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He’s faced some tough crowds over the years from rowdy Maze Prison guards to thousands at the Gills but Doug Hudson has taken it all his stride.
The 66-year-old musician, writer, presenter and comedian, who is among the organisers for the annual Sweeps Festival which takes place this weekend in Rochester, has made a living stepping out on stage his whole life, in one guise or another.
He started a band to fit with his stand-up comedy show in 1992 and still plays with his band the Hot Rats. He is a familiar face to many who may not even know about his musical life, as he is the larger-than-life PA announcer for Gillingham Football Club, facing a crowd of thousands each week.
The well-travelled former Gillingham Grammar School boy, who has a degree in Russian, an eye for art and has written folk music news for What’s On for more than 30 years, has always been a performer – he even did a spot of naked modelling for art classes in his younger days. “If you don’t mind everyone looking at you, it’s all right really,” he said.
His involvement with the Sweeps Festival, which started in 1981, came about from his local and music knowledge. “I used to drink in the pubs so could say which band would work where,” he said. “I love being involved in the Sweeps Festival. Gradually it has got bigger and bigger and bigger.
“It is so well managed by Medway Council. We have managed to hang on to it. It’s really good for the town.
“We’ve had some big bands over the years, including Steeleye Span and Lindisfarne. They were put up overnight at what was then the Norman Conquest pub and ended up doing a private gig. It’s great when things like that happen.”
He also enthuses about the morris dancing and congratulates the younger sides coming in. The Sweeps takes up his year from September to March, while he then turns his attention to the Broadstairs Folk Festival. He is also on the committee for that and has played there every year since 1975.
Now a Broadstairs local, having moved from his long-time Medway home to the seaside town recently, he said: “It’s a big musicians’ place. It’s also quite a young town. It’s full of foreign students and it’s quite a vibrant place.”
And in between this, he squeezes in his time with the Gills, which started more than 28 years ago, almost accidentally.
“We were doing this song and I knew where Damien Richardson, who was a player at the time, lived in Rainham and I just went and knocked on his door. We became pretty good mates and he came to some of our gigs. He was made manager in 1989 and it was then that he asked me to do the PA. He got sacked later as manager... but I’ve been there now for 28 years!
“It has been really good fun. I don’t take it too seriously. I am a supporter and I love Gills fans, but mostly it’s a perpetual sense of disappointment. I’m on the pitch so people do recognise me. I still really enjoy it even though quite often it’s bad news.”
Whether in front of the Gills crowd or a rowdy audience, he’s always performing – these days still fitting in around 200 gigs a year.
He said: “I have managed to get away with it since 1978, apart from two years teaching at a school in Medway. Even when you’re tired, as soon as I get there I want to do it. I once did a gig at the Maze Prison in Belfast back in 1990 at their social club. It did take a lot of nerve. But I’ve got that.”
And does he have his eye on any other gigs?
“I like cricket and I quite fancy being the PA announcer at Kent Cricket Club, actually. If I could sit around in that box for three days saying “the next batsman is...” that would be great.”
