2010

The Bachelors
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2010
January, cruising again, this time on the Arcada for P & O. They sailed from Southampton to Barbados, stopping at Maderia before flying back.
Various one-nighters followed then it was time to return to Australia for a six week tour covering Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.This time despite a recession, the attendance was better than ever, with sell-out shows in Albany, Maldura, Freemantle, and Banks Town to name a few.

On a sad note, it was while they were touring Australia that Jonathan got a phone call from his wife, Margaret, telling him that Kevin had passed away. Jonathan remembers, ‘We had a show to do that afternoon and it wasn’t going to be easy getting through it. What helped was a text I received from Lorraine, Kevin’s daughter, which simply said:
“YOU’D BETTER GET ON STAGE AND BELT ONE OUT FOR DAD.” We did.

I think Kevin would have been genuinely surprised at the number of people he touched in his life. We remember him in another section of this web site.

Jonathan further recalls that although they met with kindness everywhere in Australia, they are especially grateful to Clyde and Lesley at Friends’ Restraunt, Perth. and the whole gang of people who run the Bankstown Sports club, in Sydney. This was the first club they worked on their first Australian tour back in 2000 and it will remain forever in their hearts. Thanks to Kevin McCormick, John Murry and all the lads for proving there is such thing as a free lunch.
Back home it was a few one-nighters, i.e., Lichfield for Duggie Chapman, Heigh Hall Country club Shrewsbury for Tony Best, another week of Brick Lane Music Hall, (their fifth year) and a return to the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.

As I have already said, this was a difficult year due to the loss of Kevin and it was hard at first to retain our enthusiasm, but the encouragement we received from people at the Water Rats like, Kenny Cantor, promoters like Duggie Chapman, Vincent Hayes at Brick lane Music Hall and Dave Arnold who books all out cruises, really kept us going, not to mention Geoff Jones, our manager in Australia and the Far East.

The main problem was always going to be finding a suitable replacement for Kevin which I’m happy to say we did in Dave Pearson, who fitted in so well, it was soon back to business as usual for THE BACHELORSs with John Stokes.

2010 was our twelfth year working for Warner’s holiday hotels and if any of our fans have never been to one you don’t know what you're missing. They are fantastic. In August we did Nidd Hall in Yorkshire and in September it was right back to the Isle of Wight to appear at Norton Grange and Bembridge. We then did a short tour of Lancashire social clubs organized by our favorite girl singer Gaynor Connor who also opened the show and went really well. A bit too well, as we had to follow her.

Towards the end of September we did a show in the Auden Theatre, Holt for the Water Rats. It was organized by and starred John's old pal Kenny Cantor along with Kenny's very talented daughter Shani. What a voice. She's so talented - she must have taken after her mother. (Only joking, Kenny.) It was a great night and the highlight for me was when we finished the show with ” I Believe” backed by the signing choir. No I didn’t spell it wrong, they perform their songs in sign language!

Over the years we have always enjoyed doing the Morning Melodies shows for Brian Walker and his partner, the great comedian Les Wilson. Sadly Les passed away recently but thankfully Brian continues to put on the shows and this one was compered by Malcolm Stent a great act in his own right.

It was great to go to the Belgrade Theatre Coventry to a full house, a standing ovation and be home in time for tea. We love 'Morning Melodies'.

My final memory of 2010 would be flying to Madeira to join the 'Artemis'. This was the second time we experienced the firework display on New Year’s Eve and it really is something to see. The whole island lights up. It’s incredible. How did the show go? I can't remember. It was New Year’s Eve and although we never drink before a show, we certainly did afterwards. We then sailed back to Southampton, arriving on Jan 4th to start another year.