Ron Dovey, the organiser of past conventions, has these words to say about what all is involved in putting on a Who convention.
When Tom phoned me up out of the blue and told me he was thinking of organising a Who Convention, my first thoughts were those used by his alter ego Mr T “I pity the fool”! but wished him well whilst also telling him that I thought he didn’t realise what hard work it would be, having helped to organise the last 2 Who Conventions in 2003 and 2006 I was well aware what he was letting himself in for, Tom assured me he knew that it wouldn’t all be plain sailing!
One of the things I felt Tom had overlooked was the fact that the 2 Conventions I worked on, I had a lot of help, a small group of us fans, members of the internet group ‘The Shout’ decided to form a working committee and despite all of us being based in various different countries around the world with one member living as far away as Trinidad and Tobago we felt it would not be easy and boy were we proved right in our initial thoughts, on both occasions it was blooming hard work and dedication from all those involved we made it happen...twice, the highlight being in 2006 when Roger Daltrey ‘popped in’ and sang a couple of songs, this with the other brilliant musicians that had agreed to give their time and play was the icing on the cake, when we look back to recall that not only did Roger sing for us, we had other world class performers, Simon Townshend, now a full time member of The Who, the greatest ever rock band in musical history, Bruce Foxton and Mark Brzezicki who had previously played in such iconic bands as The Jam, Big Country and Stiff Little Fingers, arguably the two best Who tribute bands in the world, The Wholigans , based in USA and Canada, who played both conventions and Who’s Who based in the UK. I also had the support of my own Family, Wife Chris and Sons Paul and Keith, without whom I would never have got involved, I remember when Keith (my youngest son and the reason I got thrown out of many a London pub) was charged with selling raffle tickets, it came to light that he had inadvertently sold many for more than the advertised price!
Other luminaries who joined us included, Irish Jack, Dougal Butler, Richard Barnes and original Who drummer Doug Sandom along with members of John Entwistle and Keith Moon’s families.
Our original goal was to organise a get together for Who fans from around the world, it then came to attention that we might just make some money out of this and we discussed what we would do with any profit made, it was a unanimous decision to go with Teenage Cancer Trust a charity that Roger Daltrey was, and still is, heavily involved with and one we also felt was worth supporting.
Tom indicated to me that the TCT would also benefit from this convention along with a trust set up in memory of Meg Fox for her Children; , Meg was just like the rest of us, a Who fan with a family, I had the pleasure of meeting Meg when she attended the last convention in 2006, she was full of life and a complete ‘Who nut’ sadly when Meg returned home to Pennsylvania, she was diagnosed with a pretty rare form of breast cancer, a cancer she vowed to fight. Meg adopted a line from a Rachel Fuller song Shine, “Stand back and watch me shine” Sadly Meg passed away on February 5th 2008 leaving a husband and four children.
I implore all of you reading this to support Tom in this venture, raising money for two very worthwhile causes whilst having the time of your lives attending what I am sure will be another momentous occasion in the history of this band we all love. If you cannot attend, please consider making a donation to one (or both) of the charities that will benefit from this event.
The only thing left for me to say is “GET ON WITH IT”
Ron
Ever since embarking on organising The Who Convention 2010 in January this year, I have always had the reassurance that my good friend Ron Dovey who was involved heavily in organising the two previous events was there to speak to on the phone. Ron has an understanding from experience of what organising such a thing, something that I am learning every day. We go back a few years, most fondly I remember the first time that we met waiting through a crushing crowd of Manic Street Preachers fans while waiting for The Who at the front row of the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival.
Aside from being a truly great bloke and sincere soul, Ron is also someone who's opinion I have always valued, respected and trusted. Both Ron, myself and the other organisers of the 2010 event are custodians of this occasional celebration of The Who, that will have its latest incarnation in October of this year.
I greatly appreciate his ongoing support and counsel. This years event would not be happening unless the necessary apparatus had been put in place by many years of hard work by others over the years.
You may think my shoes are made of leather, but I'm just a substitute for another guy.
Tom Matchett
C/O The Who Convention 2010
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