Hi, a happy new year and let me welcome you all to 2006.... and you are welcome to it frankly, if it’s all the same to you we’ll stick with good old tried and trusted 1966. Anyway, notwithstanding the strain of maintaining a rictus smile as you rip the wrapping off the sum total of your relative's countless thoughts, I trust you all had a jolly Christmas

The band celebration was, as usual, a best forgotten event, this won’t be a difficult exercise as it was, A) very forgettable, and B) ...sorry, what was I talking about?
Low spot was Mick agreeing to conduct the local kids Carol service only to storm off in a fit of creative pique over disputed lyrics. Having sung the number for 40 years he reckoned he should know if Chuck Berry had ever put in a line about a 'Silent Night', or some cat called 'Noel' - I guess it's just as well he didn't get to 'Come All Ye Faithful.... ...not you Jagger"

Bill did little to endear himself to the rest of the band, "Let not a man's grasp exceed his reach" is Bill's motto and his pockets are certainly beyond his modest reach come this time of year. Eschewing the gift spotting potential of the high street stores, he opted instead for the wastelands of the neighbourhood rec. Here he could be found counting down 'prospecting' days to Christmas, equipped with his new ‘Midas 2000 Treasureomatic’ metal detector. I imagine he managed to resource gifts for everyone without once disturbing his wallet – which is more than can be said for the park’s pitches upon which he trespassed. The captain of the team from the ‘Slug and Laptop’ was said to be looking to recruit a couple of Sherpas to his frontline to help navigate the penalty area after Bills excavations. He did take pains to assure me that the provenance for his thoughtful choice for me, a Roman campaign badge minted apparently in the first century reign of the Emperor Adidas, was impeccable. The reason I was not familiar with the Emperor Adidas was on account of not having the Latin according to him. I did feel he might at least have made the effort to wash off the mud and canine deposits, but he says that’s the patina and is what gives it value. Ah well I guess it'll have to share pride of place on my mantelpiece next to last years gift, a rare coin struck I gather in the reign of Budweiser, Queen of the ancient Britons

Peter Jagger
Well back to un- reality, we do hope you can be persuaded to drag yourself out and brave the January freeze to catch us at one of the dates below. For our visit to the 100 Club on the 13th we're particularly pleased to have Peter Jagger doing a support spot, if your coming, do come early to catch his set it's well worth it. If you don't know his music, you're in for a treat, check this link on our site for a profile. http://www.rollinstoned.com/peterjagger.html

Just a quick thank you to all of you who started the Near Year 'Rollin with us at the 100 Club and Bottley Hill Farm. We didn't expect the sell-out notices to go up so soon after Christmas, great for us of course, but I gather there were quite a few disappointed late bookers, sorry about that but we hope to be back at those venues again this year.

We're off to the seaside at the end of the month so we hope to be seeing lots of you Brighton Belles (and no doubt the odd Beaux). Then a quick seven a side at Farnborough Town FC's The Dugout - well 7 on our side, we hope there will be hundreds on yours.

Next month and it's the Black country and another venue new us, Tamworth Assembly Rooms, we've had good reports about it so let's hope there's a midland appetite for more than Slade and Black Sabbath - well at least they should be able to get singer's rollin up stoned eh Sharon - and then, stone me.... is it that time already, only 320 days to Christmas...... yes we're back home in our Putney residence at the Half Moon.

So let's keep up the good attendance record and there may well be a gold star in it for you at the end of the year.