THE PRODUCERS

Cled Griffin (left) has been producing Home Electronic Organ & Keyboard Festivals since 1980.  In fact he was the first to produce residential festivals of this type in the UK.

 The first one was at Pontin's Barton Hall, Torquay, in December 1980. and they continued there until 2002 when the venue was developed for adventure holidays for youngsters.

From 2003 the annual events took place at the Lyme Bay Leisure Resort at Seaton in Devon, which was part on the Hollybush Hotel Group under the brand name: Martyn's Leisure Breaks.

When Tesco bought the Seaton site in 2008 the events moved to Sand Bay, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

A pilot X Factor event was held at Lyme Bay and proved to be exciting because it gave guests an opportunity to show their talent.  In 2010 the feature is being developed to give more opportunities to those who want the thrill of performing live on stage.   The feature will supplement the Keyboard Cabaret weekend to give even more entertainment for guests.

 Ian Griffin (left) is Britain's award winning keyboard player.  He first appeared on BBC 1 television at the age of twelve in Crackerjack Young Entertainers and was voted back a second time by the studio audience.

In 1981 Ian was voted the best player under the age of 18 by the readers of the Keyboards and Music Maker magazine.  When the magazine invited him to play at their Spring in Spain Keyboard Festival he appeared on Spanish Television.

Ian has the gift of perfect pitch which is a great asset when it comes to playing for singers.

In the mid 1990's Ian was the musical director on a series of shows produced by HTV (Wales) called 'Friday Night Live'.   It was a regional talent show with celebrities as judges.   One of the judges was Hughie Green (right) of 'Opportunity Knocks' - it was his last appearance on British television before he died in May 1997 at the age of 77,

On the 'Friday Night Live' talent show Ian played live for all the contestants in front of a studio audience- it was an early form of the X Factor except that the celebrity judges decided  on the winner.  

More details about Ian can be found on his website:
www.iangriffin.org

Ian's photograph is by courtesy of the South Wales Evening Post.