Hi Everyone. I hope you are well and sliding into the summer.

April Clubnite What a wonderful night the April clubnite turned out to be. We welcomed Richard Adey from Birmingham. Richard has always had a lovely welcome from our members, who seem to really like his gentle laid-back style of playing.

First of all we had the playing circle joined by some of the beginners who played half a dozen standard popular tunes before Mike introduced Richard…

Right from the start we were treated to his lovely mix of light, popular favourites and classics and his wonderful jazzy

arrangements. Richard was soon lost in his music and it showed as he closed his eyes and wove rhythmically around the floor. One piece that sticks in my mind was Serge Gainsbourg’s La Javanaise, a beautiful piece containing an amazing improvisation that blew me away. There was El Choclo (Tangp), Libertango, Indifferance, Swing Valse, Tico Tico, Fou Rire, Oscar for Oscar, Aria (Galliano – obviously a favourite player if his), La Vie En Rose and Lemon Cornette. This was his own arrangement from ABRSM Jazz Piano Syllabus... as was Oscar for Oscar. There was Gus Visuer’s Jeannete, Flash Souvenirs, Danielle Pauly’s Melody Bolero, Domino and a beautiful Autumn Leaves.

The audience loved him and if you missed the clubnite you certainly missed a treat. We all look forward to his next visit.

May Clubnite We only had 23 people at our players’ night last Tuesday, due to illness and holidays, but we ‘ploughed on regardless’ and had a lovely evening.

We started in our usual fashion with a playing circle and this went on for a bit longer than normal. The Monday Group had already selected a few of their favourite pieces (Summertime, Beautiful Dreamer, Strangers in the Night, Blue Skies, Tangerine, Ashokan Farewell and Time after Time), so we played these first, then individual players had an opportunity to choose one of their favourite pieces. Paul Hobbs played all the introductions and they all sounded very polished - he can do introductions much better than me.

TThhee NNoorr tthh SSttaaff ffss AAccccoorr ddiioonn CClluubb welcomes all accordion enthusiasts playing or non-playing.

We hold a ‘Clubnite’ at at 8 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month

where entertainment is provided by club members or guest artists. We have a band rehearsal all other Tuesdays

and a beginners’ class every Monday at 7.30 pm and a class for schoolchildren on Mondays 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Phone 01782 823668.

NNoorr tthh SSttaaff ffss AAccccoorr ddiioonn CClluubb

NNeewwsslleett tteerr MM aayy//JJuunnee 22001166

NNoo 446644

We had our usual raffle during the interval and guess what? John Plumb won the raffle five times and Geoff Millward won the raffle three times. I heard several people shouting, "Shake them up!" Under the circumstances I think this was fair comment. Luckily for the rest of us John and Geoff only opted for one prize each. Ann Fieldhouse donated two lovely prizes, a basket of flowers and a basket of spring cleaning aids dressed up as ducks, following our theme for the night, but when Barbara offered the cleaning aids to various male raffle winners, they didn't seem too keen!

The theme for the evening was ‘Animals’ and Tony Britton was the first up for a solo spot and he played his chromatic harmonica for a change. He played two tunes with a backing track (The Swan from Carnival of the Animals and Air on a G String) and then Men of Harlech for an encore. Everybody enjoyed his playing and hopefully he'll give us another treat in the not too distant future. Graham Butler (below left) was the second person to do a solo spot and he played Teddy Bears’ Picnic and The Blue Danube from memory. His playing was excellent and bearing in mind that I've almost used up my ‘three

score years and ten’ and that he can give me at least twenty years, I think it's fair to say that he must have been at the front of the queue when they were giving out genes - what a man!

A Monday Group trio were up next (Ann Fieldhouse, Ken Marek and Steve Hughes) and they gave a lovely rendition of Plaisir d'Amour and Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. They created a lovely accordion sound and hopefully we'll hear this very musical trio at future clubnites.

Paul and I were up next and as we'd recently put Island Waltz and Blue Moon onto YouTube, we included these pieces in our programme. Our other two

pieces were Fly Me to the Moon and The Oslo Waltz and hopefully everybody enjoyed our duets.

Steve Hughes rounded the night off with Old Shep and Chattanooga Choo Choo and I really enjoyed his playing. Whenever I hear Old Shep I always think of a sadly missed old friend, Malcolm Gee, because he often sang this song (accompanied by his own playing) at accordion events. Malcolm was the ‘hinge pin’ of all things accordion at one time. He started Club Accord and he was indirectly responsible for the formation of several other accordion clubs, including our own.

I hope you're looking forward to hearing Stefan and Denise at our June clubnite and I hope to see you there. Please try to swell the numbers by bringing a friend. Best wishes, Mike.

June Clubnite For our June clubnite we welcome Stefan Andrusyschyn and his wife Denise (Leigh) as our guests for the evening. They last played for us at a charity concert in 2013 and we look forward to having them back with us. Stefan is a brilliant accordionist and his playing will be complementing Denise’s beautiful soprano voice. A collection will be made on the night for the RP Fighting Blindness charity. RP stands for Retinitis Pigmentosa. It is a hereditary disease of the retina that results in the progressive loss of sight and blindness. Currently there is no available cure or treatment. Demitri, 3 year old son of Stefan and Denise, suffers from the disease.

July Clubnite This was going to be a theme night, the theme being music by Irving Berlin, a prolific American composer. After looking at his songs, however, many of them may be unknown to you and so we have decided to ditch the idea and make it a truly open night - pick your own music. If, however, anyone does come up with an Irving Berlin number, then he or she will be awarded a whole 10 extra brownie points.

Solo Session Summer Break The monthly daytime solo session is to break up for the summer months having held its very enjoyable last session on the 10th May. It will reconvene on Thursday 13th September, 2016, to be held on the second Thursday of the month thereafter. Steve Hughes

The true tale of a musician Entertainment and history rolled into one. These are the lyrics of a song written by member Beth Lister about all the accordions she has owned. She wrote it for a song writing competition at the Morpeth Folk Festival earlier this year but did not manage to attend and perform. We think it’s the right kind of song for our newsletter and hopefully, one of these days, Beth will sing it for us at our clubnite.

The true tale of an ageing musician. I was gi’en an auld accordion in nineteen-ninety six

I soon got on with playing tunes upon this bag of tricks But it had too few bass buttons upon the left-hand side So I sold it to the postman (his wife she fairly cried)

and I bought another…

A bonny silver grey this one wi’ buttons a hundred-and-twenty I played it hard, I played it long, and learnt they tunes a-plenty

But the keys were narrow and small; ‘twas meant for a lady fine So I sold it to a friendly chap o’er a glass of wine

and I bought another …

Accordion Fair at Blackpool and I thought, ‘I must have this!’ ‘Twas speckled-gold, Italian, called Bacio, The Kiss

Wi’ forty-eight bass buttons and grand to play for the dances But not enough keys for guid music and so I took my chances

because … I’d seen another…

Beau-ti-ful cream wi’ sparkles it was, a basso-sotto Guerrini I played in the band and looked sae grand and oh, you should hae seen me!

But then I moved to Berwick toon and joined their folk-tune group Ian Lowth-ian was the leader and I had a job tae keep up.

I practised hard …

And competed at Alnwick and Morpeth; now I didnae do sae well So I wrote some songs of Northumberland my experience for-to tell

I won second prize at Alnwick in the year two-thousand and one And I won wi’ that song at Morpeth when ten more years had gone

(‘Twas The Wee Bittie Hoose.)

Well, I thought I’d return to Stoke-on-Trent in the year two-thousand and two But first, to sell my Guerrini was a job I had to do,

By then I was no sae young and carrying it was a pain So I sold it to Marian Anderson for her to tak’ on a plane

(Scottish Dance Band leader) and I bought a Hohner.

The Hohner was black as black could be wi’ only seventy-two bass ‘Twas fine for music and playing folk, you’ll imagine that was the case,

But … I thought to mysel’, ‘ye’re getting auld now what had you better do? Swop one for a concertina, they’re no sae heavy it’s true.’

I sold my Bacio. (Doleful, wipe tears)

‘And exchange the black accordion for a bonny wee red Hohner’ Now I'd nicely set up my ageing self and I'd be nae mair a moaner But ... I did ower much gardening like the silly auld fool that I am

And I jiggered my wrist for accordions, playing music was doon the pan.

(Invite audience to say 'Aw'. Take out recorder)

Not so ... I've bought a Mollenhauer recorder and that's my future.

Beth Lister

Forthcoming Band Concert at Alsager There will be a concert at Alsager United Reform Church in Brookhouse Road, (opposite SASH hairdressers) on Saturday 25th June 2016 with North Staffs Accordion Band and featuring Gareth Summer, ukelele player and vocalist. It is in the afternoon, starting at 2.00pm and the tickets are £5.00 (inclusive of Cream Tea).

Tickets are available from Phil Eardley on 01270 877861

Club players visit Age UK, Market Drayton. On Thursday 21st April, a group of the club players responded to a request from Age UK for a return visit to play for the Market Drayton branch, having visited them last July when they warned us that we would be invited again. (left to right) Graham Butler, Geoff Capewell, Ann Millward, Steve Hughes, Geoff Millward, Greta Moseley, and drummer Phil Hodges provided late morning entertainment for the enthusiastic audience who joined in with singing. As it was Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday we finished the event with Happy Birthday and the national anthem.

It was a really enjoyable session for both the entertained and the entertainers.

Unfortunately Betty Nixon with hubby, George, despite being the organiser and provider of the directions, could not find the venue and having asked many people, and being misdirected once or twice, had to give up. They have my sympathy; it was a difficult venue to find and Graham Butler and I had to ask someone for directions. Fortunately we knew that we were close and had we had listened to the advice given by a resident in the next street we would have ended up miles away. Steve Hughes

...And HILTON HOUSE CARE HOME, HARPFIELDS. On 7th April a small group from our club played at the Hilton House Care Home. Phil, the band’s drummer, asked if the band could play at Hilton House as his mother-in-law Marjorie is one of its residents.

The group was just big enough to provide a terrific sound in the home’s lounge. A good variety of well-known tunes were played and the residents joined in with the singing. Although a number of the residents suffer with varying degrees of dementia / Alzheimer’s it was noticed that a good musical contact was made and a number of the residents asked when the band were coming again as they really enjoyed the concert. Members of the staff at the home passed on their thanks for such an enjoyable interlude. Phil Hodges

Accordion Anthology now available Rob Howard’s latest book, Accordion Anthology was published on May 6th - World Accordion Day. This brand new A4 sized hardback combines the writing style of 'An A to Z of the Accordion' with the large page visual layout of 'Accordion: A Pictorial History'. The content is a wide variety of articles and biographies, the latter including Andre Verchuren, Brandon McPhee, David Vernon, Dawn Loombe, Dermot Lyons, Edward Hession, Gary Forrest, Freeland Barbour, Gordon Pattullo, Matthew MacLennan, Helen Maher, Jack Emblow, John Leslie, Ksenija Sidorova, Kosmos, Igor Outkine, MIchael Coyne, Paul Chamberlain, Pearl Fawcett-Adriano, and more. The book is a high quality production, with 320 photos, and intended for the accordion enthusiast. Available from Rob Howard, 42 Avondale Rd, Edgeley, Stockport,

Cheshire SK3 9NY. £15 + £3p/p (£4 EU, £7 USA, elsewhere). Paypal accepted.

Video Recordings on YouTube I've been recording my accordion playing (audio only) for many years, because it's an excellent method of identifying mistakes. Sometimes I've been playing a favourite piece under the illusion that ‘everything in the garden is rosy’ and then I've recorded it and what a surprise.....poor phrasing, legato phrases not smooth and connected, bellows changes in the wrong place, bass and treble not synchronised, no contrast between the loud and soft sections, quavers not all the same length, etc. When you listen to a recording of your own playing it is amazing what you hear!

Knowing all this, I was stimulated into further action a few weeks ago when Tony Britton sent me a video of his playing. "Mmmm that's clever," I thought, "I'll try to do that with my iPad". I was under the impression that I'd need an iPad microphone, so I started to search for one but I didn't have much success. "OK," I thought, "I'll use the iPad without a special microphone and see what happens". So I started to produce a video and you know what, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality - not perfect but nevertheless very good.

At this point I decided to produce a video of a whole song and that's when the fun started. ‘Georgia’ was my first song choice - I've been playing it a lot recently, so it seemed a good choice. I produced a video and guess what, I didn't like the sound. I tried different couplers but I still didn't like the sound, so I tried a different accordion. Two hours and four accordions later (I've managed to accumulate four lovely accordions over the years), I reached a conclusion - my Corelli seemed to produce the best sound. Then I started to video the whole song. After about a dozen attempts at recording Georgia I was able to choose my favourite rendition, but by this time I had lost the will to live, so when my friends said, "It sounds good but your glasses are too big, your hair needs combing, you're wearing your old clothes, you're pulling funny faces and I can see your filing cabinet in the background", I was past caring. So I uploaded my video to YouTube regardless. Such is life and I've now got audio and stage presentation problems to contend with.

With regard to the stage presentation side of things, I've tried to smarten myself up on other recordings but at one point I wore a black shirt, black trousers, black glasses and I played a black accordion. Not very clever and if my suntan had been a bit more developed the accordion would have been playing itself!

To date I've produced five solo recordings and two duets with my good friend Paul Hobbs. They're on YouTube and you can find them if you type in ‘Michael Richards accordion’. I hope you enjoy the music and I don't mind you laughing at the visual side of things. After all, when Paul saw one of our duets for the first time he said, "We could call this video ‘Music for a Funeral’".

Best wishes, Mike. Diary

Members’ Adverts

Accordion Tuition. Pauline Hardwick Tel 01782 397248 accordion and/or piano Stefan Andrusyschyn Tel 07958261024 accordion and/or piano Mike Gibson Tel 01782 660865 piano John Romero Tel 01606 270148 accordion

Every Monday 5.00pm-6.00 pm Accordion classes for young players at the Holditch Every Monday 7.30 p.m. Beginners’/Improvers’ night at the Holditch Tuesdays other than 3rd 8.00pm Band rehearsal at Bradwell Workingmen’s Club Every 3rd Tuesday of month 8.00pm Clubnite at Goldenhill Workingmen’s Club 2nd Thursday of month 1 p.m. Meet next on 9th September, 2016

Solo Session, Bradwell Workingmen’s Club

June 17th/19th Accordion Magic Garden Party, Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival. Our band plays there on the afternoon of Sunday 19th. Website: www.carillonstudios.me.uk

June 21st (clubnite) Stefan Andrusyschyn & Denise (Leigh) June 25th Alsager United Reform Church concert, Brookhouse

Rd. Alsager. 2.00pm start. Tickets £5 including Cream Tea

July 19th(clubnite) Players night

Accordions For Sale Adverts Accordion adverts will be published for two issues of the newsletter free of charge.

President Brian Shufflebotham Chairman Mike Richards 01782 642101 Secretary Steve Hughes 01782 787935 Treasurer Mike Richards (acting) 01782 642101

Committee Tony Britton, Helen Brown, Norman Brown, Graham Butler, Graham Hughes,

Lily Lynch and Greta Moseley.

Web address - www.northstaffsaccordionclub.co.uk

Editor Lily Lynch email - accordions@northstaffsaccordionclub.co.uk