Being Friday the 29th of March, 2013 ...

Perhaps we’re not supposed to do happy things on Good Friday, but thirty people, (including several new faces,) hadn’t received any better offer than to attend The City Folk Club.

Dogsbody, in the chair, tried to depress everyone with a song about a sick farmer and dead sheep.
Fortunately, people didn’t share his sombre mood, and it all got much jollier.

Elayne’s offering, accompanied by Tony, put us in mind of some historic BBC footage …

 

Jake’s song about a fantasy world was beyond the understanding of the senior generation.

Was this a Shakespearean tragedy?

D/B was delighted when our visitor, Gary, played a tune that had nothing whatsoever to do with this railway locomotive …

 

A Class P2, 2-8-2, passenger locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley
for the London & North Eastern Railway.

To end the evening we beheld BeHeld, before we all went home late clutching our chocolate eggs.




So ... Happy Easter, everyone.
See you next week.

 Now, don't forget to put your clocks forward by one hour.
Next time we meet will be in British Summer Time.
Kindly tell those weather-forecasting people!

 



Being Friday the 22nd of March, 2013 ...



It was the week before Easter ...



Oi, mate, that's MY donkey!



Oh, look what we've resurrected.

We rejoice that a miracle has occurred: Berry has grown a new tooth since he last MC-d. (Image unavailable, and probably unsavoury!)

A distinct element of jazz crept into the proceedings.
Several times we heard this unnecessary apology: “Sorry, it’s not folk!”
Worry not … I ain’t heard no horse singing it! (attr. Louis Armstrong.)

However, there was a regrettable paucity of our customary rustic metaphor and euphemism.

 



Blowin' my blues away!





Name this female aviator who was lost, mysteriously, in 1937.

 

Another rule to live by.



... and YES, the club will be meeting on

Good Friday, 29th.

Important rules to live by at the Guide Hall ...

I hesitate to publish this, but there have been some issues that we need to consider regarding our tenancy of the Guide Hall.

• The front door ...

We are being watched!

It wasn't us, but costly damage has occurred in the past.

• Please do not interfere with the timing control on the central heating ...

We may use the 'override' button.

• There has been an issue regarding rubbish ...

 

Strangely, this notice is in the vicinity of an empty rubbish bin!



 

 

However,  this detritus wasn't ours ...

 

Floor sweepings.



• Kindly respect the neighbours by departing in nothing above whispered tones.

There has been one complaint.

 



Will the City Folk Club be meeting on Good Friday?

Short answer:

YES!

An extended response of dubious interest follows ...

Have you ever noticed that those Easter public holidays always seems to creep up on you unawares?
They always catch you by surprise.

Easter never falls on the same date every year because some learned clerics convened in Nicaea in AD325.
They conceived a movable feast based on a bizarre calculation relating to the paschal full moon.
This 'paschal full moon' is a fabrication of spiritual imagination that bears no logical relationship to actual lunar phases.
It follows an 84-year cycle in the Western Church.
It's different in the East.

It became even more complicated when Pope Gregory XIII invented a new calendar in 1582.

Is this simply a conspiracy to confuse the masses?

Understanding all this is just one of the many mysteries that can only be fully embraced by those individuals blessed by apostolic succession and who have had ecclesiastical authority thrust upon them ...



"May God forgive you for what you have done to me!"

What has all this got to do with the City Folk Club?
Below is all you need to know ...

On Friday the 29th day of March, in the year of our Lord, 2013, the CITY FOLK CLUB will meet as usual at the Guide Hall.

Habemus Papam!

Being Friday the 8th of March, 2013 ...



 It was in Dogsbody's deranged mind to inform readers that this date marks an anniversary that the first train crossed the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in 1855 ...

 

Max speed: 5mph.

 

 

However, Angela came along as MC to rescue us from such inconsequential meanderings.

She reminded us that this is ...

International Women's Day.

 

This YouTube video seems more relevant and appropriate ...

 

 

 

 

D/B was privileged to see C-de-B perform this live at Birmingham Symphony Hall in 2011.
Chris embarked on the chorus ...
The entire audience stood ...

We sang ...

Some of us wept ...

 

There was no overt lacrimation at The City Folk Club on this evening, but we got on with what we do best: share songs and music in good company.

 

Stuart (almost) finished the evening with his own song, Go in Peace ...
  

"May moonbeams guide your weary feet."

 

 

Yes, Mr. Paul, you were right.

We should have left it on that sentiment instead of D/B's doggerel about ale.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE ...

 

CFC will not be meeting on Friday, 15th March.
Normal service will be resumed on 22nd.
Please come along then.

 

Harbour Lights ...

Bells of Bosham ...

We've been patient to hear this ...

It's an original composition by Mike, who does vocals and guitar, accompanied by Mick on fiddle.
Published by kind permission.

"Chinooks flying low... "

Being Friday the 1st of March, 2013 ...

Now, being St. David's feast-day, that's better.

 The weather is milder than in recent weeks; seasonal illnesses are less life-threatening than originally thought, and certain people have returned from exotic winter-sun holidays.
We had to bring in extra chairs.

• The death count included two hypothermic babies and only one suicide.
• We heard one song about Nancy's lovely streams which debatably alludes to sex. (Or is it tin-mining?)
• Owen, yet again, demonstrated his preoccupation with global cataclysm.
• Mike used that word ‘mellifluous’ once more.
• There were a couple of nautical journeys.
• To Dogsbody's regret, there were no songs about trains.

In company with Mick and Mike, Angela sang about Rosetta ...

Then there was Howard ...



Finally, in celebration of Saint David, we all went home humming Cwm Rhondda.

We'd forgotten the proper words, but that arpeggio in line 6 rising gloriously towards a dominant 7th chord in the alto and bass parts was truly memorable.