2003

The Bachelors
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2003
New Year's Day found John, Kevin and Jonathan in Gunton Hall, one of the fabulous Warners venues in Lowestoft, followed by a series of one-nighters. The ones that stand out were Bury St. Edmunds, The Norbreck, Blackpool and various Warners Holiday Centres - which are all special in their own way.

Probably the most memorable was when they were asked to appear at Dudley Town Hall where they shared the bill with The Gentlemen Songsters Male Voice Choir, under the direction of Lynn Andrews.

It was quite an experience when the whole choir came on stage and joined the Bachelors for their closing song, I Believe.

They were now working in Butlins Holiday Centres, mostly 60s nights at places like Minehead, Skegness and Bognor. It was nice to meet up with some their old pals - The Hermits, Dave Berry, and the Swinging Blue Jeans, all still going strong. Come April they started cruising again with ‘Page and Moy’ who were now giving them all the cruises they needed on the Ocean Majesty. This ship was nick-named the friendly ship; in fact it was like a family at sea. It was a small vessel carrying about 500 passengers and seemed to specialize in cruises to Scandinavia, the cities of the Baltic and the Mediterranean. The whole crew were excellent, from the cabin steward’s right up to Captain Karabagias who would always stop for a chat whenever his duties permitted.

With Christine Butler as Cruise Director you were always assured of first class entertainment, and she had assembled a team around her that was second to none - Mark, Danielle, Ken and Rita - people who knew what the passengers wanted and saw to it that they got it.
Add to this the Boss Tim Barnwell and his Page & Moy Curriers and it all means great cruising.
John, Jonathan and Kevin remember the Ocean Majesty with great affection.

On May 27th, they topped the bill once again at the North Pier Theatre for their sixth season - surely a feat never to be repeated. Thank you Duggie Chapman.

They decided to give Australia a miss and leave it till next year as they had too much work in England plus they were working on their new album.

Duggie had them doing Sundays in Weymouth and they had a long tour lined up for Susan Maughn’s husband Nick, a Derby County supporter, poor soul.

Nick is a great fellow who pulled to-gether most of the acts from the North Pier Show the previous year.

Susan, Stu, Alan and the lads all enjoyed working together so it was a great tour, covering the length and breadth of Britain.
Alan Randall pulled out of the tour in Bournemouth suffering from what we now know to be motor neuron disease and sadly later died.

He was one of the best acts in the business and is greatly missed by all who knew him

However as they say the “show must go on” and it did, as he would have wanted.

The tour finished to a full house in Guilford on the 2nd of November and they all said their goodbyes

John, Kevin and Jonathan did their final show at The Norbreck Hotel Blackpool on Boxing Day and spent the rest of the holidays with their families.