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Well, we're not quite sure where to start with our report on the Event, so we guess the best place to start would be
the beginning! Having discussed the idea in various different ways since we started the fan club, i.e. where to have
it, what to do etc., eventually in February of this year we found ourselves ringing Keith Harris, who had been recommened
to us by various different people, to put the idea to him. He immediately took up the challenge and we started
planning the big day.
Having established that Michael wouldn’t be doing a concert tour, TV recording, or anything else that fan club
members could go to on September 24 we decided that would be the perfect day to hold it. After much searching we found the
venue - centrally located in London, with a big enough room to hold us all, plus all the other facilities that would make
the day go well. Back in February it seemed a long way away, but the months soon rolled by and at the beginning of September
we found ourselves in the throes of making all the arrangements - there was the seating plan, the merchandise, the raffle,
setting questions for quizzes, sorting out prizes. Then there were the hours spent putting together the videos (most of which
we didn’t have time to use - never mind, they’ll be made use of another time!), every time we started to do one
we’d get side-tracked by what we were watching and it ended up taking hours and hours.
We wanted to have some special videos for you, so we asked Action Time whether they had any out-takes from the second
TV series - “We don’t know, we’ll try and sort something out”, they said. We waited and waited, and
eventually on the Thursday before the Event, a tape arrived in the post - they’d come up with the goods. For those
of you who weren’t at the Event, the out-takes tape proved to be one of the best laughs of the day, with Michael being
shown at his most natural, laughing with the audience and it also showed everyone singing happy birthday to Michael and him
receiving the famous “Yogi” cake.
What else would everyone like to see? Well, we thought it’d be fun to see something of Michael when he was younger,
so we approached Michael’s mum and dad. “Oh yes”, they said “We’ve got some old cine film that’s
been transferred to video, we’ll dig it out for you”. Again we held our breath and waited, and.... on the Tuesday
before the Event a video arrived from Tony Ball, with seven minutes of wonderful film of Michael at about three years old,
playing with his brother and parents. He looks so cute! We couldn’t believe our luck - everyone was being so helpful.
On to the man himself. We knew Michael was going to Germany during that weekend, so there was no chance of him being
there, but we had a meeting arranged with him a couple of weeks before the Event so that we could get the CDs, posters etc.
signed. When we were talking about the Event, Michael told us that he’d like to contribute in some way to the day, and
that he’d like to do a special video message to be shown to everyone. He told us he’d do the video on the Thursday
before the Event and arrange for it to be left at the hotel for us to collect the night before, which we did. The only trouble
was we didn’t have a video recorder with us to watch it on - so we had to wait until Saturday to see it! When we did
see it we couldn’t believe our eyes - he’d had his hair cut - just like Michael to surprise us all! The message
he gave made everyone feel special to be there.
We’d like to thank Sony Music for providing enough CDs, video tapes, cassette tapes, posters, wall boards, records
etc. for the quiz and raffle prizes. The proceeds of the raffle were donated to ROC. Next time - we’ll buy more raffle
tickets, we’d underestimated your generosity with regard to ROC. One of our helpers had to keep being sent out to buy
more raffle books! Anyway we anaged to raise a total of £516.50 from the raffle for ROC.
The biggest surprise of the day for us was the presentation at the end of the afternoon of beautiful bouquets of flowers,
together with silver photo frames containing a picture of Michael. We’d like to thank the people who arranged this,
and of course, everyone else who was there. A collection had been made during the afternoon and we didn’t know a thing
about it! There was £239.96 left over from the collection which was also donated to ROC, making a total of £756.46 raised
during the Event. Michael was delighted when we told him.
We felt that the day had been a great success. It was the first time we had organised anything on such a scale and we
were pleased with the results. Next time we think it has to be longer - the time just went too quickly. Once we know Michael’s
plans for 1995 we’ll sit down and try to work out a date for the next Event. Thank you to all of you who supported us.
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