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Report For Website on May Rendezvous Weekend.
Hi there! I can safely say that that was some weekend that we've just had at the High Peak CWC!
We had no idea what to expect, but everything went better than we could possibly have imagined. To begin with we had a nice
lot of people come, or perhaps even a lot of nice people. Everything was made ready, and we knew that with Sundown on the door and Kalamitty at the CD player we couldn't go far wrong.
The artiste was Andy Morris from Shropshire. He seems to be one of a new breed of Country singer who dresses down rather than
up. In fact he looked like a generally ordinary, but really decent, guy wearing what I would imagine was an expensive short-sleeved shirt, turquoise in colour, and ordinary black trousers.
Andy was a really good singer with a light melodious voice. When he sang 'A Working Man' he sounded like the tenor section of
a Welsh male voice choir. His guitar playing (12 string electric, very unusual) was good too, and I noticed some really fancy finger work going on from time to time.
The songs in his repertoire were good for dancing to, which pleased the line and couple dancers, but I didn't hear any of the
Westerners complaining.
We had a couple of different gunslingers in the fast draw, so the winner was Sundance, with the runner-up being Curly.
Then Saturday arrived. Preacher was now on the door, and I think he was startled by the number of people coming in – I
certainly was. We managed to seat everybody without too much incident. Well, nobody was actually shot – not then anyway.
Our artistes on this night were the duo 'Fools Gold.' This consisted of what I took to be a husband and wife team. The woman,
Debbie, was youthfully attractive with a blonde ponytail, skimpy black top embellished with silver, salmon pink skirt and black boots. Paul was dressed more after the style of Andy Morris, with a dark shirt with
three diamanté-style music notes on the right-hand side of the chest, and blue jeans.
Paul did most of the talking and singing, while Debbie played rythum guitar. Their repertoire was up-to-the-minute songs for
line dancers, for example 'Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde,' 'Speak To The Sky' and 'Mr Mum.'
Unfortunately it would appear that some of the Westerners had been harbouring a simmering resentment towards the line dancers
because the latter had been winning most of the raffle prizes. This had risen to such a pitch that two masked and armed invaders were driven to enter the hall in an attempt to kidnap the prizes and keep them from
the dancers. In the melee a young man, David, was 'shot' twice.
Then, owing to a slip of the tongue, the two were shown to be Preacher and Sundown. Fortunately three more fair-minded
Westerners, (Rusty, Curly and Frosty) captured the two ruffians and forced them to return the prizes, which had been secreted in a frilly pillowcase. (From Miss Molly's.) The raiders were then taken out and shot,
but not fatally.
Subsequent to this Tony, one of the raffle ticket sellers, was exposed as a cheat and dragged out and shot. Well, how could
anyone selling tickets at one-pound end up with a total including 36p?
During the evening 'Seven Spanish Angels' was sung as a tribute to a recently deceased friend of the group from Lichfield.
Diamond from Tamworth did the Indian- style signing.
The evening ended with two well-supported and impressive trilogies. (These take place at the end of every evening.
The fast draw, which had taken place earlier, was won by Curly, with Frosty second and Rusty third.
The artiste on the Sunday evening was a complete contrast to the others,the Scotsman living in Wales, our old friend
B.J.Locklin. To say that B.J. is one on his own is a complete understatement. I hesitate to describe him, so do look at our website pictures if you've never come across him before.
B.J. has not lost any of his accent, but we're beginning to understand some of what he says now. Actually, he's a really good
singer and performer, albeit distinctive. He performs some of his own songs, such as 'Back On The Road Again', 'Saturdays and Holidays' and 'Dark Brown Eyes, Tight Blue Jeans' and they're pretty impressive.
One of the many highlights of the evening was B.J. dancing with Diamond to 'Crazy.' She had been trying to sing it with him
but his headpiece wasn't adaptable enough. B.J. usually roves all over the floor while he is singing, often cheerfully getting in everybody's way. It's strange to hear a voice from the stage with the singer nowhere
to be seen!
(Crazylegs) Fred and Ginger (Lyn) amazed everybody by acting and singing to the song, 'Tell Me A Story.' Fred was the child,
complete with short trousers and beard (!), and Ginger was the Daddy. After this Fred was continually greeted by people singing, 'Tell me a story...' I don't think he'll ever live it down!
The Westerners, despite all the grief they give the dancers, decided to defend their own. (B.J. had been directing a few
disparaging remarks at the dancers.) They escorted B.J. from the room and shot him. Sundown re-entered carrying the artiste's hat with the rest of the Westerners dragging in the body.'
Alan and Linda, from Lichfield, had been due to have a blessing ceremony on their wedding anniversary earlier in the year.
Unfortunately Alan had broken his neck and so the ceremony had had to be postponed. Now that he was better Preacher performed a truly moving ceremony which moved the audience to tears (of laughter.)
Also during this busy evening the awards were presented for the afternoon competitions. These results will probably appear
elsewhere, so I will just mention that Frosty got quite a lot. In the evening fast draw Crazylegs Fred came first, Sundance second and Rusty third. Sundance then hung up his guns after a last head to head with
Sundown. Unfortunately I forgot to note which one won!
All too soon the weekend was over! Thank you to all the organisers who made the weekend such a runaway success, and Sterndale
Moor Club which was so very accommodating. We hope to see all our friends next Saturday evening.
So Long!
Mrs Rust
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