Busy days with gigs and family

September 6

Durham on the radio again, great company and a lot of catching up to do. Making sure next summer is filled with dates but also keeping some dates open for the festivals and so on. Also Switzerland dates need sorted now for maybe April.

September 7

Went to see Shaggy today and record two more songs for the 4th We Steal Flyers album. We are hoping the album will be out before Christmas. So far is it sounding great. John Castle had been away for a few days and tonight he wanted to play Game Of Life, so we did. Nice to share life.

September 8

Up in the morning and we took John Castle to Holy Island, he loves history. It was a good visit but he knows the history of it all, good and bad. Someone like me would have been like Sky TV then, a story teller and a song writer. Afterwards we went to the Beal café.

For this evening’s gigs, Melanie had to go and get a car from Ben, our brother in law in Widdrington. She needed it to get to her gig in Sunderland with Dave Adams and Sam Bosworth, it went really well. Back around 1.30am. I was in our car and got back at the same time from a great gig in Rothbury with We Steal Flyers. John Castle loved the gig.

Mike Slaughter played the second set. He knows John too as he flew over and played some Texas dates with us. He loves music and America. Always great to be with friends in Rothbury, Allan Husted, Teresa, Margaret Blackwell, Margaret Hedley, Carole and many more.

September 9

John Castle is away now, one more night in England and then off to Switzerland. Some people love to travel and make friends. I wish them all well.

September 10

My last visit to Alnmouth Cricket club. Today, Jean Curry with family and friends held a charity day. Tom the gardener was a guest speaker and Sam Bosworth played an hour set via Acoustic Magic.

Later on in the evening Melanie was off to her second gig but, sadly, the venue had been burgled and had to shut for the night. The charity today was for Alzheimer’s. Lots of people sharing a day and making a massive difference at the same time. I have some great friends there. I love being there. Mr Denton, Mr Hodgson and Mr Tulip are three wonderful people and now Jean Curry is on my friends list.

September 11

Great to be back at Blyth running club. A really nice feeling and the start to the winter running season for Rebecca and cross-country.

While Rebecca trained, we got Melanie to do some fielding and we did some cricket practice with Ellie and she ran through some amazing shots.

September 12

A lot of work done with Melanie. I’m trying to finish off my Charley Boorman book so I can get through the two books I got as gifts last Christmas.

We are sorting out the charity open mic nights again. Mel and I created Acoustic Magic to help musicians, venues, music lovers and as many charities as we could. We are setting up venues and players for February onwards so that we can help a few extra charities. We are asked to help more and more and how can you not help?

September 13

The day hours of work are going well. Mel and I clicking away on our laptops. We found out we have lost a venue because they have asked for £20 an hour to hire the room. We are usually there 5 hours minimum so we can not do this.

We brought in some great players there and made some good memories. We are not worried we will sort another venue. Another nice night at The Trap with Shaggy. Some great photos are taken on these nights by David Gerrard.