Event 1998

This is the report about the Event that appeared in Issue 19 of On The Ball

We had been trying to sort out a date for a fan club Event for quite some time. Everything has to come together at the right time. Keith Harris has to be available (we couldn’t do it without him!), a venue has to be available, and we have to know that Michael won’t be appearing anywhere else on the same day! It seemed as though the date kept getting put further and further back and at some points we believed we would never be able to get another Event organised. In January of this year we had put several dates to James Sharkey and were waiting to here whether they would be suitable. At this stage we had no idea that Michael would agree to come along on the day.

Eventually in February we received a phone call to say that we should press ahead with 18 April. We were straight on the phone to Keith who managed to confirm the Novotel at Hammersmith as the venue. As those of you who were there will know, the Novotel has a huge banqueting hail which managed to accommodate 700 of us on the day. To be able to keep the price as low as possible we had to guarantee that there would be 350 people there, which we hoped we would get, still bearing in mind that we didn’t know Michael would be coming. We had virtually just confirmed the date and venue with Keith and were about to start work on the literature to send out to you all, when we received a phone call from James Sharkey, dropping the bombshell that he would no longer be Michael’s manager, although we were immediately cheered up when we knew that Phil Bowdery was to take over as we knew we would have a good working relationship with Phil. James then told us that Michael would be coming along to our Event. We nearly dropped the phone in excitement! We had always dreamed of Michael coming along because we knew he would enjoy it (not to mention all of you!), but up until now because of other commitments it had proved impossible. We immediately spoke to Keith who was delighted with the news and we were all very pleased that we had chosen a larger venue than the two previous Events had been held at. Arrangements were put in hand straightaway to finalise the menu and confirm the price and date and get the literature sent out.

Then the hard work began. Sorting out the programme for the day is always a major task. We have to gather together as many video clips as possible, bearing in mind that we know you all want to see something different. Keith worked out a basic outline of the timetable for the day and then we had to find the material to fill it!

We already had the out takes video from Action Time of Michael’s Christmas Special, so that was the first one taken care of. Then came our usual phone call to Tony Ball, begging for some more cine film of Michael as a child. As usual Tony came up trumps for us and our heartfelt thanks go out to him for all his help.
Next there was the competitions to think about. •We always have fun doing these, trying to make them as difficult as possible to get everyone’s brain going. We particularly enjoyed dbing the “Michael in reverse” competition which was clips of Michael’s songs played backwards. We knew you’d all have fun with those!

As soon as we’d sent the information out the forms started flooding in with applications for tickets. On the first day we received orders for over 200 tickets, with a steady flow coming in for the next two to three weeks. Even though we had asked you to send in your ticket applications together if you wanted to sit together, we had numerous requests to be seated with other fan club members who had booked separately, so we had those to sort out as well.

As the day drew nearer it seemed like most of our waking moments were taken up with plans for the Event. We had meetings with Keith to sort out hotel arrangements, compiling videos, dealing with ticket enquiries, sorting out raffle prizes, competition prizes, ordering Event merchandise and then of course there was the dreaded seating plan! Once the final week arrived we sat down and spent two days getting the seating plan sorted out. We knew how much everyone wanted to be near the front, especially as Michael was going to be there, and we organised it in as fair a way as possible, seating those whose ticket orders we received first, on the front tables.

The final week arrived, and all our family were involved with the work and when Friday came they were all organised, with three cars taking everything up to London. We had several prize items that needed Michael’s signature on them so we had arranged to meet Michael with Phil on Friday evening at the Novotel. By this time our nerves were at breaking point, but once we were ensconced in the room with Michael it really helped our nerves to disappear! We discussed what was going to happen the following day, and he signed the bottles of wine and photos and really helped to calm us down. Whilst he was there he said “Shall I bring along something for the raffle” to which replied “If you like!!”. “Hmm”, he said, “What shall I bring?” We couldn’t believe it when he turned round and said he would bring his famous PVC trousers! The only disappointment from our point of view was that we wouldn’t be able to win them ourselves! More about the prize winner in “Talking Back”.

Well, neither of us managed to get a lot of sleep Friday night and we were up bright and early Saturday morning in order to get the merchandise stall set up and get things organised. Before long people started arriving and there was a definite buzz of excitement in the hotel. Even the hotel staff seemed excited at the prospect of our Event.

We cant really tell you too much about what went on as we seemed to be busy keeping things running smoothly. When we did manage to pop into the banqueting hail, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the out takes and baby video seemed to go down particularly well. Michael was due to arrive shortly after 4 p.m. and we had arranged to meet in a room which had been set aside for us. Before we knew it he was there and looking gorgeous and definitely on top form.

As Michael said on stage we were really nervous by this time, neither of us being very keen, on being in the spotlight, although having Michael next to us definitely made it easier! Keith had got everyone singing “You Made Me Love You” to encourage Michael to come out and as we stood behind the backstage door with him we could hear everyone singing, it was fantastic. We have to make you all jealous and say that Michael was singing along too but we were the only ones who could hear him!

When Michael went through the door and up on to the stage the roar of approval was fantastic. We think Michael was genuinely overwhelmed at such a response. Michael had struck up an instant rapport with Keith and there were the usual jokes about “Where’s Orville” which made everyone laugh. He proceeded to tell tales about the Andrew Lloyd Webber birthday celebrations and gave newsabout his concert with Lesley Garrett at Chelmsford and the proposed ROC concert. He then gave out the competition prizes and drew the raffle prizes. Everyone who won got a kiss from him!

Then it came time for our surprise. Unknown to us a collection had taken place throughout the afternoon and Michael presented us with two beautiful cross stitch pictures of himself which had been done by Chris Bloomfield. Cohn and Roy (our hubbies) were also presented with a lovely bottle of brandy each. These gifts were very much appreciated, and thanks to everyone there who contributed. The balance of the money raised was added to the final amount which was donated to ROC. After everything had been counted up the total raised for ROC during the Event was £2,800.10 - not bad for a day’s work!

Michael stayed about 50 minutes and the time really flew by. Before we knew it he was leaving the stage and the Event was nearly over. We said our goodbyes to him and off he went.

The final video which was shown was the first of the “Ball In The Hall” episodes which Michael had brought along with him and all too soon the day was over. By this time we were completely shattered but happy that the day had gone so well. When we got the letters of thanks from many of you in the following weeks it certainly made all the hard work worthwhile.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who was involved in making the day so special, including Michael, Phil Bowdery, Simon Ingram, James Sharkey, Keith Harris, and not forgetting our families and friends without whom we wouldn’t have managed - Ivy, Harry, Roy, Colin, Robin, Toby, Lorraine, Chris, Teresa, Clive and Mike.