| Lost in Westhoughton |  On our way to the concert my friends and I had a not so scenic tour of Westhoughton’s industrial estate. We could see the venue on the map, but couldn’t get to it.
Finally we arrived at Westhoughton Golf Club twenty minutes late. The place was a little disappointing and at one stage the noise from the bar was horrendous.
It’s been a good few years since I’ve seen them, but Gary and Vera Aspey have lost none of their sparkle. Gary has the audience eating out of his hand while Vera gazes on in long-suffering fashion until he’s finished his jokes and capering.
There were plenty of serious moments with songs of war and cargo boats (not necessarily together) but for me the highlights were three old favourites Slag Alice, Dog Fat and Miss Tickle Tovey who ran a ladies’ school which was infiltrated by a man with inevitable consequences.
Gary painted a wonderful picture of Miss Tovey wearing a see through nightie revealing her vest, tattoos and wellies which had me choking on my beer.
The star of the show was Marie Little with her big, big voice. Marie is a Salford lass who knows what it’s like to be poor and that shows in the pathos she gives to the sad songs, notably One Day Daddy and also in her sense of humour in a story of when the sleeve fell off her 'eiderdown'.
She also performed a brilliant dialogue telling a tale of a discussion between Nelson and Hardy in which they find that due to political correctness most things on ship are banned except sodomy. “Kiss me Hardy,” was the cry.
It was a great night, in spite of the venue and another concert is planned around October. Take your sat nav.
- Heather Dunn
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