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Perhaps my favourite gig on 2023 was the very special 40th anniversary concert celebrating the release in 1983 of 68 Guns by The Alarm. I wouldn’t normally do this kind of event during the week, but these days I am more inclined to try and put myself first when I can. The long trip to Dyserth in North Wales was so worth it. Mike Peters was on fine form and played versions of so many old Alarm songs in the style that has seldom been done since the mid 1980s. Also great to meet up with so many friends there too.
I made a photo lyric video for My Time, which is a new song off the forthcoming Fields of Dawn album. Friends far and wide supported this idea sending me a line from the song. It also gave me the chance to debut new material from the album. Very successful project and hopefully the new music went down well…
I also turned my hand to remixing. I put together an 8 minute dance remix of The Final Post track from earlier in the year. I had one vinyl specially pressed for myself and made the song available as a digital download. It wasn’t a great success sales wise, but I was really pleased with what I came up with, so it might be something I try again in the future.
I brought out a new range of cuddly lions along with a bracelet and necklace. The “Warrior” range allowed anyone who brought something from the range to choose the charity they wanted to support. These haven’t done too badly. It’s been a difficult year fundraising for a few reasons. Firstly, times are tough for everyone. Secondly, I know that asking the same people to support me time and time again is a lot to ask of people. Finally, I am perhaps a little worn out. I try so hard and put a lot of effort into it and sometimes it just catches up with you as I think has been the case during 2023…
I went to watch Reading play Burton in Division 1. My first time seeing Reading play for a number of seasons. I remember Dad taking us to the old ground at Elm Park in the 1970s, so I’ll always have a soft spot for Reading. The game was pretty dire though and ended up as a 0-0 draw. It was nice to spent an afternoon with one of my best and oldest friends, Howard, whose wife Debbie had won the tickets so it was a freebie too…
September also saw me come down with Covid… I got it worse than my previous time in 2021. The timing of it was awful as I woke up on a Saturday morning feeling dreadful. I was due to go to London to take part in the Bowel Cancer UK Walk Together event, but sadly that wasn’t going to happen. As it happened with the event being attended by bowel cancer patients it was just as well that I didn’t go. It appeared that an outbreak at the gig in Dyserth might well have been to blame…
