THE WOMEN’S GROUP ENJOY A 60s MUSICAL EVENING
On Wednesday 3rd October the Women’s Group, together with several members of the Men’s Group spent a very enjoyable evening in the company of local musician Phil Rylance. Phil obviously still has a love of playing his guitar and singing which he combined with songs and stories from his past as a member of various bands during the sixties. He began by telling us how his dad (who earned £16 a week at the time in the rail industry at Crewe) managed to buy him a second hand guitar for £3 in 1957 which he taught himself to play. Whilst still at school he played in different groups and in 1962 saw the launch of Phil Ryan and the Crescents and were signed up by EMI, making a record that reached no.39 in the top 40! The group also played in Hamburg and in the Liverpool Cavern Club.
After several years of being “on the road” Phil retired from the pro. scene and trained as a teacher of English, music and drama working for many years in Monchengladbach on an army base.
As well as the many stories and songs, Phil showed us how popular music had evolved from the twenties through to the sixties and he also presented two quizzes which caused great amusement, and it was obvious from everyone’s reactions that they were having fun. I particularly enjoyed the quiz where Phil played part of a song and we had to write down the missing words without singing them out loud. The evening concluded with everyone singing along to the songs from the quiz.
This meeting was also a fundraiser for our chosen charity this year which is Pathways. Altogether £130 was raised from the Tombola and refreshment donations.
Next month we are going to The Highwayman for our annual meal out at 7pm on Wednesday 7th November.
Jean Lee