Sarah and I drove to Newmarket in the morning. Okay, I drove, Sarah was a passenger. Sarah, by the way, is my 18 year old daughter. We arrived at the Rutland Arms Hotel at about 12noon. No sign of our friends. This hotel was where Ron & Ilse van Leeuwen were going to stay, having made their way from Holland on a car ferry. Okay it was a boat, but they could take their car on it. And the ferry only went as far as Harwich. They had to drive from there. At 12.30pm we went back to the hotel to see if they had arrived yet.

Tada!!! Lo and behold, there they were, large as life and ever so friendly. We made our introductions, as we had never met in person before. Okay, I obviously knew Sarah and she knew me, but you know what I mean. Then we went for a stroll around Newmarket town. We had some refreshments in a café, and then made our way to the Newmarket Horse Museum. If you like horses then it was a good museum. Actually it was quite interesting. There were a couple of stuffed horses heads to be seen, loads of paintings and a goodly collection of racing silks.

After that, we strolled (again) back to the hotel, whereupon we partook of yet more refreshments.

Well, it soon reached the time when we should head off to the car park to get in the car and go to the racecourse. So we did. We headed off to the car park and got in the car (we decided to just use one car between us for the journey to and from the racecourse), and went to the racecourse. There must have been something going on there because the car park was filling up quite quickly. With cars. And stretch limousines too.

Anyway, we left the car in the car park at the racecourse (it didn’t have a ticket so it couldn’t go to the concert), and entered the main part of the racecourse. Well, that would have to be the actual course that the horses run on, but we didn’t go on that. We just stayed in the Members Enclosure. This was where the stage was. The stage was on a platform about 10 feet up from the ground inside the main stand. We sat down alongside said platform, and from where we were, we had a good view of the finish post. We could watch our chosen horses romp home in last place. Apart from when we didn’t place any bets, when of course they romped home in first place.

Well, just before the first race of the day, which was the first of 6 races - the last race being the sixth and final race, a certain Mr Fenn came up the stairs next to us and took up a position at the front of the stage, resting on the handrail. Shortly after his appearance, he was joined by Mr Gouldman. No, I don’t mean ‘joined’ as in ‘put back together’ I mean ‘joined’ as in ‘Hello Mr Fenn, may I also lean upon the handrail’. I don’t know if they backed any winners at all. I didn’t ask.

After the first race had finished, as Graham turned to leave the stage, I was there, waiting with pen and CD’s in hand, and I asked him if he would sign them for me. The CD’s, not the pen. He sauntered across to where I was (he does a mean saunter) and as he signed the CD’s (okay, the inlay cards, not the actual CD’s) he was heard to comment ‘Oh well, I’m just going to finish my dinner’ and then he tapped my hand with his. Gasp!!! I haven’t washed it since!

Well, anyway, after the last race had finished and we grumbled and moaned about not having made any financial gain on the day’s racing at all, we slowly ambled (couldn’t saunter, not like Graham) down the stairs to the barrier in front of the stage. Yes, we had front row positions. The announcer announced over the tannoy that it was nearly time for 10cc to take the stage (where would they take it?). The announcer kept on referring to the band as 10cc all day. Not ‘10cc all day’, aahhh you know what I mean!

So, there we were, right in front of the stage, my camera bag on the floor in front of me. We had asked if we were allowed to take photographs of the band. We were told ‘yes’. So we did. But only when the band were on stage. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been photographs of the band.

The announcer did his bit again… ‘Please welcome 10cc’ and the five of them walked out onto the stage. Spike Edney took up his position at the keyboards, Graham took centre stage, Paul Burgess was at the back at his drum kit, and Rick Fenn and Mick Wilson were either side of Graham. Mick Wilson did an awful lot of percussion as well as some fine guitar work and excellent vocals.

The opening song was Wall Street Shuffle. The crowd went wild. The second song was The Things We Do For Love. This got the crowd singing along almost immediately. This was followed by the third song of the evening, which was I’m Mandy Fly Me. For those of you that have bought the DVD or video of the 10cc Alive concert in Japan, you don’t know what you missed.

Bridge To Your Heart was next, and included the obligatory 1 2 1 2 3 4 Hold It count at the start of the song. This was also very well supported vocally by the crowd. How big the audience was I don’t know. I never turned around to look at them.

A trio of Graham’s songs came next, Bus Stop in the lead, followed by Heart Full Of Soul, gallantly trailed by For Your Love. The sight of Spike, Rick, Graham and Mick all playing guitars took me by surprise, really. I had never realised how guitar-reliant that song is. It sounded marvellous.

After those came another singalong in the guise of Good Morning Judge. The audience were wowed by Art For Art’s Sake, which has always been excellent live. I have never seen 10cc or Graham & Friends (no, not Jennifer Aniston & co.) do a straight version of this. It has always been and hopefully always will be, a ‘show stopper’ of a song . Graham indulged himself with Across The Universe. He does love playing that.

From Rochdale To Ocho Rios received rapturous applause from the crowd. Next came I’m Not In Love. All I’ll say is… only Eric should sing this. Sorry Graham.

Dreadlock Holiday came next. This song finished with ‘I don’t like cricket, I love it’ which seemed strange, because whenever 10cc did Dreadlock, they would finish it by inserting the name of the city/town they were playing in for instance ‘I don’t like Birmingham, I love it’ and the crowd would go wild. But then, this wasn’t 10cc, but it was a bloody good tribute band.

Graham led the lads offstage after Dreadlock. The crowd cheered enthusiastically , begging for more. Graham led the lads back onstage. The crowd went wild. Rubber Bullets. This was the highlight of the show, in my humble opinion. Mick supplied brilliant lead vocals, while Rick and Spike had a lot of fun doing guitar and keyboard duets. Graham seemed to just stand back and let them get on with it. The crowd went wild.

Graham led the lads offstage again. The PA started playing some other music, and the audience were left to wander off to the car park and their waiting vehicles, or as some people did, to the bars for more alcoholic consumption. We (the four of us) were disappointed at the non-appearance of Slow Down. Oh well.

We left the Members Enclosure and headed out in the general direction of where we parked the car. Some more refreshments back at the hotel and some continued chatting, the concert providing the main topic of conversation, naturally. Sarah and I eventually bade farewell to our new friends and set off on the A14 back to Rugby. Which was a good thing to do, because that’s where we live.

And that was what I did in Newmarket. I had a fantastic time.