After the success of just turning up at places that we liked the look of yesterday, we decided to tweak the plan and 'just turn up' at places that we had previously earmarked as great possible venues.
In the wake of Ascot and discussion of the Queen's attire, I chose to wear a pair of dark jeans with an LRF banana army tee shirt, whereas Sean opted for khaki shorts and an LRF running vest. We really know how to dress to impress.
First stop was a huge curry house on the A6, an impressively ornate building, buzzing with workmen (if only Sean had been dressed as Jane). We gave our pitch to the attentive duty manager and he told us to email the boss with the details. We got the feeling he had not heard of ITV1's long running serial drama set in the Yorkshire Dales. A lead, but no visit.
We then went to one of Manchester's top sporting venues and were lucky to get a meeting with their charity co-ordinator who said she would do her best to accomodate us, but that it was really out of her hands. The fact that this lady had a preference for early evening rural soaps was a deciding factor in her meeting us. Great to get a meeting with such a busy person, but no visit.
We then concentrated on finding a final venue. We had received a great offer from a pub in Marple, but geographically it was looking very difficult to fit in. With a number of venues in place twenty six miles suddenly didn't seem long enough with all the twists and turns.
I had tried to get in touch with the right person at both The Academy and Jabezz Clegg. Venues which were close to MRI, held a lot of people and would be full of students in September, giving pretty much a guaranteed crowd for the evening do.
The Academy is an amazing music venue and I knew White Van Man would be cock a hoop to play there. I had to call in to pick some tickets up for a My Morning Jacket gig so thought it would be a good chance to see if the chap who booked the bands was in. When we got to the ticket booth the lady immediately remembered she had spoken to me last week and offered to track down the man in charge or someone from that department.
In the wake of Ascot and discussion of the Queen's attire, I chose to wear a pair of dark jeans with an LRF banana army tee shirt, whereas Sean opted for khaki shorts and an LRF running vest. We really know how to dress to impress.
First stop was a huge curry house on the A6, an impressively ornate building, buzzing with workmen (if only Sean had been dressed as Jane). We gave our pitch to the attentive duty manager and he told us to email the boss with the details. We got the feeling he had not heard of ITV1's long running serial drama set in the Yorkshire Dales. A lead, but no visit.
We then went to one of Manchester's top sporting venues and were lucky to get a meeting with their charity co-ordinator who said she would do her best to accomodate us, but that it was really out of her hands. The fact that this lady had a preference for early evening rural soaps was a deciding factor in her meeting us. Great to get a meeting with such a busy person, but no visit.
We then concentrated on finding a final venue. We had received a great offer from a pub in Marple, but geographically it was looking very difficult to fit in. With a number of venues in place twenty six miles suddenly didn't seem long enough with all the twists and turns.
I had tried to get in touch with the right person at both The Academy and Jabezz Clegg. Venues which were close to MRI, held a lot of people and would be full of students in September, giving pretty much a guaranteed crowd for the evening do.
The Academy is an amazing music venue and I knew White Van Man would be cock a hoop to play there. I had to call in to pick some tickets up for a My Morning Jacket gig so thought it would be a good chance to see if the chap who booked the bands was in. When we got to the ticket booth the lady immediately remembered she had spoken to me last week and offered to track down the man in charge or someone from that department.
Louise, who I had exchanged emails with , then showed us around the Club Academy Room, a 550 capacity venue. It looked pretty much perfect for what we had in mind. A proper stage for the band, big dancefloor, bar on one side and seating area at the back. Most importantly it was within half a mile of MRI. We would have had to pay a fee for the room, but the price covered a soundman, PA and ticketing and publicity for the event and would have allowed free entry for the army of volunteers and people offering their services on the day. We worked out that at £10 a head we would only need to force....er encourage 55 people to pay for entry and then anything on top was the charity's money. I came away buzzing.
We then walked up and down Oxford Road looking for Jabez Clegg. We called into a flower shop to ask directions and spoke to a lovely woman who was an experienced marathon runner and interested in what we were doing. On seeing the picture of Tarzan, Jane and the banana she said "I saw that one!" pointing at the gorgeous image of Jane, "Last week, running up and down". She had seen us at the MRI press launch, but just like the builders only had eyes for Jane. When I pointed out that Sean, who was stood right next to her, was Jane she did a strange half laugh, half gurgle of terror and gave us possibly the most inaccurate directions to a place in human history. We walked for what seemed like a marathon distance before jacking it in and moving on. The fickle finger of fate.
The previous night I had a call from a mate, Gav. We chatted, swapped a few tales and I told him about the Bananathon. He said that his partner Suzy had recently changed jobs and was working at a venue and might be able to help us. We knew we would be in town on Thursday so arranged to meet at the venue for lunch. We had all four met before, so it seemed a good excuse for a catch up, if nothing else.
Little did we know what was in store.....
We then walked up and down Oxford Road looking for Jabez Clegg. We called into a flower shop to ask directions and spoke to a lovely woman who was an experienced marathon runner and interested in what we were doing. On seeing the picture of Tarzan, Jane and the banana she said "I saw that one!" pointing at the gorgeous image of Jane, "Last week, running up and down". She had seen us at the MRI press launch, but just like the builders only had eyes for Jane. When I pointed out that Sean, who was stood right next to her, was Jane she did a strange half laugh, half gurgle of terror and gave us possibly the most inaccurate directions to a place in human history. We walked for what seemed like a marathon distance before jacking it in and moving on. The fickle finger of fate.
The previous night I had a call from a mate, Gav. We chatted, swapped a few tales and I told him about the Bananathon. He said that his partner Suzy had recently changed jobs and was working at a venue and might be able to help us. We knew we would be in town on Thursday so arranged to meet at the venue for lunch. We had all four met before, so it seemed a good excuse for a catch up, if nothing else.
Little did we know what was in store.....
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