Article from Communique newsletter – February 2026
As usual, my life away from Integra revolves around family, music, travel and football.
My family continues to give joy and Sue and I attended a superbly produced dance show in Berkhamsted where our youngest granddaughter Taylor was enthusiastically performing!
Eldest granddaughter Georgia became twenty in January, James celebrated his eleventh birthday and Valentine’s Day saw Tia Rose become fourteen. Grandson Jack will become a teenager in March (where has that time gone?)
Ellie is working whilst considering her options for university.
In January and February I actually haven’t attended or got plans for attending as many gigs as usual but have seen or have tickets for Laurence Jones, Wishbone Ash, Burning Rope, John Verity and Stray.
In March and April I will be seeing Paul Cox and the Proof, The Big Wolf Band, Bad Influence, The Small Fakers and the Cinelli Brothers.
The Laurence Jones gig was special being the launch of his new solo album and took place at the intimate Pizza Express Live venue in Holborn. I first say Laurence in 2008 when he was just sixteen and supported Wishbone Ash in Kidlington. Since then I have seen him many times and become good friends.
Sue and I had “up front, close and personal” seats and Laurence, together with fiancé Amy, put on a great show. A review I wrote of the evening and photos that I took will, hopefully, be appearing in the next edition of Blues in Britain magazine.
My own musical exploits have moved up a notch with the release of my album – Prodigal Son – this features twelve original songs plus a live bonus track of the title number that was recorded for the famous Narrowboat Sessions on Facebook where it has achieved over 150,000 views.
A second live recording from the Narrowboat Sessions – Please Don’t Go (the closing track on the album) – was issued in February and, as I write has had over 1.7 million views – absolutely insane numbers – you can watch here:
My album is available in both digital download format and as a physical CD. The CD is in a four page digipack with a sixteen page lyric booklet and looks (and sounds!) great!
You can listen and order via Bandcamp here:
I have stepped up my live performance and will have completed ten open mic gigs at seven different venues by the end of February with four more already in the diary for March. These are a great opportunity to fine tune new material and one’s performing skills. You can keep track of my live appearances, songs, videos etc via my Facebook page here: and my You Tube channel here:
The aforementioned Wishbone Ash gig took place in Oslo in Norway and gave Sue and I a great excuse to combine our love of travel with seeing our favourite band in action. Norway became the eleventh country we have seen the band perform in.
The gig was a sell out and it was good to catch up with the band as well as fellow Wishbone Ash fans Alan Mordue, David Williamson and Karen McWalter, who, like us, had travelled from the UK to see them.
Oslo was a lovely city if somewhat expensive. It was a good job I’d sold a kidney the week before in order to settle our bar bills!
A highlight was seeing the Kon Tiki and Ra museums – a record of incredible journeys of discovery and Derring Do.
The weather was, as expected, cold – reaching minus fifteen on occasions. Brrr!
In March we are spending a couple of days in Liverpool, staying at the Hard Day’s Night Hotel where you can’t move for Beatles themed everything! We are taking in the Small Fakers gig at the Cavern Club. The Small Fakers are the UK’s leading Small Faces tribute band and are fronted by a good friend of mine, Matt Bond, who runs a number of the open mic nights that I attend.
Hoping for some better weather and a respite from the rain, Sue and I will be heading to Italy at the end of April for a couple of weeks in the Lakes region. We fly to Verona, home of Aida at the largest open air amphitheatre in the world and also the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony, before staying at Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore and Lake Como. We fly back from Milan.
Finally, Watford FC had yet another change of Head Coach in February with Javi Gracia, who had seemingly lost the plot with a corresponding drop off in results, resigning and the virtually unknown Ed Still replacing him.
The squad has underperformed all season given the talent available but remain just three points off a play-off place and so it is still all to play for as we head into the business end of the season. Come on you ‘Orns!!
