Shaun Says: Football shirts, jury service and great gigs

At work, it’s been a busy but steady week, which has ended with me given a special project which is an exciting new challenge.

I’ve been called up for Jury Service. Oh.

In the 38 years that I’ve been eligible I’ve never been called up, and I was starting to think that I might never have to do my jury service, but the letter arrived, along with a lovely new football shirt (more on that later). I read through the instructions, and after a couple of days procrastination I replied online, and I now have my date and place.

I’m a little nervous to be honest, I know lots of people who have served on a jury, they tell the story of long days waiting around for nothing to happen, to being kept on for longer than planned, to being dismissed early. I’d like to get the time period out of the way, perform my duty to the best of my ability, and then hopefully spend the rest of my days not being called again.

I’m determined to go into the process with no preconceptions, ready to take each day as it comes. Obviously, I won’t be able to go into any detail, but I will give a general review of the process.

Thursday night was the second monthly Big Shaun Experience Comedy Club at the Fat Cat pub, on the morning we were struggling with ticket sales, and obviously this was concerning to the pub and to me. I posted a video message on social media, bared my soul, and explained that we know it’s summer, times aren’t great financially, but we have an opportunity to turn this into a really good night, that both acts and audience really look forward to being a part of. But it’s essential that we convert likes, and post sharing, into sales. The bottom line is, use it or lose it.

We more than double our ticket sales in the afternoon, and we had a fantastic night, a packed house, the acts, Kane Bruce from Middlesborough, James Carnall from Sheffield and Lee Pollard from Barnsley, all delivered killer sets which had the crowd howling with laughter.

Next month’s is Thursday July 31. Tickets available within the next week.

And finally. The football Shirt, it’s from a company called Red Molotov, they make all kinds of clothing, with inspiration coming from films, music, and political history. My new shirt is dark blue, with NHS emblazoned on the front with a rainbow bar, and on the back, the name ‘BEVAN’ and number ‘48’. Marking the birth of our NHS. I love it.