy dash by Pippa to pick up Mags, the beating heart of the band, who was left stranded at home without transport. As if this wasn’t enough, just hours earlier, two on – site jewellers stores had been subjected to armed robberies; we, though, were reassured in the knowledge that several members of our group have black belts, (from Marks and Spencer).

There was to be no respite from the mounting problems yet though as a promised supply of chairs for us failed to arrive until the starting time of 11a.m, just as David was no doubt mulling over whether his decision to include Oh Sit Down in the set list was a wise one. Finally, then, we were ready to go and from the off it soon became evident that the strong reminders we were given at Tuesday’s practice session about clear enunciation being important was being heeded and along with earlier timing issues also being satisfactorily resolved, the likes of Side by Side and Amarillo went swimmingly as did the old Ned Miller song and the colourful Honolulu Baby. (It was also with some relief that Dave F’s wife, Carol found his missing tuner which was causing him considerable consternation.) And so, following a – bordering on the swaggeringly confident – rendition of I’m Into Something Good the interval came with expectations high for the second half, especially since the arrival of Roy, more so because he was again wearing shorts, the sight of which caused a bit of a stir and a bottleneck as he came down the escalator. (Stuart had earlier also made a surprise appearance.)

 The second set began on schedule at 12:10 p.m., after David had first led the group in song in wishing that young at heart Pop a happy birthday and it was fitting that it should be Wakeylele’s sage who belted out our name for everyone inside the shopping mall to hear with his adopted Northern power – house vocals to kick off proceedings. There was a brief glitch with the opening chords of Love Really Hurts, when David tried to throw a deliberate wobbly to test our concentration but we weren’t to be so easily fooled – indeed not only was that number nailed

once more but the following performance of On the Road Again was so enthusiastically received by two ladies in particular that I thought there might be a danger of spontaneous combustion,(and even Roy’s experience of fire – fighting might not have been enough to retrieve the situation.) Fortunately, things calmed down a bit after that with smooth performances of Singing the Blues, Sunny Afternoon and The Glory of Love before the more strident refrains of the Proclaimer’s song/Tony and David’s adaptation of We’re Gonna Play and the zippy finale. 

With that another gig was concluded and the band collected their belongings and girded their loins for next week’s busy itinerary – and who knows what new surprises are round the corner. Many thanks once more to David, to Carol for kindly volunteering to do some videoing, to Pippa for rescuing our percussion section – and a great job Mags did in sweltering conditions to stop her maracas from escaping her clutches, (although the side of my head did take a few glancing blows).  Also and finally, Sue deserves a mention for giving Maria and myself a lift after already running a family errand to Castleford!

 Next up is the wedding do at Barnsley on Saturday, 6th July for Richard’s family, which David will, I’m sure be updating us on next Tuesday.

Thursday: 10:30 for 11a.m.