Norfolk Dixieland Jazz Band…

What a lovely day out despite the rain and windy weather, to hear the Jazz at The Crown, Banningham, a lovely old pub and they serve great meals, with friendly staff that look after you well.

The Band played well in the limited space they have there, and they went down well with the large crowd of people , so thanks gentlemen for a lunch time of jazz fun and laughter.

Nice to see you Jean and Judy you looked grand in your posh chairs! Hope the results are good  Vic. See you Thursday night John and Judy.

Thank you Tim for taking me, and Keith &and Sheila for the lovely lunch, I hope you are not too tired today. Safe journey today Tim.

The weather is now sunshine, after all that rain and wind …typical.

But the sad thing is I took a couple of photos then the battery ran out…  when I got home I was charging the battery when I lost the photos, so have a nice new computer and new photo shop gear to post them, but no photos, I obviously need to get my act together. Back to reading the instructions,  great photo of Bill pulling a face, because I asked him to sing! I will get you one day Bill.

The band looked very smart in their Blue and Black with their Lemon ties, but of course as I have made a mess of taking the photos you will have to look back at previous post for the band.

Thanks again to everyone …

Jazz Photos

Thank goodness! Son arrived and installed my new copy of Photoshop. Yay!

So at last I can post the photos I took last Thursday.

This is Derek resplendent in orange, playing great music on his soprano sax,

with Craig drumming away in the background …

… and here's Barbara with her banjo.

A lovely smile …

… and finally Tim, somewhat out of focus, but at least his playing was focused.

Sorry the other photos didn't come out, but I'll try harder next week.

Jazz night

Another good crowd came and supported the Sole Bay Jazz Band last night, and were happy to hear the players perform some great numbers.

Good to have Barbara on the banjo, and Craig giving us some hot numbers on the drums… while Tim and Derek gave some good noises from their clarinets and saxophones… aided and abetted by Tony P on the trombone with some great singing and Tony J on that double bass such a good sound.

Thanks to Heidi who as usual coped with the jazz and looking after us all.

Great company as always from all the friends who make the night so enjoyable…

Have just tried to post photos ha ha brain has seized so will try later to work it out on i photo or wait until a better brain than me puts this new photo shop on here, hint hint Son!

photos!

My Son David reminded me that I can now post photos but have not been doing so!

Here then is my very new baby that I have a lot to learn on including that I have borrowed the money for it from my boiler fund, so here is hoping the boiler keeps working for a while.

I love to report on the Sole Bay and post pictures  but the older Mac no longer allow it, tried an i pad but not able to from there, so got lots of brain work involved now to learn lots of new things on here.

Line up for Sole Bay Jazz 26th April

This Thursday at the Pavilion the Sole Bay Jazz Band 

will consist of the following…

Tim Densham…clarinet/saxophone…

Tony Jullings…double bass…

We have some great guests…Derek Cubitt…reeds…

Tony Parsons…trombone…

Craig Hipperson…drums… and a welcome back to 

Barbara Green…banjo.

Well done Alan looks like another good night with all that talent.

I'm Back!

Hoo-ray!

I can post photos again!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaaa.

Watch this space for more.
This was Barry on Saturday night with Romping Roy!

Romping Roy & the Rhythm Boys

Great night of jazz with fun and laughter with Roy and the boys.

Thanks to the folk at the Poacher for the lovely meals we had, we always turn the place upside down when we arrive,.Thanks to the wonderful gang who now include me in their fold, you always make the world seem a happier place.

Very good to see a really packed pub of friendly locals who put up with us folk who follow the jazz. and they were all enjoying it as well.

And so they should Roy…Ian…Tony…Barry…Dave… played some great numbers, and Barry your voice gets better everytime … Chris gave us a couple of songs as well which was a nice surprise.

Thanks Roy for taking us… I did take photos but you know why I cannot post them at the moment.

I have had a lesson on an i pad which I had hoped could be linked to my photos, but not sure whether my son Phil thought his Mum was being a bit slow this morning, and we could not do it, even with a video link to David my other son. So it will be a visit to the Apple Mac store with all the information I now have to try and find on the internet a place where I can put my photos, then I will not seem like an idiot when we get to the Apple Store! Hope they know my brain works but is a bit slow nowadays and will help me, as I do miss posting the photos on my blog.

A Great Night of Jazz

Well here I am again with photos to post but no way ( at the moment …but watch this space I may be going a bit up market) of doing so, but what a good night of jazz the Sole Bay produced last night.

Tim and Ron did some magic playing together, Trummy as always has so many notes that comes out of that trombone!  Alan and Tony bass and banjo keeping the back line going and Peter did well playing for the first time a full session.

Roy gave us some of his great happy singing with feeling, and nice to see that the band  enjoyed some laughs.

Thanks June for the lift again, and for everyones great company.

We had a few of the regulars missing, hopefully because of holiday not sickness, and we are getting some new fans that are enjoying the weekly jazz, so lovely to see them now they have discovered the Sole Bay.

A great evening looking forward to next week already, will pop it on here when Alan sends it.

Line up for April 19th Sole Bay Jazz…

Looks like another good line up this week…

We have Tim Densham…Reeds…Ron Hockett Reeds… Dick Mayhew… Trombone…

Alan Cugnoni…Banjo/Guitar…Tony Jullings…Double Bass…Peter Elliot…Drums…

Looking forward to seeing a nice lot of support for the band…One never knows we may be lucky enough to have Simon Denny on vocals again.

8pm-10.30pm…

Still working on ways to get the photos on here again, may have to spend a little cash and go a bit more techi… now that should be fun!

RAY VAUGHAN

Not to be confused with 'Rave On' as my boys remarked, but  as good as!

I went to my club last night all on my ownsome to hear Ray Vaughan, who is really a part of Buddy Holly tribute band.

I do not think I have ever been to a gig where someone sang so many songs, what a star he was … a great voice… looked good very smart and played the guitar beautifully,  if you read my posts you will know I am a fan of  good guitarists!

I should have known that my friends would not let me be alone, so had plenty of good company, Stella and I had a ball… we had to admit a bit different to our jazz nights, but all 50's music played so well so a very good night. I hope I did not disgrace myself with some of the dancing, think one of my friends may have a thick head this morning, as she danced all night with the aid of some wine, but I had no excuse I just drank lime and soda!  Great Mamba we did (I hope) But as Stella said 'get dancing or you will be like me at over 80 and cannot get up' and for someone who loves to dance that must have been hard, but I did get her up for a little slow dance at the end, never was enough men to go around, and in our day ladies had to dance together, so why not now!

Thanks to all the helpers and Julia & Michael for the nibbles, and all the good company.

Ray is appearing in a Show at the Public Hall soon so may have to go and have a look.

I do hope the club books him again as I have not heard so many requests for someone to keep playing after all that singing and dancing, well done to everyone.

Sole Bay Jazz

Well here I am again, still no photos even though I took some of the guys. Maybe can post them sometime.

A big thank you to all the folk who have offered help!

Another great night of jazz a nice upbeat first half and a good finish, even Stella's favourite one!

Simon came along to sing again, that voice seems to be getting better all the time Simon, nice .

The football crowd came in , maybe they will still come along when the season finishes?

There were a few fans that have colds etc, so wishing them get well soon, miss them when they are not there.

Ruth had a Happy Birthday sung as was 21 again on Friday, hope you have a good weekend Ruth.

Nice to see you back Heidi looking after us all, thanks June for the lift this week.

Sorry about the post's now but will get it sorted as soon as I can, the write up's seem so much better when you can see the band. Google call it progress! but they forget about all the people who cannot afford to have up to date computers, and I will stick to my apple mac whatever. Will ring them on  Monday and see if they have an answer that does not involve a new Mac!

So please bear with me. Thanks Sole Bay, looking forward to Thursday already…

I have just realized I have no label that I can put to the Sole Bay so you will have to just look here on my ordinary blog, as the posts are not now showing in the Link at the top of the page.

SOLE BAY JAZZ 12th April

I do hope you all had a good Easter break, coming up this week at the Pavilion with the Sole Bay Band are-

Alan Cugnoni…banjo/guitar…Tony Jullings…double bass…

Tim Densham…saxophone/clarinet…Neil Kane…drums…

Guests this week…Derek Cubitt…reeds…Bill Brewer…trombone…

Ray Simmons…piano…

So another good line up this week.

Just want to thank my friend Neil (Bland) who has been trying to help me to find how a new system that would help me to post photos again, really appreciate it, and will try to get it right asap.

In the meantime I will keep posting about the band. Have to be just as I type it as have no way to centre etc at the moment.

Hope to see a nice crowd to support the gentlemen on Thursday night.

Start time 8pm- 10.30pm

"The Woods"

Yesterday I had a lovely day and I am so sad I cannot post photos at the moment because they could show how good it was, never mind I will try to describe it!

I am very lucky to have a close loving family, among them my niece Liz,her hubby and their son Max (nearly 2…going on20)! They invited Jan, Liz's mum  ( my sister in law and if you read my blog you will know we lost her hubby, my brother last year) my remaining brother who I am sure he will not mind me saying is 86 who is a widower as well  and me who as you also know without my dear John, we are getting careless of losing the ones we love it seems.

Anyway we went to have a 'happy easter sunday lunch' with them, and it certainly was very good, always made welcome there and it looked a picture, we were welcomed by Max, who had been on an easter egg hunt, he was supposed to be tired and needed a sleep, but he soon forgot about that when we arrived, the dining table looked lovely and both Liz and James had made a delicious lunch.

I was allowed to sit near Max in his high chair, and we had fun, he had never had smoked salmon before so after feeding me with some he suddenly ate some by mistake, and then had seconds! rich taste that boy… after a 3 course lunch we were ready to have a doze, but of course we wanted to see the woods!

For a lot of years a happy band of local people have been making sure that Gunton Woods are looked after, the local council now own them, but mostly the "locals" help keep them in order , young Max and Liz are 2 of the helpers, and if you think he is too young you would be mistaken, he is a fit little boy he has his own wheelbarrow, plus one of the men has made him a little wooden rake, they go a few times a week to help with the bark laying for paths, without the aid of the photos cannot really show the beauty of the place, it has grown a lot since I last visited, it is a little oasis of peace, a lot of new trees have been planted and Max showed us his special one, there are bird boxes and fish ponds, an amazing amount of daffodils and primroses, foxgloves ready to flower, and bluebells which will not be long coming into flower, all the shrubs and trees are begining to sprout their new leaves, there are seats made of the stumps of old trees and some clever folk have fashioned tables and they have made such a good job of the hedges all woven, and it was really wonderful to wander through, We walked for a few miles in there and only then went into part of it.

It was so good to see so many people there enjoying the peace, a lot of dogs, some unfortunately not on leads, but however on the whole the dog owners were good, some of the dogs had run through the flowers and knocked the heads off,  a couple of the dogs wanted to play, but some of them Max knew  were well behaved.

We wandered back to the house and a nice cup of tea, and more easter presents, so a lot of spoiling went on, Jan had got him some books so Max and I sat on the floor and looked at them while the tea was being made, James also got the little wooden train track to show us, Max loves that.  James  showed us one of the Dr Who videos that has the Red London bus in it, (which he actually bought and restored and takes to a lot of shows, also had their photos in one of the 'Lets Talk'  magazines) it was quite late when we left, and apparently Max had a little something to eat and was in bed and in the land of nod by 6.25, bless him how he managed all the company and of course he walked a lot more miles than us backwards and forwards showing us all they had been involved in, what a good boy he was, such a wonderful day, so thanks again to everyone for letting me share it with you all.

I will send  the photos on e mail, sad that I cannot post them on here, I am pleased with them, even the ones you took Liz, I did not realize how long my old coat was ha ha! But it was warm and we did need the warmth as it was a cool day, but not so bad in the woods.

I heard on the news that some people want Easter Sunday to be like an ordinary day, but lets hope common sense will rule the day, let us keep some special religious days ones of peace, some may not want to go to church but we need to keep families together I am sure the shops can stay closed for a few days a year, and if you want some where to go, choose somewhere like Gunton Woods and take time to enjoy nature and let the staff of the shope have a day off!

Easter Sunday

I had a lovely photo of some daffodils to put in here today, to wish you all a Happy Easter, but of course blogger will not let me.

So will just be… Hope you all have a lovely day and do not eat too many easter eggs.

I bought a lottery ticket yesterday as I thought how wonderful if I could win and buy a new Apple Mac that was up to date ha ha I should have known better, one has to work for things they do not land in your lap. Not one number came up!  So will keep trying to find a way to get blogger back on track on this dear Mac… 

I will post the line up when Alan has got it sorted…

Now how the devil do I post this… here goes…

Sole Bay Jazz

Sorry to say still unable to post photos, but can still report at the moment, so here we go… another great night of jazz, unfortunately Ray was unable to play so they were a man short so to speak, but they certainly made a great sound, and we all really enjoyed it.

Simon sang some lovely songs in the first half, so that was a bonus, and the second half Roy gave us a couple of his songs, as always full of energy…

Ron and Tim did some different sounds together both such able clarinet and saxophone players, Alan on guitar and banjo happily keeping the beat, Craig giving out some really superb drumming, and Tony you make that double bass zing, and some really nice solo pieces also we could see you! Peter gave us a couple of numbers on the drums while Craig had a break.

Great crowd as usual, and they had football last night so a lot of the folk called in for their after match drinks, and I did notice a nice few of them were listening to the jazz, always liking that people who have not listened much to jazz, hear such good musicians play and they maybe will come and join us.

Thanks for all the good company, and all the goodies from one of my favourite tables! we all appreciated them, so thank you.

It was good to see some of our regulars returning from holiday looking good, and Les you will have to reign that June of yours in, she is a real goer isn't she but the knee op will take a while although she forgets she has had it, maybe if you paint the stick a bright colour she will remember it!


Keith good to see you back again, keep off that bike, and Sheila and Keith even though you do not feel in the best of health you always turn up and it is great that you do, it just would not be the same without you, just wishing the best of health to one and all, we have such a lovely crowd of people that turn up to support the band each week, and you know how the band appreciates you all.


Glad you enjoyed your Surprise Party Sheila, we all did.


Here goes wonder if this will work… see you all next week........................

blogger change?

It seems blogger no longer is supporting my dear old mac, so hopefully I will be able to work out the new system and still be able to blog as always.

Sole Bay at Ditchingham Pavilion

Right back to the world of jazz …this coming Thursday night the 5th of April, the Sole Bay Jazz are playing again at the Pavilion, and it looks like another great line up for us all.

Alan Cugnoni…banjo/guitar…Tony Jullings…double bass…

Tim Densham… clarinet/saxophone… 

Ray Simmons…trumpet…

Craig Hipperson…drums…

Ron Hockett…clarinet/ saxophone…

Do come along and hear these great musicians, we are so lucky to have such fine music every Thursday.

Admission is free…
and in this day and age with so much costing such a lot this is a bonus…

8pm-10.30pm…
in a very nice venue, so come and enjoy some good music and company.

Alistair Griffin

This photo arrived on my e mail this morning with an invite to go and see Al again but unfortunately it is in north yorkshire, and although I always went wherever he was, do not think I can now, but love to follow his progress… after all my blog is named after him. I am  Alifan!

He has a great cd out called Drive and it has been chosen to be the Sky Formula 1 theme at the start of every race…it is on u tube if anyone cares to check it out.

Keep bringing it on Alistair, and I may catch up with you again some day…

Norfolk Dixieland Jazz Band

Yesterday Sunday 1st April the Norfolk Dixieland Jazz Band played a really great lunchtime of music at the Diplomat in Coltishall , and  I was so happy to be there to witness it again.

Thanks Tim for taking me and for the lunch, and thanks as always to Jean, Judy and Ben for the company.

Liz was on the double bass again which she plays so well, with Peter on guitar/banjo, and a song or two you know how I love the guitar, Bill playing some great trombone, John on the cornet and vocals , Vic on drums, and Tim on clarinet and saxophone… nice solo Tim.

A few skiffle numbers also that Vic's relation played went down well with the audience, bringing some memories back of days of old.

I will leave it to Vic on his e mails to say if there will be a gig next month, it seems that there may be a lull in the proceedings, but it would be a shame as we really need good live music and there are not many venues about nowadays. I will say it has nothing to do with the band about the gigs, just the venue's owners who seem to be rethinking. sad news but I am sure if Vic has anything to do with it the band will find  another venue.

A lovely day out thanks to all.