"What are you laughing at?"
"Wait til my wife finds out we drank her liquor!" BLOTTO.
. . .
ISSUE NUMBER 37 FEBRUARY 2003
Over 2 months have passed by since our meeting at Derbyshire County Cricket Club. I was delighted with the turnout and with how the whole day went and am sure all of those present had an enjoyable time. Thank you to everyone who supported the event – and that includes member Colin Barfoot. In case you were unaware Colin was there, he was the one sitting quietly in the corner sipping orange juice!!! The Avalon Boys playing live were brilliant, as were Steve and Bud Hodgson as Stan and Ollie. Don’t ask me where he gets them from, but Dave Wyatt always comes up with different bits of rare film footage. Don’t ask Dave where he gets them from either, because he won’t tell you! Time to start thinking about this year’s special event!
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2003 MEETINGS
I have booked the room at The Pastures, Mickleover for our meetings for this year. As you will see, we have meetings every month, starting in February through to November. Let’s see how it goes. The dates to remember are:- 26 FEBRUARY, 26 MARCH,16 APRIL, 21 MAY, 18 JUNE, 16 JULY, 27 AUGUST,17 SEPTEMBER, 15 OCTOBER, 19 NOVEMBER.
All dates are for a Wednesday and, as usual, the films will commence at approx 7.30pm.
The provisional date of our now annual meeting at Derbyshire County Cricket Club is Saturday 29 November. I don’t know if we can improve on last year, but we will try! One important point to note is that changes are planned at The Pastures, Mickleover. As of 1 February, it is no longer a hospital social club but is being run as a business, though I’m not quite sure what the difference is. I am told that room hire charges may go up and that those people making use of the facilities may have to become members of the club. We currently pay £15 for the room on a Wednesday night, but I know the charge for a Saturday night is £100!! We obviously cannot afford to pay too much for room hire and I don’t really want to have to ask you for more money each month. Any spare cash ‘in the pot’ goes towards subsidising the expenses incurred for the Cricket Club meeting. All we can do is wait and see what happens, but if anyone knows of a suitable alternative (cheap) function room in the area, please bear it in mind.
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NEXT MEETING
The first date to remember is Wednesday 26 February. With just 2 more of the post-Hal Roach films to watch, The Bullfighters will be the feature film. This, of course, leaves Atoll K to show in March. I suspect many of you have never seen that film, so hope you will take the opportunity to see Laurel and Hardy’s final film. Either side of The Bullfighters will be Busy Bodies and the silent We Faw Down. For the raffle, there will be a choice of prizes for the winner.
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LIVING FAMOUSLY
Living Famously was the title of a recent series of documentaries on BBC2 about famous people. One of these programmes concentrated on Laurel and Hardy and was shown on Wednesday 15 January at 3.30pm. I was able to inform those of you on email, but hope you all managed to watch it. If enough of you want to see it, either for the first time or again, we can screen it at a future meeting. I was searching through a tape recently and came across several items about the boys recorded from TV, so it may be worthwhile showing these and other similar items at a meeting.
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MODEL T FORD
Ever fancied owning your very own Model T Ford – the ‘Tin Lizzie’ – as seen in many, many Laurel and Hardy films? Well, now you can! A firm called Limited Editions have released an officially licensed special edition of the 1910 Model T. Measuring 4½”, ‘every last intricate component is perfectly machined in precise scale ratio – working spoke wheels, front door opens and closes, even a centre-hinged bonnet that opens from both sides to reveal its authentic, miniature, fully detailed engine’. The only things missing are the record player ‘radio’ under the bonnet and figures of Stan and Ollie!! The price of this is just £9.95 + £3.00 p&p. To order, ring 08700 50 77 91 (lines open 8am-10pm 7 days a week) asking for Dept WMT42 or send a cheque, payable to Limited Editions, to Limited Editions, Dept WMT42, 36 Stephenson Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 3YD. Their website is www.windsorproducts.com Needless to say, my order has been placed! I wonder if they will produce a Laurel and Hardy edition that we can pull to pieces like James Finlayson did in Big Business!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope to see you all back at The Pastures on Wednesday 26 February.
Howard Parker
