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2009
2009 found the lads on another P & O cruise, this time spending New Years Eve in Madeira. You could say they kicked off the year in spectacular fashion, as anyone who has seen the firework display will testify.
This was followed with the usual dates at Warner’s and one-night theatre events in places like Coventry, Blackpool and Manchester.

March 16th seen them working for their old friend, Don in front of 600 people at the Lancashire Cricket club. This was the 6th time in 10 years that they had been booked for this event and was something they always looked forward to.
Two days later they flew to Honolulu to start another P&O cruise. They then sailed to
Sanfrancisco and on to Acapulco. Jonathan’s memories were of working with some great people, i.e, Claire Sweeney, Tom O Conner, Mike Read and Bobby Crush.  As the Irish say, ‘The Craic was great.’
April 20th, they were doing their first show in Shrewsbury for Tony Best, owner of the Lazy Acre.
It took place at the Lord Hill Hotel and was so successful that Tony booked the boys for the next year, saying they were one of the best acts they had ever had.

This was followed by another stint at the Brick Lane Music Hall.  John’s recalls: "Apart from seeing Vincent and the gang, plus the fantastic audiences, what also pleased me were the people I knew who came to our show, Alvin Stardust, Graham Cole (The Bill)and his family, then King Rat, and Derek Martin (Eastenders) who at the time was Prince Rat."

Come May it was back to their second home, Blackpool, for a week at the Metropole Hotel, followed by a charity show in Salford, this time for a children’s hospital.
June 28th, back to Blackpool, this time a charity spectacular for the Water Rats and the one and only Duggie Chapman who had now received an MBE, which everyone in the business thought he thoroughly deserved.

Jonathan says, ‘It’s hard to recall the exact time that Kevin became ill. The first time I noticed something was wrong was in early June when we were doing a charity show in Liverpool for the lovely Gaynor Connor who incidentally at the time was not too well herself.
Kevin was feeling tired and was having difficulty playing the guitar which at the time we thought must be a nervous complaint, which hopefully would soon go away. I started playing the solos and we carried on for a while but was becoming that it was something serious. As it turned out, Kevin was to do two more shows with us at Boddwiden Castle and Woodall Spa and even though both shows went well, we could see his condition was getting worse.
A few days later Kevin informed us he could no longer carry on and we should get someone else.

He had been diagnosed as having Motor Neuron Disease.

Our next show was Nidd Hall for Warners and we didn’t have much time to find a replacement, but we did.
Dave Pearson came in at very short notice and had to learn the act very quickly, which he did.
With some coaching from John, Jonathan and Kevin, who gave him great support and encouragement, he fitted in extremely well.

hey then went back to the usual venues and found that everyone accepted Dave in his own right, whilst acknowledging that Kevin would never be forgotten for his tremendous contribution to the Renaissance of the Bachelors.
On a personal Level, Jonathan’s son, got married to his fiancée, Michelle, at the Lowry Hotel, Salford, on the 17th of October. It was a great family occasion and a very happy day. Jonathan was having a late drink when who should he run into, but Hank Marvin! It was while reminiscing about their meeting at “Friends" restaurant in Perth that Hank invited him to Cliff and the Shadows show at the Manchester Arena.

“I went with the Bachelors' MD, Clive Allan” Jonathan recalls, ”who was a big fan, and we really enjoyed the show.” Afterwards it was backstage for a few drinks and a chat. “I had only ever met Hank before, so it was a pleasure to meet for the first time Bruce, Brian and Cliff Richard, who all turned out to be real nice guys.”

The year ended with another week at the Grand Metropole hotel, Blackpool.
Yes, The Bachelors with John Stokes would still go on!

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