A unique club has celebrated its fifth birthday.
The Carlisle tent (or branch) or the Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society celebrated its fifth birthday this month.
The society is chaired by Grand Sheik George Cullen, who also supplied the grand feast for the event.
The event saw Them Thar Hills, Tit For Tat, County Hospital and Twice Two being screened, and a cake was made just for the occasion.
George explained that the society is pretty much what it says on the tin.
"It's just local people who get together in a pub - some people drink, and some people don't, and we just have a good natter and watch a couple of films, and just try to keep the memory of Laurel and Hardy going."
While the memory may be fading in our broader society, this group is keeping it going.
A relic of way back when, George explained that Laurel and Hardy typically attract an older audience these days - however he's an exception to that trend.
Reviving the society back in 2017 at the young age of 20, he has taken the role of Grand Sheik seriously.
This is, however, just one 'tent' of the society, which spans across the country in various other 'tents', and each are named after a Laurel and Hardy film, with the Carlisle one being called Them Thar Hills.
Tents can choose any film they like to attribute their tent name to, except for one - Sons of the Desert - which is used as a collective term for the whole society across all tents.
On what Laurel and Hardy means to him, he said: "To me it means the world.
"From when I was six or seven it was my mum's ex partner who sat me down to watch this old black and white film.
"It was from this moment that I was hooked.
"Growing up, my mum went to the local library to get DVDs of Laurel and Hardy films, but it expanded to incorporate ornaments, posters, and other memorabilia."
It expanded so much that he's got a storage unit costing him £80 a month with roughly 45 boxes of merchandise.
"I have colleagues and friends who don't get it, but I love originality of those films."
The Society meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the Carlisle Ex-Services Mens Club on Albert Street.
Here's to another five years!
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