Harbury Folk Club Reports 2003

December 2003

This was my first effort as MC for the Harbury Folk Club and I have to admit that by the end of the evening I was pleased to have got through without having collapsed in a heap. Probably this was as busy as I've ever seen the club when it hasn't been a special guest night such as November. In no particular order we were treated to the talents of John and Stuart, The Harvesters, Margaret and Peter McDonald, Maureen and Janny, half of the Bones family (with Peter donning his gownless evening straps to do the raffle), Double Up, Pete Mason, Rick, Gilly, Keith Donnelly, Pete (yes, yet another one) Grassby, Brian, Ron, the Folk Club choir and some antipodean cousins from Australia called Cloudstreet. If I've missed anyone my apologies and likewise to anyone I missed on the night who may have wanted to sing.

The theme I had chosen was FAMILY. In part this was to reflect that this is a time of year when there is great concentration on family, but as well did not preclude those who wished to interpret this in seasonal fashion and celebrate the first family of Christianity from doing so. Most of the singers were able to find some connection with several seasonal Christmas contributions. Two of the seasonal contributions were sung twice as variations on "The Cherry Tree Carol" and "The Holly and the Ivy", but we also had "the Wexford Carol". Others dug deep into the folk tradition for songs of betrayal and family cruelty that at one point had Keith Donnelly crying loudly into his beer. This still did not deter him from offering his own distinct brand of comedic folk during the evening as well as being the star heckler. The standard of the contributions was as always excellent.

Rounding off the evening were Cloudstreet. Despite enduring some good-natured ribbing about Rugby and the World Cup with some in the club threatening to sing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", they ended the evening in great style and said to me that they would certainly be glad to come back. I'm sure Harbury would love to have them back. The evening ran on to rather later than it normally does which is as much to do with the good time I hope everyone was having as with my inexperience at running the club and having a huge number of performers to try to accommodate, not to mention a couple of encores for Cloudstreet.

In keeping with the theme and the closeness of World AIDS Day to this club date, I chose to focus on the devastating impact on family life of AIDS for the raffle, and of the work UNICEF do with children whose families have been decimated or who have been orphaned because of the pandemic in Africa. The raffle collected £53.10p to forward on to UNICEF (the 10p having liberated itself from someone's purse and found lying around unclaimed). For those interested in knowing more there is a website detailing UNICEF's work at:

http://www.unicef.org/

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Des Patalong

November 2003

There have been many memorable evenings at Harbury Folk Club and November's club will probably rank in the top ten for a long time to come. The theme was "Youth" and we were fortunate enough to have one of Britain's finest young accordionists as our special guest. Harriet Bartlett plays with finesse and almost unbelievable dexterity as well as a maturity that belies her sixteen years. Not only that, but she is also a fine singer and tells some excellent anecdotes. The audience sat spellbound for three quarters of an hour, punctuating each performance with rapturous applause before baying for the obligatory encore. We watched in awestruck amazement as she tackled some complex musical pieces and yet her calm expression showed her to be in complete mastery of her accordion. We can only wait in anticipation to see how her skills develop in the coming years. Her forthcoming CD, produced by Scottish accordion wizard Phil Cunningham, will probably be on the 'wish-list' of everyone who heard her play that night.

Not that the evening was devoid of other talent - far from it. Most other artists applied themselves to the theme through song rather than representing it with their own age! The Harvesters found a suitable song about young apprentices on an epic canal voyage, Des sang of "The Young Brethren" and Pete & Liz Bones were in "Flash Company". Peter Mc played Phil Cunningham's "Golden Memories" on his concertina with his own piano accompaniment on minidisk. Ron tried to convince us he was a "Female Morris man" and then Danansooz (Dan and Susie Bones) followed with the lovely "If I Was A Blackbird", which they had also performed on the previous evening at The Bridgehouse Theatre, Warwick (while supporting another great young artist, Eliza Carthy); Bruce, Rebecca and David sang an atmospheric song about a Wolf cub and Rik brought the first half to a close with "Whistle Daughter, Whistle" and "Some Things That The Grown Ups Just Won't Tell Us".

Harriet's spot in the second half meant that the floor singers had a small mountain to climb in the third spot to retain the audience's interest, but they achieved it with customary zeal. The Harvesters went "Dancing With Nancy", Des followed with a favourite seasonal song about Bonfire Night and Pete Bones returned in solo mode to sing his Trunch Alphabet Song. Peter Mc sang the plaintive "Rosemary's Sister" by Huw Williams and was promptly followed Ron with an intriguing song based on an actual Court case "Regina v Collins". Danansooz came up trumps with "The Flower of Maghrallyo" in which they were accompanied by the virtuoso accordion of Harriet Bartlett. Bruce, Rebecca and David performed a complex three-part French drinking song to perfection and were followed by John and Jonathan with "I Let Time Go By". Pete Grassby was next to the front and sang two songs with guitar accompaniment, perhaps deciding that it would be brave of anyone to play a reed instrument after our guest's performance! Finally, John Kemsley and his singing partner Stuart from Yelvertoft closed a packed night with "Forever Young" and "The First Day At School".

Given that we had a professional guest for the evening, the proceeds of the raffle were offered to Harriet for her expenses (having travelled almost 100 miles each way to play for us), who accepted with gratitude.

There will be a Folk Club on Thursday January 1st, when Pete Bones will be at the helm with the theme of "Colours".

Ian Hartland

October 2003

For the Folk Club session on October 2nd, the theme was Farms and Farming and, although the audience was a little smaller than usual, we had plenty of performers to provide an excellent evening of agri-culture.

I thought that the fine English tune Speed the Plough would be a good way to start the evening so I invited an impromptu band (Ian, Sue, Celia, Liz, Margaret and me) to play a nice, steady version of it.  I could think of no better way of closing the evening, so we played it again at the end, with Pete Grassby joining in too!

I sang a song about a legendary character of the Agricultural Revolution, Captain Swing then started the second half with a protest song aimed at potato growers called Don't slay that potato.  Des sang Harvest Home and Rosebud in June and Peter Mason gave us the Field behind the plough and Billy Taylor.  The Harvesters could do no wrong with a name like that and they revived one of their greatest hits, Dance of the harvest moon, then poked fun at rural life with Country Set.  Ron finished the first half with two rural folk standards Nutting Girl and Derby Ram.

In the second half, Bruce and Rebecca made a welcome return to the club, now with a third member of their acapella group, David.  With total disregard for the theme, they sang songs from Sierra Leone and New Zealand and also the delightful Measure of my heart.  Bob's barbershop quartet, Bianco, get better and better and, a few days before entering a national competition, sang us some tricky arrangements of standards such as Oh you beautiful doll.  Pete Grassby selected the Threshing Machine from his repertoire but then, in the third half, when most people had abandoned the theme, got us to sing along with his Daddy can you see the whale?.

The raffle raised £28 for Cancer Research UK.  The next session of the Folk Club is at 8:30pm on Thursday, November 6th, in the Shakespeare Inn as usual.  Ian will host the evening which has a theme of Youth and will feature a guest appearance by that young wizard of the accordion, Harriet Bartlett.  Only for the young at heart!

Peter McDonald

September 2003

The theme for the September Folk Club was Sports, and Janny, accompanied by Ian on guitar, opened with a "sporting" song called "Man Piaba" by Harry Bellafonte. Jonathan, who we have not seen for a while, followed with a song about a Yorkshire Couple and another about playing Rugby. Susie with Daniel on guitar sang "Farewell to Nova Scotia" and then they played a lovely medley of Irish tunes. Ron sang "Manchester Climber" and then he recited one of his poems (now published in his book!) called "I Wish I Was a Poet". Peter McDonald played his tune for Sue titled "Sioux Heartland", followed by the song "Innocent Hare". Pete and Liz brought an excellent first half to a close with "Daddy Fox" followed by "Weather the Storm". 

The Band of Folk opened the second half with a medley of tunes, "False Trail Waltz" and "Hashmaster's Hornpipe". Rik sang "Bonny Black Hare" followed by another song about Hares, which now seemed to be revised theme for the evening. Ian and Sue gave a rendition of "Bushes and Briars" followed by their "Folk Club Anthem". That old Harbury sport John Kemsley, with Stuart and John Black, gave us "Wild Hooligan" and then had us all singing "Earwig O!" Des closed the second half but Doug's notes do not make any sense from this point onwards. 

Gilly Darbey got us off to a storming third half with a Blues number followed by one of her current favourites. John Black did something about amnesia and we cannot remember what his second rendition was. Ron gave us a final contribution before Jonathan closed the evening in great style with a Richard Thompson number "Vincent Black Lightening". 

The raffle raised a wonderful £31 for G.A.S.S.. The next Folk Club will be on 2nd October, led by Peter McDonald and the theme is Farms and Farming. The November Folk Club, on the 6th, will be led by Ian Hartland and already has a theme Youth.

Janny & Doug Freeman

August 2003

The last time I had the pleasure of running the August Folk Club was a bit of a lean affair as the majority of the regular performers were on holiday so I was a little apprehensive of the same thing happening again.  Fortunately, we had a good turnout this year so I needn't have worried.  The theme was 'Summertime Blues' and, as usual, there were varying tenuous links used by some of the performers to relate songs to the theme.

The first half included San Francisco Bay Blues from Peter McD, Ron Shuttleworth's own version of Will ye go, Lassie, go and ended with a couple of songs from youngsters Alistair and Lizzie (on keyboard and vocals respectively).

The second half began with 2 songs from The Harvesters which both had references to canal life in and around Birmingham.  On the evening before the Folk Club, I had been at a singaround in a pub in Warwick and suggested anyone wishing to come along to Harbury would be most welcome, not really expecting to have anyone taking up my offer.  So I was really pleased to welcome Jane on her first visit to Harbury.  She reluctantly agreed to give us a song which was very well received and I hope she can manage to visit us again in the future.  Suzy and Daniel Bones gave us a couple of songs (always nice to see youngsters at the Club) and the second half was closed by Dave Fry - fresh from his recent performance in front of the Prince of Wales (or was it the Duke of York - can't remember, but he tells me he's playing outside the the Queen and Castle next!).

The third half (it's a Harbury tradition) began with Des Down amongst the dead men followed by Peter McD's own tune Eclipse over Samois on the melodeon.  Dave Fry asked us to Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain and Sue Hartland gave us Summer Time.  The Harvesters sang about being Too young for Morris dancing but too old to Rock 'n' Roll though I couldn't get anyone from Hereburgh Morris to tell me what their minimum age requirement is.

Harbury is well known for its good singing audience so I asked Des to finish the evening by sending us Rolling Home.  The raffle raised £26 which will be going to Cancer Research and we all got rid of our 'Summertime Blues'.  Next month the theme is 'Sport' - so why not be a Sport and come and join us - even better come and give us a song?

Bob Hodgkiss

July 2003

The arrival of the holiday season reduced the numbers attending the Folk Club, unless it was because I was running it!  At least everyone could get in the room and sit down.  Nevertheless it was a successful and diverse mix of performances with power, passion and even progress from some fourteen singers including Rik, Ron, Pete B, Pete G, another Pete, John B, John K, another John, Des, Janny, Stewart, Keith D, Ian and Sue.  John Kemsley made a welcome return from Yelvertoft and introduced Stewart to us, a man with an obvious ear for a medley and audience participation.  The raffle raised 24 GBP and a 10 peseta coin for Cancer Research. This will be my last write up as I have decided to stand down from the Folk Club Hosting Rota.

Bob H will be hosting on August 7th and if it's not too late the theme is "Summertime Blues".

John Black

June 2003

The theme of the 223rd Harbury Folk Club was Sleeping & Dreaming but artistes and audience managed to stay awake and were treated to an evening of absolute delight.

The Harvesters opened with ‘Dreaming America’ followed by a more up tempo ‘One Step Forward’. Pete Mason kept to the theme with ‘I’m a Dreamer and ‘Down where the Drunkards Roll’. Maureen’s ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ had everyone joining in and Des raised the roof with ‘Lowlands Away’ and ‘A Long Time Ago’. Bruce & Rebecca had done their homework and sang ‘Go to Sleep Little Babe’ and ‘Are Ye Sleeping Maggie’. Rick closed the first half with a great version of ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin the Boat’.

The Second half started with Ron singing ‘The Drover’s Dream’ and ‘Li’le Eyes. ’Pete & Liz sang ‘Franklin’ followed by ‘Little Man You’ve had a Busy Day’. Lizzie played guitar and sang ‘Kiss Me’. Peter McDonald sang 2 of my favourites ‘ Knocker Upper Man’ and ‘Captain Swing’. Theresa made a rare and very welcome appearance singing the lovely song ‘Scarlet Ribbons’ and the second half ended with the superb trio from Oxford, Three Pressed Men, who delighted us all with their versions of ‘The Eynesham Poacher and ‘The Grey Funnel Line’.

The third half commenced with ‘Rosebud in June’ sung by Des. Janny entertained us next with ‘Jenny Slept’ and ‘Hush-a-bye’. Late comer, Pete Grassby sang ‘Fable of the Wings’ and ‘The Mermaid & the Seagull’. Peter McDonald sang about love in the Launderette and Three Pressed Men finished the evening with lots of tunes on concertinas and the song ‘George Fox’.

The raffle raised £23.00 and is contributing to my sponsor money for the Race for Life which I am taking part in on June 29th.

Were we dreaming? No it was all for real and free! Why don’t you join us at The Shakespeare on the first Thursday of the month?

Sue Hartland

May 2003

During a recent impromptu sing song with some friends from the folk club, we surprised ourselves at how many of the songs we were singing actually came from musicals such as South Pacific, Oklahoma and of course, the ubiquitous Sound of Music. It therefore seemed a good idea at the time to have "Musicals" as the theme of a forthcoming folk club.

No sooner had I announced this theme than I started to have serious reservations. As the evening approached I became less and less certain that I had chosen the subject wisely, and relented to adopting the theme of "Musicals and Spring".

I need not have worried, as the crowd which filled the Garden Room of the Shakespeare to overflowing, proved once again to be willing to have a go at any subject. We were treated to items from Cats, Sound of Music, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, and numerous other musicals and a superb atmosphere developed.

I won't name all those who took part as there were too many, but they all did a great job and thanks very much. I must however mention that one of the many highlights of the evening was the rendering of "Doh a Deer" sung by Maureen, Janny and Celia. This was done in 4 languages, namely English, Dutch, French and Boozers!

It was also good to welcome Zoe James from Ladbroke who has never performed at the club before, and Bruce and Rebecca, who have taken part as members of a community choir, it was their first time as a duet. We hope we will see and hear more of them in the future.

It was also good to be touch with some old faces from the past. Mike Putnam turned up, and in his unforgettable style forgot some of his words, but nonetheless entertained us superbly. We also had a live telephone link with John Kemsley, but the amplifier, microphone and phone failed abysmally, However Peter Mc did a great job of performing an impromptu interview with him and conveyed John's unrelenting enthusiasm to us all.

In summary it was another great Folk Club.  Many thanks to all who took part, and also to Carole and Andrew who made us so welcome, and served us such quality beer!

The raffle raised a handsome £40.00 and being just before Christian Aid Week, that was the charity.

Don't forget the next folk club will be on the first Thursday of the month, starting at 8:30pm in the Garden Room of the Shakespeare.

Peter Bones

April 2003

The theme for April's Folk Club was simple enough: "Surprise Us!" Perhaps the first surprise was the comparatively small number of singers and musicians that turned up. Still, what we lacked in quantity, we more than made up for in quality. The Harvesters opened with me surprising myself with an unaccompanied, traditional song and Sue followed the "The Leaboy's Lassie". Brian followed with two Scottish fiddle tunes and then Peter McD. took up the challenge with the excellent "Corvette Song" about a surprise purchase and then a favourite Huw Williams' song. Rik took to the stage next with, to everyone's surprise, "When You Wish Upon A Star". Then, to complete the surprise, he demonstrated a very high level of virtuosity on the harmonica. Martin from Warwick was up next with an unaccompanied version of an Emerson, Lake and Palmer song, and very nice it was too. He then gave us "Déjà vu", which he may have already performed. Pete Bones completed the first set with a Ralph McTell song about a Mermaid and then the ever-popular "Bundling Song".

The second half began with Keith Donnelly with his new song "Voodoo Blues" and then the curiously-titled "Bonzo The Dog-Faced Boy". It all made perfect sense to us, though. Janny decided to sing a Les Barker poem to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and it worked to perfection. John Black was next to perform with the excellent "When Will I Ever Be Simple Again?" and then a song called "The King Of Bohemia". Now that the musicians had all performed, it was time to go around again. The Harvesters gave "The Two Magicians" an airing and Brian followed with a couple of Morris Tunes. The Rik told us about a "Greasy Cook", Peter Mc "Struck It Right This Time" and Pete Grassby closed the set with "The Kangaroo" and an impressive new self-penned song about a whale. The third set brought Martin back for another spot with a song about Earl Grey tea, John provided a couple of fiddle tunes and Pete Grassby closed proceedings with a song about a true surprise, "All His Other Wives Came In" with enthusiastic accompaniment from the audience.

It was another excellent night of well-chosen and well-rehearsed acoustic songs and we consider ourselves fortunate to attract so many talented singers and musicians to The Shakespeare every month. We collected £33.00 for Myton Hospice from the proceeds of the raffle, which surprisingly did not feature the obligatory bottle of wine. The next Folk Club will be on 4th June with John Black at the helm.

Ian Hartland

March 2003

The topical theme for the 220th session of the Folk Club, on March 6th, was 'War and Peace', and proved to be an inspiration for many of the performers although it did inevitably mean that there wasn't quite as much humour as usual.  However, we also reflected that it was almost exactly 10 years since the Club celebrated its 100th session in the Old New Inn, an occasion which, thankfully, was recorded on tape for nostalgia enthusiasts like me.

I started the evening with a tune written for our own Doctor John and that was followed by Daniel and Susie with Recruited Collier and Flesh and Blood from the repertoires of Kate Rusby and Mary Black respectively.  Brian, as usual, selected his fiddle tunes carefully for the theme and Pete Mason did likewise with his songs, including the moving The Band played Waltzing Matilda.  The women were strongly in evidence on this occasion, some singing solo for a change - Janny with a rarely-heard Tom Paxton song, The Thought Stayed Free, Liz with Daughters of the Revolution, Lizzie making a very accomplished debut with Champagne Supernova, Maureen with that beautiful song Song for Ireland and Sue Harris with Huw Williams' Rosemary's Sister.  Janny, Maureen, Ian and Pete B teamed up to perform that famous anti-war song Last Night I had the Strangest Dream. 

February 2003

The theme for the night was ‘winter’ and the Band of Folk opened with a tune that had nothing to do with winter, but their second tune Barbecue Hornpipe at least looked forward to the warmer times to come.  Rick followed singing two ‘miserable’ songs: Hard Love and Waltzing’s for Dreamers.  Pete & Liz sang High Germany and then The Trees they do grow high, and Brian played Winter by Vivaldi followed by Cold Ground.  Peter McDonald finished the first half with Punch & Judy Man and The Glencoe Massacre.  After that lot we all needed an uplifting drink.

More and more people had come in and were trying to find seats when the second half started.  Dave Fry sang Keep your Distance and Don’t think Twice.  Daniel and Susie gave a lovely rendition of Hedgerow and Rocking a Baby, and then Ian and Sue had us in stitches with Sue’s Winter Drawers.  Polly sang You've got a friend and April to September.  Sean Cannon surprised us with a visit and treated us with two excellent songs, the names of which we forgot to write down.

The third half began with everybody singing Happy Birthday to John Hancock.  The room was now full to capacity, and we panicked, as we knew that if we continued with two numbers per performer we would still be there in the early hours of the morning.  We reluctantly had to limit the remaining performers to one number, and we thank Ron, Peter Mason, Pam, and Des for their excellent contributions.  The formal part of the folk club finished around 11pm with a final number from Sean, but then a small group of musicians continued with their own impromptu session.

The raffle raised a magnificent £40 for Harbury Scouts.  Thank you all very much.  The next Folk Club is on Thursday 6th March, and will be hosted by Peter McDonald.  The theme is War and Peace.

Doug & Janny

January 2003

All the regulars (plus a few new faces) gathered at the Shakespeare on January 2nd for the first Folk Club of 2003. The theme for the month was 'Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue', giving all the performers plenty of scope. The Harvesters got the evening off to a good start with two of their self-penned songs, Never Again (maybe a New Year's resolution for some of the audience) and Lavender and Lilac. The rest of the first half saw performances by Ric, Ron, Peter Mason and 'B and Co' (a barbershop quartet led by our MC for the evening). We were also treated to the fine guitar playing and lovely voice of Daniel and Susie Bones.

The second half began with the Folk Club Choir (there seemed to be more performers than audience at this point) who gave us the songs they performed at the Christmas Eve Carol Service (lovely sound - no wonder they get a regular spot in the church). Pete and Liz Bones reminded us where their children get their musical talents from and Peter McDonald showed us his skill on the piano with his Variations on a theme (reminiscent of a similar item performed years ago by Dudley Moore - and equally well played).

It's always nice to see new performers at Harbury and this month saw Polly giving her first public performance in the third half. Now she has got over that first hurdle, let's hope she returns for more. The third half also saw more from Des, Ron, Peter and 'B and Co' and, before you knew it, it was time to finish. So the Harvesters gave us one last song and we all made our way home having had a wonderful evening's entertainment. The room had been absolutely packed, all adding to the atmosphere. The raffle raised £34 for Cancer Research.

We'll all be back next month (Thursday, 6th February) when Doug & Janny will be the hosts. The theme is 'Winter' - so get there early or you might be left out in the cold.

Bob Hodgkiss