Comedy duo’s festival fun in Wigan

Bryn Masonic Hall is again the venue for this wonderfully eccentric and hilarious spectacle to which Wiganers young and old are invited.

As has become the custom, one highlight of the tribute to Stan and Ollie is to have a quiz on the pair based on popular TV game shows. This year Who Wants to be a Millionaire gets the L&H touch.

And if last year’s Pointless take-off is to go by, technical wiz Jack Winstanley will be replicating the show down to a T - with the possible exception of the prize money!

There is footage too of an episode from the early 1990s of a Bob Monkhouse’s $64,000 Question while Jack’s dad Gary, Grand Sheikh of the Dirty Work “tent” (each branch of the international fan club is named after one of the Boys’ films), will show a film of the 2019 Sons of the Desert UK convention which was held in Haydock in May.

He will also screen a documentary he made about the history of the Sons which was first shown at the convention.

There will be viewings of several of Laurel and Hardy’s films, Eric Woods’s popular quiz returns, there’s a raffle, and the annual world Kneesy Earsy Nosy championships in which contestants perform a co-ordination trick, perfected by Stan Laurel, in front of a panel of judges who gradually eliminate them until a winner is declared.

There are also plans to hold a Sons of the Desert referendum, the nature of which is currently shrouded in secrecy, although organisers are keen to stress that it has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

Gary said: “It promises to be another great annual event.

“You don’t have to be a paid-up member of the Sons to be a part of this. Anyone, young or old, can come along and have a fun day with the world’s greatest comedy double act.”

It was in 1992 that the Sons first held their festival in Wigan and over the years has attracted national media attention and a number of celebrities including Hollywood star Jean Darling and Ronnie Hazelhurst and his Orchestra.

The doors open at 12.30pm for a 1pm start at the hall on Bryn Road and carries on all afternoon and into the early evening. Admission is just £5.