Our next gig, The Compasses Inn, Gomshall, Surrey, 29th January.

Year's End for Fluke

The band has had a very good year which was rounded off with two excellent gigs. Christmas Eve saw us playing to a packed and enthusiastic house at The Windsor Castle in Little Bookham. It's always a good gig there but it really rocked on that night. Peter and Barbara, the landlords, and the locals always make us feel welcome. We next play at the Windsor Castle on 17th March ( St Patrick's Day ). On New Year's Eve the band played for the Magdalen Park Lawn Tennis Club in Wandsworth. Again a great night, so good that they want us back  next New Year's Eve to do it all again. 2010 already looks promising for the band with many regular  venues and a number of new ones coming up, The Old Ticket Hall, Windsor, the Sir Douglas Haig, Effingham, The Lamb, Farnham, The Rowbarge, Guildford, The Walnut Tree, East Farleigh are some of the new venues we'll be playing at. 

Over the past year the band has witnessed an array of events whilst playing including an applauding dog (only if he liked the song, bark, bark!) rugby scrums on the dance floor, over enthusiastic punters sending microphones and music stands flying, tuneless floor singers, beer soaked amps exploding, dropped Stratocasters, temperamental pa systems. All things that make gigging so entertaining. Let's see what the New Year brings.

Our next two gigs are at the Compasses Inn, Gomshall and the Barley Mow in Shepperton. Both great gigs. We played at the 'Gomstock Festival' for the Compasses Inn in the summer and went down so well that we were asked back for a regular pub gig. The 29th January will be our second visit since the festival. On the 30th January we're at the Barley Mow in Shepperton, one of the band's favourite gigs ( if not the favourite ). Always a great atmosphere and an enthusiastic and lively crowd. We're looking forward to both.

Thanks to all the various musicians who have played in the band over the past year. These include Steve Bennett, John Bayley, Peter Terry, Darryl West, Chris Sharley, Patrick Quirke, Peter Miles, Keith Hale, Russell Chaney, Pat Kyle, Bill Meads, Fox, Mike Kings and the more regular members of the band ( pictured above ) Tommy O'Donnell, Chris Belshaw, Iain Fidler and John Parry. All excellent players who make it possible for Fluke to carry on gigging. The line up has always been quite fluid over the past years but this year I'm hoping to keep the band line up as unchanged as possible, not always easy.

The Old House At Home ,Dorking, 20th December.

The band's next gig is a return visit to the Old House At Home in Dorking on Sunday 20th December.

10th December,a good days gigging.

On the 10th December the band played two gigs. The first one of the day was an afternoon gig at the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood. We were invited to play for the Paddington Churches Housing Association annual Christmas party. To be honest when the guests started to arrive we thought perhaps they had booked the wrong kind of band, but from the very first number they loved the rock and roll we played. The band and all the guests really enjoyed the afternoon and we look forward to playing for them again. The second gig in the evening was a charity gig for 'Crisis At Christmas' at the the British Volunteer pub in Weybridge. Suzanne and Debbie who had seen the band play at the Barley Mow in Shepperton asked us if we would be prepared to play for the charity event. We were very pleased to help out. It was a great night and almost £350 was raised to help feed the homeless over the Christmas period. Our thanks to Suzanne and Debbie for asking us to play and also to Martin and Dawn, the landlords, for making us feel so welcome. The band are looking forward to playing at the pub again in February 2010. All in all a very good day.

John at the Crown Moran Hotel with the housing association guests.

From the left, Tommy O'Donnell, Chris Belshaw, John Parry, Iain Fidler and Chris Snook at the Crown Moran Hotel.




The band behind the bar at the British Volunteer, Weybridge. From the left:
Suzanne, Martin (the landlord), Chris, Debbie, Tommy, John, Dawn (the landlady) and Iain. Unfortunately John Bayley our bass player for the night had left before the photos were taken.

Martin, Suzanne, Debbie and Dawn.

Suzanne and pub dog, Bob.

Our next gig is at the Ye Olde Windsor Castle pub in Little Bookham.

We're playing here on the 27th November and also on Christmas Eve.

The Angel, Surbiton, November 14th

This was the band's first gig at this pub. From left to right: Chris, Tommy, Aaron (Fox's son ), Fox, Steve and Pete.











Tom and Emma.













Chris and Steve Bennett












Tommy and 'Fox'

Fluke playing at the Barley Mow, Shepperton, October 24th 2009

Fluke in the spotlight.

Fluke at the Barley Mow, 24th October.

From the left : Chris Snook ( guitar/vocals ), John Parry ( guitar/vocals ), Linda ( guest vocals ), Chris Sharley ( drums ), 'Fox' ( bass ), Iain Fidler ( keyboards ). We were very grateful to 'Fox' and Chris Sharley for standing in at the last moment to do the gig.

John, the landlord of the Barley Mow, Shepperton.

I wish more landlords were like John. A real music lover who cares about about the music and the bands he books to play. It's always a pleasure to play at the Barley Mow. Our next gig there is on January 30th.

Blogger.com problems

Something strange seems to happening to these blog posts I've entered. For some reason or other the photos and the text that go with them aren't lining up as they should. Hopefully the problem will be resolved soon.

Ye Olde Windsor Castle Beer Festival, Little Bookham, September 26th

This was one of our best gigs at the Windsor Castle. A good crowd all determined to have a good time. We should be back for another gig before Christmas.

John and Dinah, two friendly local musicians who liked the band.

Peter, the landlord with Barbara the bar manageress.

From the left: Tommy O'Donnell (drums), Steve Bennett (guitar/vocals), Chris Belshaw (bass). Iain Fidler was on keyboards.

This man was convinced he was my brother and wanted a photo to prove it.

The Anchor & Horseshoes, Guildford, Saturday 5th September.

Eddie and his wife Mica, the landlords of the Anchor & Horseshoes. Eddie and Mica are genuine music lovers and love to have live bands at the Anchor. Hopefully they'll continue at the pub for years to come.

John Scott ( left ) played bass for us at very short notice. John usually plays bass with the Sharpees band. Thanks to him for helping us out and I'm sure he'll be playing with us again.

The Woodcock Inn, Felbridge, 4th September

Here's a picture of the band with Tony, the landlord of the Woodcock Inn, after the gig. Seen on the far right is Fox who has played some fine bass for us many times. The rest of the line up is from the left : Iain Fidler, Darryl West, Tony, Tommy O'Donnell and Chris Snook. We'll be back sometime in October for another gig.

Tommy with Aaron, Fox's son, a budding bass player.

Lemonrock

The band is now also listed on the 'Lemonrock' site. Click on the 'Lemonrock' logo to enter site.

The Fluke Family, 28th, 29th, 30th August.

A busy weekend for the band, three gigs and three different line ups. On Friday 28th we played at the Royal Oak in Hampton, always a good gig. Darryl West fronted the band, with Russell Chaney on drums, Iain Fidler on keyboards and because Chris Belshaw our regular bass player had to unavoidably cancel at the last moment ( 30 minutes before the gig start time) we managed to recruit Bill Meads from the Sharpees band to cover on bass. Thanks to Bill for standing in at such short notice. On Saturday we played at the Astolat in Guildford. There seemed to be some sort of mix up as the landlord seemed to think we hadn't been booked for that night ( nothing new there) As I took the original booking I was one hundred percent sure we were booked, so we played to a less than full pub. John Parry fronted the band on guitar and vocals. Saturday saw us playing for the first time at the Compasses Inn in Gomshall, Surrey. It was their annual 'Gomstock Festival' to raise funds for charity. With upwards of two hundred people packed into the beer garden it created a great atmosphere. About ten bands played during the day. We played at 7.30 and did a rousing forty five minute set and got a great reception from the crowd. The band looks forward to another gig at the Compasses soon. The line up for the festival gig was: Steve Bennett on lead guitar and vocals, Chris Belshaw on bass, Russell Chaney on drums, Peter Terry on keyboards and me, Chris Snook on guitar and vocals.

Steve and Pete in the shadows.

From the left: Chris Belshaw, Russell Chaney, Peter Terry.

From the left: Chris Belshaw (bass), Steve Bennett ( lead gutar/vocals), Chris Snook (guitar/voals), Russell Chaney (drums), Peter Terry (keyboards).

The Gomshall Festival crowd

Joley's 18th birthday party gig in Bushy, 23rd August

Thanks to Andy for organising this gig for the band and also playing great bass. Pictured here with his beautiful Rickenbacker bass guitar.

The boys enjoying the Bushy sunshine. From the left: Andy, Iain, Chris, Darryl and Tommy.

Tommy and Iain enjoying the hospitality beers.

Our garden stage.

The Poyntz Arms, East Molesey, August 8th

Another good night at the Poyntz. The line up for the evening was John Parry(guitar/vocals), Tommy O'Donnell (drums), Patrick Quirke(bass), Iain Fidler(keyboards), Chris Snook( guitar/vocals).
From the left,Ronnie Paris ( keyboard player with The Ronnies rock band), Tommy, Chris, Patrick and Iain.














Tommy, Rachel and Darryl West. Darryl is a regular guitarist/singer with the band.

John Parry in Hawaiian style with his wife and friends. Also two keyboard players lurking to the left.

Peter, at the bar, Derek, an old friend of Darryl's over from Australia, Tommy and Darryl.

The smiley girls

The Blue Anchor, Byfleet, 1st August

Our next gig is at the Blue Anchor in Byfleet, the band's first visit to the pub. Darryl West will be fronting the band.

The Barley Mow, Shepperton, 25th July

Another good night at the Barley Mow, one of the band's favourite venues. John, the landlord, and the locals always make us feel welcome.

John, Chris and serious lady.

Pam and her boys, Duncan and Fergus, all the way from Westcott to see the band.

Jacqueline, John Parry's wife, finally succumbs to the lure of the older man.

Gail and Brian from Shepperton.