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During their first summer in Belleville, after moving from London, Ont., in 1987, Andy Sparling and his wife, Theresa, found themselves at the Waterfront Festival one evening. “And there’s this big, beautiful band playing under the moonlight on the end of the pier,” says Sparling, “with about 300 or 400 people around having a great time. It fired me up.”
That band was the Commodores Orchestra.
It was an evening, says Sparling, that took him all the way back to his childhood. When Sparling was nine, his father, Phil, played saxophone, clarinet, and oboe in a local big band after a stint overseas with the legendary RCAF Streamliners who put their lives on the line playing swing, jump, and jive for the troops. Sparling soon found himself tagging along with his father each summer, going on gigs, and setting up music stands at theatres and dancehall
CULTIVATING CREATIVITY: Andy Sparling, the Commodores and a lifetime in dancehalls
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Draycote elects its first Youth & Junior Commodore & Committee
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The Regatta at Kippford in 1898 © Rev. Bill Holland collection
Despite the ongoing Covid restrictions still preventing in-person gatherings, the Club went ahead with an online season-opener to coincide with what should have been Craning-In day, traditionally followed by the Fitting Out Party in the Clubhouse.
Instead, Robert Dinwiddie, the Club Commodore and local historian, gave a great presentation of the Club s background, intertwined with the Kippford village s history from the mid nineteenth century. However, what no one could have predicted was how the very sad news of the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh, and his close connections both with Uffa Fox and his yacht Coweslip were so closely linked to the Club s history in the 1950s.
Long-time volunteer and retired journalism professor, Andy Sparling, joined us on “In Touch With Quinte” this week.
He was the host of the “Big Band Saturday” show that aired for 15 years on 91X, just up until a few years ago.
The member of The Commodores band here in Quinte is now back with a brand new show for us called “Swing Jump ‘N Jive.” The half-hour show airs Saturday mornings at 10 am as apart of our Radio To Remember lineup.
Learn more about how he brings Club Commodore alive!