Colin Reece 60th Party

Colin Reece

                            60th Birthday Party
                             29th Sept 2007
                                                                                                              sueholton.co.uk

29th Sept 2007 saw a gathering of friends join Torquay resident Colin Reece of Bully Wee fame to celebrate his 60th birthday which was the previous day. Way back in June the following email from Colin appeared in our inbox:

There is a rumour going around that I am approaching my 60th birthday.

I would like to take this opportunity to to confirm that there is absolute truth in this rumour, and will be celebrating this miracle at the Barge public house, Layfield Road, Gillingham on Saturday, 29th September 2007. The original plan was to invite everyone down to Torquay for the bash, but on realising that my heart and pretty much all of my best loved friends were in Kent or thereabouts, decided that the Mountain should come to the Mohammeds for a separate do.

So only life-threatening excuses accepted. All others, holidays, gigs, financial, too far to come, baby sitters (most are way past that problem anyway) etc etc will all be poo pooed and brushed to one side.

So, with an invitation like that what else could we do but attend ? The Barge duly filled with friends, among them many musicians who, like Colin could not resist the opportunity to get up and play and make the evening something even more special.

Many, like ourselves, were thinking back to the first time we saw Colin play, and in our case, we reached the sobering conclusion that that was some 30 years ago ! We decided that for us it was either at the Wheatsheaf Folk Club in Margate or the Brewery Folk Club in Rochester, and many of those attending the party were themselves regulars at the Brewery all those years ago. The guest list read like a Who's Who of the Kent Folk Music scene circa 1977.

The line-up of musicians joining Colin varied during the evening, but included fiddle player and fellow Bully Wee member Ian Cutler ( Bully Wee / Hot Rats ), Steve Shorey, Mick Hennessy ( Roaring Jelly ), Doug Hudson ( Hot Rats ), and more whose faces I knew, but whose names I'm afraid I'm not familiar with.

There were some totally unique renditions of classic numbers - and I know the audience enjoyed the event as much as the musicians did, so thanks for a great evening Colin and Debs.

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Page last updated 30/09/07