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Christmas 2008

Well, another year is coming to an end so I guess it's time to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a recession free New Year! As I promised last time, the two vinyl Lieutenant Pigeon albums sent in to us, (Pigeon Pie and Pigeon Party), & both signed by Nigel and Rob, are now up for grabs. Rather than give them to the first person to email us as we did with the drum covers, this time we've decided to do a simple competition. We will send both the LPs to the first person to tell us the matrix number of the single "Mouldy Old Dough". (Decca F13278 vinyl 45rpm single). You'll find the matrix number scratched onto the vinyl near the scroll out. Simple eh?

On October 9th Steve Tayton, (formerly with Stavely Makepeace), performed in Lutterworth Leicestershire with a modern jazz quartet. Steve now lives in France but he does pop back from time to time to do these 'one off' gigs. So popular are they proving that he's arranged to do another, again at The Fox in Lutterworth, on December 18th 2008. Tickets are £5, pay on the door.

These photos are a couple I took on the Oct 9th gig.

Does anyone know details of a racehorse called Lieutenant Pigeon? A number of reports have reached our office that such a horse exists. In the mid seventies there was a horse called Mouldy Old Dough which won many races. The group went to see it in its Hampshire stables and had a series of publicity photographs taken with it. One of these was used on the picture sleeve of the single "Bye Bye Blackbird". I expect poor old 'Mouldy' the horse is pushing up daisies now but we'd love to hear more about the new horse named after the group.

Did anyone from the Oxford area hear Nige on BBC Radio Oxford on Oct 21st by the way? He was guest on the morning show.

Well that's about it for this year. I will continue to report any 'actions' I hear of concerning any former band members throughout the new year, and I will try to report them before they happen rather than after as was the case with recent the Steve T gig.

Bye for now, Bill Boswell
PS New for next year. Over one hundred Stavely Makepeace tracks will be available on iTunes! Watch this space.

NEW YEAR 2009

A very happy new year to you all. Let's hope it is a good one for all of us. It has certainly started off well for the boys. Well over 100 Stavely Makepeace tracks plus some others the boys recorded under different names over the years will be available on iTunes very soon. This comes on the back of a similar deal done for the Lieutenant Pigeon titles last year. Don't worry, this will not affect the downloads on this site and I hope to have over 100 on our own Downloads page before Easter.

Here's something rather novel. Nigel was part of a quiz team challenging BBC2's Eggheads team in December. I'm not allowed to reveal whether or not they won but I can tell you the programme will be screened either in late March or early April. I will certainly put the transmission date on this site if the let me know in time.

Finally on this rather short news update, congratulations to Gwen George who was the first to give us the correct matrix number for Mouldy Old Dough and therefore win the two Lieutenant Pigeon vinyl LPs in the Christmas competition.

More soon. Bill.

Autunm 2008
At last I've managed to get the promised batch of downloads on to the site. My apologies for the delay but I think you'll agree they were well worth waiting for. I confess to a personal belly laugh at what they did to "The Sound of Music" some 24 years ago. Apparently no one has ever heard this track before! And what about the classic "Ain't no music like Rock 'n Roll music" !! They even surprise me from time to time with these old tapes!

Talking of old tapes, whilst the boys were looking for this latest batch of old recordings, they discovered some early demos from the Woodward/Fletcher/Tayton writing days. They're far too basic to include as downloads, but one track caught their ears all these years on. It's called, "This is what we want" and has a very catchy hook. With this in mind, Rob and Nigel have re arranged it and modified the lyrics. Hopefully it will be recorded before Christmas.

Terrific response to the offer of the paper drum covers by the way and many apologies to all of you who asked for them but were not successful. Sadly they were a 'one off' and it really was a case of 'first come first served'. They've gone to an avid collector who has promised faithfully he will never sell them for commercial gain. He also wishes to remain anonymous. I hope Colin Burkitt of York doesn't mind me mentioning his name. He sent us a monetary offer we wouldn't have been able to refuse for them had we been doing an auction...pity we'd just given them away!

On the subject of memorabilia, two Lieutenant Pigeon LPs have recently been sent into the office so we'll soon be finding them a new home. but more about that next time.

Bye for now, Bill Boswell.

Summer 2008

Firstly an apology. A hectic start to the summer months means I've yet to put all the latest batch of downloads on to the site the boys have sorted out for me. However I hope to put this right very soon. They've unearthed some gems too! Lots of tracks I personally had never heard before. A real treat is in store.

One thing that has come to light.. well two things actually, the paper bass drum covers used of TV shows for both Stavely Makepeace and Lieutenant Pigeon have been found by Nige when he was having a clear out. They are weather worn but are unique and whoever wants them is welcome to them. First email we receive can have them free of charge.

Some sad news. On April 10th Nige's father Reg Fletcher died. He wasn't quite 90. He will be remembered by all those of you who owned the Lieutenant Pigeon record "I'll sail my ship alone". Had it not been for Reg this track would not have been released. He pestered the boys so much to use it as a 'B' side that they even included his name on the credits! It was his favourite Lieutenant Pigeon track and was even played at his funeral. R.I.P Reg. (1/7/18-10/4/08)

More soon. BB.

Spring 2008

A quieter start to 2008 than last year. 2007 started with a bang when "Hot Fuzz", the blockbuster British film, decided to use 'SLIPPERY ROCK' in its sound track. No such surprises this year I'm afraid. Incidentally, the film was a huge succes and has resulted in a great deal of renewed interest in Stavely Makepeace.

Chris Hayle of Salisbury got in touch recently and asked about Rob Woodward's spell as lead singer with the Flamingos. This was a short lived episode in Rob's life and took place in 1966. Although hugely successful on stage it was a less than happy period of Rob's career and he was keen to cut it short. Fate lent a hand when, quite unexpectedly, the group's van full of all the stage equipment, was stolen. Gigs had to be cancelled and by the time the equipment was replaced, Rob had moved on.

Regular visitors to this site will have noticed that I've added some more archive tracks to the DOWNLOADS page. This I will continue doing until all the tracks the boys have ever recorded have been included. A mammoth task!

Nige was the special guest on BBC Cumbria's TONY JAMES show recently. To hear highlights of this broadcast click HERE.

Do keep your e.mails and letters coming in, they are always welcome and I promise I will answer each and every one in due course.

Bye for now. Bill B.
PS Why not visit our 'old news' pages