FOG charity work floats

Maybe you've read that stuff at the top of the page about FOG doing Gigs for Charity. Well, an new twist was when we played at a Golden Wedding on September 13th up at Cropthorne Village Hall.

As well as keeping these old geezers in Beer and a fantastic Hog Roast, the audience were just great, and the hosts very kindly gave us £150 (no - no to shut up!), but as a thanks for playing.

£50 went to the Hawthorns care home, and £50 to the Pershore Riverside Youth Centre.
Makes all the practice worthwhile.

What do you mean? You don't believe we practice because we make such a dreadful racket! Well you should hear us when we haven't practiced!

Great Night at Piesse of Pidele

What a fantastic night on Friday 24th October - we played for nearly three hours to the most fantastic audience. They sang along with us and cheered us on. What a fantastic bunch - Thanks Wyre Piddle, and well done to the Skittles team that won and helped with the superb atmosphere.

Don't we scrub up well

Fantastic evening at Dumbleton Hall - which was a posh black-tie job, so your favourite band had to tart ourselves up - and the WAGs looked pretty good too.

The audience loved the Defford Railway Blues, written specially for them by Peter.

Listen everybody, I'm a singin' you the blues
Presidents bash is on tonight, and here is all the news
Since JR quit as HON SEc, and Chris took up the post
Minutes will never be as prompt, JR's proudest boast
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

John Angood's on the go once more, he's on the path again
Be careful you don't walk that path, it's sure to cause you pain
Sharing it with John and Anne, he'll sting you for a grand
But what the heck, it's all for sight, and in a foreign land
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

The Christmas tree will soon be lit, in Pershore's busy street
For PC Easy it's a bore, for others it's a treat
For us old guys, once more again in wind and rain and snow
We're rattling cans, collecting cash, to Acorns it will go
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

Old Grumpy's chasing us to play another round or two
For "Kids Out" is what he claims, we're not sure that is true
'Cos Mark's team wins near all the prizes, almost every year
And Mark is Grumpy's son you know, he holds him very dear
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

Chris did a SOLO HARMONICA here

Now here's the worry for us all, Malcolm's new top man
And everywhere he's worked before has gone all down the pan
One thing we can be sure of though, the meetings will start late
Or even on another day, 'Cos Malc's screwed up the date
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

The Railway is a second home, Rotarians are the Gentry
Even though there's a Scot or two and Past Presidents a-plenty
Steven keeps us Holy and Guido keeps us fed
FOG proves there's an afterlife, but it's time we were in bed
That's why I'm singin' you, I'm singin you, the "Defford Railway" Blues

President Elect Plays at Dumbleton Hall

Mad fools Rotary Club of Pershore have made two big mistakes this year. First is to persuade FOG lead guitarist Malcolm to be President. Second is to ask FOG to play at the outgoing presidents evening at Dumbleton Hall.

Malcolm took over the Presidency on Wednesday (see photo). Chris is Hon Sec of the club, and Peter is Hon Treasurer.

The outgoing President of Pershore Rotary said:

"The new Club President is Malcolm Haden who, prior to his retirement in 2007, had a working career spanning 45 years, starting with an engineering apprenticeship at Needle Industries of Studley, when 20 million needles were produced every week, through to 35 years spent in Garden Tool Manufacture.

A music career over a similar period started with singing Beatles songs with the Sunday School choir and a short spell in a blues band, followed by a 45 year rest before joining local band Four Old Geezers (FOG), consisting of 2 fellow Rotarians and one proper musician. FOG are booked to play at the annual President’s evening at Dumbleton Hall where they aim to prove that ‘Rotary Rocks’.

Malcolm thanked Alan for a brilliant year and for ensuring that being part of Pershore Rotary Club was a real pleasure.

Fund raising for local and international causes will continue to be our main aim, while having fun as a club with speakers, outings and social events during the year.

This year we also aim to reach out to people who share the Rotary ethos, but who do not have the time to join us at our weekly meetings.

If you care about your local community and the problems of the wider world and would like to help us in an informal way, do please check out the Pershore Rotary Club website at http://www.pershore.rotary1100.org/

FOG hits the newspapers!

Brilliant couple of days out at the Cropthorne Walkabout, where we played on Sunday 4th and Monday 5th May (Bank Holiday Weekend). Highpoint for us has got to be the coverage in the Evesham Observer.

FOG have nine GIGs lined up!

We are playing at the Cropthorne Walkabout (twice), the Wyre Piddle Village Fete (as always), the Pershore Rotary Club Presidents Dinner at Dumbleton Hall, the Fladbury Walkabout (twice) and Peachey's Party at the Piesse of Pidele. Just added is a gig at Upton (not the Jazz fest), and Bondy's Wake. We've also been approached to play at the Upton Jazz Festival and Jardine Motors VW Evesham but one or another of the band couldn't do it.

Please don't crash the parties just to hear us, but you have no excuse not to hear us somewhere in the next few months now!

At Piesse of Pidele on 7th February

John again armed with Camera