LEEDS PLAY BILLS

I was delighted to come across the website of Leeds Play Bills, where I found copies of old posters advertised for sale.  Amongst them, was this posters of Jack Parnell’s presentation from Monday, 13th December 1954.  The show was presented by Stanley Dale and included Leslie, playing piano for Tony Brent at The Empire Theatre, Leeds.   

Title:             Tony Brent, Columbia’s Sensational Singing Star

ID:                 2003911_63860721

Theatre:       The Empire

Year:             1954

Description:  Monday, 13th December, 1954.

This Week at the Empire Theatre, Stanley Dale Presents a variety of performances including: Tony Brent, Columbia’s Sensational Singing Star, with Leslie Baguley at the Piano; Gladys Morgan, ‘…Britain’s famous comedienne with her laugh & company’; Billie Anthony, ‘…the new singing star, glamorous recorder of the big sale record ‘This ‘Ole House’; Eddie Arnold, ‘…impersonating the stars’; Duo Russmar, ‘…beauty in the balance’; Syd & Paul Kaye, ‘…young laughter raisers’; Kay & Katrina, ‘…steps in rhythym’ and finally, Brian Andro, ‘…on the wire’. There will be two performances every evening, at 6.00pm and at 8.15pm. Actors include: Tony Brent, Gladys Morgan, Billie Anthony, Eddie Arnold, Kay and Katrina, Brian Andro, Syd and Paul Kaye, Duo Russmar

 “© Leeds Library and Information Service”

It has given me much pleasure to obtain this poster for our website, for all Leslie’s relatives and friends to see.  I am sure you will also love their website and to discover all the various posters they have thought to retain and have copies on sale.   Well done Leeds Library and Leondis.

Their site is making available all the playbills in the Local Studies Library collection from a wide range of Leeds Theatres, such as The City Varieties, The Grand, The Princess and the Theatre Royal.  The site also contains some circus bills, such as those from Pablo Franque’s Circus.   They also have an image by Louis Le Prince. It is claimed Le Prince filmed the first ever moving images on Leeds Bridge in 1888.

The Leeds Playbills site is part of the Leodis digitisation project funded by the New Opportunities Fund.  Leodis is a photographic archive of Leeds. It is a project delivered by Leeds Library & Information Service. All images are © Leeds Library & Information Service unless otherwise specified.

All very fascinating and well worth a look.  Go to www.leodis.net/playbills

 (LtoR) Girl unknow, Diane (just behind Leslie), Keith Grant, Elaine Dunnell (landlady of Bull Hotel, Wrotham, Kent) and Ann-Marie (her young daughter, sporting a fun hat). circa 1985, (Leslie played every Sunday lunchtime – sometime with Keith on drums).

   Kent Premiership’s Football Trophy for Farnborough  (Dave Rance’s Rockin’ Chair Jazz Band 10jun2016 2387)

Everyone here at our Jazz Club send heartiest congratulations to The Farnborough Guild, for being promoted into the Kent Premiership League, such a feat – well done! (see the trophy on the wall – being given a trumpet fanfare).

We will certainly do our bit at helping to raise funds towards the £7,000 required to meet the cost of the demands, allowing you the promotion the team has earned.

Kind regards,

Diane and Keith

Click on the following to bring up advertisement for ‘JAZZ AT HEVER CASTLE’

tonight 4th June 2016

Hever Castle Corrections A4.indd FINAL

‘International Needs’ is a great organisation devoted to reducing the effects of disease and poverty on families around the world.

To Your Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, may we please join the many millions of huge wishes sent World Wide to congratulate You, Ma’am on reaching your 90th birthday?  We could not let today go by, without adding the wishes from all at Farnborough Jazz Club.  How sorry I feel that Your Majesty is unable to lie about Your Majesty’s age.   One cannot even get away with ‘stand-ins’, Your Majesty being instantly recognisable, even from a distance.  I have remained thirty-several and a bit more, for at least ten years (even though most laugh at that – those that dare).  However, the years have been visibly very kind to You, Ma’am.  May they be so, as well as physically, for many more years to come?

Diane & Keith

Farnborough Jazz Club

We have another very sad announcement to make and am finding it so very hard to find the right words to tell you.  Sadly we have lost another great and much loved musician.  Johnny Rodgers passed away on 3rd January 2016.  As many of you know, it was after a very long battle with a nasty illness.  Johnny was a wonderful clarinet and saxophone player.

I’m sure you will join us and send much love to his lovely wife, Cathy (keep strong Cathy).

Diane, Keith and all at Farnborough Jazz Club.

How sad to begin the New Year with the news of the passing of a dear friend to everyone.  ‘Jimbo’, as he was affectionately known, was an absolute Star (with a capital S) in our jazz world.  When he walked into a venue, he brought an absolute feeling of warmth.  Few people have it, that immediate buzz to the air, that aura of presence and Jimbo was one of them.  He never showed anger, or gossiped about anyone and I’m sure those of you who knew him will agree.  Keith and I have only known him personally for about thirty years. 

He first came to us at Badger’s Mount Jazz Club (‘Eagles Nest’), Polehill, Kent.  He was ‘roadie’ with Laurie Chescoe’s Good Time Jazz and oh what days they were!  That venue was razed to the ground for a car park, so we moved to Farnborough Jazz Club.  When ‘Jimbo’ appeared, he would join me on the ‘mic’ and tell some corker jokes. He was ‘Sound and Lighting Technician’ at many Jazz Weekends, plus Grand Marshall at many funerals of famous musicians, one of those, being dear ol’ George Webb.  I could mention lots more, but it would fill a book. I expect they needed him wherever we ‘go’ to!  Who will take his place here, is what I want to know?  No-one can, aye.

Diane Pratt

Farnborough Jazz Club

Just a short while ago, 11:03am, 15^th December 2015 to be exact, Keith and I watched ‘live’ the successful take-off from Kazakhstan of the Soyuz Rocket, part of the Principia International Space Mission (named so, after Sir Isaac Newton’s book re his law of gravity).  Flying were astronauts (our own) Major Tim Peake (born in Chichester in 1972), his Commander, Russia’s Yuri Malenchenko and America’s Timothy Kopra (from NASA).  The mission is to join the astronaut’s already on the International Space Station to perform more scientific experiments and ‘housekeeping’. 

I really cannot explain, but it has had me in tears – obviously tears of excited emotion at what man has achieved (it beats blowing the world apart!).  As I write this, Tim has just given us the ‘thumbs up’ from the rocket, which is now out in space.  I would like to join the millions of well-wishers for an extremely successful mission.  Good luck to them and everyone involved.  

It took me back to 1969 when I tape-recorded (sound only) that space mission to the moon.  I was pregnant with my daughter, Selina.  Her name had been chosen four years previously, when I was pregnant with my son Warren.  How strange that ‘Selina’ has the meaning of ‘moon’, plus her second name ‘Sarah’ means ‘Princess’ and she was born the year they landed on the moon!.  A wonderful coincidence for her.

I know, I’m soppy, but I’d rather be this way, than miserable.

Diane

Thanks to Peter, who sent this Russian video to me.  I just loved it and wanted to share it with yous, to help blot out the horrors going on in the world.  How about this, enjoy, Diane xx:

Today, 9 October 2015, Google celebrated the clock’s 605th anniversary with a Google Doodle. Click on Google Doodle to go to Wikipedia free encyclopaedia. You will see all the interesting details of it’s history.

Diane

Farnborough Jazz Club would like to join the many millions of huge wishes sent World Wide to congratulate Her Majesty, The Queen, becoming the longest reigning British Monarch.  How young Her Majesty looks too and makes everyone so envious of her obvious fitness.  Both Her Majesty and His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip are unbelievably hard working and long suffering, representing us on all our behalf and warrant our total admiration and thanks.  God bless you both.