Northwich u3a monthly meeting - October 2025
After the AGM, the afternoon was spent being royally entertained by Rob Mason with his folk music and anecdotal wit!
When Rob found himself in Senior Scouts after being in the Cubs and Junior Scouts, he and five others were invited to sing in a church hall one Saturday afternoon. This was well received and led to an invitation to sing at a local wine circle. He thought that it went well but as the six boys were sampling the homemade wine and beer for three hours before they sang, he’s not too sure! This was followed by more bookings and the young men decided that they needed a name. They were all great fans of The Spinners and when one lad suggested that no-one would want to pay to listen to ‘the likes of us’, they realised that they had found their name! The six eventually became 2 and played at many ‘Lancashire Nights’. These evenings stemmed from th 1974 re-organisation of counties, when some Lancashire people found that they now lived in Greater Manchester.
Rob’s first song was all about things that happened growing up. It was a very amusing song (as all his songs were!) and preceded lots of memories about milk puddings – tapioca, sago (frog spawn), rice, semolina and junket which was thickened with rennet. Then came talk about the tin bath in front of the fire with a strict pecking order – dad first and an explanation of where the phrase, ‘don’t throw the baby out with the bath water’ came from; open fires, companion sets, toasting forks, wireless, and the ‘front room’ kept for ‘best’ and Christmas time. Rob reminded us that the front room was usually the coldest in the house and therefore the one in which the dead were laid out.
The second song was all about things that mothers would say and was called, ‘put that down, you don’t know where it’s been. This was another vert amusing ditty, especially the last verse which was about bringing his first girlfriend home.
Next, there were more childhood recollections, for example, the pop man, the chimney sweep on his bicycle and the Rag and Bone man giving goldfish, cups and donkey stones in exchange for clothing. Apparently, the ‘bone’ part of the name linked to the fact that people gave meat bones for the making of glue or bonemeal.
Then came lots of talk about childhood games such as 2 balls, handstands, hopscotch, knock and run, kiss chase, hide and seek and marbles and the third and final song was about skipping rhythms with very comical lyrics.
Rob hardly stopped for breath and he certainly triggered lots of smiles and laugh out loud moments. He was a mine of information about where many popular sayings come from and reminded us all about what life was like for us as children.
Come and join us at the next meeting on 20th November 2025 at 2pm in Owley Wood Recreation Club, Weaverham, when Andrew Rowe will ask ‘ Are We Burning the Wrong Guy? ‘.