Your Place To Connect With Friends!
Hi All from the newbies
Hello everyone
A little bit about ourselves. We’re called Marc and Jacqui and we live in Manchester, England (we escaped from Cardiff in Wales 10 years ago!) I’ve been a Maniloony for over 30 years now and 10 years ago, when Marc and I met, I converted him as well.
I’m 56 years of age and used to work as a legal secretary; I spent 30 years working for Criminal solicitors (I know some people think Solicitors ARE criminals!) and gave up work in 2003 to become Marc’s full time carer. He is only 40 and has had 4 heart attacks. He has a leaking heart valve, coupled with chronic and severe arthritis and becomes very tired. Some days, he cannot even get out of bed and other days he is in a wheelchair. He used to work as a chef but sadly cannot do this any more. He tells people that I am his wife and also his “don’t carer” because when he says he doesn’t feel well I usually say “I don’t care, either shut up or go to bed!”
I haven’t been to as many Barry concerts as I would have liked to over the years solely due to finances although I have been to 35 concerts altogether. Marc and I are looking forward to the concert at the MEN arena in Manchester on 8th December 2008 (I’m counting down the weeks and days, 16 weeks and 5 days as of today.) I used to belong to the BBMFC (before they became the BMIFC (UK) in the days of Mollie and Lynn. Lynn then took over and I let my membership lapse because I became disillusioned with them and the ticket allocation at concerts. I always had the same people sitting in front of me whenever I went to a concert, and it seemed to me (and a lot of other people that I know) that it was a case of whether you were a friend of the people running the fan club in the UK depended on whether you got a good seat or not. It also depended on whether you were going to all the concerts or not. I was only ever going to one or two because that was alI could afford to do and the best seat I ever had was the third row at the NEC in Birmingham in the early 1990’s. The British Fan Club always maintained that everybody had at least one decent seat for the concerts they were attending but if you were only ever going to be able to afford to go to one and your seat was in Block F (or even in the nose bleed section) then don’t call that a “decent seat.” As I said, I became sick of seeing the same people sitting in front of me at every concert that I attended.
My hobbies (besides listening to Barry) are football (I’m an Arsenal fan (some, who live in Manchester will say that in that case I know nothing about football!) I also like to do cross stitched pictures and I have recently spent 6 weeks knitting a baby shawl in 1 ply yarn (which was like knitting with a reel of cotton but the finished effect is lovely.) I have a few pen pals that I correspond with frequently.
Marc likes to do card making and he also likes a little bit of cross stitch (cross stitch takes too long for him, he likes almost instant results.) This is why he prefers making cards.
We both belong to a postal cross stitch club called Friends Who Count who do round robins and have meetings at various people’s houses about 3 or 4 times a year. He actually runs their web site.
We don’t have any children but we do have an absolutely adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Blenheim colour, what else?) and is called Oliver Charles. (His KC Club name is "Just look at me now") He is 4 years old now and is the cutest little dog ever. We also have six cats. They are Bengal cats called Bonnie and Clyde who are seven years old, Jo Jo a male black and white cat who does nothing but whinge whenever he’s awake and he’s five years old now, Thierry (black and white) and Jessie, (tabby and white) two female cats who are two years old and Felix, another black and white male who is just a year old. We were told that Thierry and Jessie were males when we acquired them hence one of them being called Thierry (the other one was going to be called Freddie.) The names were after the Arsenal players Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg.
A little bit about ourselves. We’re called Marc and Jacqui and we live in Manchester, England (we escaped from Cardiff in Wales 10 years ago!) I’ve been a Maniloony for over 30 years now and 10 years ago, when Marc and I met, I converted him as well.
I’m 56 years of age and used to work as a legal secretary; I spent 30 years working for Criminal solicitors (I know some people think Solicitors ARE criminals!) and gave up work in 2003 to become Marc’s full time carer. He is only 40 and has had 4 heart attacks. He has a leaking heart valve, coupled with chronic and severe arthritis and becomes very tired. Some days, he cannot even get out of bed and other days he is in a wheelchair. He used to work as a chef but sadly cannot do this any more. He tells people that I am his wife and also his “don’t carer” because when he says he doesn’t feel well I usually say “I don’t care, either shut up or go to bed!”
I haven’t been to as many Barry concerts as I would have liked to over the years solely due to finances although I have been to 35 concerts altogether. Marc and I are looking forward to the concert at the MEN arena in Manchester on 8th December 2008 (I’m counting down the weeks and days, 16 weeks and 5 days as of today.) I used to belong to the BBMFC (before they became the BMIFC (UK) in the days of Mollie and Lynn. Lynn then took over and I let my membership lapse because I became disillusioned with them and the ticket allocation at concerts. I always had the same people sitting in front of me whenever I went to a concert, and it seemed to me (and a lot of other people that I know) that it was a case of whether you were a friend of the people running the fan club in the UK depended on whether you got a good seat or not. It also depended on whether you were going to all the concerts or not. I was only ever going to one or two because that was alI could afford to do and the best seat I ever had was the third row at the NEC in Birmingham in the early 1990’s. The British Fan Club always maintained that everybody had at least one decent seat for the concerts they were attending but if you were only ever going to be able to afford to go to one and your seat was in Block F (or even in the nose bleed section) then don’t call that a “decent seat.” As I said, I became sick of seeing the same people sitting in front of me at every concert that I attended.
My hobbies (besides listening to Barry) are football (I’m an Arsenal fan (some, who live in Manchester will say that in that case I know nothing about football!) I also like to do cross stitched pictures and I have recently spent 6 weeks knitting a baby shawl in 1 ply yarn (which was like knitting with a reel of cotton but the finished effect is lovely.) I have a few pen pals that I correspond with frequently.
Marc likes to do card making and he also likes a little bit of cross stitch (cross stitch takes too long for him, he likes almost instant results.) This is why he prefers making cards.
We both belong to a postal cross stitch club called Friends Who Count who do round robins and have meetings at various people’s houses about 3 or 4 times a year. He actually runs their web site.
We don’t have any children but we do have an absolutely adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Blenheim colour, what else?) and is called Oliver Charles. (His KC Club name is "Just look at me now") He is 4 years old now and is the cutest little dog ever. We also have six cats. They are Bengal cats called Bonnie and Clyde who are seven years old, Jo Jo a male black and white cat who does nothing but whinge whenever he’s awake and he’s five years old now, Thierry (black and white) and Jessie, (tabby and white) two female cats who are two years old and Felix, another black and white male who is just a year old. We were told that Thierry and Jessie were males when we acquired them hence one of them being called Thierry (the other one was going to be called Freddie.) The names were after the Arsenal players Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by irene martin on -
Hi Jacqui and Marc, welcome. Funny I was just emailing someone about the disillusionment I felt with the Fan Club many years ago (back in the 70's and early 80's)....so I agree with you. I also have loved Barry for over 30 years and knew Mollie and Lynne quite well....some time back tho. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I lapsed my membership for quite some time, marriage break-up, etc. However, my adoration for Mr M never declined. This site is fabulous, I have made so many wonderful friends, some I am meeting at the 02 concerts. We talk about Barry and other interests too, mine are my cats. Thank you for sharing and take great care, Manilove, Irene, UK
-
Permalink Reply by Jacqui & Marc on -
Hi Irene we even had barry sining all the way through or marage service pitty it wasnt the man himself "oh well"
BARRY has helped us through many sad ,and very good times in our lives too
nice to have met you
-
Permalink Reply by irene martin on
-
Hi again Jacqui and Marc, thanx for agreeing to be pals. Nice to meet you as well. Like Lynne says, you will make lots of new friends here. I cannot believe how many I have made over the few months I have been a member. December will be a great time for me as seeing Barry and meeting several of my new Manilow pals. I am counting, but the time is far too slow. Take care, Manilove, Irene, UK
-
Permalink Reply by Paul Rendel on -
Welcome Jacqui and Marc - good to see you here. Although born in Glasgow, I too live in the NW - Stockport. I'm realy looking forward the MEN gig as well. Don't know if you were at the ill fated broken foot concert a few years back there? Poor Barry only managed to do about 45 minutes! (Still think he should have cancelled that performance!)
...anyway...welcome on board
Paul
-
Permalink Reply by Jacqui & Marc on
-
Yes Paul I agree with you, however as it was only my second concert I still thought it was freaking awesome and yes longer would have been very very much better but wow what a show and WHAT A MAN!!!!!!!
-
Permalink Reply by Sharon Johnson on
-
Dear Jacqui and Mark
nice to meet you! I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Can't make the Manchester gig unfortunately. The MEN concert in 2000 was a shame. I had gone on a coach trip for that one and nearly had a fight with someone else on the bus afterwards, because they were angry about the curtailment of the show, no thought for the man's health. The MEN concert in 1998 was legend! It features on the Close Up video. Brilliant!
I am afraid I have to agree with you about the seating "arrangements". I used to see the same faces too. Never mind.
Take care
Sharon Johnson
-
Permalink Reply by sue ireland on -
hi jacqui and mark, welcome to the site its great fun! i live in chester and have been a barry fan for 30 plus years! isn"t it great that barry is coming over!brace yourselves for manchester ! sue
-
Permalink Reply by lynne caddy on -
hi jaqui and mark you will love it on this site ive made so many good friends here great news about manchester cant wait for barry to be here again! take care lynne
-
Permalink Reply by Christine on -
Hi jaqui and Mark. Welcome to this site, we have some great times on this site and have spoken to people that i have met years ago at concerts/conventions.It is great to meet up again after all this time.I am still a bit of a novice here,having my laptop in january and joining this site back around june,so still learning how to use the damn thing.Some of the debates get get a bit heated and a little out of hand [referring to a blog put on earlier] but bear with it as nearly all of us are really nice people here. One or two that try and get to upsetting the majority.I try and ignore, and get on with my friends here that i chat to.I live in Bristol and i am 63yrs old,have 3 adorable grandchildren of 17,10,and 8.I have been a fan of Barry since '82 and i joined the bmifc fan club in the 80s.When my second parent died i was able to divulge myself into being a life member of the fan club.But saying that i do agree with most of what you have said about why you opted out.Yes there always seemed to be the same crowd that had front row seats every time i went to his concerts. i know that one of them at least, could afford to pay whatever to get the seat there, and found that annoying when the majority HAD to pay the price for those seats, that they had saved so hard for for the priveilege if they could be allocated the front row.Yes,pot luck for paying the price in the hope of front row.I suppose i should say though,for all the number of concerts that i have done, was lucky the one time to have got a front row with friends,many years ago in Bournemouth.I could'nt believe my eyes to find we were sat in front of his piano when we searched for our seats.I know many people will never be so lucky as me,so i feel real lucky that i was one that got there. I am doing the 3 at 02 in december and the best seat is on the sunday central A block and almost half way back.My friend told me we had got that booked, as her son did the booking for us.Believe me have had more so so or worse seats than good ones, over the years.It was nice to hear that mark likes barrys music,my husband can be ackward at times but at least was ok about the forth coming concerts, being we are both retired and money can be an issue for us these days.Mark, how long have you been making cards and what is your favourite method eg.stamping,decoupage etc.? I too have been making cards for about 5yrs. Well,think i have said more than enough.Take care and 'bye for now.Manilove.
-
Permalink Reply by Vera Jones on
-
Hi ya
Good to read your news again Jacqui. I remember all those years ago we met in the tent at the Metropole, it was the dining room in those days, and even though you had only just met me, you shared all your videos of Barry with me, and we became good friends. Here we are 21 years later and back in touch with each other, which is great. Norma says hi to you both, but refuses to come to Manchester with me, but I am working on her, ha ha.
love to you both, Vee xx
-
Permalink Reply by Jacqui & Marc on
-
KIDNAP HER
LOL
love and hugggles from us both
About My Manilow Network
My Manilow Network
created this social network on Ning.
© 2008 Created by My Manilow Network on Ning. Create your own social network
