April Meeting 2024 April 13, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, April 17th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW –  in the outside function room as per usual.

As a few of you know , after 39 years of continuous service, working for Rolls-Royce, I’ve at last completed my sentence and found the appropriate escape route out….Retirement.  In fact, I retired just before Easter.  I still can’t as yet get my head around it and that I’m now classed an OAP…though I hasten to add that I’m not quite yet old enough for a free bus pass and a state pension.   Though, I do now feel my Liberty,  I’m very acutely aware that I’ve swapped one boss by another.   Our Wife , Denise, indeed has a very loooooong list of neglected jobs for me to do in the home and garden.  Doh!!

This month in an indulgent celebration of my escape from work …(paid work I hasten to add!) , I thought I would show 4 Laurel & Hardy films where the theme is escape …but in this case an escape from  prison.  Therefore…our main feature film will be the Boys first ever feature film “Pardon Us” from 1931…which as we learnt last month was the prequel to the 1935 film “Bonnie Scotland”.    This will be supported by the silent short “The Second Hundred Years” from 1927, where we will be showing the newly restored version from the US blu-ray set.  This will also be supported by the talkie shorts “The Hoose Gow” from 1929 and “Going Bye Bye” from 1934.

This month we’ll also be paying a short birthday tribute to one of our favourite policemen “Edgar Kennedy” – his birthday is on April 26th (1890).   We’ll also show another cartoon, “A Hollywood Detour” from 1942 and an animated advert from 1987 for Duracell batteries – these all with a L&H connection thanks to Ant & Jo Mitchell-Waite.  There’ll be the usual raffle – all donations gratefully accepted….and of course the loyal toasts.

As previously mentioned – our afternoon film show at the Bull Inn, Bottesford has been booked for Saturday 15th June.  This film show will be based on the Boys view on matrimony and it will celebrate their “on screen” wives.  So of course we will be showing one of their best features “Sons of the Desert” from 1933.   In the morning, we will also visit Barkston where Stan Laurel’s father has been laid to rest in the village’s small cemetery and the Plough Inn where he lived with Olga and was visited by the boys in 1947.  So, it should be another perfect day out.  Best of all – it’s a FREE event.

In the mean time, our next film show will be on the 3rd Wednesday…May 15th….when we will be celebrating Mae Busch.

So, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday.  Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

BS. Denise commissioned well-known Laurel & Hardy artist Mark Reynolds (Marko) to produce this wonderful image for a card to celebrate my retirement.  I thought it was brilliant and I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you.