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It looks to me as if the leads aren't even connected to anything - posing even in those days! Look at how slim I was............
Monday 23rd May 1977 at Bentley Comrades Working Men's Club
We were the support act to a lady named "Moby Richards" who was incredibly helpful to us.
All our school friends were there so it wasn't too painful!
We were signed up by an agency called "Artiste Management", but I am not sure that they actually stayed to watch us.......
We were the first pop group ever to play at the Civic Theatre in Doncaster.
The stage was a proper acting stage which slopes towards the front. No-one had told us and the amplifiers started wheeling themselves towards us half way through!
The only song that I can remember us playing is "Waterloo" by ABBA.
That's John Scott (Scotty) on lead guitar in the foreground, and Mark (Buster) Steadman on drums.
With two female singers in the 1970's, it is no surprise that we covered a lot of ABBA material! That's Christina Lanni in the green suit, and Lynn Ferguson in the red. Christina made both of the suits. Yours truly is on the right of the picture.
Resting before the show....................
We didn't do bad for 17 year old's (Lynn was only just 16!), and this performance led to a lot of work for us.
Buster, Lynn and Christina display just the right amount of nonchalence.....
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Saturday 6th December 1997 at St Peter in Chains Roman Catholic Church, Doncaster.
Back row from left to right: Lilian Hollidge (Pickles), Katie Hargreaves (McDermott), Margaret Scarborough, Margaret Prescott, Anne Overton. Front row, left to right: Mike Baldwin, Kevin L'Amie, Phil Hall, Paul Robertshaw (me!)
This was the first time we got together as "Stainforth in Song" to sing secular music.
As mum is Irish, most of the songs were Irish too. We dug out all the old classics - "Fields of Athenrye" and all the rest!
Mum had no idea that a party was in the offing. We had practised in secret for about five months.
This was also the first time we had Kev (Fitzpatrick) singing with us. Despite his wonderful-sounding Irish name, however, he didn't know any of the material!
This was the start of the modern version of "Stainforth in Song"!
We arranged a concert to raise money to help in the disaster relief effort for the Tsunami in South East Asia.
Kev competes with a pair of spots for the limelight!
We received support from local business outlets, who donated prizes for raffles/tombolas etc.
This image is symbolic of the double act that is Kev and Steve. They are inseperable, and both have a lot of fun!
Probably the first ever picture of Paul & Lilian singing together (although I'm not looking at her!)
Sorry for the quality of the photos - it was very dark and I have done my best to restore them, but they are grainy.
The concert was in the Large Hall adjacent to our parish church, Our Lady of the Assumption in Stainforth, Doncaster.
Phil singing his little heart out. If you listen to the music files, it is usually Phil you can hear singing loudest (he had control of the mixer!)
Unusually for him, Mike seemed to be quite reticent that night - well, by his standards anyway. The microphone picking up his guitar kept feeding back as he moved back and forwards (Mike NEVER keeps still), and the high pitched whine was a trifle off-putting at times. So was the feedback, ho ho!
Do you like the waistcoats? Kev and Steve never did, and later rebelled.
We never did learn the words and chords.......
Lilian proves her flexibility by moving around the stage.
It was a great night, and was well supported by the parishioners.
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This concert was in a marquee at an open day for friends and family provided by the company that I work for.
Kev, only recently an addition as a guitarist as well as an excellent singer, shamed us all by displaying the plectrum holder stuck on his guitar. The rest of us scrabble on the floor like anyone else when we drop ours!
Proving that he is genuinely multi-talented (so he tells us anyway), Phil puts down his guitar for a while and plays the mouth organ. Normally he would play the mouth organ and guitar together, but he must have been tired!
Steve and Kev - they never fail to enjoy themselves, and always bring a smile to the rest of us as well.
Lil and me doing a rendition of "Fairytale of New York" to a backing track. There wasn't much room for the traditional waltz, but we managed!
It was a blisteringly hot day, and we really needed the marquee to keep us cool.
One of these days we will definately learn the words and music........
The one on the right is particularly charming!
It rhymes - unlike some of the lyrics.........
Steve and Lil are the only ones not playing an instrument - they need to work harder!
Yes, this was the first concert that we ever played that didn't include Mike. He was away on holiday and didn't come back to help us. Phil thought that it made us sound better!
The whole day was very relaxed, and setting up was very easy. It was made even easier because work had provided a sound engineer who did all the hard work for us.
This shows the marquee before we started playing, with the sound engineer and mixing desk at the far end.
I know that's what we were playing in this image because I have a banjo, and I think that I only played it for one song. Teresa is now learning and is much better than I would ever have been. What a tone that instrument has - no amplification necessary and a beautiful, rich, gorgeous sound.
The guys had rebelled by this stage (mainly Kev and Steve) and the old "Stainforth in Song" waistcoats were no more........
Unlike most of our gigs, because this one had the sound engineer, all the cables were neatly tucked away with nothing to trip up over. A good job, as it happens!
We changed our name to "Slainte!" (gaelic for "cheers") for this concert only. And how apt that was. The alcohol was free, it was a hot day, and much was consumed by all. In this image, Phil is singing "Seven Drunken Nights" which he punctuated by falling over at the end. I hasten to add that this was part of the act - or so he assured us!
Just to prove that I am also flexible, I changed instrument occasionally just to add a bit of flavour!
Don't worry, we let Lil have a microphone too - you just can't see it in this photo!
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My niece, Rebecca.
It looks like someone needs to get dried!
This is the birdbath in my mum and dad-in-laws garden.
It sometimes takes about 400 shots to get the one that you want. With a digital camera, however, it is no problem throwing the rest away.
The roses provide perfect shade for the birds as they drink.
This was a summer day in 2008.
I was very pleased with this one, as his eye is as sharp as I could have wished for.
An experiment with an evening shot near Christmas - note the Poinsetta!
Not my favourite flower because they can get ragged-looking. If you catch them right, however................
I found that with very close f2.8 exposures using the Canon 100mm Macro lens, I could get totally black backgrounds naturally on a summer day.
Once I found that I could do it, there was no stopping me!
This was taken in our garden in summer 2009.
I think that the French Marigold is my favourite flower (although it isn't my favourite smelling flower!)
Another French Marigold.
It seems that the bees like the "Frenchies" as much as I do!
I love how, with the lens set to f2.8, you can get the shot just as you want, with the background out of focus.
Another marigold shot.
Yes, you are probably getting the idea by now......
It just looks like a sad face to me. Very pretty all the same.
Another of those natural black background shots.
We go to Hodsock Priory every year to see the snowdrops, and every year we enter the photography competition. We always thought that this was a good image worthy of consideration, but we never even got close!
The insect is deliberately small as I wanted to convey the size of the thing, and I love the way the image is foregrounded by the plants.
My nephew, Isaac.
This photo, taken at Chatsworth House, is very special to us. We call it "The Journey Tree" as the split in the path is symbolic of the choices we have to make in our journey through life.
We went to the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield to watch some athletics, and we were lucky to witness the last ever competetive race of Dame Kelly Holmes. We couldn't resist a photo of the scoreboard as a fitting testimony to her achievements.
And here is Kelly, about to cross the line for the last time in a competitive race in the UK. She didn't win, but it didn't matter.
This was an entry for a competition with the theme "Dereliction".
Looking out over the lake at Hodsock Priory.
A beautifully coloured male mallard at Chatsworth House.
This ancient-looking tree at Chatsworth House was so different that we couldn't help but take a photo.
We never did find out what these plants were, but they were HUGE!
This image was taken on a clothes line after a wet and rainy night. You can see the inverted reflection of our house in the raindrop.
The insect hiding from the rain under the leaf is reflecetd beautifully in this raindrop.
A lone tree marks the path at Chatsworth House.
A group of rocks at Chatsworth House.
A delightful shot of a starling feeding baby being fed with bread provided by my generous father-in-law.
A macro shot of a thistle at Chatsworth House.
Another entry in the "Dereliction" competition. This stump has sadly now been removed. Each summer it would end up covered in fungi, but the local children would just kick it all over the path.
A charismatic waterfall at Chatsworth House.
This scene looked so peaceful. It is rendered in black and white to hide the red bollards that someone had inconsiderately left around!
An atmospheric shot of a willow tree with a long exposure to pick up the moving traffic trails.
A snow-bound willow near to where I live.
