FaB Club, 3rd April
Today's Fab Club was a very special occasion as we were celebrating Margaret Brown's birthday. A sumptuous buffet had been laid on (not literally!), and the room was full to overflowing. It needed a teacher's authority to bring the crowd to order and fortunately we had Claudine on hand to quieten us down so that Gerry could take the floor as our compere for the afternoon's proceedings, and also to be our first act.
Gerry and Big Bob before the show...
Gerry sung and played his guitar starting us off with a beautiful lyrical Irish ballad, then performing a more up-tempo number about the city of Chicago
Next up was Jo, who has a beautiful voice, and began with a slow ballad ('By the Roving of his Eye'), and finished with a humorous and highly entertaining song about a young maid looking for a good man to marry, only to be told by her father that every man she chose was, in fact, her brother! But don't be too down hearted as at the end of the song her mother reveals that her father is not really her real father - Good for her!
Third up were the Dawn Chorus, who Margaret sings with on Sunday mornings. Despite being referred to as a choir, they surprised everyone by donning their cowboy hats to give a hearty rendition of 'Wand'rin Star', and 'Oklahoma
Sara then sung the 'Skye Boat Song' unaccompanied, which got everyone singing at the top of their voices.
She was then joined by Paul on guitar for 'The Black Velvet Band'.
Another performer who got the audience joining in was 'Big Bob', who gave an unaccompanied version of 'Little Eyes', and 'A Roving'.
Margaret's friend Josephine delighted us with her beautiful soprano voice, singing the traditional folk song 'The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O!', followed by the Somerset
Paul Ballantyne followed, singing and playing guitar on the slow and soulful 'Meet on the Ledge', followed by everyone's favourite 'Streets of London'.
There is a definite James Taylor style to Paul's performing.
After Tina Tate 'Poisoned Pigeons in the Park', (and deafened a few punters in the pub), Mike Parrott began with Gordon Shears' 'Starstruck', before finishing with the 'FaB Club Song'. To his surprise, song sheets appeared throughout the room, and we all joined in!
Mick and Nora then gave us two good songs to keep us all in fine voice, 'Gypsy Rover' and 'The Freight Train Song'., followed by Mark Reed on vocals and guitar singing 'The Ghost of Clipper Lavern', and then 'The Dog's Song' , the story of an over-amorous dog (or should that read a shaggy dog tale?).
To close the first half we had the jive club dancing for us; four couples who covered the floor area with their fast and intricate movements, making the rest of us feel ready for a drink and a large helping of Margaret's delicious buffet!
The second half began with the very special 'Song for Margaret' which had been written by Claudine, and was performed by several members of the FaB Club - needless to say this came as a huge surprise to Margaret who was close to tears.
" Margaret, oh Margaret, she's the one you won't forget..."
Dennis Holmes was our next performer, singing one of his own compositions called
'Love Through the Distance', a poignant and deeply moving song, beautifully sung, about Alzheimer's.
Fiddlefit, our next performers, had everyone tapping their feet as we heard 'Duelling Banjos' played on a violin and a guitar! At the time of making my notes for this review I had just written down for this act "bloody fantastic", which I think says it all!
Gerry, our gentle assured host for the afternoon had to calm us all down so that Bill could sing about 'Danny Farrow', and Tim Almond could maintain the mellow mood by singing a lovely gentle melody about 'The Raven and the Condor' in that soft lyrical style of his.
Rob had us all singing along to his rendition of the traditional 'Wild Rover', before Bernie and Maureen gave us an instrumental piece with Bernie playing fast (although according to Maureen he does everything fast!).
John Stafford, playing his own guitar this afternoon (!), gave us a bluesey rendition of 'CC Rider', which had both Gerry and Margaret in the audience joining in on harmonica and tambourine respectively.
To show what a varied afternoon of entertainment this was, the next act were a group of belly dancers who definitely woke up the men in the room, and brought a smile to their Sunday afternoon.
The next act Gerry had first seen performing at the Wheatsheaf Pub, and they were the Rocking HillBillies, or Terry, Paul, and Pep. They played for us 'Five Foot Two', which again had everyone singing along to their brilliant guitar and banjo playing.
Of course no afternoon would be complete without 'The Knickers Song' sung by the Cheeky Gulls - with yells of 'keep it clean Claudine!', and Claudine telling Margaret that they should 'go from the bottom'. We all laughed and sang along.
After a brief break for the raffle (which had almost been forgotten as so much had been happening), it was time for Gerry to wrap up and surprise us all by inviting onto the floor anyone and everyone to finish with a rousing rendition of 'Duelling Banjos'.
So that was it - Margaret was presented with a huge birthday cake, and went home in a car filled to bursting with cards, flowers, and gifts.
The sun had shone through the windows and doors of the Orsett Cock throughout the afternoon, and we all staggered off into the sunset thinking 'where else could you have had such an exhilarating, heart warming, and varied afternoon, all for a one pound entrance fee?'.
I can hear myself as a pensioner in years to come reminiscing "I remember when you could have four hours of non-stop entertainment including dancers/singers/guitarists/fiddle players etc., etc., all for a pound".
Tina Tate 
