Last updated: 04 Jan 2008
| December 2000 | 'Victorian Music Hall' | Ian | 193 |
| November 2000 | 'MAD' | Peter M | 192 |
| October 2000 | Guest: Broadway | Mike | 191 |
| September 2000 | 'Autumn' | Sue | 190 |
| August 2000 | ? | Bob | 189 |
| July 2000 | 'EuroFolk 2000' | John | 188 |
| June 2000 | Themeless | Pete B | 187 |
| May 2000 | 'Walls' | Peter M | 186 |
| April 2000 | 'The Body' | Ian | 185 |
| March 2000 | 'Woe and Misery' | Mike | 184 |
| February 2000 | 'Hearts and Flowers' | Sue | 183 |
| January 2000 | 'First time for everything' | Bob | 182 |
It may be hard to imagine the back room of The Dog Inn as a Victorian Music Hall, but that was the theme of the December Folk Club. Given the dreadful weather, it was heart-warming that anyone turned up at all, but arrive they did, many having taken time and trouble to dress the part and pitch into the theme with enthusiasm and humour.
Soon the songs of such Music Hall legends as Harry Champion and Marie Lloyd filled the room and got the audience nicely warmed up. The opening spot fell to The Harvesters with Waiting at the Church and I'm Hennery the Eighth, I am. Next up was Rick exhorting Dad not to ....jump off the roof! and then describing The Houses in Between. Steve Darby came well prepared with jokes and songs by his hero, Max Miller, and proved admirably inspired.
Political correctness was not a prerequisite of Music Hall performers and we were pleased to observe the tradition. Pete Bones (without the temporarily voiceless Liz) gave vent to melancholia with his rendition of Ellen Vannin and then recited his favourite Christmas poem from Trunch. Mike followed with instructions to be kind to your web-footed friends, which was appropriate in view of the deluge outside. Keith brought the first half to a fitting climax with a tribute to Grimaldi, The Happiest Man in the World and a new and hilarious song Flip-flopping.
The Second Half opened with Where Did You Get That Hat? from The Harvesters, followed by Des who was first Down Below and then singing a medley of festive offerings from the Kipper Family. Steve and Maureen gave their, by now legendary, Flanagan and Allen medley and had the whole room singing and swaying. Ron, immaculately turned out in frock coat, gave us the story of Pretty Little Polly Perkins and Ain't it All a Bloomin' Shame, both from the earlier days of the Music Hall. Celia read three 'improving' poems from a Victorian children's book, including Romping and The Selfish Snail - excellent, and in the true spirit of Music Hall diversity. Rick gave a festive Sam and his Musket monologue and Keith closed the half with My sister and Laura and me, a plaintive song that had everyone joining in.
The Final Half saw Mike extolling the virtues of Cushie Butterfield, Des with another 'Kipper' wassail song, Steve rounding off his triumphal evening with more Max Miller, Ron with Villikins and his Dinah and The Harvesters with the Marie Lloyd favourite Don't Dilly Dally.
Despite modest numbers in the room, the raffle raised a creditable £30 for Myton Hamlet Hospice. Special thanks must go to Doug and Janny for supplying Dutch chocolates for raffle prizes to supplement the customary wine.
On behalf of the Folk Club, may I wish all our audience, and potential attendees on the first Thursday of every month, a prosperous and musical (though not necessarily in that order) New Year.
Ian Hartland
The Folk Club went MAD on November 2nd! We decided that our charity raffle should be in aid of Harbury's 'Make a Difference' project and to adopt madness as our theme for the evening. No change there, then.
Actually, the madness was very low key despite the fact that it was National Curry Day. We were all very reserved and we made subtle, intellectual references to madness in our songs and tunes, rather than dressing up in crazy outfits and performing outrageous stunts. The humour was still there but it wasn't zany.
We hadn't seen Pam for several months but she was very topical with "What have we done to the rain?" and Colin wrongly guessed the theme with his "Halloween Song". I performed the puzzling "Whistling Monologue" (but at least I didn't slip up on the lyrics) while Brian played "Whistling Rufus" after reminiscing about his childhood in Harbury. Ron was in cracking form and had us in stitches with "No, No, a Thousand Times No" and Des put on his spooky voice to give us the mysterious "Bedlam Boys" which really is a story of madness. John engaged the assistance of his intriguing electric fiddle and effects unit for "Blind Step Away", Mike (resplendent in colourful braces, bandanna and funny specs) lead us through the "Music Man", Celia bravely played a couple of tunes on her sideboard (thinly disguised as a continental Hohner melodeon) and the Harvesters included their poignant song about a particular form of madness, "Lavender and Lilac".
Despite the modest numbers, the raffle raised an amazing £54 for MAD and Marion Millington was there to accept the donation and to tell us a bit more about the projects. The next session of the Folk Club is on December 7th, at 8:30pm in the Dog, when Ian will be hosting a Victorian Music Hall night.
Peter McDonald
October's Folk Club didn't have a theme for a change, but returned to the old format of a special guest in the third half - none other than the fabulous 'Broadway'. We have seen this barber shop quartet go from strength to strength over the last few years and they were on top form this time with eight songs.
Prior to the guest spot most of the regulars were there and we had fine songs, tunes, and poems, from: Pete & Liz, Peter McDonald, John Black, Ron, Dez and. New faces appeared in the form of the fabulous Raymondo Brothers to give another first for the Club with African drum accompaniment to two lyrical songs.
There's always a surprise at the Harbury Folk Club and it costs nothing to get in. The raffle raised £27 towards the Swimathon 2000 appeal which took place the following Sunday.
December's Folk Club has the theme of Victorian Music Hall, hosted by Ian Hartland, so come prepared.
Mike Putnam
The theme for the 190th Folk Club was Autumn. As usual some performers take the theme more seriously than others, Sue & Ian who opened the evening with their songs "The Busker" and "Where are you Now?" tend to ignore the theme altogether! Peter McDonald sang "The Old Camarthen Oak" which probably mentions Autumn, and if it doesn’t, oak leaves fall off in Autumn don’t they?
Des sang "Shallow Ground" which we all joined in with; Jenny plucked her harp delightfully and then accompanied Gilly to finish the first half with "O Waly, Waly".
The second half kicked off with John Black singing something about a Hedgehog, followed by a fine rendition of "Renadine" from Maggie. Ron was in fine voice with "3 Jovial Huntsmen". It was a pleasure to see Jonathon from Warwick Folk Club who sang "Who knows where the time goes". The Katherine Fear Band played a medley and Keith Donnelly closed the second half singing "Seasons" which actually fitted the theme!
Mike continued the theme in the 3rd half with "Song for Autumn" and Gilly was spot on with "Autumn Leaves". Keith Adams played a tune on mandolin and Margaret followed with a song. Ian & Sue closed the evening with "Bring out the old Songs" which has a whole verse devoted to Autumn.
The raffle raised £30 for The Royal Brompton & Harefield N.H.S. Trust for their continuing research into heart disease. Thank you to everyone.
Sue Hartland
July was EuroFolk 2000 for Harbury Folk Club and as such a euro-theme could have been anticipated after several months notice of the event. No one volunteered to represent a particular country so Terry (JB) and the lovely Judith (Doug) joined by Antoine (Nick) set the scene for the evening.
The rules were simple, a brief musical clue had to be guessed by the audience and then a performer was selected to represent that country with a brief introduction given by Terry. This seemed straight forward to some but confusing to others. Des pleaded that he did not know any Norwegian sea shanties; Rick said he was not Russian; Sue thought she'd arrived on the wrong night and Peter suddenly aspired to be French! The electronic Eurofolkometer helped to select the evening's winners. Third place went to Mike Putnam for dancing in a foreign language, Second place went to Ron representing Bulgaria singing in French, Welsh and other disguised tongues, but the undisputed winner was Janny. She sang a Delightful Dutch Ditty that had us doubled up, but did not bear translation and she won the wonderful prize of assorted Foreign currency soon to become collectors items with the advent of the euro !!
I may or may not get to run an evening again but I enjoyed myself, thank you to all those that sang and played and to the audience for guessing the clues.
John Black
If I am honest, I did not have a clue what to select as a theme for the Folk Club meeting of June 1st. I therefore took the easy way out and had a "themeless" evening. This turned out to be very successful as many of the regulars appeared to seize it as an opportunity to perform their favourite material without having to contrive some connection to a specific theme.
It is a folk club custom that the host starts the evening’s entertainment. This evening was no exception as Liz and I started off with a couple of well known songs with choruses, during which the audience proved themselves to be in fine voice. This was followed by fine contributions from Ron Shuttleworth, Ian & Sue, and Rick Saunders before Emma Freeman and Lizzie Darby, both being daughters of old folkies, delighted us with the beautiful playing of two duets for the flute. The first half was brought to a close by Peter McDonald singing "The Lights of Home" which is a song comprising lyrics written by the former member of the club Gerda Pickin, set to the haunting tune of Slockit Lights.
The second half started with another daughter of old folkies taking to the stage. This time it was Susie Bones who with Liz and Sue Hartland sang a three-part harmony of the Eriskay Love Lilt. I might be biased but I thought they were brilliant. This was followed by Keith Adams singing a couple of songs, the debut of Brian from the Low Key Folk club in Warwick who played a couple of tunes on a borrowed fiddle, Des, who is always one of my favourite artistes and Mike. The second half was then brought to an end with the barber shop quartet Broadway who beforehand had unintentionally entertained many non folk club pub goers by rehearsing avidly just outside the gents.
The third and final half of the evening included a couple of songs from Maggie, who gave us the sad news that the music sessions she had been running in Cubbington were now no more. There were also more items from Peter McDonald, Des, Ron, Keith and Ian and Sue who competently rounded off the evening in their own inimitable style. The whole evening was again very pleasant and relaxing.
Many thanks to those who took part and also to the landlord and landlady of the Dog Inn, Steve and Yvonne, who are continuing the tradition of extending a warm welcome to the folk club. The raffle raised £26.50 which went to help the funding of the carnival float which the Dog Inn entered into the carnival procession.
The next meeting will be on August 3rd when Bob Hodgkiss will be the host. As usual, it will in the back room of the Dog and start at 8.30 pm.
Pete Bones
For the Folk Club session on May 4th, I inherited the theme of 'Walls' from Ian who had deputised for me the month before. I decided not to attempt Mike's achievement of a rhyming report because it might get me into trouble.
A slightly smaller than usual audience gathered within the four walls of the Dog Inn to witness the entertainment from a slightly smaller than usual group of singers and musicians. Much to my surprise, there were no songs about sausages or ice cream. No, those performers who exploited the theme pretty much stuck to walls in the building sense or at least with some metaphorical connection. To start the evening, I was able to find two songs that mentioned the subject but others expected us to use our imagination a bit more. Jenny established a connection with Hadrian's Wall for her two harp tunes (the second an original composition), Des brought us the news that "Babylon is fallen", Ron came up trumps with a reminder of where you hang ten green bottles and the Harvesters had an appropriate song, "The writing on the wall". Keith A played some tunes on the mandolin but Keith D didn't. Instead, he surprised us all by singing two songs with barely a wise-crack in between! I can't remember their 'wall' connections, nor Gilly's, but no one really cared when she sang "Answer Me" so beautifully towards the end of the evening.
Despite the modest numbers, the raffle raised a terrific total £55.10 towards the 'music memorial fund', in memory of James Thistlethwaite. The next session of the Folk Club is on July 6th, at 8:30pm in the Dog, when the new member of our compering team, John Black, will be hosting an evening with a Euro flavour.
Peter McDonald
April’s Folk Club (number 185 for potential archivists) had as its theme ‘The Body’. Although set by Peter McDonald, unforeseen events prevented his attendance and I headed into the vacant spot. Armed with appropriate songs, a small but select band legged it into the back room of The Dog Inn. A white-knuckle experience faced us all, but we eyed the challenge with relish. A first-half handful of The Harvesters "Clockwatching", Colin Squire watching the walls (coincidentally next month’s theme), Des finding "Shallow Ground", Keith Donnelly advising "Don’t Moon at a Werewolf" and Rick "Sunbathing" provided a hair-raising earful of songs, just what was knee-ded by the audience. Elbowing back the first break, Ron led by a neck into the second spot with a fishy tale and thumbed through his repertoire to give us his song of St. George. Jenny’s deft fingers plucked sweet music from her harp; her self-penned second tune suitably titled "Twitchy Toes". In a different vein Keith A. gave us two mandolin instrumentals and was followed by Maggie with "The Lowlands of Holland" and "The Night Visiting Song". Des returned to put his heart into "The Alabama’s Crew" and Colin got his teeth into "Yarmouth Town".
A further break followed to sate thirsts and the third period saw the raffle make a creditable £26 for the Helen Ley Home. John and Nick (Phil & Drill) ribbed us with "Every Inch a Lady" and a song of such gynaecological detail that the chorus would have de-feeted even the most medical brain. The Harvesters lunged into "Moon in a Bottle" and handed over to Mike who muscled us into spanking nuns before going "On Again, On Again". Jenny nailed down another Irish tune on her harp and Keith A. played two polkas. Maggie then followed with the "Bogie’s Bonny Belle", and Keith D. closed proceedings with (I think) "How I Kneed you Deer", if the compulsory actions were to be believed. A real shin-dig came to a satisfactory close before we all heeled over and left instep. Be ‘forearmed’ that the Club will be back next month, run by Pete Bones.
Ian Hartland
We had some jolly morbid songs from Maggie, Ron & Rick,
and Putnam’s song of murder would have left you feeling sick,
but then the evening brightened, it brightened quite a lot,
when Keith sang us another song - whose title I forgot.
The Harvesters stuck to the theme, they didn’t have to try,
and Peter Mac did justice, to the song "Some people cry".
John Black, he gave us all a laugh, with "House of the rising what?"
But as for all his other songs, I’m sorry, I forgot.
And so performers came and went, it gave us all good cheer,
when Peter, Keith and Jilly had us crying in our beer,
Jenny played the Celtic harp, we want her back, that’s plain,
but I forgot to get her number - it’s that wretched theme again.
At last a happy song from Dez, it really saved the day,
and Jenny played the encore, and sent us on our way.
There’s a tip for all you folkies, I’ve found the best theme yet.
Forget about the others - just forget, forget, forget.
Mike Putnam
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