Happy Birthday Maggie 2

Judith Durham

So, this week was Maggie 2's birthday. Maggie provided a buffet in the break and we had a raffle in aid of BUST. Of course Happy Birthday was sung. Maggie 1 had collected £20 in donations before the night, from Rachel, Betty and Rose that I remember (sorry if I've missed someone). The raffle raised about £47 and the pot was open at the end of the night for emptying your pockets of change. Gerty the dog wasn't feeling too well and spent the evening in her papoose.

There were several visitors, no doubt some of them present because of Maggie's birthday. Stuart and Pauline sang Queen's 39. Hillary sang Excess which I assume to be her own song. Jim kicked off his contribution with The Carnival is Over, citing Judith Durham's (The Seekers) version as the definitive one. Mike claimed that those singing were showing their age and that he wasn't singing! Well, I sang along - I grew up with a Seeker's album in the record box.

There were various attempts to "fit the theme". Mike had tried changing the words of some shanties but they all ended up rude, so he kicked off with Old Moke Pickin' on a Banjo, on the basis that it had "old" in the title. Ray converted his song Twenty Years Ago Today to Sixty Years Ago Today. Hillary sang her new song, Sam and Margaret, which has Sam as a Samsung tablet and Margaret as a SatNav. Derek sang Bound for Baltimore, modifying it to include "He kissed her on her birthday".

Alan K sang a song written by Derek, that he (Alan) and John Shaw are about to record. I didn't quite catch the title but it was something like Three Songs for One Girl.

The session was closed by Jim, singing We Three.