Downtown

Went to see the wonderful Saw Doctors at the Philharmonic as part of their 20th UK anniversary tour and they were absolutely brilliant. From the the first chord all the audience were on their feet jigging away.

Played quite a long set (approaching two and half hours) featuring many that we knew N17, I Useta Love Her, Clare Island, To Win Just Once, Green and Red of Mayo, Joyce Country Ceilidh Band, Galway & Mayo, Hay Wrap, Tommy K, Red Cortina, Bless Me Father, About You Now (Cover !!), Why Do I always ..........and a rendition of new single Downtown (On which Petula sings).

Not sure I've seen a band enjoy themselves so much on stage as the boys from Tuam. The boys do genuinely seem to really enjoy what they are doing and it gets reflected in the audience response and participation.


It's been a long time since we last saw them and this was an excellent night. Support was provided by the Keith Mullins and The Winter Promise who we liked very much.

Brass Dancing

With two albums and a clutch of awards, in particular for their live work, the sold out Bellowhead arrived at the Pacific Rd Arts Centre in Birkenhead. An 11 piece band on stage playing a plethora of instruments with a sometimes frenetic pace. It is impossible not to be tapping your feet or jigging away fairly quickly.

Not knowing their repertoire apart from a couple of songs was no bar to having a thoroughly entertaining time. Their on stage confidence allows them to swap and change instruments and singers throughout without it falling into a shambolic mess.

I can't imagine being bored ever at one of their gigs. Funny, interesting, rhythm/beats aplenty and great sounds its an invigorating mix. Highlights for the Pieman were Jordan, New York Girls, Sloe Gin, Whiskey, Rochdale Coconut Dance, Fire Marengo, London Town, Frogs Legs, Dragons Teeth and a dancing Brass section! I look forward to the opportunity of seeing them again soon.

Support was provided by label mates AHAB. Only caught the last 3/4 songs of their set and would love to hear more. Love their version of My Father's Eyes check it out on You Tube. Sort of alt country with four part harmonies and well worth a listen.

Toumani Diabate/Revere/ St Georges Hall

Mr and Mrs Pieman went to see Toumani Diabate at the St Georges Concert Hall in Liverpool. What a delight, a beautiful setting to hear some beautiful music from Grammy award winning Toumani Diabate from Mali. He plays a 21 stringed bridged harp instrument called a Kora and is sometimes described as the Malian Jimi Hendrix.

The sound he produces is amazing. He plays a bass line, a melody and improvises over the top of that, all at the same time using only the thumb and index finger of each hand.

A couple of tunes we knew but the rest was new and fascinating. The delightful St Georges Concert Hall was the perfect backdrop with its chandeliers, statues, ornate carving and gold paint. Supporting him were an excellent band called Revere who played an acoustic set (3 Strings and one guitar mixed with a Harp, keyboard etc ...) with four of them instead of the usual electric version of the band which has 7 members normally.

Described by the Sunday Times as being able to "Genuinely take your breath away" in a live setting I was intrigued to hear them play. They were very very good and we would love to hear more certainly in an acoustic setting. I was instantly taken by the captivating They Always Knock Twice with it's haunting twisting melody.

The Fire Still Burns

Deep joy for the the Pieman and Student Pie who were able to venture out to the wilds of Wythenshawe to hear the fantastic After The Fire in concert for the first time since 1980/81?

Supported by the punky and interesting Bill Mason Band with Hannah Atkins. Although not the full original line up Mr Banks, Mr Russell and friends are brilliant ripping through 1980-F, High Fashion, Time Too Think, You, One Rule, Der Kommisar, Billy Billy (Brilliant Guitar solo Mr Russell - forgot how good he is) , Laser Love, Life In The City, Starflight.......

Time for some reason ran out and the scheduled encore Joy and Carry Me Home (Big Disappointment) were missed out. Still they raised monies for various Dalit related charities and we really enjoyed listening to ATF!!! I Hope we get the chance again.

Tate & Rene

Mr and Mrs Pieman on a rare free day, to ourselves went to Liverpool for recreation and ended up at the Tate Gallery at Albert Docks to see the Rene Magritte exhibition before its run ended. Interesting as ever the Tate for the most part is free and well worth a visit. On this occasion the surrealist Magritte was great and funny as well in places.

As ever walking around Liverpool was fascinating and rewarding including bumping into some friends and finding the colourful graffiti below on Cropper Street.

House of The Green Onion

What an excellent evening at the Pacific Road Arts Centre in Birkenhead. The Pieman & Biscuitman came to hear the Animals & Friends with the wonderfully fantastic Mr Steve Cropper of Booker T & The MG's, Stax, Blues Brothers, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay .......

The main room was laid out with tables rather than as advertised raked seating. No matter as our seats were right at the front and dead centre, brilliant. The Animal & Friends lead off with a meander through their back catalogue including a Pieman favourite "Please don't let Me Be Understood".

After a break Mr Cropper came on and he was brilliant working his way through Time Is Tight, Midnight Hour, Spell On You, 6345789, Hip Hug Her, Dock of the Bay, Justify, Water, Soul Man .......

We Will Rock You

Off to Liverpool to Queen musical "We Will Rock You" at a packed Empire. An excellent choice and we can thoroughly recommend it to you. The journey home via Merseyrail was a bit crowded, extremely funny and very very windy !!

Dukes Drivin

In mid-September Mrs Pieman and Mother In Pie accepted a ladies day challenge to drive various vehicles to raise money for various charities in conjunction with Chester Lions.

So on a cool Sunday morning we headed to the airfield on the dukes estate. Forming an orderly queue during the next few hours we would see them drive an articulated lorry (twice), fire engine, ambulance, Police Road Traffic car, a Huge Tractor and a Quad Bike.

An excellent time was had with many laughs, a lot of speed and some knee fondling. Between the two of them they raised over £150.00, so thank you to all sponsors.

Sorting Hat

Big thanks to family and friends who contributed to Superpie girls surprise pictures. We had a great time collecting images and everybody was very generous and creative. We put the pictures in a photobook and hid it amongst the new students luggage to be found after we had dropped her off at her digs.

Talacre, Chilli and Custard

For the first time in ages we went to Talacre beach to enjoy the view, stretch our legs, enjoy the breeze and find some Pie! The excellent Clywd Bakeries which have a minimal number of outlets has a branch close to the beach.

We tried a few different offering including a chicken and cheese slice, sausage roll and as pictured below the chunky Steak Pie (8.5/10) which was the Pieman's choice. A very respectable offering well priced and quite tasty.

After this we made our way onto the beach for a walk to see the lighthouse which has just be recently placed on the market for sale with offers over £100,000.00 requested.

To complete an enjoyable day we went to visit Chilli and Custard in Rhyl ....oh and Chris & Gilly as well.

Penrhyn, Otters & Pancakes

For the first time ever we visited Penrhyn Castle a National Trust property just outside Bangor. It is in fact a country house built in the style of a Norman castle. It was a slightly refreshing change to some of the National Trust properties we have visited.

Helped by the start to the tour being close to the grand hall where a staff member was playing a grand piano beautifully and it echoed around the place as we wandered through various rooms. Younger than a lot of NT properties it was quite interesting and the gardens were worth a vist as well.

From here we headed into the hills in search of the Dutch Pancake House at the Conwy Water Gardens. With savoury and sweet Pancakes (Both of which we tried......well some of us did!!!) the Pie Tribe can thoroughly recommend a visit to this culinary delight a few miles south of Conwy.

Finally we were delighted to see two of their shy but very playful otters towards the end of a most enjoyable day.

Cambrian Rail Cruise

What an excellent day. Starting early morning from Deva General heading to sunny Llandudno junction following the Cambrian rail tour which was to take us on a circular journey around North and Mid Wales ending back in rainy Deva early evening.

We saw some fantastic coastal, river, mountain and estuary landscapes. The journey from Llandudno to Blaenau being a pleasant surprise particularly getting to numerous sightings of beautiful white egret (Little Egret I think which though rare in UK is becoming quite common along the Conwy Estuary). At Blanaeu we changed to steam to head to Portmadog. One slightly embarrassing moment when Hammy the Guard stopped the train to get an additional payment above and beyond our pre paid ticket due to some administrative changes Arriva had no knowledge of!!

Porthmadog was bathed in sunshine as we arrived and stayed that way while we ate our Fish and Chips from the award winning Allports in Snowdon Street. A quick walk across town get us back onto the National rail system. From here it was all along the coast through Barmouth to Aberdovey before heading inland towards Machynlleth and on towards Shrewsbury.

At Shrewsbury we get on the wrong train (via Crewe) to the right place arriving home a few minutes early! Altogether an excellent day out.

Rat Snake

The Pie Tribe en masse enjoyed a grand day out in Colwyn Bay starting the day with a visit to the mighty family run Fortes Cafe in Rhos-on-Sea with the sun beating down between the showers. Excellent coffee and cake to get us going. A quick visit to the second hand bookshop across the road and then onto Welsh Mountain Zoo.

Not a huge collection but interesting nonetheless and amongst a great setting overlooking the Irish Sea.

I have always had a healthy interest in animals that can do me harm, particularly when travelling abroad. This obviously includes snakes, spiders ...etc.

Britain until our visit today, had I thought, really only two snakes the harmless grass snake and the venomous adder. Well now you can the add the sometime 5 foot long Rat Snake to that number as the Colwyn Bay area has its own "gone native" population. Having escaped from the Zoo's collection ( some 30 years ago) they have adapted and thrived in the surrounding area no doubt to the detriment of the local vermin and pet owning population.

This was confirmed by a lady we bumped into whilst walking around the tropical house who had one of the actual gone native population wrapped around her! She happily informed us that she had just inserted a tagging device into the Guinea Pig eating varmit before releasing him back where she found him outside the Zoo.

Some light relief was provided by the falconry display later. Whilst watching from the balcony of a cafe overlooking the arena a long taloned individual got a bit distracted, missing his preferred landing spot and nearly took out the two Pie tribe youngest. Fortunately the plate glass window they were standing next to stopped him in his tracks !!! He was okay but I was laughing myself silly.

Big Country In Another Country

A welcome opportunity to see the magnificent Big Country at The Central Station in Wrexham came along recently, supported by Glenn Matlock and The Philistines in preparation for some festival appearances. Can't remember going to the venue before and would have no problem going there again. Big Country were excellent and live, I liked the new single which I hadn't previously.

The evening was best summed up by the review from Record Collector -"A packed, intimate, humid venue welcomed the return of Big Country with local boy (and long-time ally) Mike Peters taking up vocal duties. The evening kicked off with A Thousand Stars and that familiar, harmonised twin guitar attack that instantly propelled us back into yesteryear. The likes of Harvest Home, The Teacher and Driving To Damascus had the crowd bouncing, and proved Mike Peters to be an engaging, more than capable frontman. Steeltown preceded the haunting refrain of crowd-pleaser Chance, where even drummer Mark Brzezicki left his drum-stool and took to a mic to sing along with the crowd! Restless Natives and a blinding rendition of Look Away set the place alight. Fields Of Fire further fanned the flames and led to a full tilt jig on Inwards. Mike Peters launched himself into the crowd for a storming In A Big Country, rounding off a triumphant 90 minutes of uplifting, impassioned Celtic rock. Stuart Adamson surely would have been proud."

Sids Cafe and Salford

On our way home from Lincolnshire we had to make a vist to sunny Salford so went via Holmfirth, the pretty little town on the edge of the Peak District National where "Last of the Summer Wine" was filmed.

A pilgrimage was made to the wonderful Sids Cafe where the pieman, forgoing Pie, waded into some serious jam, cream and scones mmmmmmmmm. Pictured below, giving her best Nora scowl, is superpie girl sitting on the steps between Nora Batty's house and Compo's.

Imps, Louth and Pie

A week after climbing the heights of Snowdon we headed for the lowlands of sunny Lincolnshire and Louth. This gave us the opportunity to visit great friends in Lincoln and Cleethorpes. We stayed in a self catering barn conversion surrounded by fields on the edge of Louth.

We had a great time with the Greens in Lincoln and and a smashing time with the Grimsby contingent. We would thank them both for their hearty welcome and tips about what to see and do whilst in the fine county of Lincolnshire. Except we did ignore all advice and visit Skeggy, briefly.


Recently "The county has just been voted the UK's favourite food spot (pipping Cornwall) in a public poll to mark the start of British Food Fortnight " and it is easy to see why. Being one of the capitals of pork production in the country leads to a high standard and quantity of pork related products especially in the PIE area!

We came across Browns Restaurant & Pie Shop on the appropriately named Steep Hill close to Lincoln Cathedral/Castle. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to sample their wares and instead consoled ourselves with purchases of Pork and Stilton Pie, Lincolnshire sausage and Pork scratchings by the the bucketload from an extremely convenient Butchers shop (Elite Meats) nearby. They also do a 2lb Pork Pie reason enough in itself to revisit Lincolnshire!

We also enjoyed some splendid walks, Fish/chips, Star gazing, Magna Carta, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Castle, Skeggy, Scartho, quietness, XXB and great company.

Love, Hope & Strength

Many thanks to all our sponsors who pledge monies for Mr and Mrs Pieman to walk up Snowdon in August to raise funds for the Love, Hope and Strength foundation.

"Love Hope Strength Foundation UK was registered as a charity in 2007 and co-founded by Mike Peters, two times cancer survivor and internationally acclaimed singer of Welsh rock band The Alarm. The charity promotes innovative, music related, outreach and awareness programmes for leukaemia and cancer sufferers, survivors and their families."

The day was very long, tiring and rewarding. Starting from Llanberis village the route followed the Llanberis Path to the top with pauses at certain appropriate points for a few songs from Mike Peters which was excellent. Knees and feet were sore by the time we made it back to the car. But Pie, songs, great views, good company and sponsors kept us going.

The Oggie, silly hat and paper were some of things I ate, wore and carried to raise money from my sponsors which also include giving Mrs Pieman a passionate kiss right at the top of the mountain.

World Ranked

Happy 50th birthday to Marky Boy who celebrated in style with a fantastic party at his home and neighbour Stus. Great food, great organisation and brilliant company with pictures, poems, speeches, many courses and a very generous sprinkling of laughter.

We hope you had a brilliant time Marky Boy because your guests certainly did! Congratulations on your rise into the top 300 ranked Croquet players in the world , after been World ranked as a friend for many many years.

The Shining

What a joy to witness the wedding of the year! Luke and Anja shining together on a beautiful day in more ways than one.

We wish them the best for the future after a fabulous start to their married life.

The weather behaved, lots of guests from all over, GOOD service, brilliant music, Stayin Alive car, fantastic venue for the reception, great speeches and the second best cake I've ever seen for a wedding. No marzipan, icing, fruit or sponge issue, a Cheese Cake, not a cheesecake but a Cheese Cake with layers of Cheshire, Lancashire, Edam & Caerphilly? Absolutely brilliant.

White, Red & Yellow

Plot 109a has sadly been missing the pieman an awful lot this summer but we have had a bumper crop of onions, shallots and potatoes this year. In fact were still digging the tatties up! Still managed to grow a few new things and have particularly enjoyed the courgettes we grew for the for the first time and the larger marrow ones have now been converted into enough chutney to last a millennium.

Also if any of you Pie munchers like pickled onions let the Pieman know and you'll solve a EEC mountain and Christmas present list in one. Pie and Pickle can't be beaten!

Ships, I See No Ships

We can thoroughly recommend a trip to the annual River Dee Raft Race. Pack a picnic and a few beers, find a spot on the meadows and watch the fun unfold. Obviously it helps if the sun comes out, which it did for us.

Chilling and watching people dressed in silly clothes getting wet, dirty and messy all in aid of charity. Very funny too watch as a spectator sport.

Crusty Pie Company

One of the attractions of the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power were the various exhibitions, displays, catering and retails stalls dotted around the site.

One particularly favourite found by the Pie Tribe was the Crusty Pie Company from Halifax. An excellent array of pastries was on offer to tempt to any hungry pie muncher. We took advantage of one of their special offers to try various Pork Pies.

The Pieman was quite impressed by the Pork and Stilton pork pie very tasty (8/10). Also worth noting is that they appear at various events and also supply large bags of the finestkind hairy snacks, pork scratchings. The staff were friendly and chatty as well. Well worth another go.

Pageant of Power: Cholmondeley

Superpie Girl and the Pieman made a first ever visit to the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power a while back. We chose to go on the practice day when the crowds are a bit smaller and more bearable (and cheaper!).

What a brilliant day we had. The weather behaved itself apart from a few spots and we got to see some fantastic vehicles in action.

Superpie girls’ favourite being the Veyron and the various Lamborghinis dotted about. Checked out the rare and gorgeous lime Green Lamborghini Miuri from Cheshire Classic Cars. My own favourite was the Mercedes 300SL which was just so beautiful.

There was plenty to see and do whilst there, although on practice day not everything is running or arrived. They have, like Goodwood, a timed track which the vehicles run on in different classes. To see and hear Classic/new/2 wheels/3 wheels/4 wheels/race/rally/GT/Supercars/endurance/F1 vehicles blasting around was fantastic.

An unmistakable Audi Quattro spitting fire from its exhausts evoked many cold wet memories of welsh forests during the RAC Rally!! Pieman even got to meet 4 times World Rally Champion Juha Kankonnen, who was a really nice guy.

Pie for Breakfast?

Can a day get any better when it starts with Pie for breakfast? Yes it can when it's followed by a day watching the British Grand Prix in glorious British four seasons in one day weather. Burnt and soaked within the same hour and sedated by Pie ( Phil Salt's Steak Pie to be precise).

Having left home at silly O'clock one Sunday morning Mr Pieman and Georgio Dragonslayer were in desperate need of sustenance as we yomped around the revamped Silverstone prior to the Grand Prix starting.

What an excellent exhausting day. Great atmosphere and response when the Brits moved up a place or two. The track, facilities and organisation were good and will get even better with time. Despite the result and the weather everyone seemd to be having a great time we certainly did.

We even got to walk the start line/straight at the end which was a great bonus. Didn't rush out afterwards and got home at a reasonable time, happy days.

Hope and Glory

This is Stuart Maconie's latest tome and mighty fine it is. A trip around ten of the events from the 20th century which have, in his opinion, shaped the Britain we have today. Each event is illustrated with interesting facts and accompanied by his trips around the country to visit the places where these events occurred or touched. Each event has a chapter devoted to it with his usual rich and wrily observed detail throughout.

Even better than the book is to go and listen to him in the flesh which is what Mr & Mrs Pieman did recently when he appeared at the Town Hall, Deva. He didn't disappoint on an excellent evening. If you enjoy this then check out some of his others including the excellent "Pies and Prejudice", "Cider and Roadies" and Adventures on The High Teas".

Wirral Walk

Big thank you from the Pieman and Piester in law to all our sponsors who helped us raise just over £200.00 towards the Kisiizi Hospital Appeal . We were inspired to finish by your generosity many many thanks.

Duke of Edinburgh

Congratulations to SuperPie girl in getting through and finishing her A level exams.

Also big congratulations on receiving her Duke of Edinburgh Silver award at a ceremony in Chester Cathedral

Finally a Gold Star for tidying up her bedroom.

Commodus Gets His Comeuppance

What did a roman legionary think of his posting to Britannia, 2000 years ago standing on the walls of old Deva hoping for a good night out down at the amphitheatre when he got off duty? Not a lot if our recent experience at the amphitheatre was like!

Cold, damp and miserable even in July! Mr and Mrs Pieman went to the recent outdoor screening of the movie Gladiator in Britain’s largest Amphitheatre.

Obviously being outdoor novices we left umbrella, full waterproofs in the car and got truly soaked to the skin.

Saving grace of the night though was the setting, the filmgoers in period costume, a marriage proposal and the unprompted cheers towards the end of the film when Commodus gets his comeuppance.

How I won the Yellow Jumper

In case you hadn't noticed one the best events in the sporting calendar has kicked off and is proving to be as fascinating as ever. If you have an open mind and want to learn more or just like an entertaining read then get this book.

Written by journalist/TV reporter/presenter Ned Boulting its an entertaining insight into bike racing and the movable juggernaut that is life on the road with the Tour de France. Unashamedly ignorant of pro cycle racing when he first workedthe tour its covers Boultings baptism and subsequent passion for the Grand Tour, described by Chris Boardman as "Quirky,Warped, Enthusiastic and Funny".

Live on eurosport and ITV4 most days or get your nightly highlights fix at 7.00pm.

Ynys Mon

Taking advantage of the predicted good weather we made some butties, collected Lee Craig, the Pie Pincess No2 and headed to Ynys Mon for the day. Our first stop at Newborough beach was aborted at the entrance to the car park when we didn't have correct change to get through the barrier.

So we headed on to Aberfraw village just a few miles further up the coast, which in hindsight proved to be an excellent decision. We walked along the retreating tidal river to the main beach to be greeted by wall to wall blue sky and a not very crowded, clean unspoilt beach....happy days.

After a few hours eating, swimming, lazing, walking, reading, burning we headed back to the village and carried on around the island to meet up with Von Smallhousen and Kathy L at Trearddur Bay. Unfortunately all the beer had gone (big surprise) but it was a welcome respite nonetheless.

After leaving there reluctantly, we then went into Holyhead for Fish, Chips & Peas sitting on Beach Road overlooking the harbour just chillin. Then it was a walk round Penrhos Country Park as the sun began to dip in the sky.

On the way home we managed to sqeeze in a visit to Rhyl to see Cousin Gilly, Chris, Custard and Chilli. A most excellent way to finish an excellent blistering day. More please......

Mount Pleasant

On last Bank holiday Monday we made our way to Mount Pleasant Garden on the outskirts of Kelsall. What a little gem hidden away covering 10 acres or so including a meadow sown with wild flowers.

Their are ten or twelve areas around the site each with a particular theme, intermingled with individual pieces of Art made of wood, metal, stone, glass mosaic sculptures .... some produced at the on-site workshop.

It is someone's back garden and has limited opening hours but well worth a visit to explore and enjoy.

Mrs B's Laughter Factory

Congratulations to Mrs B on her 40th birthday celebrated over the bank holiday weekend with some style (70's Style) and panache. The weather behaved itself and the collective Pie tribe had a great time.

Wonderful food (although I should point out that a number of Pie Munchers present meant this Pie connoisseur missed out on Pie nearly, apart from a half donated by daughter ), just enough to drink, plenty of good conversation, strange tans, Floral Gums and a great big dollop of laughing meant this was a party to remember.

Can't wait for your fiftieth Mrs B!

Come On Down

Accompanied by Pie Princess, Mrs Pieman, John Boy, Big Mike and Georgio Dragonslayer we made a trip to Liverpool to see the Alarm on their "Sound and the Fury" 30th anniversary tour.

This was at the 02 Academy2 just around the corner from Lime Street station. On this occasion they were supported by The Last Republic.

It has been a busy year for front man Mike Peters and his voice sounded a little bit worse for wear. With Big Country vocal duties and recording the soundtrack for upcoming movie "Vinyl" and this tour it is perhaps understandable. This should not detract from his and the bands performance which was as committed and passionate as ever.

With a smattering of songs from throughout their career including Marching On, The Stand, Spirit of 76, Where Were You Hiding, 45 RPM, 68 Guns, Rain In The Summertime, Deeside...... there was something for everyone and even the opportunity to wish Mr Bob Dylan happy birthday by singing Knockin on Heaven's Door at the end.

A nice twist towards the end was the introduction of an audience member/fan who had bid prior to the gig to be part of the band for the night and be on stage with them performing. Fortunately for all concerned I did not win this auction in aid of The Love Hope and Strength Foundation co-foundered by Mr Peters after his experiences with cancer in recent years.