It's been a roller-coaster ride if ever there was one. I've experienced every emotion going: from petrified fear pacing about backstage as night fell on the Acoustic Stage, Glastonbury 1999, while the band held onto the audience in a freezing cold tent (not a problem for professional musicians, but five inexperienced schoolgirls were about to be "thrown to the lions" to finish the night. My heart was in my mouth!   I needn't have worried. The lasses brought the house down. Read the NME review presented in the CD Rom.)... to pure exhilaration as I watched a truly confident Stackridge stage show unfold before my eyes on that gorgeous sunny Saturday afternoon at Cropredy 2000.

What didn't I do? From devising and building the website, writing the publicity, organising rehearsals and travelling schedules, hassling for gigs, promoting the band in village halls and theatres, designing CD covers, posters, adverts, brochures, balancing the books, and completing the VAT returns ... not forgetting cooking legendary curries for hungry musicians ... even sitting up far into the night sewing the letters that comprise "Stackridge" in white tape - one letter per "cheek" - onto five pairs of long woolly Marks and Spencer men's under-pants the night before Glastonbury 1999, to be uncovered in their full glory by the '90s Stakettes the next day. (Quite as demure, I felt, as the navy blue gym knickers uncovered by their wickedly amusing "St Trinians" counterparts at the Reading Festival in 1972) ... and getting soaked to the skin in the wind and rain tying Stackridge posters to roundabout railings in Bristol and various Somerset and Wiltshire towns exceptionally late on several separate nights before Christmas 2000 - with a weather eye out for the local constabulary!

In my book, life is about living. It's been an unforgettable experience.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Here’s what we all got up to, then and now.  This Official Bootleg No 2 brings together material generously made available to me by Super Fans throughout the world.  So many "thank yous" are due, it's difficult to know where to start ... First in line is Gerry Prewett, whose website kept the flame alive in the lean non-Stackridge years.   On the CD Rom,  you'll find Gerry's version of the band's antics up to 1973.   Next Chas Keep:  it is Chas's enthusiastic badgering that led to the re-release of the first three Stackridge LPs in CD form in 1998.  On the CD Rom, it's over to Chas for the Extravaganza/Mr Mick period.  A huge thank you is due to Mike Tobin, who allowed me rifle through his three wonderful scrap-books of press cuttings and memorabilia.  Old posters, press releases etc come from this source. The super photos of the '70s band are courtesy of Billy "Sparkle" Blake - many thanks to him.  The archive sound recordings?  Another huge thank you must go to Elesssar Tetramariner, who persuaded fans in the chatroom to hunt out old reel-to-reel footage from the attic.   Finally,  thanks must go to Alan Hewson and  Mick Peterson for providing video footage of Stackridge 2000.

At this point in time, I'll leave the final word to that exceptionally fine Stackridgean song-writer, James Warren. His song, "Love, Death and Photographs" sums up exactly how I feel. You'll find the song on  "Jim's Special Edition Easy Listening Christmas Album" (DAP102CD) available from the merch page.

Right now I'm going to go and pour myself a glass of wine and drink a toast to all the members of Stackridge, past, present and future who made this Great Adventure possible; to my family - who have been a tremendous source of support throughout; to all those in the music business who have helped me; to all the special friends I've made around the world over the last five years; and finally, last but by no means least, to that wonderful participating audience, The Rhubarb Thrashers Society.

The toast? "Always Expect The Unexpected!"

After all… . When all is said and done.

This is Stackridge!