Debs Newbold our Resident Word Wrangler
Hello! I'm Debs Newbold - storyteller, word wrangler, crowd tamer & poetess, and last year I fell in love with the mighty Towersey festival.
2012 was my first ever Towersey. The most fantastic mash-up of sounds, colours, music, words, dance, lashing rain and pristine rainbows, sun, smiling people and strange goings-on on the village green threw open its arms to me in a green corner of our landscape that I had never discovered before. It was quite a hug - what a welcome I had! Mind you, I was shattered afterwards!
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Q&A with THE BLOCKHEADS
Though they emerged at the same time as punk and new wave, Ian Dury and The Blockheads combined elements of jazz, funk, rock’n’roll and music hall, all delivered with a skill that set them apart from their contemporaries.
1978’s Top 10 What A Waste was the first in a run of smash hits that included chart-topper Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3.
Since Ian’s passing in 2000, original members Chaz Jankel, Norman Watt-Roy, John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher have continued to huge acclaim with Londoner Derek ‘The Draw’ Hussey – a familiar figure on stage at Blockheads’ shows since the ‘90s – taking over vocal duties.
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Q&A with Gas Mark 5
For many Gas Mark 5 were THE English ceilidh band of the 1980s and ‘90s. They officially called it a day in the mid-90s, but they’ve been lured back into action as very special guests as part of Towersey’s phenomenal ceilidh marathon. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Rob Gifford (drums), Trevor Bennet (tuba, trombone and keyboards), Chris Taylor (harmonica, guitar and melodeon), Terry Mann (trombone and keyboards) and – answering our questions - Dan Quinn (melodeon).
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