Retirement and Yetties Final Fling Weekend
Since we announced our retirement next April work has rolled in. We are going back to some places we have performed in, on and off, for nearly 50 years. Nostalgia will be dripping from the trees. Willand Folk Dance Club, for instance, has booked us to call and play for a dance next March. One of the very first places we toured when we turned professional was the Black Country, around Wolverhampton and Dudley. Olga Nichols, who organised that tour, will be at our concert in Shifnal on the 23rd of October. Her daughter Jill has booked us for this return to a part of the country we haven't performed in for a very long time.
The Final Fling Weekend is the 8th, 9th and 10th of April 2011
There will be a Ceilidh on the Friday, a Concert on the Saturday and on Sunday afternoon there will be a cup of tea, a bun, a natter and a general selling of memorabilia and Yetties bits and bobs, knick-knacks, stage props etc. Everything must go. I'm going to have a lot of fun diving into the back corners of my loft to see what's hidden away there. Then, of course, there's the minibus, sound system, etc. etc.
Tickets for the events are already on sale and if you wish to come for the weekend it might be advisable to book your accommodation. Ceilidh Tickets are £10, Concert Tickets £10 and Sunday Gathering Tickets £2.50. These are available from the web site or send a cheque made out to The Yetties to [contact details removed].
For information on the availability of accommodation the staff at Sherborne Tourist Information are always very helpful, you can tell them I said so. [contact details removed]
LPs to CD
I'm making quite a lot of these now. While I was putting them on the computer I, naturally, had to listen to them all once again to make sure they were OK and I came to the conclusion that we did a pretty fair job one way and the other.
50 Stone of Loveliness 1969 Who's A'fear'd 1970 Keep A Runnin' 1970 Our Friends 1971 The World of Irish Dancing 1971 Dorset is Beautiful 1972 Mornin' All (backing Bob Arnold, Tom Forrest of the Archers) 1972 All at Sea 1973 Up in Arms (with Sherborne Town Band) 1974 The Yetties of Yetminster 1975 The World of The Yetties 1975 Let's Have a Party 1975 The Village Band (with Sherborne Town Band) 1976 Up Market 1977 Dorset Style 1978 Focus On Double Album 1978 In Concert 1979 A Little Bit of Dorset 1981 A Proper Job 1981 Cider & Song 1983 The Sound of Cricket (with John Arlott) 1984 The Yetties 1986
There's not room in the Newsletter to put every track for all these LPs but I do have lists I can e mail to you or post if you are interested. [contact details removed] or write to [contact details removed].
I don't keep the CDs in stock but give me a couple of days and I will make them for you. The cost is £6 per CD (including post & packing) for the single LPs and £10 for the Focus On double. For some customers I have done the whole collection of 23 and for this the charge is £120. Cheques to The Yetties please at the above address.
Yetties LPs
If you don't want to go the CD route or would like to collect the LPs as well then I have now, due to peoples' generosity, managed to gather together quite a selection again. I sell these to raise money for Halsway Manor Library. Cynthia and I have been able to virtually run the library on the funds accumulated by these sales. We have cleaned up and, when necessary, repaired over 4000 books and entered them on the database at the Manor. Then, of course, there are the 78s, cassettes, LPs, CDs, videos, DVDs etc. It's a job for life and your help is much appreciated. I have the following in stock:
Keep a Runnin' Our Friends The World of Irish Dancing Dorset Is Beautiful All At Sea The World of The Yetties Up In Arms The Village Band The Yetties of Yetminster Let's Have a Party Up Market In Concert Proper Job A Little Bit of Dorset The Yetties Dorset Style
We sell these for £6 each including post and packing. Cheques to Halsway Manor Society Ltd. via the PO Box
Yetminster Fair
The big day is Saturday, 10th of July and, of course, this will be our last Yetminster Fair Concert although I will certainly be there during the day with a Yetties stall in future years. Tickets can be obtained from Ron and June Page, [contact details removed]. For other information, camping etc. contact [contact details removed]. For accommodation there's the jolly old T.I. in Sherborne [contact details removed]. The sun is going to shine and the whole village is going to be full of music, dancing and the happy jangle of coins changing hands from you to various charities. Proper job.
P.O. Box
With everything winding down there isn't really a need for a PO Box any more so please send any future correspondence to my home address which is [contact details removed].
Nostalgia DVD
We thought it would be a good idea to make a nostalgia DVD with all the snippets of film we have collected between us over the years. They date back as far as 1961 and the original Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Junior Folk Dance Display Team. There are also shots of The Wessex Morris Men, which included various young Yetties, dancing outside the shop in the middle of Yetminster. You might have some ideas for a title, let me know if you do, but we have come up with 'Fifty Golden Ye'rs'. There are snippets from TV shows and interviews (including one with Jim Lloyd who was our manager for 13 years), loads of old photos, posters, LPs sleeves and music to be loaded onto the computer before we can actually start editing. It's all a bit mind boggling to be honest and I don't know when it will be ready. Watch this space.
Dorset Airways
At the moment all those big airlines are having problems with a huge dust cloud coming from a volcano somewhere north of Bristol. Now let me inform you that we don't have volcanoes in Dorset, Well, we don't at the moment but if it proves to be a tourist attraction we might import one. Also Dorset Airways planes don't fly that high so we are still operating out of the Top of Town Car Park in Dorchester. If the crisis continues we may have to open up branches in Bridport and Shaftesbury so if you plan to travel to Somerset or some other foreign place you might find it more convenient to fly with us rather than do battle with the A37 or the B301789.
Welcome to Dorset Airways, we hope you enjoy your flight ,
I'll tell 'ee now what happens so your won't have a fright;
The pilot, at this moment, is checking all the things,
You can see him out the window jumping on the wings.
In times of panic exit where the bomb bay used to be
Or the trap door in the ceiling if we land awkwardly,
There's supposed to be a third way but to our great regret
Although we've searched both high and low we haven't found it yet.
Bonny