The Tour Poster

A big thank-you to Ian, who, despite being overwhelmed with work in the office, knocked this up:

The reserve bassist's birthday

January saw the reserve bassist's 19th birthday. And, as is traditional, there was a small gathering of his family and friends for tea, which included the compulsory caterpillar cake. Something rather odd had happened to the icing, and the once cheerful caterpillar was shedding sad black tears.We decided that it was now an Emo cake.

"That's handy" said one of reserve bassist's mates. "It'll cut itself."

Bad taste, but brilliant.

Changes in personnel

There have been a few changes in the last seven months. Mindy has left the West Meon Area, and gone to pastures new. There has been much discussion on a replacement,. but, as we all know, Mindy is unreplaceable, and so we're just going to have to do without her.

Exciting news that Ian the drummer has been replaced by Quentin from Advertising......mind you, he seems uncannily familiar in some ways.

There is a rumour doing the rounds that another well-known West Meon band have had a bit of a cull of female vocalists, and - even stranger - that Capt Kidneystones has been for an audition. Can't be true....can it?

Right, let's get this thing re-started

After a break of six - or is it seven? - months, the time has come to restart the blog.


Not a lot has happened in that time. We did a couple of low key gigs - one was in a tent at the Thomas Lord. The tent was very small, and was decorated with fairy lights, so we half expected to have little girls sitting our knees and telling us what they wanted for Christmas. Luckily (in these post-Saville days) nothing like that happened.


We did another gig at the Tichborne Arms, which was not our (or, specifically, the huge pianist's) finest hour. You couldn't move for toys being thrown out of prams. Anyway, they seem to have forgiven us, 'cos we're going back there.


Which brings us neatly to the main reason to restart the blog: without anyone trying very hard, a tour has materialised. It would appear that six dates have been booked with varying degrees of certainty. They have been listed on the Tour dates page.


Big thanks to John for coming up with the perfect name for the 2014 tour.


Please check your busy diaries against the list of gigs.

Saturday's Wedding

In the background of this picture is Old Winchester Hill, on top of which is a fort a couple of thousand years old. I wonder if our forebears and ancestors, as they toiled with hand and primitive tool to dig the magnificent ramparts and ditches, had any idea what would happen in mid-July 2013. What would they make of the arrival of the Thomas Lord Old Gits, ready to dig their own groove?

It was hot. It was sweaty. But the sun shone magnificently (and after the weather twelve months' ago, no-one is allowed to EVER complain about sunshine) and there was a slightly refreshing easterly coming down the valley.

Having set up in the morning, we regathered as the sun was beginning to dip.

(That's not the main marquee, by the way). We waited until the happy couple had made the most of the spectacular sunset for their photographs, and then watched as they had their first dance. And then we kicked off.

I think we all agree that it was one of our best gigs. The floor never emptied. The dancing was hard and fast, and, as last week, the dance floor wasn't big enough - and it was a big dance floor.

It was one of those evenings where good feedback makes us play better, and as we played better, the feedback got better. True, we had a couple of technical stumbles, but we effortlessly carried on through them. We even got to do our encore in full!

One test of a gig is the hour afterwards. Those who had to relieve babysitters were sent on their way, and the rest of us cleared up, all on a bit of a high. And even when we'd cleared up, we didn't seem top want to go home. Instead, there was some severe rifling of the buffet, and a mass outbreak of cheese and peanut scoffing took place. (New band name suggestion: The Cheesegrazers). Ian would have joined in with this undignified face-stuffing but was busy with a new fan.

Huge smiles all round. Sort of sums up the evening, really.

Saturday's Gig

Five years and a day after the first gig by the modern-day TLOGS, we set off to Beauworth for our latest booking. There had been a few concerns. Would the scorching temperatures make the evening unbearable? No - there was a respectable breeze blowing through the tent. Would the fabulous view distract the band? Not a chance - we're too profesional for that.

And then there were worries expressed by our lovely host: would we be too loud? Would the oldies find it unbearable? Would any of them dance? In the end, all her worries were unfounded. There was lots of dancing - of the Dad, Granddad and Grandchild variety - sometimes all three at once.

It was a very jolly evening, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I overheard two lovely snippets as we packed up. "I say, weren't the band good?" said one voice in a Terry-Thomas style. And the second - "The dance floor didn't seem big enough!" - was a top compliment.

I then had a phone call from our host, thanking us profusely. She, too, had been thrilled at the dancing, especially by the oldies. Her only disappointment was that no-one had ended up in the pond!

Fantastic.

A surprise visit

Nice to see Tessa making a whistle-stop visit to the British Seedhouses HQ. I must say she's looking well. It looks as if BSH have done quite a bit of building work recently - I'm amazed they got planning permission for all those towerblocks. Witham St Hughs has certainly changed a bit over the last few years. And they really ought to get the Environment Agency to sort out the drainage. That's looks like it'll take ages to soak away.