do you sing John Peel?

By Catherine Jones on Oct 24, 08 08:24 AM

Yes, before you ask, it was me singing the chorus to Does This Train Stop on Merseyside on the TV news last night.
I'll get Jane Barrett for that!
We were sitting on the newly-named John Peel Merseyrail train on a journey from Liverpool South Parkway to the city centre, alongside Peel's wife Sheila and three of their kids.
And why were we singing? Because the song, by Liverpool band Amsterdam, was one of the late DJ's favourites. In fact, apparently it used to make him cry.

There was an official ceremony at the parkway interchange featuring Merseyrail management, Sheila Ravenscroft and an acoustic rendition of the song by Amsterdam fronts man Ian Prowse.
Then we all piled on to the platform (regular train users must have wondered what was going on) to wait for the train to pull in, before hopping on board for a second sing-song.
Among the other passengers were John Gorman, looking dapper in a polo neck and patterned shirt, and Andy McCluskey.
They were just sensible and dodged the telly crews!
It was one of those typically diverse Capital of Culture days yesterday.
Later on in the day, I attended the 25th anniversary drinks do at Blackburne House.
Then I headed along to the Philharmonic Hall for the world premiere of Stephen Pratt's new (culture company commissioned) piece Uneasy Vespers part II.
It was a challenging programme, and that was reflected in the attendance - it certainly wasn't full in there. But I was heartened to see the quite substantial numbers of "young" people.
Of course, Stephen Pratt is a university tutor, but I hope even the ones who felt duty bound to attend will have enjoyed their evening.
My review is in tonight's paper.