A privilege to attend St. Bartholomew's Church yesterday.
I have many cherished memories of Peter (and indeed, many other members of the 'Yorkshire Avalanche Dodgers') ever since my introduction in 1982 by my dear (and still sorely-missed) chum, Tim Harrison to Y.A.D.'s numerous musical activities at 'The Cot' / 'Con Club' / Marsden Parochial Hall. Peter and the rest of the Dodgers were very kind in first welcoming, then gently breaking in a shy Southerner ... in particular, via small walk-on, walk-off & 'crowd scene' parts in their regular Christmas pantomime for the first couple of years ... before making it clear that 'right, lad - you're in as a Fairy for this one!'...
Lighting and sound effects beckoned fairly quickly thereafter (thank goodness) which involved assorted technical jiggery-pokery such as creating the audio-visual illusion of Tinkerbelle (Nigel 'Haggis' Haigh) flitting around the corners of the Parochial Hall ceiling in 'Peter Pan & Wendy: At Last, The Truth'; Not everything went right though - a spectacular example being the inadvertent 'blowing up' of poor Andrew Stead with a mistimed 'flash-pot' during a dress rehearsal ... myself & Tim (plus Steve Haworth and the rest of the stage crew) in complete hysterics at the sight of Andrew having landed in the middle of the stage, temporarily blinded/deafened, his 'Good Fairy' costume wreathed in smoke ... we were all promptly silenced by a stentorian roar from Peter up at the back of the hall:
"That ... must ... not ... happen!"
Thanks, Tedgey - for all those fun times & great memories ... Cheers, mate.
Guy:
27/03/2021
