Rock and Roll in an English Village Hall, Decorative Antiques and other Sunday musings
Good Morning
from
Arundel Eccentrics Antiques
Sunday morning and the clocks went
back last night here in the UK.
Officially winter.
That's the downside.
The upside is an extra hour in bed.
When I'm snug in my warm cosy bed
I occasionally remember
and wonder how I managed to work
nights for seven and a half years.
We were building up our antique business
and there were times when
I worked all night and all day as well.
The job was in a residential home for
" Adolescents with Challenging Behaviour"
Wild, I can tell you.
Dangerous sometimes too.
I was trying to paint and decorate furniture,
market, sell and work full time nights.
Phew.
Once I made a dreadful sale after rushing
back to Arundel from night duty.
I had an early morning appointment
with one of our U.S antique trade customers.
Almost gave the piece away I was so tired.
Sold it for a good £200 less than it should have been.
EEEkkk
I'm not sure I ever told my husband. tee hee
There were moments at night
when us staff were nervous for our own safety.
Sometimes it was really hard getting through
each thirteen and a half hour shift.
Then......the wretched clocks went back
making the shifts even longer and more stressful to get through.
Thank goodness I worked with some really great shift partners.
You have to be able to watch each others back in a job like that.
I'm not doing it now.
Only finished last year when one of the
aforementioned adolescents
made a false allegation against me.
It's a perk of the job.
Happens a lot.
I went back afterwards, but only managed two nights.
I was constantly looking over my shoulder.
Metaphorically and physically.
It makes you vulnerable, you see.
The kids see you as a target.
Some staff never return.
Bear in mind some of these young people are extremely damaged.
That's why they are there in the first place.
Still, I guess I did my bit.
Hopefully made a difference to a few of the more
receptive young minds along the way.
Rock and Roll in an English Village Hall.
How's your week gone? We had an interesting one.
Nass bought some tickets to a concert in a Sussex Village Hall.
He invited a couple of our friends along.
One of whom was Arundel's own
Screamin Lez
We met up in The White Hart pub in Arundel.
The taxi came to pick us up.
Our favourite local driver Nobbie.
" Where to?"
" It's a village hall up Storrington, Pulborough way. Coodham I think"
Well, patient Nobbie drove all round the Sussex countryside.
We phoned the organiser.
No.....Coolham...up near Billingshurst.
We arrived at a village hall, seemingly in the middle of no-where.
You know that awful sinking feeling?
Impending disaster?
There were only a few people at that point.
Mostly families.
Couldn't have looked less like a rock and roll night.
It got worse.
" Where is the bar?"
At least a couple of drinks would help.
"It's bring your own. It does say so on the ticket"
Fortunately, the organiser's wife drove Nass to the local off licence.
He returned loaded with beer and wine as he was by now,
totally convinced it could only get worse.
Screamin Lez and Warren just shrugged
"Ah well, it's an experience"
The lights went down.....
and so began ..
one of the best nights we had all spent in ages.
Vintage
a three piece band swung into action.
"Screaming Lez"
became
"Beamin Lez"
The look on our faces must have been a picture.
Dumbstruck.
These guys were brilliant.
They went into every well known
rock and roll number you could possibly think of.
It put us in mind of how it must have been in the early days of Rock and Roll.
Bands playing in local village halls.
Small, intimate audiences.
Small, intimate, stunned audiences. ha ha
There were only around 80 people in that little hall.
These guys raised the roof.
The main attraction was
Ben Waters
Ben can count many of the legends
of boogie woogie and
rock ‘n roll as colleagues and friends.
He's played alongside Jerry Lee Lewis,
Chuck Berry; The Rolling Stones; Shakin’ Stevens;
Procol Harum; Mick Hucknall, Ray Davies,
Jools Holland, to name only a few.
He played at Jools Hollands wedding.
Hugh Laurie's 50th birthday and
Prince Charles Garden Party
Here he was in Coolham Village Hall.
Ben' s son.
Just turned thirteen.
The most incredible saxophonist.
This particular saxophone given to him ....
a gift from.....
The Rolling Stones.
You could see the pride Ben quite rightly has in his son.
My new camera was in overdrive.
Screamin Lez
couldn't keep those
feet still a moment longer.
The music stopped briefly for a very English fish and chip supper.
The band heard a whisper there was
another rock and roll singer in the building
and they invited
Screamin Lez up on stage.
What a great night.
Tartan Chests of Drawers
We've had a fantastic response to our
painted tartan chests.
The wonderful thing is,
because they are hand painted
we can produce absolutely any tartan known to man
on a 19th century chest of drawers
on a 19th century chest of drawers
Vintage lab stools..
when did they ever look this cool?
our blind cat
Our Bella.
Twenty this year and now blind.
Still full of character.
As she can't see she needs to know where we are all the time.
Sometimes I wake in the night and
she is sitting an inch from by face
staring at me.
Woooow it gives you a shock at 3 am I can tell you.
Warehouse/ showroom
We have some beautiful antique pieces at the moment in our warehouse.
here is a link to our current collection
I can't sit here chatting all day.
There are three bamboo cabinets waiting to be finished.
So, its off to the studio at the end of the garden for me.
Have a great Sunday.
