Back Home Again

Well we've eventually made it back to good old Yorkshire, we landed at 7.30 on Wednesday 28th April at Newcastle Airport after a long but uneventful flight from Singapore via Heathrow. A nice touch from British Airways, they gave us access to the VIP lounge and we made the most of the food and wine. My two large Gin & Tonics went down very well thank you. It was a wonderful sight to get off the plane and see Pat and Julie waiting there for us, it's good to be back home.

Thank you Australia, it was sad to leave your wonderful country behind. So many wonderful memories, so many wonderful people we met along the way, old friends, new friends, thank you all so much for helping make this trip so special for both Vin and I.

This was Vin's biggest ever Tour In his own words his "40 Years Of Anonymity Tour" (We know better!). From Malaysia, down to Singapore and on to Australia, with concerts in 14 cities, full houses in 29 venues and four major Festivals, in fact as Johnny Cash would say "We've Been Everywhere Man"

All in all we had been on the road for 67 days, covered a grand total of 43,038 Km (26,720 miles) by road and air, with only a few minor hitches, the last 11,000 from Singapore to Newcastle being slightly more difficult than the rest.

From Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs, to Darwin and Perth, Sydney to Canberra
Vin has delighted audiences and received outstanding reviews for his performances. For these last few months It has been a real priviledge to have supported a true proffessional, who's work and audiences come first and who gives his all on every occaision.

I would like to thank all the audiences in Australia who gave me their support and encouragement. Particularly as it was the first time they had heard my music and songs, without exception they could not have been more welcoming and supportive. Thank you for all your offers to come back and play in Australia again, I will definately be back soon.

We would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the Tour, From club to festival organisers, our hosts in the various cities who looked after us so superbly, drivers who picked us up from airports, those who fed us and kept us clean.

Along the way, we sung with and met up with some notable Folkies from Australia and the UK; the superb Eddie Reader, Boo Hewerdine, Dougie McLean, Les Barker, Emily
Smith, Eric Bogle, Kristina Olsen, Australian songwriter supreme Bernard Carny, Dave De Sante from Wongawilli, Keith Podger of the New Seekers, Canadian song smith James Keelaghan and from Chilli (one to note for the future) the 24 year old wizard of guitar and song Nano Stern, to name drop but a few.

We completed the tour on the 14th April with a superb farewell concert at "The Fly By Night Club" near Perth. After 12 relatively trouble free international and internal flights, we flew back to Singapore on the penultimate leg of this epic
journey, only to be stranded in Singapore by volcanic cloud dust.

A special word of thanks to Alex our host in Singapore for letting us take over his flat and giving us a place to stay. We think your great!

The rest as they say is history.

Watch out for a final summary (blog) coming out soon.

Things Are Looking Up!

Well thanks to Pat and the girls at Flight Centre we have been brought forward to a flight on the 30th April.

This means that Vin should get home in time to do some his Gig's, although he'll be a bit Jet lagged.

There is still a glimmer of hope that Qantas will schedule more flights out of Singapore next week and we have asked to be considered for one of those.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for your E Mails and your growing concern for our welfare, I think the pictures of the pool, did it.

I'm writing this through an ever increasing cloud of fog, I thought this is unusual for Singapore, then I heard Vin coughing somewhere near the back of the room, nothing to worry about, the gardener is outside with a fog machine spraying against denghi fever and Vin looks a bit like a Denghi this morning!

Here are a few photo's taken from our park bench to help you understand how rough it is over here just trying to survive!!

23949495 Pte Graham ACC Reporting for Duty Sir!

In 1966 I came out to Singapore as a young Private soldier, I was 20 years old, it was my first overseas posting and I'd managed to switch my original posting which was to alcohol free, female less, Bahrain to wild wild Singapore. I did so with the rather dubious help of a friend of mine who was the Commanding Officer's postings clerk. Well that's another story.

I arrive at Gillman Barracks after a 26 hour flight in a VC10, which coincidentally stopped in Bahrain for refuelling, thank goodness I didn't get posted there!

My new unit was 40 Field Park Squadron Royal Engineers in Gillman Barracks, it was a bit out on a limb just a short distance from the British Military Hospital on Alexandria Road. The Barracks were situated on a rather pretty, very well manicured complex which comprised a single steep hill overlooking the Singapore Straights.

The Headquarters Building, the Quartermasters Offices, the Officers Mess and a handful of storage buildings were on the bottom level, as were the sports fields. The kitchen, dinning room and Gymnasium were on the first level up a steep winding road, the NAAFI, and series of accommodation blocks were spaced left and right on the third and fourth level as the road wound it's way up to the top. . My block was right at the top and gave us spectacular views of the surrounding area, the amazing sunsets, and the Chinese Pagoda which stood on a hill opposite. We shared the barracks with A Malay Regiment and 39 Commando Sqn RE. Stay with me if you can be bothered, this is relevant information, or of your bored go back to a previous Blog. .

Between the first and second level in the centre of a immaculately grassed area, was a wonderfully positioned swimming pool which was for use of soldiers and families alike, this is where I spent most of my afternoons swimming and sunbathing, someone had sent me to heaven. The work was interesting, life here for a 19 year old was exciting and the sport was brilliant. I spent my time playing Water Polo, swimming for the Regiment and playing football. We also spent quite a bit of time exploring the more dubious delights of Singapore whenever we could afford it. I had a red MG B GT sports car, which had very few MG parts in it, A Vespa Scooter and a licence to kill. It was the most wonderful posting anyone could ask for. The remainder of my exploits here are censored!

I'm getting to the point now, Vin and I had decided to get a bus into town and had studied the bus routs, having decided to take a chosen route, Vin promptly decided we should take the first bus that came along. The journey on the No 970 was to take us to the Harbour Point, which at the time seemed a good a destination as any.

We were nearing the end of our journey when much to my surprise we passed Gillman Barracks, I could not contain my excitement, at which point a very well educated Chinese gentleman sitting close to us stepped in and told us all about the area and the barracks. I decided there and then to return the next day.




The following day I jumped on the No 970 bus and sure enough was deposited in front of the Old Guardroom, now a rather up market Real Estate Office. the whole area was quite a posh eating venue. Just further up the road stood the Officers Mess in all it's glory and very much as I remembered it, let me point out , that I was never at this stage of my career an Officers Mess Cook, I was allowed at times to help the Master Chef, a ferocious Geordie called Jack Frost, with the Regimental Dinners from time to time, that apart I was unworthy. The Officers Mess, where I remember the Officers charging up and down the corridors after the formal dinners on a pair of life size articulated wooden horses, was now rather fittingly a posh restaurant.

Further up the road were a number of building which I don't really remember much about, in use and turned into yet another up market eatery. At the very top of the road, stood the Officers and Families Quarters, still very much as they were in 1966, but with a fresh coat of paint and modern windows.


Alass, I could not say the same for the rest of the soldiers blocks up the hill. I approached the road leading up the hill and it just stopped dead a wall of tropical jungle. It stopped about a hundred yards up, a building which had stood at the bottom of the road was being used by a builders merchants, so I popped my head in and asked some questions.



I was given some strange looks by the workers and the office staff, 1966 was anyone born then, how embarrassing , eventually a lady of some authority turned up who knew all about the barracks. After more strange looks, she said I was welcome to look around, but she had no idea what was up the top of the hill now, but the swimming pool was still there, under the mass of jungle off to the left of the now cracked and disused road. Don't go in there they all told me, it's full of Cobras and who knows what else, one look convinced me they were right. Here is a picture of the pool, I think taken in the early 60s? Followed by a view of where I think it is now!



There was one chance to get a look at my old accommodation block on the top of the hill, an Ariel walkway that went right across the back of the old barracks and overlooked the camp ran all the way up to Mount Faber which should have overlooked the camp and was I thought where the Pagoda was. Off I set, but after a half hour slog in the heat of the afternoon sun, I had seen nothing but trees and jungle. I stopped a young couple to ask them if the Chinese pagoda was still up there, they gave me yet another strange look. Eventually I did get a panoramic view of Gillman Barracks, bitter disappointment the hill where it once stood had been cut in half and cleared to ground level on the side that faced the ocean, probably ready to make way for yet another high rise multi million pound complex which will join the thousands of others that dot the horizon of this once beautiful un spoilt island. We'll you can't stop progress.

It really enjoyed my trip back in time, it brought back many fond memories of my youth, any adventures, many a close shave with authority, good friends now lost but not forgotten, the good old days.

Just goes to prove something I've always said to myself, it's never any good looking back you'll only end up disappointed.

Lights Out.

What If?

Vin, sorry to disturb you but could you pass me another ice cold beer and the sun cream.

By the way, what do you think would have happened if we had mentioned to the girls our original plan, which was to stop off in Singapore for two weeks holiday after the tour of Australia.

I think I know what Julie would have said, Pat too I suppose.

Oh well better not push our luck, but it would have been worth a try.

Careful don't spend too long in the sun it can be quite hot and that Tiger beer can go to your head, see you for cocktails at 4!

Singapore Sling

We'll not much sympathy so far, apart from Malcolm and Richard, bless you guys, we knew we could rely on you.

After breaking the news to Pat and Julie that we going to be stranded in Singapore for another two weeks, we decided to
re-assess the situation. In true British style we unanimously decided that we'll just have to make the most of our deplorable situation.

Our came the swimming trunks, sun cream, tennis shorts and yellow balls, no that's not an illness!

Alex, our amazingly organised Spanish friend in Singapore has very kindly allowed us the use of his flat for as long as is necessary, along with his girlfriend the loverly Claire, they have made life very easy for us and have been just brilliant, true friends in time of need.


Future Blogs will be sent from the poolside bar and include lashings of ice, small cocktail umbrellas and liberal amounts of gin, well we are in Singapore!

News from across the world has reached us, we know that Les Barker is still in Australia, Martyn and Danni Wyndham-Read are possibly stuck "Somewhere In America" and that Gordon Brown has come unstuck! Our world traveler Barbara Welford is also stuck in America. Do you know of anyone else we could mention. This could be a whole new blog!

Stranded

Getting out and back into UK seems to be a fundamental problem. We are stranded in Singapore waiting for the Volcanic Ash to clear over UK. We contacted Quantas this morning and they have re-booked us for a flight on the 4th May. What will we do for the next 16 days? I can see Pat and Julie having fits when they see this. Don't worry too much girls, we hope will be offered alternative dates once flights are back to normal. Singapore is not a bad place to be stranded, but it is expensive.

In the meantime we are considering our options; this park bench is really quite comfortable and sleeps two with ease, it in easy reach of the local opium den, our view of the stars at night is impressive and has it's own monsoon drain, which is handy for obvious reasons.

Our best and cheapest option so far would be a package holiday in Malaysia, Indonesia, or Vietnam. , offers would be welcome if anyone has a spare hut, house or air raid shelter near a beach in any of these locations. In desperation, we would be happy to accept any offer which provides us with a room and two beds until we can get back home.

Vin is already concocting a poisonous dip for the tip of the spear he is planning to use to catch fish, I had to tell him that mayonnaise with garlic and tomato ketchup is not going to work!

The Swiss Family Garbuttson.

No Strings Attached

In 2004 Vin bought an Art & Lutherie Hand Made Guitar in Canada, it was played for the full tour of Australia in 2004 and then left in good faith with Richard & Helen in their house in Perth, hopefully to be used on a future tour. There it laid hidden under a bed gathering dust and slowly warping for the next six years as Vin always brought another guitar with him. We spent days deciding what to do with the poor old dear, including sending it down to the knackers yard. Fortunately Tony Henry, who hails originally from Middlesbrough, has saved the day and restored "old Nosferatu" to it's former glory. Figure the name out for your selves. Well done Tony, you get the Vin award for services rendered; "We think yer great, you me".

Of course poor Richard and Helen are now lumbered with Vin's other guitar which replaces this one under the bed, good luck you'll need it. Anyone who needs a guitar in Perth we're open to offers!

It's Almost Over

That's it, our last gig after an amazing two months on the road, it could so easily have been an anti climax after so many great gigs up and down the country, but Fremantle did us proud. A fitting end to a memorable tour.


Many thanks to Richard and Helen for their wonderful hospitality and for his excellent organisation. Success is always down to the detail and nothing had been left to chance, "We think yer great"! It was a magical evening, the venue, the sound (thanks to Rick who looked after Vin at Fairbridge) and the audience, it just could not have been better, thank you Fremantle and the Fly By Night. "We think Yer Great"! Don't worry Pat, Vin has not dyed his hair, it's just the lighting!

Vin was brilliant, he was relaxed and very spontaneous. It was a joy to see Vin at his very best, the songs flowed, his voice was great and the laughter filled the large hanger. Thanks also to everyone who stayed to chat after the gig and chat, we enjoyed talking to you. Special hello to Sandra and Dave who are good friends of Ron and Jean Cable, dear friends of ours who live in Guisborough. Dave also worked with Vin's dad at ICI Wilton, it's a small world. Thanks to Fred Rea for the photo's from last night and the photo's from Fairbridge.

Finally a very special thank you to everyone in Australia. Clubs, Pubs and Festivals, fellow musicians, organisers, hosts, old friends and new. It's been a pleasure and an honour to be able to share our music and laughter with you, thank you for lightening our load and buying all those CDs, we'll miss you, look after your selves, we'll be back. "We Think Yer Great" !

Friday morning we'll be flying over to Singapore for a couple of days rest and then back to our loved ones on Monday. We've missed you girls, but not long now!x

The Last Curry Supper

Richard and Helen gave me the deluxe tour of Perth and Fremantle yesterday afternoon while Vin did a bit a shopping. We paid a visit to Kings Park walked around the gardens and the War Memorial, Eric Bogle was asked to sing here when the Queen opened the Flame Of Remembrance on Anzac Day in April 2000. We saw some magnificent houses, spectacular views across the Swan River and the running commentary was first class.

Here we all are at Anghiti Indian Restaurant celebrating our joint birthdays. The curries were superb and as most Australian Restaurants do "BYO" (Bring Your Own Grog) we were amply provided for with wine at a very reasonable corkage price. Thank you to Ann for our superb bottles of wine, mine was a very special Voyager Estate Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon from the Margaret River and Vin and Richard were given a Ferngrove Cabernet Sauvignon from the Frankland River, all we have to do now is fit them in our suitcases.

A Few Lost Photo's

On Scarborough Beach near Perth Western Australia.

Driving the Tram at Vin's club in Canberra.

A Moment of Contemplation in Darwin!

Sydney Opera House from the Manley Ferry.

On a day Trip with Eric and Carmel out to McLaren Vale.

Back - From The Outback

No we have not deserted our thousands of loyal followers, or disappeared down the "Lawson Trail" never to be seen or heard from again, we've been to Fairbridge, which is about an hour south of Perth in Western Australia. It's been a long hot, dusty weekend at Fairbridge Folk Festival, the sun shone, the band played and the beer flowed. At times there was bit too much music and jolly drinking going on. Our room was strategically placed above Ruby's Wine Bar, in fact we were almost on the stage. I never thought I'd complain about being close to a wine bar, but as the laughter and song faded at around 2 in the morning and started again 4 hours later at 6, we were becoming a bit less patient. Not that we're complaining but there was not much peace and quiet during the day as the stage was constantly in use and it would have been nice to have a few moments to get out heads together.

Having said that and before we get hung drawn and quartered, let me tell you we had a great time at Fairbridge, it was a very special and memorable festival. The music was superb, the location was very special and the organisation throughout was excellent. Musicians had their own rest area with tea, coffee, toast on tap all day, free massages, transport into town and helpful friendly staff.


The music venues were well staffed and the sound was exceptionally good, we particularly liked the Chapel which had great acoustics ans was ideal for the smaller more intimate performances.


Here we are after Vin's main concert on Saturday afternoon, left to right Stan, Ann, Ray, Vin, Helen, Richard and Margaret, what a jolly bunch we are!

It was great once again to see so many old friends from Vin's previous visits and to meet lots of new fans who were experiencing his music for the first time. Best wishes to Christine Bolt who we met and Canberra Airport and who had a bit of a turn on the plane, fortunately she was back back to her normal self in time for the Festival.

The line up of acts was exceptional, the wonderful Eddie Reader with Boo Hewerdine on guitar and Allan Kelly on Accordion, Australia's The Fiddle Chicks were very impressive, the brillient Chilean Guitarist Nano Stern, the faboulous Genticoram (who shared our house), our old friend James Keelaghan and many more, a feast of great music, well done Fairbridge a fitting end to our festival appearances.

A quick word about Fairbridge itself which was orignially a reception home and training farm for the homeless children, sent out from Britain and other countries by organisations like Bernado's, to Australia from the 1930s onwards. I had a chance to visit the school museum on site I told them about my Dr Bernado's Song "Doors Ever Open" which was written for my great friend Vic King from Shrewsbury himslef a Bernado's Boy and left them a CD. They asked me to sing the song for them and the visitors which I was delighted to do.

Can we just say a special thank you to Vin's son Louis for his Stirling work on the Facebook, Myspace and all other Cyber communications systems which he has been manging for us, we think your great, you us! Louis send the bill to your Dad!

Our last gig will be at the "Fly By Night Club" in Fremantle on Wednesday April 14th at 7.30pm, you just have time to tell all your friends and anyone you know to come along for what promises to be a very special concert, see you there!!

Last word, Happy Birthday to me for yesterday, I won't tell you how old I am, but Vin sang that well known Beatles song as we ate our Museli yesrday morning and also to Richard for today, we'll be having a party tonight in Perth to try and forget our combined age which is somewhere up in the 110's.

The Olive And The VIne

We wer drinking the Vine and picking de Olvies mit Bernard Carney and his lovely wife Eleanor in Carl isle, which is a suburb of Perth last night. Bernard cooked us a superb Leg of Lamb on his "Camardo" (a sort of Tandoori Oven which burns charcoal). Before we ate, we picked olives from the branches of his olive tree and ate the olives from last years crop, there were delicious.Vin refused to eat one particular olive because it was stoned!! Bernard your a plucking genius. After supper we got the guitars out and sang a few songs, including "The Olive And The Vine".

The National Re-Visited

I'm sorry to say that my previous post on the National was a bit rushed, I only had a short time to type it as we were waiting to be picked up from the hotel, so here goes.

I was very impressed with this superb weekend of Folk Music in Canberra, The National is a true Folk Festival and concentrates on Folk Music from Australia and around the world. The range of artists was very extensive and everyone I saw was excellent. The venues were well organised, the sound was great and the audiences were wonderful.

All of Vin's concerts were jam packed full, he was in wonderful form and his humour as ever sharp as a knife. Cd's were flying out of our hands at every concert and they were queuing up to get into his whistle workshop on the Sunday morning. From our point of view it was a huge success. We met many old friends from our trips around the clubs and festivals in Australia and it was great to catch up with them again, unfortunately there are far too many of you to mention.


I even caught Kristina Olsen busking for a new dress in one of the Stalls!


The highlights from our point of view we without doubt the concerts at the Troubadour, Andrew Patterson's venue is a central focal point for artists and discerning audiences alike and is always full. Gigs are by invitation only and no one gets paid to perform there. The best of the best are invited so all the gigs are quality. Vin played there twice, one the afore mentioned late night gig and the other Vin's desert Island disks. I was also fortunate enough to be offered two gigs.



As we were helping Andrew and Heather pack up the Troubadour we had a number of visitors, one notable fellow turned up looking for one of my Cd's called Ken Prato he is an old friend of Martyn Wyndham-Read's and was sporting a Whitby T Shirt, well worth a pose! He presented me with a notable volume of his poetry called "Sheepshit On The Brain".


The weekend was filled with special moments, the weather was fine and Canberra was an exciting and beautiful Capital City, it was a pleasure and a great experience.

Of course I'm writing this in in Perth, we are now staying with Richard and Helen in their lovely house in Double View. So called because from the top of the estate you can see the Indian Ocean and the City, wonderful. I think I've found my perfect part of Oz. Western Australia is spectacular, the weather is almost perfect, the air is crystal clear and it's clean and well just a nice place to be. You'll find some of the best beaches in Australia here and this morning we drove down to Scarborough Beach and swam in the Indian Ocean, heaven. The waves were powerful and huge, the water warm, no sharks this morning thank goodness but we did see a dead blowfish, yes they're deadly too.


First day we were here Vin popped into the ABC studio's to be interviewed by Gillian O'Shaughnessy. To anyone who is logging in and who will be around the Fremantle area on the 14th April, Vin and I will be doing our last concert at the Fly By Night Club in Holdsworth Street, starting at 7.30 and we would love to see you there. Come alone and join the party.

The Parties Over

We'll it's time to move on from Canberra after four superb days of music, laughter and sunshine at the National Folk Festival, I can see why everyone raves about this very special weekend in the Australian Folk Calender.
For me it had everything a festival should have, a wide range of venues from the small more intimate stages to the large auditoriums. There was something for everyone, it was friendly, well organised and fun.
Last nights concert was a fitting finale, I was on stage at the Troubadour with Boo Hewerdine, Enda Kenny and Graham Wilson, we sang in the round, the place was packed and the audience was great. The final act was Vin, Martin Pearson, Peter Grayling and the Festival Director David 'Neill who as it turned out was a superb guitarist, it was a light hearted session of banter, song and off the wall humour, brilliantly orchestrated by Martin which finished around 2.30 in the morning. See you in Perth.

And There's More!

Here is Vin with American Folk and Blues legend Chris Smither, behind the scenes at the Troubadore.

A fun moment with a couple of giant Kangaroo's and two cheeky birds.

There's plenty to see and do, street entertainment, shops, food stalls every days a party.


The children are well looked after even the trees join in the fun!

Images From The National

Here are a few not very well taken photo's to give you some idea of what the National Festival is like, although it's bright and sunny most places are shaded and under the trees, no excuse I should do better, I'll try again today.


There are children busking on almost every corner, this little toddler was so sweet and believe me she could play a few tunes. She was doing alright finacially as well, I might join her and see if she needs a songwriter?

There's an Australian songs and tunes tent called The Billabong I think? and I just loved this iron horse which had several moving parts, the big kids (grown ups) loved it. You'll notice I resisted the temptation!


Here is Andrew Patterson's Troubadour Tent which is by invitation only, most of the big bands and acts have played there over the weekend, although it's only a small venue it's one of the places to be seen. I was fortunate enough to be given a slot on Saturday morning, I had a full 30 minutes and manged to get 5 songs in which went down very well, so much so I've been asked to join in the Monday special concert and I'll be on stage with Boo Hewerdine, Les Barker and a great singer called Graham Wilson.

During my wanders I came across this giant Scottish Piper with a woolly dog who seemed to be intent on licking everybody to death.


More pictures from me tomorrow!