Last updated: 04 Jan 2008
| December 2006 | 'Goodwill' | Peter M | 265 |
| November 2006 | 'Passion' | Des | 264 |
| October 2006 | 'Memory' | Doug & Janny | 263 |
| September 2006 | 'Wind and Rain' | Ian | 262 |
| August 2006 | Singaround | Pete B | 261 |
| July 2006 | 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief' | Steve & Maureen | 260 |
| June 2006 | 'Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' | Sue | 259 |
| May 2006 | 'Down Memory Lane' | Peter M | 258 |
| April 2006 | 'Alpha & Omega' | Des | 257 |
| March 2006 | 'Poets & Plays' | Doug & Janny | 256 |
| February 2006 | 'Time' | Ian | 255 |
| January 2006 | 'Battles & Booze' | Pete B | 254 |
I had wondered if the Christmas session of the Folk Club on December 7th might be poorly supported with fewer than usual performers. How wrong I was! By the time we started the music promptly at 8:30pm, the Garden Room of the Shakespeare was full and the singers’ list had reached its limit. There followed three packed sessions during which 26 performers entertained an appreciative and good-humoured audience until rather late.
The theme of “Goodwill” (it being the season of) was interpreted in many ingenious ways (or ignored with a variety of excuses) and the whole evening had a lovely seasonal feel to it. Summer found a good will in “Willy went to sea” and another in “Auld Lang Syne” (to its original, much nicer tune) while Pete & Liz discovered a favourable legacy in “Granny’s Armchair”. The Harvesters reminded us that “Winter draws on” (with a few inexplicable titters from the audience), Debbie and Janny formed a new partnership to bring us a couple of Dutch children’s songs, Rik sang “All the chickens in the garden” (though I can’t remember why) and Ron gave us the “Gloucester Wassail”, a custom which relies on goodwill. Newcomer Gren sang and played Nic Jones’ “Barrack Street” beautifully and it was a shame that time constraints prevented us from hearing more from him. I included Les Barker’s poem “Voicemail” which illustrates the goodwill extended to us by the call centres we have to phone.
We enjoyed some fine harmony singing from Ninepenny Marl with the French carol “March of the Kings” and from Dickson & Dixon who sang a carol with the unlikely title of “A virgin unspotted”. But the biggest harmony group was without doubt the 14-strong Folk Club Choir who sang “Pentonville” (a lively setting of While Shepherds) and their own much-acclaimed “Hereburgh Carol”.
In a well-supported, though late-running, third half, we were entertained by Stewart & John, Tony Baylis and Pete Grassby who brought the evening to a close with his own very appropriate “Friendship” song.
The raffle raised an amazing £58 for Ovacome, a UK support group for people who are affected by ovarian cancer. Thank you to everyone for their generosity. The next session, on January 4th, will be an Old Time Music Hall session, hosted by Sue, for which you are encouraged to dress up in something appropriate. As usual, we’ll be in the Garden Room of the Shakespeare Inn at 8:30pm.
Peter McDonald
The November Harbury Folk Club report was late as I found myself distracted by several other pressing matters. Consequently it’s also brief since time dims the memory (sorry that was October’s theme).
The evening was, as I have become accustomed to expect, of the highest quality and is better value than many other evenings you get charged for. Most of the contributors were passionate about their offerings on this night of “passion”.
In the first sector, we had contributions from Pete Mason, Rik, Debbie proving she can sing as well as write poetry, Peter McDonald, and Ted and Sue. In the second sector, we heard from Stuart, Pete and Liz, Carol making her debut at the club but well known in other Warwickshire venues and a pleasure to greet, Ron, The Harvesters, and finishing with Maureen and Janny. Richard from Aberystwyth started the third sector and again, as far as I am aware, new to the club, followed by Summer. Mal Waite then gave us three songs much to the rapture of Mr. Bones who gave such a welcome as is seldom given to other artists at Harbury, except me. The evening was wound up by Keith Donnelly who had us rocking with laughter. I don’t think I missed anyone but if I have, my apologies.
The evening ended as it began with a furniture-moving workshop. This is becoming a feature of the club as tables are removed to make more room for people in the room.
The raffle raised £52 for a charity seeking to bring relief to people still suffering from the earthquake last year in Pakistan and was chosen by the person who donated the truly magnificent prize. As this is a local charity, they don’t have a website I can point people to, but there are several sites you can visit if you are interested in finding out how people are living one year on from this natural disaster.
Des Patalong
The theme for the October Folk Club was “Memory”, and it transpired that Doug had forgotten that the May folk club also had a similar theme “Down Memory Lane”. Doug and Janny were the hosts for the evening, and the performers sang songs or played tunes which followed the theme, or just improvised by forgetting their words.
In the first half there were memorable performances from; Maureen & Janny, Stuart, Barbara, Peter McD, Debbie & Peter McD, Sue & Ted Crum. The evening started with a song in Dutch, which had been the debut song for the performers back in 1995. The songs and tunes that followed ranged from the nostalgic to the downright disturbing for those of us getting old. The topics covered were; canals, after the war is over, streets of London, once in a very blue moon, saying the same thing twice, as time goes by, Punch and Judy man. It was good to welcome Sue Crum for the first time to the club, and she sang a John Connolly classic whilst playing the guitar and was accompanied by Ted on the Double Bass. Ted then closed the first half singing, playing the melodeon, and testing the audience with that tricky chorus line; la, la, la, la, la.
The second half had even more memorable performances from; Band of Folk, Ian & Sue, Rik, Harriet, Pete Grassby, Pete & Liz, Pete Bones & Lynne. The Band of Folk started with a couple of greatest hits, one written for and one written by Peter McD. The other performers kept up with the theme with various renditions about; one hit wonders, lavender and lilac, France, Grandma’s home, good man, underneath the stars, coal, lovely hair, rickets. Pete Grassby must be congratulated on his fine vocal performance whilst accompanied by the wine fridge. Pete Bones & Lynne brought the half to a memorable conclusion, when Pete explained how poor he was as a lad whilst Lynne provided the Hovis backing.
The third half was by far the most memorable, and those few who had left the club early missed an unforgettable grand finale from; Des, Summer, Pete Mason, Ron, Celia, Band of Folk. The artists’ offerings included; Mr Jones, longest journey, doomed love affair, country they died for, a Lonnie Donegan classic, the demise of local pubs, and various tunes on squeeze boxes of all shapes, sizes and ages. Summer’s poem was hilarious, but far too close to the theme for the hosts. Celia mastered her antique melodeon and played a couple of fine tunes. The Band of Folk finished with a mega band of musicians, and after the evening was formerly closed by the hosts, the band just kept on playing for the next half hour.
The evening will stay in all our memories, well hopefully until next month. Des will then be the host on the 6th November with a theme of Passion. The raffle raised £45 which will go to the Alzheimer’s charity.
Doug & Janny
“Wind and Rain” was the theme for the 262nd Folk Club, in early September. August had brought plenty of both, including a couple of tornadoes locally, so it was as well I hadn’t suggested something like “The End of The World” as the theme instead!
With a room full of performers even before the timely eight-thirty kick-off, it was always going to be a tight squeeze to fit everyone in. But quality was in equal measure to the quantity on offer and a memorable night ensued. The first half got under way with The Harvesters providing a murder ballad from West Virginia and a song about over-extended mourning. Des followed with two rather more cheerful offerings from the shanty repertoire and was followed by Sue Dixon and Linda Dickson whose two voices blended beautifully. Danansooz brought their youthful exuberance to the stage next with a risqué song and a blistering instrumental with some help from Will Pound. Rik was in a nautical mood and we were soon “Rolling Down To Old Maui” with him. Harriet Guy completed a fine first half with two well-chosen songs to showcase her burgeoning talent.
The second half opened with Janny and Maureen, followed by Peter Mc who made sure of sticking to the theme with “Four Strong Winds”. Pete and Liz were next, although Pete’s popular “Dog In The Microwave” makes only a brief mention of the theme. Ron was on fine form with a limerick about flatulence, followed by a song about Noah. Maggie gave us “Blowin’ In The Wind” and was followed by Summer and Jim who brought the second half to a sing-along close.
The third half commenced with the inspired combination of Will (soon to be leaving us for a Music degree course at the University of Newcastle) and Dan, joined by Susie, who powered their way through a couple of excellent instrumentals. Stuart was next and had us “Singing In The Rain”, complete with audience participation in some suggestive actions. Pete Grassby restored calm with a fine ballad “Mail Order Annie” and a funny song about his cat, Orca. With the time racing towards the midnight hour, Dixon and Dickson brought proceedings to a perfect conclusion with Neil Young’s “After The Goldrush”.
The raffle raised an impressive £36.00 for Myton Hospice. The next Folk Club is on Thursday 5th October, when Doug and Janny will be offering performers the theme of “Memory”. Or was it something else? I can’t remember. The Folk Club is becoming ever more popular and both audience and performers are recommended to get there as close to 8:30 as possible in they want to secure a seat or a spot. The one thing guaranteed is a warm welcome and superb music from a lot of very talented performers.
Ian Hartland
With it being August and knowing that many people will be away on holiday or at Sidmouth Folk festival, it was expected that there would be fewer than usual people at the folk club which took place on August 3rd. It was therefore decided to have an informal sing around and music session rather than having the usual themed.
As it happened more people than expected turned up and we were treated to a wide variety of items including unaccompanied solos, rich harmony singing and instrumental music. Everyone was in fine voice as they joined in with the many chorus songs, and at times there were more than a dozen instruments squeezing, strumming and scraping together to several familiar tunes.
In spite of the numbers we still kept to an informal format which included having no stage area so the music was led from the floor.
Many thanks to all who took part, which owing to the nature of the evening, was everyone who came.
Thanks also to those who contributed to the raffle which raised £38.00 for Emmaus, which is an international charity administered by the Anglican Church with the aim of tackling the problem of homelessness.
Peter Bones
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief.”
The sound of the Caribbean drifted into the Shakespeare Conservatory as the Steel Pans pounded away outside and as a result the folk club made their way outside to enjoy the melodies and watch Rosemary play those drums with such concentration. We all applauded a wonderful start to the evening!!
The theme was set to ensure there were no excuses for any of the plethora of artists not to find an obtuse link to it.
The evening began with the lovely harmonies of Maureen and Janny’s rendition of “What shall we do”. Rik followed up with two songs, one he stole (the thief) and the other about a woman’s view of her sailor husband returning home. Pete and Liz sang a Tinkers song written by Ewan MacColl back in 1964 and then a mournful song about underage soldiers who died on the Somme, very apt as the last week had seen many reports and film footage in remembrance of the battle of 90 years ago. Stuart sang the Harvey Andrews “British Soldier” and then a song about Sam Hall who was hung for being a thief – Stuart’s voice was superb tonight, such pureness!! Ron sang 2 numbers and the first half ended with Peter McDonald singing a Huw Williams song for fathers and daughters followed by the toils of being conscripted as a white South African to enforce Apartheid.
The second half began with an energetic and breathless performance from Janny and Maureen telling us about the modern attitude towards getting rich on credit with the Artisan number “Big Green Credit Machine”. Alan Whitbread belted out a lament that was sung at Cyril Tawney’s funeral and a Tim Laycock number about an American ship. The mysterious Peter with the Concertina played and sang about thieves and soldiers. Ian and “not quite” Sue told us of a wife pleading to the judge about her thieving husband and “not quite” Sue then tapped away as Ian sang about a thief being transported to Australia. The evening was really racing along as Pete Grassby played and sang a very jolly jig followed by a song which made reference to tinkers. Debbie received rapturous applause and cheers for her enthusiasm as she got us all singing along to Shenandoah. The audience were really enjoying the evening as Des kept the momentum going with songs about Robbers, Pirates and a Sailors prayer. The second half reached a crescendo as the Three Quarter Pounders astounded us all with the rich sounds of the guitar, soprano sax and harmonica and had us rocking along to a Folk Jazz fusion sound never heard at Harbury Folk Club before – wonderful, wonderful stuff!!
How could the third half maintain the energy, enthusiasm and quality of the performances heard so far – we were not to be disappointed as the superb Ted Crum got us all going again with reference to the greasy Portuguese who robbed us in the World Cup quarter final – we all cheered and agreed and then we heard the Flanders and Swann song about the Theft of a French Horn. Pete Bones caused consternation as we were trying to get our brains around his being Dressed as a Woman but Disguised as a Man – when it clicked, we laughed our socks off, terrific humour from Pete! Pete Grassby sang a song from the old days “High Germany” and for the finale, Des had the whole audience joining in with an inspiring and stirring chorus – a terrific way to finish what was a superb evening’s entertainment!
Steve & Maureen Darby
'Animal, Vegetable or Mineral' was the theme for the 259th Folk Club. It was a small but perfectly formed audience and they had 13 different acts to entertain them. The Harvesters opened with songs about animals, ‘Searching for Lambs’ and ‘The Cuckoo’. Following on, we had songs from Peter Mason, Barbara, Ron, Rick and Pete & Liz. All the songs fitted the theme beautifully and included Bonsai trees, vegetable gardens, worms, dragons, rosebuds and cuckoos again! Rick’s version of the Environment Song was an absolute winner.
Des started the second half, followed by contributions from Janny and Maureen, Debbie, Stuart, Mike, Katherine Fear, making a rare but welcome appearance at the club, and finally Bob Powell playing wonderful Dobro guitar. This time we were treated to songs and poems about Noah’s Ark, bushes, statues, parrots, manure, coal and the sun.
The final half, remember this is a game of 3 halves, was kicked off by Stuart, then Peter Mason, Barbara, Tim, who was making his debut at the club, Sooz, without Dan, Des and Katherine closed the evening. The theme still continued with songs about geese, mint balls, flora, coal, bonfires and rain.
Performers, you were all fantastic and audience, you were too, so thank you all for turning up and supporting the club, remember keep music live!
The raffle made £25 for Macmillan Nurses and we’ll do it all again next month with a different theme!
Sue Hartland
The theme of the Folk Club on May 4th was ‘Down Memory Lane’ and it created a feast of nostalgia, just as I hoped it would!
I started the trip down the lane with “It’s good to see you”, the song I sang to open the very first Harbury Folk Club in September 1984. Barbara and Lionel’s song, “Rare old times” was right on the button as was Stuart’s “Liverpool Lullaby”, Summer’s “Springhill Mining Disaster” and Peter Mason’s “Punch and Judy man”. It being a polling day, Ron couldn’t resist bringing out his self-penned “Election Song” but also tickled our memories of Jean with “Joan the Leather Queen”.
There were more flashbacks in the second half as Des amused us with “Teddy Bears’ Picnic”, the Harvesters revived “Calico Printer’s Clerk” from a few decades back in their long history, Rik brought us Tom Paxton’s “Outward Bound” and Pete Grassby reminded us of when we all used to work on the looms for a few pence a day with “Poverty, Poverty Knock”. Double Up included one of their greatest hits, “The Bergen”, and Martin sang “What a mouth!” with not a hint of his London origins.
A shorter than usual, but well-attended, third half featured the accomplished singing and playing of Ted Crum (surprisingly making his debut at Harbury), two nostalgic poems from Debbie and Ron’s unbelievable “Pedro the fisherman”! Appropriately, the last song of the evening was “The last thing on my mind” ably sung by Peter Mason, with the audience in fine voice for the well-known chorus.
So ended a particularly enjoyable evening where 16 performers entertained an appreciative audience in a convivial atmosphere. The raffle raised £40 for Cancer Research UK and that sum was added to the sponsorship money donated to Margaret and her team for the ‘Race for Life’ on May 14th. The next session, on July 6th, will be hosted by Steve & Maureen. As usual, we’ll be in the Garden Room of the Shakespeare Inn, at 8:30pm.
Peter McDonald
Harbury Folk Club rocks! If you don’t believe me, you weren’t there. Be there next time.
The club started with some furniture moving because there was not enough seating and there was more furniture moving during the first break to make even more room. In part this was because the club needed more room but in part because the pub was having a “Hen” party and disco in another part. We can’t begrudge them a hen party on the day avian flu arrived in the isles (there may be precious few in future).
This did not detract from the fabulous array of talent available during the evening. For the cost of a raffle ticket and whatever you buy in drinks this has got to be the best value folk entertainment venue for miles around. During the evening I managed to get 18 acts on over the three parts, each doing two songs each (there was sadly not enough time to ask any of them to come back and give another one). I did remember this time to make a note of the titles performed but I’m not going to list all of them for the sake of brevity.
The theme for the night was “Alpha and Omega” and reflects the liturgical calendar. This loosely translates into beginnings and ends or start and finish or whatever and most of the contributors managed to hit the theme with at least one of their offerings. I began the proceedings with a joke. Now normally when I tell a joke, I am greeted with groans or worse but on this occasion the audience burst into unrestrained laughter. I don’t know which of us was more surprised, me or them. However, this set the tone for what, for me, was one of the best Harbury evenings, relaxed, convivial, appreciative. The Harbury crowd are always a wonderful audience and for a change I felt quite relaxed in my role as MC for the night (though I’m glad I don’t have to do it again until November).
After a “Calling On” song and a rendition of “The Good Old Way” from me, the first session proceeded with offerings from the Harvesters, Maureen and Janny, Martin (who wanted to be on early but stayed to win the raffle), Summer with her dulcimer and Rick who closed the session with the poignant “If the Sun should tumble from the sky”. During the evening we were to find the boundaries of folk further pushed as other artists proved that folk is truly eclectic.
Following the furniture moving workshop during the break, the second session began with Ron who forsook the theme to give us “St. George” but then followed this with “Everlasting Circle”. Then the first of the young Harbury talents of the evening, Dan and Will, were followed by Miriam. Miriam is over from South Africa for several months and soaking in as much of the tradition as she can get so I’m confident she will return. She gave us “The week before Easter” and “First Song”. Barbara had crept in just before the start and indicated to me that she might have to leave early so I squeezed her in at this point before Sue Harris and then Maggie. Maggie had never performed in a folk venue before or indeed (if I understood her correctly) anywhere, but gave us two self-penned songs with some assurance, “Have you got time” and “Special wedding day”, and I look forward to her return. Her dog was making friends too. Time for more young talent as Harriet closed the second spasm ably accompanied by Ian (who would like to think of himself as young talent).
Bernard Overton seems to be becoming a more regular visitor and I asked him to open the final session. One of his offerings was “ Careless Love”. I’d not deliberately planned this but I’d left all the Petes or Peters until the end so that we had four in a row - Peter McDonald, Peter Mason and Pete Grassby who gave us a rendition of “If”, again stretching the bounds of folk but a great improvement on “Telly Savalas”. Pete Bones closed proceedings with the “Alphabet Song” which wasn’t at all Greek and then sent us home in fine style with “Rolling Home”.
A packed and joyful evening to be repeated again on the first Thursday in May when Peter McDonald invites you to consider the theme of “Down Memory Lane”.
The raffle raised a very respectable £44 for the “Peace Research and Education Trust” which is part of the work of the “Peace Pledge Union”. To know more about either of these organisations, follow the two links:
http://www.ppu.org.uk/
http://www.pret.org.uk/
Des Patalong
The snow and arctic winds outside were in stark contrast to the warmth of the Shakespeare, the performers and audience. Doug and Janny were the hosts for the evening, and Doug explained a tenuous link between the theme “Poets and Plays” and folk club number 256.
Act 1, scene 1, started with a Silly Sisters number Hamlet from Janny and Maureen. Hattie, accompanied by Ian, sang Kate Rusby songs Underneath the Stars and Bring Me A Boat. If you have not attended the Folk Club recently, or at all, then you are missing wonderful young folk talent like Hattie. Rick not wanting to be left out declared he was a dyslexic 16 last week, and enlightened us about Samuel Coleridge Taylor or Taylor Coleridge, and then amazed us with a flying Albatross capos change. Debbie, our resident poet, sang Down by the Sally Gardens and a poem The Play which she had penned earlier in the week; such talent in Harbury. That young at heart Des had us tasting Nottingham Ale and another Silly Sisters number The Travels. Dan and Will (CYS), those young stars of BBC local and national radio, blew us away with a virtuosi performance on guitar, harmonicas and melodeon, which included Tom Anderson’s “poetical” tune The Slockit Light.
Act 2, scene 1, presented that ageless Harbury star Peter McDonald, and he followed the now emerging Kate Rusby sub-theme with Wandering Soul, and then Do you Hear the People Sing? from Les Miserables. Ron switched to the Coleridge sub-theme, and then true to form he was spot on with the main theme with his poem I Wish I Was a Poet. Pete Grassby, back from his travels on the other side of the world, performed a song from a New Zealand poet/song writer, and then his self-penned Badger poem Brock’s Last Trip. Ian and Sue contributed two old favourites One Hit Wonder and The Thistle and the Rose. The act was brought to a close by the Harbury Folk Club Choir. They performed two new songs Linden Lea and Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O, and used this opportunity to present the initial profits from their CD sales of £100 each to Tony Stubbs for Harbury Church, and Steph & Geoff for the Leamington Christian Mission.
Act 3, scene 1, the high spot of the evening for us. We had initially scheduled Pete Bones for late on in Act 2, but he selflessly agreed to give up that prime spot as we were somewhat overrunning. Those very few who departed at the end of Act 2 missed one of Pete’s finest folk club performances with his Trunch rendition of Underwood’s Milk, stunningly superb. We then asked Pete Grassby, Des and Ron to sing one more song each, and they all kept up the excellent standard. The penultimate spot of the night was Dan and Will (CYS), and the audience demanded and got an encore. The final contribution of the night was the Band of Folk playing Is That the Time? and Tommy Bhetty’s Waltz, joined by a number of other musicians for the 2nd tune. The curtain came down, but the band kept on playing as the happy punters drifted home. We thank the licensees and staff of the Shakespeare for looking after us as always.
You would pay good money to see such talent at a theatre or club, so why not visit next month’s Folk Club for the price of a £1 charity raffle ticket? This month’s raffle raised £36 for Save the Children. The next Folk Club will be on 6th April led by Des and the theme is Alpha and Omega.
Doug & Janny
Time was of the essence for February’s session of the Folk Club (255 meetings and counting) as that was the theme chosen for the evening. On a bitterly cold evening, many chose to keep their coats firmly buttoned in a rather chilly Garden Room at The Shakespeare. Some communal exercises soon raised the temperature, as did some fine performances from a range of singers.
The Harvesters kicked off the night “Clockwatching” and then proving that “Time Is A Thief”. Guilty as charged. Des was next with Simon & Garfunkel’s “Old Friends” before he went “Hopping Down In Kent”. Maureen and Janny sang “Let The Cold Winds Blow” before warming us with “Feel The Rhyme”. Rik gave us “Time In a Bottle” and then effortlessly stole the first half with Jake Thackeray’s classic about the landlady and her three lusty daughters! Pete and Liz invited us to “Come By The Hills” and then Pete gave us a solo rendition of that classic “The Wild Mounting Time”, and no, that’s not a mis-spelling. Harriet Guy gave a stunning debut performance with Karine Polwart’s lovely song “Daisy”, accompanied by the host. The first half came to a fine conclusion in the safe hands of Peter McDonald with “Lady Take Your Time” and Huw Williams’ “Struck It Right This Time”.
A short break allowed mid-evening refuelling and then it was back to more fine music, opening with Peter Mason who chose “Nothing But Time” and another fine Jez Lowe song whose title evaded my spell-checker. Barbara followed with the ever-popular “Fiddler’s Green”, John Connolly’s version of a fisherman’s heaven, and then a popular song about L.S. Lowry. It was good to see Tony Baylis return again and he provided fine versions of “Time To Ring Some Changes” and “Once Upon A Time”. The evening’s theme was kept up admirably with Ron’s rendition of “The Tyranny Of Time” and “Strike The Bell Landlord”. Surely not “Time” yet? David Johnson also returned from his previous month’s debut with his own song “I Just Don’t Have The Time” and the classic song from the film Casablanca, “As Time Goes By”. Danansooz completed the second half with their newly-learned song “She Moved Through The Fair” and completed a fine set with “Spancilhill”, an emotional song of an emigrant’s dream of home. By the time you read this, their first CD will be available for sale and well worth seeking out.
The third half allowed some of the earlier performers to offer more from their varied repertoires and Des commenced with the shanty “Shallow Brown”. Peter Mason gave us a “Gift Of Years” and Ron proved himself “A Peaceful Man”. Barbara sang Bob Dylan’s classic song “Blowing In The Wind” and was followed by Maureen and Janny with “Seven Days Of The Week”. So, lots of time there then? Finally, Peter McD capped the session with Paul Metsers’ “One More Time” and another highly enjoyable evening came to a conclusion. The raffle raised an impressive £52 for Cancer Research.
As ever, we meet every first Thursday in the Garden Room of The Shakespeare. All are welcome, whether audience or participant and every encouragement is given to first-time performers. Get there by 8:30 and you stand a good chance of getting a seat. Best of all? It’s completely free!
Ian Hartland
2006 got off to a good start for Harbury Folk Club with an excellent evening on Thursday 5th January.
The theme for the evening was “Battle and Booze” and with the atmosphere of Christmas still hanging in the air, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce an element of seasonal silliness. I therefore suggested that we dress in appropriate attire to represent something based on the theme. This provided quite a challenge and many rose to the occasion with splendid costumes. “Colonel” Peter and “Major” Margaret McDonald cut dashing figures in their full combat fatigues. However the most impressive costume was probably that of Celia Neil, dressed as Bloody Mary with her new found companion Sven, dressed as her headsman.
The music again was varied and performed to a high standard by no fewer that 12 different combinations of performers. In addition to songs on the theme for the evening, some were still clinging on to the subject of Christmas. This included the Trunch Wassail sung by Des, which is always one of my favourites. It was also good to welcome David Johnson from Whitnash, who had never played at a folk club before but came across very well.
The highlight of evening for me took place in the second half when Mal Waite, who is a well known singer/songwriter from Chester, thrilled us all with an extended spot of five or six songs. I have been a great fan of Mal since 1989 when I first heard her during a memorable folk festival in Shipston so I was delighted that she was able to visit us and take part.
The evening concluded with a mass band indulging in an informal music session. This created a fitting end to a great evening . Many thanks to all those who took part.
Thanks also to those who contributed to the raffle which raised £45.00 for Emmaus, which is an international charity set up by the Anglican Church with the aim of tackling the problem of homelessness.
The Folk Club meets on the first Thursday of every month in the Garden Room of the Shakespeare Inn, and starts at 8:30pm. Everyone is welcome, whether as audience or performer.
Peter Bones