Furness and South Lakeland Group’s light blue club, The Cavendish Club, celebrates its ninth birthday this
year. To keep the emphasis on fun and charity, a comedy night was organised by Gary Mansfield at Barrow’s
Fairfield Masonic Hall, attended by 117 brethren, wives, partners and friends.
Deputy Provincial Grand Master Frank Umbers, accompanied by Assistant Provincial Grand Master Peter
Schofield; group chairman Chris Gray, Provincial Grand Charity Steward Andy McClements and Past
Provincial Junior Grand Warden Ezra McGowan were in attendance. Ten brethren from the Lancaster and
District Group were warmly welcomed to enjoy the fun.
Attendees had an hour to mingle before a pie and pea supper was served. After a warm introductory welcome
from Cavendish Club President Steve Leonard, compere and opening act Bill Woolland weaved his magic and
had the room in fits of laughter. Jamie Sutherland followed swiftly on, tapping into the room’s ebullient mood
and riding the waves of mirth.
Mick Miller’s dry approach to life pulled few punches and his top billing was fully justified with a performance
as smooth as a silk sheet. He took the floor with a world-weary dignity, to tumultuous applause and entertained
the audience for 40 minutes, ending with the famous ‘Noddy’ routine to rapturous acclaim.
Between jokes, Mick mentioned the famous and now sadly defunct 99 Club, where stars such as Tom Jones,
Billy Fury, Paul Daniels, Jimmy James, Charlie Williams and himself had trod the boards over the years. Mick
spoke fondly as he remembered Tommy Halfpenny, the 99’s long-term owner.
Miller. Pictured right: Frank Umbers (left) receives a presentation from Gary Mansfield.
The three comedy sets were interspersed with various presentations and words of thanks to Steve Harris for
organising the PA system, caterers Terry and Christine Carlos and Frank Umbers and his wife Cath for
travelling so far to support the event.
The ‘fiver-in-an-envelope’ and a traditional raffle raised a fantastic £1,595 with £200 for the West Lancashire
Freemasons’ Charity and the rest to the Cavendish Club funds to enable future events to take place. Thanks
to Gary, £250 of raffle tickets were sold in advance of the event.
