August 31st 1997 is a date that will live in history as one of those days when everyone will remember where they were when the heard the tragic news. We had been working at the EMBASSY THEATRE in SKEGNESS on the Saturday with Craig Douglas and Jimmy Cricket. We stayed the night as we were all working at THE FUTURIST THEATRE in SCARBOROUGH the following day and I think it was John Stokes who told Kevin and I on Sunday morning that Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash in Paris. Our first reaction was disbelief as it was just too hard to take in but once we saw it on the news the reality finally sunk in that it was true.

That Sunday we drove to Scarborough assuming that when we got there the show would be cancelled but that was not the case. The theatre decided it would go on but that anyone who wanted a refund could have one. Only a few people did so the show went ahead. The audience seemed to appreciate that it wasn’t easy for any of us to perform under the circumstances but we all did. Craig was his usual charming self as he ran through his many hits, Jimmy had the hardest job of all, to make people laugh and God knows we needed cheering up.

I have sung” DIANE” over a thousand times since I teamed up with JOHN STOKES but never was it more poignant than that day on the 31st of August 1997.

It is not always Bachelor commitments that cause us to turn down cruise offers but our separate individual involvements, for example I have gone into promoting shows and cabaret lunches while John and Dave both have their own interests.
Therefore it is nice when we can actually do one which was the case at the end of June when we had a nice trip around the Mediterranean lasting 12 days. It was nice to revisit places like Lisbon, Gibraltar and other places whose names I can’t spell.  The shows went really well in fact we even sold out of CD’s which can’t be bad. A special thank you to the band who as well as being great musicians were really nice people as were the sound and lighting guys, making it a really lovely cruise.
Quite a few people from the ship came to see us at the two venues we were doing in Blackpool and we would like to thank everyone at   CLEVELEYS WORKINGS MENS for making the night such a great success. The staff were all marvellous and a big thank you to Mark and Roy for excellent backing, they are a great example for keeping music live. We always prefer to be part of a show as opposed to working on our own and we could not have asked for better than TRACEY JORDAN from THE JOE LONGTHORNE SHOW, what a singer? And compere DES DAY.

Des also came along to compere our show at THE LOWTHER PAVILION in Lytham on Wednesday afternoon the 23rd of August and did a great job linking the show with his wit and humour. We must give a big thank you to THE CLIVE ALLAN SOUND, who not only backed us, but performed a great opening spot. Closing the first half was the truly wonderful GAYNOR CONNOR who incidentally first appeared with us on THE NORTH PIER THEATRE in 1999. Everyone commented on how great the sound and lighting was and for that we have Stuart to thank, not forgetting Bob the stage manager who kept us all on our toes. We are also most grateful to Ross from their publicity department for the video he put together which should give to a taste of the event. Our gratitude goes out to all our fans, some of whom travelled from Manchester, the Midlands and beyond. A lot of them have been coming to see us for over 22 years and quite a few of them we now regard as friends.

If I was a reporter this would be called a follow up story. Some of you might remember last November we did a show to help raise money for the cancer treatment of KEN MUTCH, the father of Darren a friend of mine who  has just let me know that the treatment was successful and Christies have given him the all clear, although they will continue to monitor him. That is great news and I am just glad that THE BACHELORS with John Stokes and all our friends who attended the fund raising show at the EITHAD STADIUM helped in some small way to bring about a result that justified the HUTCH family’s courage and belief.

On Monday the 2nd of November John and I had the sad task of attending the funeral of our dear friend ANN BROWN at Lytham Crematorium.

Ann of course will be remembered by those of you who attended our holidays at Tiffany’s and The Metropole in Blackpool. John has known her since they first met in her home town of Warrington about thirty years ago when he first asked her to help with the holidays.

When you are organizing holidays for mainly senior citizens someone like Ann was invaluable as she had been an auxiliary nurse and as well as that she had the experience of actually managing Care Homes . She was also great at running the bingo. Ha!.

Ann had a quiet way of getting things done, never got flustered, had time for people and liked a good laugh and that’s how we will remember her. It was a nice service and for that thanks must go to the Reverend David Phillips for his well-chosen words and the music wasn’t bad, “I Believe” and “Ramona”. It was also nice to meetAnn’s family and if grief is the measure of love ANN BROWN was very much loved indeed. Rest in peace.

I was looking through some old photographs and found this one. It was taken at the start of our 2003 summer season at The North Pier Theatre, Blackpool for the late Duggie Chapman, The Show consisted of The Tiptoes Kidz, (Where are they now) Our great pal STU FRANCIS, the wonderful BERYL JOHNSTON and the larger than life MIKE TERRY who sadly recently passed away. Mike closed the first half with a great act and captured the whole audience from start to finish. I used to have a laugh winding him up about the time he played Captain Mike in a Kids show for Yorkshire television. A unique style unashamedly influenced by his own personal favourite Winifred Attwell and it could be said the he alone was personally responsible for keeping the memory of Dorothy Squires alive. May he himself be long remembered and may he rest in peace.