THE SECOND FANS RE-UNITED MEET UP.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

We thought this second Fans- Re-United deserved a seperate thread.
This event yesterday that we had all been waiting for, which seemed like forever, was just as we knew it would be.
A wonderful day again, brilliantly organised primarily by Michele , with Mickie, Max and Matt Jnr being there with all the fans to celebrate the life of this country's finest ever vocalist the one and only Mr Matt Monro. Michele showed many clips unseen by us all, beginning with a completely different vesion of "I LOVE THE LITTLE THINGS"," that was sung by Matt in the 1964 Eurovision contest.
We saw the longer clip of CAMAY that told us ladies that we'd be a little lovelier each day and it's fragrance was worth Nine Guineas an ounce.
We savoured "I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU" "VALENTINO" "A brilliant version of IT'S ALRIGHT WITH ME." . There was Kenny Everett , The PEPSI advert, The Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent's.. "I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE." and then the emotions took over with Matt singing the beautiful song from West Side Story.. "SOMEWHERE" and we were are not ashamed to say that by the time Matt had finished this unbelievable version the tears were noticeably flowing and not just from us.
"FANCY MEETING YOU HERE " from 1967 with PETULA CLARK . and a song with the gorgeous ROSEMARY SQUIRES who is still around today.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

followed from previous posting....
Another great oldie from Matt ..."I'M GONNA LOCK MY HEART AND THROW AWAY THE KEY". The treasures continued with "YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES" we had our Cilla, some shows from Australia with DON LANE, "MY KIND OF GIRL," "LET'S GET AWAY FROM IT ALL" "CHCAGO.
NEW YORK NEW YORK, JOE BROWN with Matt, "SWINGING ON A STAR ", MAMA WILL BARK" SINATRAS version of this.... his worst ever recording LOVE STORY
Then the requested repeat of The TONY BENNETT SHOWS," IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR" and "BEAUTIFUL GIRL", "CHICAGO", a great clip version with A 1969 TOM JONES and "MY KIND OF GIRL " followed by a 1971 MORECAMBE and WISE show "THANKS TO THE LORD"
I think we've got most of it correct.
What was so special about the event was meeting up with the lovely people who were there, people who have become our friends partly because of these events but mainly through the web-site forum.
It was fantastic seeing lovely Marian from Kent and Marian and Peter again from Reading, Paul, this wonderful guy from the USA, Angela ..Harry's smoking partner lovely Gray as always, and then to meet those that we hadn't met and were so looking forward to meeting for the first time.
It was just an enormous pleasure meeting John Higton, our regular poster on the forum who came down from Blackpool. Not only has he been a wonderful friend to us, he's a lovely guy, and he must undoubtedly be the most loyal and knowledgeable fan of Matt's and we are certain that our table group will agree that the quiz that followed was won for us by John.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Followed on from previous.
Meantime amid all this we wonder what else will Richard and Michele discover
We were delighted to meet Jon who has become a great contributer to the forum, along with Mark and Jules, Steve, Mark Porter. We met Len and Freda and Kimberley.
We had a great time with them. Did we remember to take some pictures ???????
The buffet was just superb and we thoroughly enjoyed it . The cake was excellent and beautifully iced and decorated with Matt's picture.
We were thrilled to receive a certificate again from Michele for contributing the highest score on the forum, and we know that this score was achieved by all those who join in the discussions and specially to the regulars with their postings. Thank you guys. Thank you MICHELE
There was a raffle with lots of prizes. How did she think of all this.
The final icing on the cake was to see Matt Jnrs concert in the evening . Matt was accompanied by Two girl singers this time strutting their stuff and adding a touch of glamour ( ask the guys )
Front row seats to enjoy and relax and be reminded of those beautiful songs plus Matt's own choice of songs with the great man Colin Keyes on the piano .
We will be waiting for Pauls great updates.
A brilliant evening and a fantastic day, thanks to all who helped in making tthis second Fans Re-united so successful. Most of all of course Thank You Michele.
And i've only chalked up Three points for all this.
We finished up having a quiet and enjoyable drink back at the hotel with Paul, John, Marian and Angela.

[Angela51]

THANK-YOU....Lena & Harry for the lovely comments re The Fan Club-Meet
what more can one say

Just 'popped-in' for now to let you know I arrived home around 3.00pm, after 2-stops on the Service Stations. What am I going to do now
Off to bed catch-up when I am rested.

Hope everyone else had a good journey home It was certainly lovely to see everyone again.

Angela

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Hi Angela, glad to know that you arrived home safe and sound.

Well done for driving throughout the night to get here and drive back home. You are more courageous than me.
It was great to see you again and we enjoyed being with you.

So now have a cup of Rosy Lee, go up those Apples and Pears, get into Uncle Ned , and get some Bo Peep.




.

[mariana44]

Just to let you know that I am home--arrived back about 1.30--after my original train was cancelled.

I had to have a short nap to recoup on the sleep I lost over the last few days, so am trying to catch up on as much as I can, while my 2 distractions [sorry-I mean Chloe and Harry] are still in kennels.

I will get back later with a report on the last few days-I will just say now a short and sweet---"It was Great " !!!!

[Marian]

What a wonderful afternoon of rare treats anyone who wasn't able to attend yesterday's Fans Reunited 2, missed out on.
Thank you Lena and Harry for listing them all, as there were so many fantastic sound and video clips to enjoy, it would be almost impossible to remember them all.
Michele and Richard excelled themselves yet again, with a virtual treasure trove of wonderful Matt Monro archive material.
Thank you to all the Monro family, and especially Mickie and Michele for sharing all these memories with us all.

As Lena and Harry already mentioned, it was great to meet up with our "fabulous forum family" again. Lena and Harry, Marian, Paul, Angela, Gray,and Mark P. and to meet for the first time John, Mark and Jules, Kimberley, Jon, Len and Freda, and Anne and David from the Isle of Wight.
Also to see the lovely Sue and Paul again, who put in such hard work behind the scenes, ably assisted by young Max, who seems to have shot up about a foot in height since last year.
A mention for Geraldine too, who runs the Friends of Matt Monro Fan Club, and who also deserves an honorable mention for providing the attractive and delicious cake!

Peter and I consider ourselves very lucky to win the first prize in the raffle, the wonderful original art work from the soon to be released "Matt at The Movies" CD set. It already has pride of place on a wall in our hall, where we're sure it will be frequently admired by all. We'll treasure it.
By shear coincidence, and more luck, most of the prizes seemed to make their way to our table, with four of the six top posters, and the quiz win too. (As Lena and Harry mentioned, we were SO lucky to have John in our team!!)
We really hope other people there didn't think it was a fix!

A grateful mention of thanks here to for the generous goodie bag gifts from the Monro family, which and who are both wonderful!

Followed by a delicious buffet, it was soon time to make our way to our seats in the auditorium to enjoy Matt Jnr in concert.
Being the opening night of the tour, there appeared to be a couple of technical hitches, but they didn't spoil the show. We enjoyed Matt's performance, and "Mr Bojangles" will never quite be the same again!

Marian

[Gray]

Hi Everyone,

Can I also add how lovely it was to see old friends once more as well as meet new ones.
I feel quite humbled to of been lucky enough to experience the afternoon with you all, because of everyone's kindness, and the generousity of the Monro family.
Generous of their time, Michele's efforts in organising the event and the raffle prizes and goody bags.
Thanks for everything Michele.
I won a fabulous 6 disc cd set of George Martin's music collaborations in the raffle, much to the delight of my children because it contains 'Jake the Peg' & Terry Scott singing 'My Brother', two songs they have heard and loved on Radio 2 previously and which I have never been able to track down.

I really do feel feel very touched to know you all, and to be made feel welcome by the family of Matt Monro.
(I have to pinch myself when I re-read the last bit!)
As Jeff mentioned during the afternoon, Matt Monro's music is the soundtrack to my life and yesterday was a crescendo, for me, the last note he sings in 'Hello Young Lovers'.

Thank you all for making me feel so.

Gray

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Hi Marian, glad you arrived home safely and Marian and Peter too.
A great posting and account of the day too Marian filling in some things that i'd forgotten and with so much happening I forgot to mention our Robert and to tell him that Michele mentioned his name along with us forum junkies on his first entry to the web-site and his great score postings.
It was a lovely prize to win in the raffle Marian and to treasure.
We have seen a few photos so will gradually get them up in time, and get those developed from my STEAM camera

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Just seen your posting Gray. It was lovely seeing you again and pleased that you arrived safely home, and on the way home listening to Leeds win 1-0
What a super day it was, and what a great prize to win. George Martin's
collaborations of music.
We seem to remember ED Stewart played Terry Scott's "My Brother" on BBCs Sunday's 40th Anniversary Junior Choice.
We know that we will enjoy our prize too A Nat King Cole DVD,

[john]

What a wonderful day we all had yesterday. Firstly I would like to thank Michele for doing such a fantastic job and making everyone so welcome.
The afternoon was jam packed full of treats and surprises, the videos were fantastic. I have to say that my favourite was "Somewhere", it brought tears to our eyes. Loved the Camay advert, everyone has waited so long to see this one and what a joy to see those very early performances. The Tony Bennett shows were great too. And what about those 2 songs "Oh My Child" and "Time to Go"? I can't wait until they are released.
I enjoyed the quiz as well, although I wasn't too good on the faces one, thanks to the other team members on this one!
It was lovely to meet Mickie for the first time, this was the icing on the cake for me!
The afternoon was over too quickly, before we knew it, it was time for the buffet, a wonderful spread.
And then it was time for the show, good to see Matt Jnr again, along with Colin Keyes. All together a very enjoyable evening.
Lastly I would like to thank the other members of the forum, Marian from Kent, Paul (Jeff) and Angela, we all had a great night on Monday, as we all stayed for 2 nights, we had a few drinks and a fair few laughs. Also to Marian and Peter from Reading, it was lovely meeting you both, and Lena and Harry from London, it was a complete joy to meet you both. Thankyou all for making me feel so welcome and for being such wonderful friends.

[Steve Tarry]

Hi to you all,
Had a brill day enjoyed it all, and it was nice to meet some of you in person. Hi gray good to see you got home Ok and leeds winning 1-0
I look forward to the next one. (well have to do some studying tho gray to get past the top table) Didnt get to meet Matt tho will try when he comes up north. The Hotel wasnt to bad Harry although I would have slept anywhere by the time I got back to it. The Monro family are a lovely family and gave a great insight into the man himself. | was taking the clips in and your right about "Someday" blood y marvelous. I thought Matt Jnr was marvelous and "Softly" must have been hard to get through for him. Love to you all and keep the faith.

[mark porter]

just a note to say what a great day i had yesterday, it was so nice to meet you guys . michele did a wonderful job organising everything, its not easy especially when youre involved in a concert the same evening so 10 /10 for a truly happy and informative afternoon. the buffet was an added bonus , on top of that i won a fantastic canvas in the raffle which is now up in the office alongside a framed picture of matt.

good luck to matt jnr with the tour, thats the first one over with AND the home turf, so you can relax and enjoy the dates now.

once again great to meet you all and il see you here on the forum. il be at the beck theatre performing on 29th october so il be back quicker than expected.!!

mark p

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Good to know that you arrived home safely John. It was great being with you. We would have failed miserably on our own with the quiz with the faces too John, I could have sworn that the picture of Donald Trump was Melvyn Bragg, but for the remainder, you were our hero,
Great meeting you too Steve, and glad the bed and the hotel was ok and not a Basil Fawlty type.
Enjoyed meeting you yesterday Mark. We will be checking out and booking for that date. It looks right up our street

[Gray]

Lena & Harry

Yes, I know, Leeds winning, what a perfect day for me!
Steve, I thought we bloomin' well on the quiz, a bronze medal is a bronze medal.
We'll win it next year..I think

Thanks again

Gray