A spring Blog to raise the spirits

I’m rather horrified to realise how long it is since I last tread the Blogging boards - October?! Eek. My apologies to those of you who actually wait for such things to appear ... my tardiness is at fault! I’m prompted to begin here again because of the latest in a long line of musical meanderings that make up my life. A fine Spring Tour that began in May but had us working a few months before that to get back in shape. Rob Cross was my musical cohort once more and this time round we gave ourselves ample time to rehearse and refine our enthusiasms, so that by the time we actually took to the road we were more than ready and hit the ground running with only a few minor adjustments necessary. We even improved along the way. There is no Flip footage of our hard work before shows were upon us you’ll just have to take my word for it. 

In between bouts of hard work we had breaks where I simply played Grandma to Isabella and Chiara - my favourite thing of all! Bob and I even had a glorious week in tenerife with Jo, Mike and the girls and we LOVED it - as you can see if you look here at our: Holiday Snaps :-) but here's just a few pics for the page:

 

Our first gig of the tour was at Biddulph Folk Club on May 2nd and greeting me as I walked up the fire escape with my guitar,was a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my girls! You could have knocked me down with a feather! They’re so clever to have worked out how to order flowers and write a message of love and support to their dear old Grandma - I was very excited as I’m sure you can imagine! Eric Cox who’s been organiser for the club for many years, surprised me with a couple of old photos of me with Howard Lees - from too many years ago to actually put in print but it was a fun reminder of just how long I’ve been doing this :-)

Biddulph beginnings from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Biddulph bits ... from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The gig itself was also cause for excitement not least because Bob was able to join us. All our hard work paid off and each song took on a new lease of life and I remembered all the words! Nearly. A delightful young artist: Heidi Browne opened the show and captured the audiences heart’s easily making it even better for us to begin with. Thanks Heidi! The audience were - as always - fabulous! We stayed with Vanya and Graham in their delightful home that night and were treated with love and respect - a beautiful combination. They became the recipients of the girl’s gorgeous flowers - a fitting place for their loveliness - I kept the card though!

Second gig of five in a row was JAGZ in Ascot. We only played there for the first time in October last year and Graham Steel, our lovely promoter at this wonderful venue, insisted we come back as soon as possible to garner more fans. Which we did - double the audience from October! Yay. Our good friends Martin, Pam, Pat, Phil and Wendy brought a whole bunch of “Collister Virgins” for musical sacrifice - luckily they enjoyed the experience! So did we.Thanks to Phil Chappell for standing in for Bob this night and being Flip monitor. We stayed with Martin and Pam for the next 2 nights and enjoyed their fabulous generosity as always. It was good to be back in the bosom of their delightfulness - we came back for more ... and more, as you’ll see!

Jumpin' JAGZ from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham Hants is an old favourite of mine but a new place for Roblet. The tech guys were very efficient and made us feel welcome but during one of the first songs - Kinder Heart - I noticed my mic stand beginning to lower and by the end it was bent over double - in order to finnish the song so was I! Just call me trooper Collister. It was very funny but because Bob was elsewhere this night, there’s no Flip to show you ... ah. It was during the intermission at this show that someone reminded me of the cat joke ... for those of you fortunate enough to come to a show ... you know what I mean; and for those not so fortunate ... count yourselves lucky I’m not going to tell it here!

A brief glimpse of Ashcroft Arts Centre from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Gig number 4 was a long way away from Fareham - it was a five hour drive that became 6 through sluggish M1 shenanigans all the way to gorgeous Water Yeat on the edges of the Lake District - always worth the effort! We were treated, as ever, with generosity and great hospitality by the organiser’s of the Water Yeat Village Hall concerts: John and Maggie Willis.



Water Yeat what a treat from Christine Collister on Vimeo.
Water Yeat ... neat! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

It was another packed show and several unexpected delightful friends turned up: Mike and Bev Williams from the Isle of Man now living in the Lake District (Mike was one third of Shy Talk!) and the ever enthusiastic and thoroughly gorgeous Chris Howarth - all the way up from Harlow! Thanks guys - you made a great night even better with your presence!
Moon- Man- Mystery water Yeat from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

On to our fifth show in a row and this time we were in Halifax, scene of our last gig in an autumn tour 18 months ago now. Another great venue with lovely staff and a few more friends not seen for too long and ... Chris Howarth showed up for more - bless! Unfortunately we had some techy gremlins in the first half but they were sorted out at half time and everything went more smoothly from then on. The audience were very patient and - thankfully - generous with their praise.
Hello Halifax from Christine Collister on Vimeo.
Halifax II from Christine Collister on Vimeo.
 

Bob and I stayed with Dave and Clare Price in their delightful home in Leeds that night though our satnav decided to freeze a mile from their home (which we'd never been to before!) so close and yet ... a few phone calls later and we arrived in time for a lovely nightcap - phew! I enjoyed a long lie-in the next morning too! Thanks Dave and Clare it was lovely to spend a little time with you. We must do it again!

I’ll leave you here for now and get to work on the next phase of the tour right away! Thanks as always for dropping by and putting up with my sporadic Blogging tendancies. Hope to see you in a few days time!

Much love

Christine xx