The City Folk Club

Being The 27th of January, 2012 ...

2012-01-28T10:29:00.004Z

Berry was MC.

(Ignore Ken in the background of this image. Ken was elsewhere in pantomime.)

Berry was charming, (as always,) and he deserves to be congratulated for handling such a busy evening particularly well.

Berry did not use the word 'mellifluous', but he skillfully directed us using words of not more than two syllables.

Going the risky way around the tables, here's what we heard ...

Musn't Grumble: Berry

Bar-room Girl: Max & Sylvia

Ten Thousand Miles: Jane W.

A Man's a Man for all that: Nigel

When the Green Man Walks the Forest: Mave

The Angels have taken my Racehorse Away: Bill

Changes: Mike

In My Life: Roger

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: Jane R. & Roger

The Drovers: Colin

Song of the Chanter: Lorna

Never Grow Old: Richard

Mole in the Ground: Angela

King of the Fishes: Roland

(?) 2-Step Mystery: Dave

Louisiana Way: Les

Lucy Cartwright: Jimmy

Whatever Happened to Saturday Night: Lynda

What Goes on in Your Mind: Lynda & Paul

Those Memories: Lucy, Max & Sylvia

Almost Persuaded: Max, Sylvia, Paul and others

(Something Scottish - not Burns!): Jane W.

Now Westlin' Winds: Nigel

The Barley Mow: Bill

I Told You: Mike

When I was on Horseback: Jane R. & Roger

Leave Her Johnny: Colin, Angela & Roland

Star of Kintra: Lorna

Canaan's Land: Angela, Roland & Richard

Big Tree: Dave

Blue Night: Les

What am I to You?: Jimmy

Died for Love: Lynda

You are my Sunshine: Paul & full cast

Your Cheatin' Heart: Berry & full cast

Some of us lost the plot in Bill's rendition of 'The Barley Mow'.

For future reference, the final refrain might accumulate the following in some sort of order:

Here's good luck to the company, good luck to the Barley Mow ...

Daughter
Landlady
Landlord
Barrel
Half-barrel
Gallon
Half-gallon
Quart-pot
Pint-pot
Half a pint
Gill-pot
Half a gill
Quarter gill
Nipperkin
... and the round bowl

So ... remember all that for next time.

Celebrating the birth of Rabbie Burns ...

2012-01-25T06:53:00.009Z

Take:

1 sheep's stomach or ox caecum, cleaned and thoroughly, scalded, turned inside out and soaked overnight in cold salted water
Heart and lungs of one lamb
450g/1lb beef or lamb trimmings, fat and lean
2 onions finely chopped
225g/8oz oatmeal
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground dried coriander
1 tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg
water, enough to cook the haggis
stock from lungs and trimmings

Then listen to the following instructions ...

Enjoy ...
Great chieftain o' the puddin' race.

No, thank you; I never eat anything I can't identify!

Rolling Down to Old Maui ...

2012-01-24T09:45:00.009Z

Here's a suggestion for the next community-singing project:

Here's the chorus:

Rolling down to old Maui, my boys,
Rolling down to old Maui.
We're homeward bound from the arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui.

Regard this as 'work in progress'!

From a different recording/sleeve notes Nigel adds the following intelligence:

... from Songs The Whalemen Sang by New Englander, Gale Huntington. Many young men working on the American whaling ships kept personal journals in which they recorded the voyage, made sketches, notes and copied their favourite songs. The words of this song were taken from such a journal made aboard the Atkins Adams in 1858. The noble tune is from Chanteying Aboard American Ships by F.P. Harlow. Maui is one of the Hawaiian islands and was a meeting place for whalers . . . . something to look forward to between trips. A‘homeward bound’ feeling prevails after the arctic hunting season but it was likely that they were merely calling at Maui for ‘fittingout’ for a further half year in the southern oceans.

Being The 20th Day of January, 2012 ...

2012-01-21T11:30:00.004Z

Mike, in the chair, impressed us by using this word:

What else did we do?

Knocking on Heaven's Door: Mike P.
Yesterday: Paul
Am I that Easy to Forget: Lynda & Paul
Spotted Cow: Roland
Morningtown Ride: Yvonne
Sat in a Circle: Mike H.
Skye Boat Song: Lorna
And our Singing will Never be Done: Mave
Blackwaterside: Mick
Grave-Digging Song: Tony
I Want You: Steve
Looking in the Eyes of Love: Melanie
I'm a Man: Max
Wind and Rain: Lucy
January Man: Nigel
Ny Kirree fo Niaghty: Colin
Scousers Never Buy the Sun: Mike
Noah: Paul
Maid of Culmore: Lynda
Ship in Distress: Roland
Black is the Colour: Angela
Mrs. Bennet's Eyes: Yvonne
Whiskery Bob: Mike H.
Banks o' Doon: Lorna
Jacko the Shunter: Mave
Itzikel: Mick & Mike P.
The Foggy Dew: Tony
Subterranean Homesick Blues: Steve
The Show: Melanie
Bird in the Bush: Nigel
Love Farewell: Max
Young Banker: Angela, Roland & Colin

... and we all went home feeling so much better than when we arrived.
Dogsbody dreamed about Jacko the Shunter ...

(That's an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 saddle-tank.)

Young Banker

2012-01-18T12:14:00.011Z

You might hear a rendition of this shortly...

The banker, in this instance, is not a bowler-hatted-commuter to the City of London.
He is a rustic tradesman.
He clears ditches and builds stone walls.
He sports a fine head of hair and shows a pleasing face.

His lace-adorned hat renders him questionably attractive to fair maidens.

Here's the chorus:

Young banker he had such an handsome face

And all around his hat he wore a band of lace

Beside such an handsome head of hair

For my young banker I will go there

(I think some of those 'h's should be aspirated.)

Go for it!

PSM shares the following intelligence:

The Wilsons are a fine group and, in a rare Southern appearance, are booked to do a day-long workshop (on Mining songs & Graeme Miles songs) plus an evening concert at the Lewes Saturday Club on the 21st of July.
You'll find Lewes Arms Folk Club's programme of workshops at LAFC workshops

Being Friday, the 13th of January, 2012 ...

2012-01-15T22:00:00.009Z

Twenty-six people overcame the widely-held, irrational superstition regarding the date and ventured forth.

The director's chair was occupied by an innominate penguin of indeterminate gender.

Two experts in Antarctic ornithology have reliably identified the penguin as eudyptes moseleyi.
That's a rockhopper: anyone who has watched the film Happy Feet will know that.

The flightless bird was lovingly assisted by Angela who has still to decide on a name for her accomplice.

Action:

Wildwood Flower: Angela & Roland
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship: Colin & Laura
Little Bitty Tear: Paul
Sealed with a Kiss: Lynda & Paul
Bold Gambling Boy: Roland
The Man with a Child in his Eyes: Molly
Please Don't Call me Louise: Mike H.
After the Goldrush: Laura & Colin
Two Shetland Tunes: Lorna
Christmas in No-Man's Land: Annie
Four Strong Winds: Margaret
The Shepherd of Aberdovey: Bill
The Snows They Melt the Soonest: Kath
Little Pot Stove: Ken
Stone Walling Song: Mave
At the End of the Day: Nigel
Dreaming: Berry
King of Rome: Lucy
With a Little Help from my Friends: Les
Santiano: Angela & Roland
Parcel of Rogues: Colin
Things we used to do: Paul
The Carnival is Over: Lynda & Paul
Four Seasons in one Day: Molly
Do You Remember (something about a former girlfriend who went off to France): Mike H.
Looking at the Rain: Laura
Maid of County Down: Lorna
Farewell (my Love): Annie
Sospan Fach: Bill
Billy Riley: Kath
Farewell to the Gold: Ken
North Country Maid: Mave
Bye Bye Blues: Berry
When You Say Nothing At All: Lucy
Speak to the Sky: Les
The Farmer's Toast: Nigel

Cut!

Dogsbody's note:
Nigel had earlier advised that he would like to present the finishing song: an offer that the MC gladly accepted.
Nigel kindly distributed hard-copy of the chorus during the interval, so the finale became a glorious piece of community singing.
It strikes me that this is a strategy that would be worthy of perpetuating.
Thank you, Nigel!

Ray Hedges - progress report 2

2012-01-14T17:26:00.001Z

Ray is out of hospital and staying with daughter Di. He's still somewhat breathless.

In No Strange Land

2012-01-12T07:53:00.015Z

Here's ROGER!

Lyrics: Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907).
Original tune: Roger, Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

Ray Hedges - progress report

2012-01-10T00:04:00.004Z

Ray was well enough to see vistors today (Monday 9th), and had had 6 before Mave and I got there, to be joined by daughter Di and granddaughter Gemma, and his neighbour and her daughter. Cautiously optimistic that Ray, in good spirits and clearly much better, will be home later this week.

Being The 6th January, 2012 ...

2012-01-07T20:50:00.011Z

17 people were sufficiently recovered from the season of overindulgence to attend.

Paul directed operations.

For Ramona#1/I'm a Loser: Paul
Galway to Graceland: Mike P.
There'll be no Sorrow There: Angela
God Bless the Master: Roland, Angela & Colin
Faded Coat of Blue: Richard
Now the Buffalo's gone: Les
...(?) and the Sorcerer: Mick
Carrion Crow: Tony
Give to the Belly, Boys: Ken
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles: Mave
After 2000 Years: David
My Eldorado: Nigel
I've got Nothing but Time: Sue & Patrick
Ogreyala: Patrick & Sue
Forsaken Mother and Child: Colin
For Ramona#2: Paul
Galway Girl: Mike
Here we Come a Wassailing: Angela
Fakenham Fair: Roland
Sugar Hill: Richard
When I'm 64: Les
Khosidl: Mick
The Indian Lass: Ken
When the Green Man Walks the Forest: Mave
Don't Weep for Me: David
Westering Home: Sue
The Painful Plough: Nigel
Annie's Gonna Sing a Song: Patrick
Parting Song: Colin

Someone asked about Mick's offering, Khosidl.
(Isn't Wikipedia is wonderful resource?)
Apparently it's some sort of Yiddish dance. See Jewish dance

Celebration at a siyum ha-Torah (completion of the writing of a Torah scroll) in a synagogue, Dubrovno, Russia (now in Belarus), ca. 1905.

You can find Mick's earlier rendition recorded on board MV Richmond in June 2011 at Khosidl, Mick W

Ray Hedges unwell

2012-01-07T12:52:00.003Z

Our dear friend and supporter of folk clubs along the South coast, Ray, was admitted to St. Richard's on Wednesday (the 4th). He's not well enough to receive visitors yet. I'm sure all at the City Folk Club will join me in wishing Ray a speedy recovery and a quick return to singing and playing his accordion.
Ken Hobbs

Being The 30th December, 2011 ...

2012-01-01T12:36:00.009Z

22 people gathered to celebrate the approaching Turn of the (calendar) Year.

They were welcomed by this strangely dressed individual …

… who greeted everyone with a single word – HUMBUG!

Here’s some of the charming company …

We received apologies from certain regular participants on the grounds of ill health.
Somebody asked, “Where’s Ken?”
It seems he and Mave had a better offer.
Berry? Brenda? – Dunno!

Unfortunately Pat Ware, (who oversees our tenancy of the Guide Hall,) and husband, Allan, were unable to attend to receive our customary gift of flowers, again because of some seasonal suffering.

We were particularly delighted to welcome our founding father, Max, and Sylvia once more in our company.

With a near-prompt beginning at 20.14 hrs, 47 secs, here’s what we performed:

In the Bleak Midwinter: Jane T.
Travellin' Light: Richard
Kathy's Song: Lynda
Saint Stephen: Roland
As I sat under a Sycamore Tree: Angela
Mother's Fed up with Christmas: Les
Lavender's Blue: Yvonne
I'll Take you Dancing Tonight: Mike H.
Coventry Carol: Jane R.
The Owl and the Pussy Cat: Roger
Cherry Tree Carol: Margaret
Sleigh Bells: Mick
The King: Max & Sylvia
Bedlam Boys: Max & Sylvia
To Know, Know, Know Him: Lucy
Perhaps Love: David
Copper's Christmas Song: Nigel
Your Mother and I: Paul
Shepherds Arise: Colin
Farewell, Farewell: Lynda
Play a Simple Melody: Richard
Three Babes: Angela
Shady Grove: Les

At this juncture Dogsbody coerced Angela and Roland into performing The Boar’s Head Carol, unrehearsed apart from some summary exchanges by email.

It went rather well, and served as an invitation to share food that everybody had brought along.

The FOOD – aaah!

Thank you everybody.

GLORIOUS FOOD!
The blueberry pavlova was a culinary triumph.

Down to musical business again:

Butter and Cheese and All: Roland

Push a Little Button: Yvonne

The Freedom Come All Ye: Nigel

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb: Jane & Roger

Ghost Horses: Mike H.

My Love is like a Red Red Rose: Margaret

Children and the Flowers: David

Blanket on the Ground: Lucy, Paul, Sylvia & Max

Farther Along: Roger

Dreaming my Dreams with You: Max & Sylvia

The Ship Comes Home: Mick

The Good Old Way: Colin, Jane, Angela & Roland
Won't you come Home, Bill Bailey: Paul
Cole Creek March: Richard
Days: Max & Sylvia
Awake, awake, you Drowsy Sleeper: Angela
Good Night Angel: David
Down in yon Forest: Colin
Dance me to the end of Love: Jane, Roger & Mick

We finished with a traditional rendering of Auld Lang Syne led by Nigel. There was only a little gymnastic difficulty with regard to the hand-holding/arm-crossing choreography.

All in all this was a special evening of wonderful music in delightful company.

Importantly, it celebrated the end of another successful year for The City Folk Club.

Thank you to everyone who came along, shared music and food, and contributed in whatever way.
Thank you to all of you regularly attend, and to those who occasionally come along.
It is you that makes this remarkable gathering work.

Here's wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2012.

Addendum: Mrs. Ware says, "Thank you for the lovely flowers," and wishes us all joy for the coming year.

No Meeting on this Friday, the 23rd

2011-12-21T11:40:00.006Z

Despite the lack of immediate-pre-Christmas events at the City Folk Club, a "Bah! Humbug!" attitude is not entirely prevalent, despite what you might think.

On behalf of the 'organisers' of the City Folk Club, I wish all City Folk Club attendees, past and present, supporters, friends and other like-minded folk, a very happy Xmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

Ken. (No, that's not his picture).

The next meeting (full details in a preceding blog-post) will be on the 30th of December at the usual venue.

Remember, remember ...

2011-12-18T21:28:00.011Z

The City Folk Club will NOT be meeting on Friday 23rd December.

On Friday 30th December will will be holding our

Grand Turn-of-the-Year Celebration.

We intend to have a prompt start with music at 8.00pm.
Doors will open at 7.30pm.
Please bring buffet-style food/Christmas left-overs to share.
Have your left-over seasonal songs and music ready for performance.
Dress-code: Lynda would like to dress up. Otherwise it's optional, but the wearing of clothes is recommended.
Leave at home all those things that might go 'BANG!'
We are granted an extension until midnight on the understanding that we leave in absolute silence.

So, let's say farewell to 2011 with fond memories of some joyous evenings of great company and music as we look forward to another successful year at The City Folk Club.

In the words of Tiny Tim:

God bless us, every one!

Being The 16th of December, 2011 ...

2011-12-17T01:21:00.005Z

This was our last meeting before Christmas for 2011 and the evening was tinged with a certain amount of holiness.
There was also the customary jollity, even in the absence of two of our regularly frivolous participants.
Angela brought along a friend to assist in her direction of proceedings.
Her accomplice looked a little like this ...

I didn't catch the name, nor even discerned the gender.

He/she does not speak or sing, but, (given a little human intervention,) this flightless individual is capable of rhythmic swaying, waving, and even silent applause.

The gathering therefore totalled 26 bodies and 1 cuddly toy.
At the end of the evening Dogsbody noticed that the contribution pot was just a little short of the sum expected.
Did the penguin pay?

So what?
This is the season of goodwill.
These were our offerings:

The Good Old Way: Angela, Roland & Colin
Mistletoe and Wine: Lucy
The Snows they Melt the Soonest: Lynda
You Gentlemen of England: Roland
Lady of Beauty: Eddie
Blue Cockade: 'Folk in Chaos' (= Dave, Jane G., Phil & Liz.)
Silent Night: Lorna
Black is the Colour: Margaret
Leaning in the Everlasting Arms: Jane R. & Roger
Small Things: Folk in Chaos
Knocking on the Window: Tony
Grandma's Feather Bed: Mike
Motherless Child: Roger
Coventry Carol: Mave
Christmas Day in the Morning (Shetland tune): Mick
Caledonia: Folk in Chaos
Mary's Boy-Child: Les
His Eye is on the Sparrow: Paul
Appalachian Carol: Colin
Le Sommeil du Bébé Jésus: Angela
Delta Dawn: Lucy & Paul
Scarlet Ribbons: Lynda
Sally Gardens: Amanda
Good King Wenceslas: Eddie
Gloucester Wassail/Dvorak's 9th Symphony: Lorna
Winter Wonderland: Margaret
I Send my Love to You: Jane
In no Strange Land: Roger & Mick
Jenny, Won't you Please Take me Home: Mike
Let it Snow: Mave
If I Die Young: Folk in Chaos
Little Drummer Boy: Les
It's a Wonderful Life: Paul
While Shepherds Watched: Colin & full cast

Hallelujah!

2011-12-14T09:59:00.002Z

Now, all be upstanding.
As the festive season approaches I simply had to share this ...

Thanks to George Wilson and Sam Satyanadhan, via Facebook and Youtube.

Being The 9th of December, 2011 ...

2011-12-10T11:41:00.005Z

Mike was in the chair to welcome a congregation of 17 other participants, including two new faces: Melanie and Steve.
We were very pleased to have Tony back in our company after his recent spell of hospitalisation.

These were the occasionally wintry offerings:

Gypsy: Mike P.
Streams of Lovely Nancy: Lynda
White Christmas: Eddie
Wee Small Hours of the Morning: Lucy
Carol Mudley: Lorna
The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate: Roland
Bright Morning Stars: Angela
A Short March: Richard
I'm Just a Country Boy: Tony
Rambling Boy: Les
Christians and Pagans: Melanie
When Winter Comes Howling in: Dave
Cold Winter is Come: Colin
In Spite of Ourselves: Steve & Melanie
Grave Digger: Tony
Flowers Never Bend in the Rainfall: Mike
Maid of Culmore: Lynda
There'll Never be another You: Lucy
All I Want: Les
Holly and the Ivy: Lorna
Good Ale: Roland & Colin
Wandering Boy: Angela
"On the porch with a banjo": Richard *
Bottle of Wine: Les
Let the Mystery Be: Melanie
City of New Orleans: Dave
Shelter from the Storm: Steve
When all Men Sing: Colin & full chorus, (including women!)

(* Richard's Medley included a tune interestingly entitled 'Push the little pig's foot closer to the fire'. Hmmm!)

Dance me to the end of love ...

2011-12-09T09:47:00.012Z

Be transported by this:

Jane - lead celestial vocalist.
Roger - mystic guitar.
Mick - burning violin.
David - baritone ukulele, harmonic vocals and sound engineer.
Linda - silhouette dancer.

We are so very fortunate to have such musicians and dancers in our world, aren't we?

Thanks to David for permission to post this delightful recording.

The First Book Review ...

2011-12-07T12:10:00.014Z

I have just finished reading Georgina Boyes’ award-winning book The Imagined Village. (1993, Manchester University Press.)

It was a hard read, albeit a paperback!

My expectations of a romantic account of rural England in bygone days were utterly misplaced.

This is a well crafted and meticulously researched academic social/historical tome about the folk revival in England.

Within these pages Georgina questions the very existence of ‘folk’ in her first chapter.
Enigmatically she entitles that chapter: ‘A Name for our Ignorance’.

She describes the early years of The Folk Song Society, (founded 1898,) as a hegemony overseen and orchestrated by Cecil Sharp.

In 1911 Sharp was instrumental in founding The English Folk Dance Society, and it was not until 1932, (after CJS's death in 1924,) that the two organisations amalgamated to become The English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Key-words in the aims of these organisations were ‘preservation’ and ‘education’.

Georgina has little sympathy for Sharp.

He comes across as an arrogant dictator.

She accuses folk song/dance collectors of appropriation of heritage from those rustic people from whom they recorded their material.

Sharp near-raped country folk for his own commercial benefit.

Then CJS sanitises the lyrics and arranges the songs for piano accompaniment, to be performed during school lessons, and only publicly exhibited by trained singers dressed in evening-wear.

Moreover, CJS claims copyright!

It is clear from Georgina’s account that the folk revival was not immune from politics.

CJS is perceived as an autocrat.

Mary Neal, Sharp’s accomplice in promulgating traditional dance, seems to have been largely ignored by history. I think she was a socialist, and she had suffragette sympathies. Both seem to have been colluding in an effort to bring about a socio-cultural transformation.

Misogyny was rife, even though membership of all these societies was oestrogen-heavy.

FDS declared that morris and sword dancing were exclusively male activities.

Women could only attend social dances if they were accompanied by a man.

Then came Henry B. Gardiner. He is portrayed a fascist.
He was followed by Douglas Kennedy who had near-Nazi sympathies, and very political agenda.
Women remained problematic.

This all gets a bit scary!

Was ‘folk’ rescued by Ewan McColl and Bert Lloyd? (Communists, both.)

McColl used to require that singers at his folk club restricted material to their native language.

The guitar was unwelcome.

Were we in Britain reminded of our heritage only when Joan Baez brought back British songs from across the Atlantic?

What about all those protest songs?

Where do contemporary compositions fit in?

I return to my earlier contention that folk music is what you hear in a folk club.

Being The 2nd of December, 2011...

2011-12-05T15:04:00.006Z

Dogsbody wasn't there, so Lynda set up the hall before going to collect Paul:

I understand that some enthusiastic and hardy participants waited in the cold for a key-holder to arrive.

Otherwise, I tremble in anticipation to discover exactly what went on in my absence.

Lynda collated the song list:

Pilot of the Airwaves: Paul

Look What they've done to my Song, Ma: Lynda & Paul

Fakenham Fair: Roland

No Telephones in Heaven: Angela, Roland & Paul

Dancing with You: Eddie

When Santa got Stuck up the Chimney: Yvonne

Flying High: Mike H.

Chocolate Jesus: Jane

Here Comes the Sun: Les

A Heart Needs a Home: Mike P.

Angie: Mick

Willy 'Ole Lad: Nigel

Flying Sorcery: Dave

Anything that's part of you: Paul

Stewball: Lynda

The Flying Cloud: Roland

I'll Fly Away: Angela & Roland

Sing with me now: Eddie

Lavender's Blue: Yvonne

Effervescent Elephant: Mike H.

Please, please, please, let me get what I want: Jane

Morningtown Ride: Les

Beeswing: Mike P.

Blackbird: Paul & Mick

Look Where I've ended up now: Dave

Seems like a lot of flying went on!

Winterval ...

2011-11-30T19:01:00.001Z

Our friend Bill 1.1 has written as follows:

Are we not celebrating Winterval?
There should be a carol.

Winterval comes round and the shops are all abla-a-ze

the-e lights are shining bright in the town.

Our spirits are rai-ai-sed as we hear the piped music

and commerce is blazing all around.

Rejoice! Rejoice! for sales they are upon us,

And gifts and tat is cheaper year by year,

Rejoice! Rejoice! for childhood's long behind us,

and Chirstmas-tide comes sooner every year.

Or something ... but there it is. I heard on the radio, I think, that the Daily Mail have apologised for the slurs on local government about Winterval, which was never intended by any-one to replace Christmas and is largely a right wing straw man.

Love and thanks to all at the club for the kind (and much appreciated) card.

The Club’s grand Turn-of-the-Year party …

2011-11-28T08:19:00.001Z

So, what are we doing for Christmas?
Please be not disappointed when I say, "Nothing!"

Friday, 23^rd December: NO CLUB, because you’ll all be putting up your festive decorations.
Will they appear thus?

However, mark this in your diary ...

Friday, 30^th December: CFC’s Turn-of-the-Year party.

Please bring along your Christmas left-overs: i.e. some buffet-type food to share, and we hope that people will come along with all their seasonal songs and tunes.

If you would like to sport your left-over party-hat, that's fine.
Oh, and bring along those dreadful riddles/jokes that you found in your Christmas crackers.

The club will provide some left-over disposable plates and cutlery, but it will be helpful if you supply your own.
By popular consent there will be no dancing, but a decision has yet to be made about dress-code.

Crackers, balloons, party-poppers and all objects that might go 'BANG!' will not be permitted.
You could be searched for such items on arrival.

We intend to kick off with music promptly at 8.00pm, and we have an extension until midnight.

By the way, it will be FREE entry!

Being The 25th November, 2011 ...

2011-11-26T09:18:00.004Z

I like requests, don't you?

They are always encouraging to receive.
Given reasonable notice, performers go away and rehearse and then give of their best.
Listeners get to luxuriate in what they want to hear.

This was an evening overflowing with requests fulfilled in aid of Children in Need.
22 people turned up, and Berry took charge of the bell tree.

According to an image in the social networking domain, Berry looked like this in a bygone age:

He's aged rather well, hasn't he?

Here's what we heard:

Jesus, Saviour, Pilot me: Jane & Roger

Till the Stars Fall from the Sky: Yvonne & Mike

Braes o' Killicrankie: Duncan

Sons de Carrilhoe: Mark

Buddy, Can you Spare a Dime: Roger

Will You Still Love me Tomorrow: Margaret

Westlin' Winds: Nigel

There are no Lights on our Christmas Tree: Howard

Halcyon Days: Mike & Yvonne

Reynardine: Colin

April Come She Will: Lucy

Bygone Years: Mike P.

Manchester Rambler: Mave

The Prentice Boy: Roland

Doc's Guitar: Mick

Crow on the Cradle: Lynda, Mike P. & Mick

Father and Son: Dave

West Virginia Mining Song: Angela

Sisters of Mercy: Paul

Sweet Little Sixteen: Berry & Ken

Godfather Theme: Mark

The Last Thing on my Mind: Howard & Berry

Deportee: Jane & Roger

Love Will Tear us Apart: Mike P.

Dream River: Lucy & Roger

The Tryst: Nigel

Classical Gas: Mick

I am Weary, Let me Rest: Angela, Roland, Colin & Paul

The Tower: Dave

The Parting: Lynda

Lakes of Pontchartrain: Ken

Mary Skeffington: Paul

Well, fan my spots! Didn't you do well!

2011-11-21T10:53:00.002Z

People told me that the Children in Need event last Friday was enjoyable. I don't know, I was too busy cocking-up the MC-ing, (I think I got everyone in), bungling the Spot Prizing, etc. although, despite my deliberate (in)action to avoid the embarrassment of drawing my own ticket, my family did rather well in the Grand Prize Cake-sale Draw. I seem to have acquired a spotty pink shower cap at one point (according to photos:- these fetching images, enlarged and framed, would adorn any self-respecting domestic wall - enquire for sizes and prices).
Permit me a rare moment of seriousness, now:- on behalf of the club and Children in Need, my heartfelt thanks to all who came, donated, bought cakes, brought cakes, sponsored requests, played requests, organised, set-up, decorated, sold cakes, cleared-up and all manner of things related thereto.

The news you've all been waiting for: including a generous top-up from club funds I have paid in FOUR HUNDRED POUNDS!!!! Well done, all of you - pat yourselves on the back!
A grand achievement! All this money (and 25% more, if you know what I mean) will go, along with the other £26m+ raised - amazing in these straightened times, to do real good, helping disadvantaged children. You should be proud to be a part of that, and I think Pudsey can never have enough money to meet the (increasing) challenges (more and more) people are having to face. (The cases shown on TV late on Friday night brought a lump to my throat, especially the boy with the head injury from a road traffic accident).

Thank you again - yet again, you've made a difference. It's a privilege to know you.
(I'll be back to my usual facætious* self soon).
*I'm sure we used to spell it with a dipthong - but no more, alas, so it's one for the old days

Being The 18th of November, 2011 ...

2011-11-19T15:26:00.003Z

Ken took charge as MC because this was the club's annual event in aid of Children in Need.
Ken appeared thus:

It was a successful and enjoyable evening with 26 participants.
I hope that Ken will provide a detailed account of our fund-raising activities when he's counted all that small change, so I will simply restrict this post to the song-list:

Children in Need Tonight: Ken & Mave
Babes in the Wood: Jane T. & Colin
Greensleeves: Mike H.
Amazing Grace: Margaret H.
Look at Us: Les
For Naomi: Lucy
Fulsome Prison Blues: Roland & Angela
Song of Gilgalad: Jane W.
Spanish Train: Dave
Push a Little Button: Yvonne
In the Mood: Mick
See that Rainbow Shine: Eddie
The Air that I Breathe: Lynda & Paul
The Field Behind the Plough: Nigel
I'll be Your Sweetheart: Brenda & Berry
Sweet Thames Flow Softly: Mave
Travelling Light: Berry
Michael in the Garden: Paul
Russian Vodka Fest: Ken
Cheatin' Heart: Ken, Berry, Paul and a few others
Strange Rain: Les
The [River] is Wide: Margaret H.
Wreck of the 97: Roland & Angela
My Bonny Moorhen: Lynda
Unicorns: Colin
Merrimack County: Lucy & Paul
Cockles and Mussels: Brenda (Lynda's mum.)
Butterflies: Yvonne & Mike H.
All of Me: Brenda & Berry
Bushes and Briars: Jane W.
Patricia the Stripper: Dave
Fotheringay: Mike H.
Spellbound: Mick
Johnny my Man: Nigel
I Live in Trafalgar Square: Mave
Farewell Shanty: Paul & full cast

Well done, Ken.
Well done, everyone, and thank you.

THIS FRIDAY "It's time to show your spots" for CHILDREN IN NEED

2011-11-17T08:42:00.004Z

City Folk Club has one of its occasional charity nights THIS FRIDAY. All proceeds to Children in Need – which really does do good (ask Ken or Mave for first-hand information).

We're starting at 8 o'clock, because there's a lot to fit in:

a) more Sponsored (Spotty) Requests than will fit in two evenings, let alone one! (I've seen the list of requests, and there'll more than a few gems, you mark my spots!);

b) Spotty Cakes available for sale at the Spot Price- and one will be drawn as the winner of a Valuable Mystery Prize (ooooh!);

c) no Club collection this week: there will be Children in Need Collection Pots– please bring lots of Sterling (spotty or not);

d) there will be other ways/ excuses for you to part with your cash – including forcible extraction, if necessary (only joking), and, possibly, some Spot Prizes, too;

e) time to admire the themed decorations in the Guide Hall.

This promises to be, going on form and what we know of the preparations so far, a Vintage night (of the usual rubbish, but for a very worthwhile cause). If you have a spot, we'll try and squeeze it... in.

We'd like to raise lots, of course, and City Folk Club members have been outstandingly generous, but however much we raise, it will all go to help children in need.

See you tomorrow!

About this BLOG ...

2011-11-14T07:45:00.007Z

Allow me to explain something in response to parkingspaceman’s recent post about canine droppings …

I acquired that title ‘Dogsbody Scrivener and Wretch’ early in the history of this club, at which time I had responsibility to provide a list of names to our erstwhile venue, The Regnum Club. That was a requirement of our tenancy.
Soon after taking up the position of resident MC, David set up this blog in May 2008.
Thus was born the idea of the 'song-list'.

I have tried to perpetuate the blog primarily as a diary of performances each week.
Otherwise I hope it will serve as a vehicle for dissemination of important information, future events and inconsequential nonsense.

There have been other contributors to whom I am grateful:
‘Beresford Greene Speaks’ has always been thought-provoking, but he has been strangely silent in recent times.

That ‘Diary of a Folk-Song Collector’ was informative and amusing, albeit of questionable historical authenticity.

So, let me invite our participants to make contributions to this blog.

All things tasteful, relevant to the club, local events, folk music/song in general, constructive criticism, literary gems and entertaining anecdotes are worthy of consideration.
We can handle web-links, images, mp3s and video.

Please remember that these posts are in the public domain.

David once wisely advised: “Never publish anything that you wouldn’t be happy for your granny to see!”
Personal abuse will not be tolerated!

I usually avoid using full surnames; some people are understandably sensitive about identity.

Anglo-Saxon expletives, however cleverly disguised by ‘%**’ etc., could incur censorship or rejection.
Be wary about material that could have copyright implications.

So: get writing, and email your submissions to cityfolkclub[at]gmail.com.
Then watch this space.

Saturday Sings ...

2011-11-12T17:24:00.007Z

Do you remember Jo?
She was the new face with a charming voice and complete mastery of a gaelic language.

I said that I would circulate the information below:

I might even go along myself.

Being the 11th of November: Blonde and Chains

2011-11-12T10:03:00.002Z

In her welcoming address, Angela referred to my remarks about "blonde and chains" made at the Folk Song Club on Tuesday. In explanation and a wish to ease your vexed minds over this matter, which must continue to trouble you (if you haven't forgotten it), I offer the following, but please bear in mind two things: 1) you probably had to be there to appreciate the full impact, and 2) it did bring the house down.

The guest on Tuesday, a tall, slim, attractive singer/songwriter/guitarist from the USA, Sarah McQuaid, was introducing a song by telling us how she came to write it. She was confined to a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, by illness, watching the best available TV fare: back-to-back episodes of Ice Road Truckers. She explained a bit about the programme and in particular described a diminutive lady truck-driver, who had to fit snow chains to her truck. This tiny blonde said that the chains were heavier than she was, and Sarah said "I believe her", going on to describe the difficulty in icy conditions. "There she was, this bonde with these chains". At this point your humble correspondent chimed in with "Blonde and chains does it for me" - which was greeted with much hilarity by the company.

There you have it, this probably futile attempt to convey the atmosphere of an ephemeral incident.

Ken Hobbs

P.S. Children in Need next week - bring lots of money, lots of spots - we'll have lots of fun with sponsored requests, spotty prize cakes and more.

Being the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, 2011 ...

2011-11-12T09:22:00.006Z

Angela was in the driving seat, and welcomed nineteen other participants to a memorable evening of songs and music.

J'attendrai: Angela
Brothers in Arms: Lynda
Dalmation Cradle Song: Jo
Penny in my Pocket: Roland
Sing with me now: Eddie
Vesta Pole: Mick
Story of Isaac: Roger
When I was on Horseback: Jane & Roger
Keep the Home Fires Burning: Mave
Paddy's Lamentation: Ken
1916: Dave
Star of County Down: Lorna
The Gift of Years: Nigel
Where Have all the Flowers Gone: Paul
Scarecrow: Colin
Will the Circle be Unbroken: Angela, Roland & full cast
Bound for the Mountains and the Sea: Lynda

Fear a Bhàta (The Boatman): Jo

The Fox Jumps Over the Parson's Gate: Roland

The Roses of No-Man's Land: Eddie

O'Carolan's Draft: Mick

Abide With Me: Roger

Dance me to the end of Love: Jane, Roger & Mick

Little Grey Home in the West: Mave

Going for a Soldier, Jenny: Ken

Soldier: Dave

Rufty Tufty: Lorna

Willie McBride (Green Fields of France): Nigel

Doctor Jazz: Paul

Only Remembered: Colin

Mingulay Boat Song: Eddie

There was significant activity on the sponsored spotty requests front.
Don't forget that next week is Children in Need night, and we are hoping for a prompt start at 8.00pm.

A Canine Plan

2011-11-10T15:42:00.004Z

If this blog is "A chronicle of 'doings'", and it's written (mainly) by Dogsbody, does that make it "dog's doings"? (Let's hope he cleans it up afterwards).

Labouring Man Sessions

2011-11-09T08:09:00.002Z

Alan, who is an occasional and very welcome participant of this club, in company with Anne, has sent a reminder about a music session he operates at The Labouring Man in Coldwaltham ...
Sunday, 13th November, 6.30pm.
I am sure that Alan would like people to go along.

For satnav users the postcode is RH20 1LF, or a google maps search will take you straight there.

A Reminder about Children in Need

2011-11-06T16:23:00.006Z

That's on Friday, 18^th November.

We will repeat the format of sponsored requests. (See earlier post here)

Lynda has asked for donations of spotty cakes to sell. I think she means of the spotty cup-cakes variety, generously sliced spotty cakes and the like.

Here’s something I made earlier:

Each cake will be accompanied by a raffle ticket, and the winner of a highly desirable prize will be identified during the evening.
Lynda writes: "If people would like to pledge cakes in advance that would be really useful."
You can contact Lynda on 01243 783211 or email -107gemstone@gmail.com

In previous years this has been a most enjoyable and successful evening, so come along, aiming for a prompt start at 8.00pm.
Bring money and enjoy the spotty fun.

Being The 4th Day of November, 2011 ...

2011-11-05T08:11:00.011Z

Dogsbody, having retrieved his Diary of Doings, was in charge of crowd-control.
He demonstrated such authority by crying 'Taser - taser - taser!' whilst wielding a stun-gun cunningly disguised as a bell-tree.

The company was largely cooperative and performed as follows:

Lyke Wake Dirge: Colin
Della the Dealer: Paul
You Were Always on my Mind: Lynda & Paul
The Tower: Dave
November 5th: Ken
Drover's Dream: Laura & Lorna
Sea Coal: Angela & Roland
Lord Franklin: Nigel
Settle to Carlisle: Laura & Lorna
Three Babes: Angela
Spencer the Rover: Colin
Moonshadow: Paul
I Remember Morley: Nigel
Early Morning Rain: Lynda & Paul
Lord Franklin (parody!!!): Ken
The Mule Song: Dave
Coast of Peru: Roland
Among the Leaves so Green-oh: Sue & Patrick
A French Tune: Lorna
Red is the Rose: Laura
Bury me under the Weeping Willow: Angela
Johnny be Fine: Colin
If I were a Carpenter: Paul
The Rose: Lynda
Summer in December: Dave
Who's the Fool Now: Sue & Patrick
Blaydon Races: Lorna
All Things are Quite Silent: Laura
Little Yellow Roses: Angela
Young Roger Esquire: Roland
The Indian Lass: Ken
Greenland Whale Fisheries: Nigel

We lost track of the death count, which was considerable, bearing in mind that Lord Franklin and his crew died twice!
Roland caught a whale off the Peruvian coast.
Nigel failed to catch one near Greenland, but lost several jolly tars in the process.

Being The 28th day of October, 2011 ...

2011-10-29T00:47:00.013+01:00

Disaster struck!

Please understand that the evening was enjoyable, (as usual,) and orchestrated by Berry in an unpredictable fashion.
Twenty people turned up, including four new faces whom we welcomed warmly, (as usual.)
We performed lots of songs and music, (as usual.)
Ken said lots of words, (as usual.)

"So what was the catastrophe?" you rightly ask.
Allow me to explain ...

I seem to have left my Diary of Doings at the Guide Hall.
I recall that Paul kicked off splendidly with She Moved Through the Fair, accompanied by ethereal Roger.
We finished with Your Cheatin' Heart - full cast led by Berry.

What happened in between is a bit of a blur.
Never fear:

We'll understand it all by-and-by ...

Addendum#1, 02/11/11:

In advance of my retrieval of my Diary of Doings, Berry offered a comment about the evening's happenings that is worthy of being 'up-front' on this post:

"I would remind DS&W that we were very fortunate to have some superb turns and some unexpected visitors from Brighton. They spoke well of our club atmosphere and deserve our thanks."
Indeed, these visitors deserve our gratitude, but Sid, (he of the commanding voice,) came from Newton Abbot, via Brighton.

It was a great evening, and Berry done good!

Addendum#2, 04/11/11:
All is not lost ...

She Moved Through the Fair: Paul & Roger
Tom Paine's Bones: Mike P.
Shallow Brown: Sid
Roll on John: Roger
Working in the Mill: Mave
I'm in a New Place Now: Mick & Marion
Ashokan Farewell: John
Let's Do It: Ken
Amongst the Ghosts and Skeletons: Mike & Yvonne
Push a Little Button: Yvonne
Lost Child: Dave
Fall in Love with You: Marion & Mick
Try for the Sun: Laura & Colin
Last Letter Home: Berry
Sir Richard's Song: Colin
Banks of the Royal Canal: Sid
Drifting Without You: Mike P.
My Mother Said: Mave
Shall I Tell you about my Life: Roger
Whiskery Bob: Mike & Yvonne
A North Country Dance: John
Protest Song: Ken
The Lad on the Waltzer: Marion & Mick
Waterbound: Marion & Mick
Bind us Together: Yvonne
Tennessee Waltz: Paul
Intergalactic Laxative: Dave
Silver Darlings: Laura
Lovely Joan: Colin
Father Along: Roger
Shenandoah: Sid
Banks of the Ohio: Mick & Marion
Cheatin' Heart: Berry & full cast

Being The 21st Day of October, 2011 ...

2011-10-22T09:16:00.008+01:00

On this anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar eighteen people convened for another jolly evening of music and song during which three people mentioned the celebrated Admiral Lord Nelson.

With Paul in command of the quarterdeck we sang and played ...

Wild in the Country: Paul
Are You Missing Me: Angela, Roland & Paul
Streams of Lovely Nancy: Lynda
Fakenham Fair: Roland
Sweet Thames Flow Softly: Laura & Lorna
150 Days from Vancouver: Eddie
Let Her go Down: Mave
Humpback Whale: Ken
Old Man River: David
Why Worry Now: Nigel
Buffalo Gal, Won't you Come out Tonight: Les
Captain Colston: Colin
Jimmy Brown: Paul
I'm Going Down this Road: Angela
My Bonny Moorhen: Lynda
You Gentlemen of England: Roland
Song of the Chanter: Lorna
Adonis of the Island: Laura
Drift from the Land: Eddie
I Live in Trafalgar Square: Mave
Ruins by the Shore: Ken
How Deep the Father's Love: David
Peggy Gordon: Nigel
Cripple Creek: Les
The Blackbird: Colin
Let the Sun Shine on: Paul
Texas Rangers: Angela
Withered and Died: Lynda
Bury me Beneath the Willow: Les
These are my Mountains: Laura & Lorna
Rolling Home to Old England: Nigel

It then being eleven of the clock, (six bells,) we all rolled home.
Messengers were dispatched to tell of our glorious victory, and no corpses needed to be repatriated in a barrel of brandy.
Nobody kissed me ... hardly!

CHILDREN IN NEED - 18th November: "It's time to show your spots"

2011-10-15T23:18:00.003+01:00

City Folk Club will be supporting that most worthwhile cause Children in Need, again. This year it's on the 18th of November. We know that money raised for Children in Need really does do good. This year's motto is "It's time to show your spots".

What will we be doing? Well, Sponsored spotty Requests has always been popular, so this year we'll be having that again. Jane Renshaw (or if she's absent, Lynda) will give out request forms and take your £1 donation per request in the weeks before the event. This year, Pudsey is urging people to bake cakes, so there will be spotty fairy cakes available for a donation - plus there's a prize element: one cake will net the lucky 'purchaser' a substantial spotty prize. On the night, all money in the spotty pot will go to Children in Need - please bring as much money as you can to put in it. Folding spotty currency will be especially acceptable, but, of course, 'every little helps'. There'll be a few surprises, too! (Will Pudsey make another daring, and sudden descent? Will the decorations be spottier than last year? Will the MC stay awake for the whole evening?).

Come and join in the spotty fun - some say it's the best evening of the year! - doing what we always do, but with a spotty charitable purpose. Better still, come along in the weeks beforehand, to get your Sponsored Requests in - or be told what spots you've been asked to perform.

"It's time to show your spots"

Echo ...

2011-10-15T16:43:00.007+01:00

For your delectation and continuing enjoyment the club now has use of a web-based audio-hosting facility.
At present only one person, (whose identity has been slightly obscured,) has given permission to publish.

Click > on the above gadget.
Work out who this is, listen and enjoy.

Being The 14th October, 2011 ...

2011-10-15T10:12:00.005+01:00

We were delighted to welcome Ray back in our midst, and Angela directed another fine evening of music and song ...

Pleasant and Delightful: Angela
Blue Moon: Paul
I Will: Lucy
Seven Days: Lynda & Mike P.
This Land is Your Land: Ray
Love Farewell: Colin
Turkish Lady: Roland
Going to the Zoo: Yvonne
Sat in a Circle in the Sun: Mike H.
Widow Maker: Eddie
Convict Maid: Annie
Cliff's Birthday Tribute: Berry
Dimming of the Day: Jane & Roger
Bermuda Triangle Exit: Mick
Times Like This (?): Roger
Teacher Teacher: Mike P.
Song for Ireland: David
The Tryste: Nigel
Ten Thousand Miles: Ken
Stone Walling Song: Mave
Georgie Girl: Les
Bright Morning Star: Angela
Three Wooden Crosses: Les
If I Die an Old Maid: Mave
Over the Waves: Ken & Berry
The Town I Love So Well: Nigel
Leaving the Land: David
Motherless Child: Roger
Cruel Mother: Jane
Past Caring: Annie
Thousands or More: Eddie
Cockles and Mussels: Yvonne & Mike H.
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy: Roland & Colin
Blackbird: Paul & Mick
Rolling Home: Ray

Here's Ray ...

During the proceedings Jane announced some plans for our special night for Children in Need 2011.
We will mark this and raise money with the rest of the nation on Friday 18th November.
Watch the blog for further details.
Better still ... come along to the club!

Being The 7th October, 2011 ...

2011-10-08T09:22:00.003+01:00

How can I describe this wonderful evening of good company, camaraderie and music?

Mike took the chair with an air of gentle authority.
Here is Mike, looking sartorially elegant, at a picnic that he attended earlier this year ...

Here's what we did:

The Goodbye Hat: Mike
Blood Red Roses: Colin & Roland
Boulder to Birmingham: Paul
The Air that I Breathe: Lynda & Paul
Fisherman's Blues: Matt
The Rose: Margaret
Begone Dull Care: Sylvia
Hessle Road: John
Belle of Barnstaple: Jane & Colin M.
Blackwaterside: Mick
Billy the Kid: Roger
Warbash Cannonball: Les
The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate: Roland
Come all you Virginia Girls: Angela
Aloysius: Jane & Colin M.
Wonderful World: David
All the Good Times: Eddie
I Don't Like Mondays: Lucy
Wind and Tides Permitting: Mike
Meeting of the Waters: Colin
Nowhere Man: Paul
Maid of Culmore: Lynda
Dreaming of You: Matt
The Balcony: Margaret
When Father Papered the Parlour: Sylvia
Blow the Man Down: John
Bushes and Briars: Jane M.
Ride On: Molly
Pat Canny's Reel: Mick
Fulsome Prison: Les & Pam
Bold Princess Royal: Roland
I'll Fly Away: Angela
Steal Away: David
Hobo's Lullaby: Roger
Last Thing on my Mind: Eddie
Waterfall: Lucy
Durham Gaol: Jane & Colin M.

So how shall I describe it after all?
A wonderful evening of good company, camaraderie and music!
I was proud to be among you.

A Message from our Friend, Phine ...

2011-10-06T16:04:00.003+01:00

Hi Everyone!

It has been a privilege to belong to The City Folk Club. I joined it when I first came down to West Sussex, and the Friday evening sessions have filled my life with rainbows.
Everyone is friendly and the talent there is simply admirable!

When I have been in Singapore and missed it all, I had gone onto YouTube to see and listen to the recording that [someone] made years ago. It made me feel that I was back in the group and that my friends were all around me.

I know I have made the right decision to go back to Singapore to be with my family and increasing number of grandchildren, but I shall regret not having you all and the folk club to attend each Friday. I will miss you and shall think of you on Fridays and wish every one of you happiness. Thank you all for your friendship and kindness ...

Love,

Phine.

Bert Jansch, (1943 - 2011) ...

2011-10-05T14:24:00.015+01:00

From one of the first vinyl albums I ever owned ...

Quoted in The Guardian:
"I'm not one for showing off. But I guess my guitar-playing sticks out."
Full article and obit. at http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/05/pentangle-bert-jansch-dies

RIP, Bert.

Being The 30th September, 2011 ...

2011-10-01T09:18:00.002+01:00

Oh, it's Friday evening again at The City Folk Club ...

Nineteen people turned up and put money in the pot.
One person popped in early and said, "Hello - goodbye."
She didn't pay.
Later, two people poked their heads around the door, wondering what was going on.
They declined an invitation to join us, but contributed to some enthusiastic applause as Mike H. finished his second spot.
Then they departed without paying either.

So what?
We had a quorum, and we could still pay the rent.
That's fine!

Paul took the chair and directed the following performances:

It May Take a Thousand Years: Paul
High Germany: Lynda
Beulah Land: Angela, Roland & Colin
You Gentlemen of England: Roland
The Widow Maker: Eddie
Last Day of September: Yvonne
The Harvester: Mike
Here Comes the Sun: Mick
Pretty Saro: Roger
I Didn't Care: Les
Long Black Veil: Margaret
We Plough the Fields and Scatter: David
Let's Keep it that Way: Phine
Field Behind the Plough: Nigel
When You were Sweet Sixteen: Tony
Handsome Molly: Colin
Another Girl: Paul
Outward Bound: Lynda & Paul
Old Virginee: Angela & Roland
By the Green Grove: Roland
Grey Funnel Line: Eddie
Who do you Think You're Fooling: Yvonne
Legacy: Mike
Harvest Home/Kil ... Barn Dance(?): Mick
Rear View Mirror: Roger
Wreck of the Old 97: Les & Pam
Till the White Rose Blooms Again: Margaret
Children and Flowers: David
Donna Donna: Phine & Colin
Wonderful Tonight: Nigel
Row On: Colin & full cast

In one particular way it was a special evening, tinged with slight sadness: it was Phine's last appearance with us before she departs for her new home in Singapore.
Here's Phine in a photograph I took five years ago ...

She doesn't look any older now, does she?
We said our farewells and responded to her musical requests, (after some time-consuming guitar tuning in a couple of quarters!)
Phine has been a delightful contributor in our company since those dark, cold, damp days at an earlier venue.
We will miss her, but the wonderful interweb thingy will ensure that we keep in touch.

Another Club ...

2011-09-28T00:06:00.025+01:00

Some of us went along to the Amberley Acoustic Music Club at The Black Horse in Amberley on Tuesday evening.
You might recognise these accomplished musicians ...

Behold - Beheld!

(Sorry - Roger is a bit blurred.)

They were particularly good ...

We heard several of David's self-penned songs, brilliantly accompanied by Mick and Roger on various instruments.
David's composition, 'When the Spring has Come', is a remarkable piece of musical poetry that could have come from the pre-industrial era.
'In No Strange Land', based on a poem by Francis Thompson (1859 – 1907), arranged for music by Roger and informatively introduced by David, was captivating.
Mick's fiddling for 'In the Smoke' took us all through the wardrobe into another dimension.

I had just one disappointment:
'Beheld' only got one set.

Then ... there was a lovely lady who looked a lot like the Jane that we all know.
She sang twice.
Here she is, accompanied by Roger, singing 'Leaning on the arms ...'

(Roger looks better now, don't you think?)

Now, Amberley is a good 20-30 minute drive from Chichester, and parking near the pub is limited.
You can get there by train, but it's a long and dangerous walk to the pub along dark, narrow roads from Amberley station.
You can return home by train, but, if you stay till closing time, that would involve a sleep-over at Ford ... not good!

Let not the above discourage you ...

It is a delightfully homely venue in an ancient building.
The English-speaking staff are welcoming, you don't need to show your passport and the establishment accepts British pounds.
The food coming out of the kitchen looked extremely appetising, and one of our number had to be restrained when she espied the potato wedges!
The outside toilet facilities have a certain rustic charm.
The club convenors are very friendly and they invite floor-singers.

Altogether, it was a most enjoyable evening.
So, let's keep an eye on this - http://www.amberleyacousticmusicclub.com/home.cfm

Perhaps we can arrange a minibus next time, because the overnight facilities at Ford railway station are non-existent.

Calling all guitar-teachers ...

2011-09-25T09:52:00.001+01:00

Here's an opportunity for you to share your expertise ...

One of our participants who lives in the city is looking for some tuition.
This person writes to me: "I have bought [a guitar] and my ambition is to be able to strum a few tunes."

Anyone willing to take up this challenge may contact me via chifolkinchi@gmail.com and, given your mutual permission, I will arrange for you to make contact.

By the way, we have not talked about money!

Being The 23rd September, 2011 ...

2011-09-24T10:43:00.009+01:00

So there we all were at the Guide Hall again, excitedly waiting to find out who would be MC.

It was Berry who announced that he has been rather unwell recently.

If you look really carefully you can just see Berry here who is admiring Ken’s guitar that seems to be held together with string and elastic bands …

Ken wishes it to be known that he wasn't actually there.
Did anyone notice?

It was an evening marked by such remarkable performances that it becomes almost trivial to publish the song list.

Anyway, for those who weren't there, here it is …

Annan Water: Colin

Tears in Heaven: Mark

'Twang': Heather

The Snows They Melt the Soonest: Lynda

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb: Jane & Roger

Who Knows Where the Time Goes: Margaret

No Regrets: Roger

Out of the Blue: Mick

Galway Shawl: Molly

How Deep the Father's Love: David

Lonesome Polecat: Tony

Five-Foot Flirt: Andy

Million Nightingales: Suzanne

Afraid of Losing You Again: Phine

Grey Funnel Line: Nigel

Constant Billy: Bill

Girl: Paul

Cityest People: Lucy

Marie Elena: Berry & his music machine

Another You: Margaret

The Blackbird: Colin

Crying in the Rain: Mark

Till There was You: Chris

Love Will Keep us Alive: Lynda

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: Jane & Roger

On the Wrong Side of Midnight: Roger

The Rambling Pitchfork: Mick

Where is Love: Molly

Fiddler's Green: David

What Shall I Write: Phine

Westlin' Winds: Nigel

As Tears Go By: Lucy

Mary Skeffington: Paul

Cheatin' Heart: Berry & full cast

Here was an evening overflowing with supreme talent.

Many thanks to Berry, (who didn't look all that poorly!) for maintaining a semblance of order.

My personal and special thanks to Nigel for 'Westlin' Winds': a performance that reassures me that at least one person reads this blog.

Actually - thank you to everyone, of course.

Classical Gas

2011-09-23T09:39:00.012+01:00

Here's Mick ...
classical gas
Click that link above now, and hit 'play'.
('play' is the -> thingy to the left of the wave-form.)
It will not damage your hard-drive, and you won't regret it.

WOW!!!

More to come - maybe.

Being The 16th of September, 2011 ...

2011-09-17T09:49:00.005+01:00

Angela demonstrated authority and took control with the bell tree ...

Despite that there was much frivolity, lively banter
... and music!

The Beard Song: Angela
The 'Prentice Song: Roland
The Bergen: Colin
150 Days Out From Vancouver: Eddie
Dance Me to the End of Love: Jane & Roger
I Need your Love so bad: Roger
Adieu to Old England: Mave
Such Usage in Heaven: Ken
(I stand corrected. Ken's song was entitled 'Little Vagabond'.)
Life Gets Tee-jus: Tony
Farewell to Tarwaithie: David
Spellbound: Mick
Make Believe you Love me one more time: Phine
Country Roads: Gerry
The House that Jack Built: Paul
Look What They've Done to my Song: Lynda
I am Weary, Let me Rest: Angela, Roland & Colin
Dancing with You: Eddie
Young Roger Esquire: Roland
I Live not where I Love: Colin
Jolene: Jane & Roger
Lay me Down a Pallet on your Floor: Roger
Frying in the Rain: Mave
Lord Franklin (according to Les Barker): Ken
Good Night my Angel: David
Three Polkas: Mick
Bye Bye Love: Gerry
Dream Seller: Lynda & Paul
Moonshadow: Paul

Then we all went home for some peace and quiet.

Annie's Gig ...

2011-09-15T07:18:00.003+01:00

We will all recognise Anne Winter, a regular and welcome participant at the City Folk Club.

Annie has a booking at The Chichester Folk Song Club on Tuesday 20th September, 2011.
She will be performing with multi-instrumentalist Dean Hobbs.
You'll find more details by clicking here.

Shall we all go along?
8.30pm at The Four Chesnuts, Oving Road, Chichester.

Here's a forthcoming event that Angela would like to publicise ..

2011-09-10T14:42:00.014+01:00

SINGING WORKSHOP

Come and ‘let yourself go’ for the day, whether you sing in a choir, at church, at a folk club, or just in the privacy of your bathroom! We are going to sing some gospels, spirituals and world music and will also focus on improving our singing with good breathing techniques and learn about how to interpret a piece well.

You do not need to read music as we will be taught songs ‘by ear’.

Led by Michael Harper

For Get Vocal Chichester – Community Choir

Sunday 9^th October 2011

From 10am - 4pm

At North Mundham Village Hall,

School Lane, N.Mundham, Chichester, PO20 1LA

Only £20.00 - To book please contact:

Angela O’Brien roland@selseypc.net 01243 601183

·         Michael Harper is an international singer, teacher and workshop facilitator. He has sung opera and in concerts throughout Europe, in China and in the U.S. Here, he is well known amongst community choirs as a member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network and particularly as being a dynamic co-director of Sing for Water London.
·        He studied at Virginia Commonwealth University, received a Master of Music Degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he also did further doctoral studies. Though trained in classical music, Michael grew up in Virginia with a rich tradition of spirituals and gospel music. Reflecting his roots he sings and leads workshops in traditional spirituals and gospel with great gusto and a warm sense of fun.
·        Based on his experience as a professional singer and an experienced teacher he offers advice through interpretation on how to sing well and get the best out of a piece of music. “My aim is to discover and expose each person’s own abilities to find the song in themselves whether it be opera, Lieder, folk song, soul, blues, jazz or any other style. There is a natural flow that is present in everyone.”

Use the internet to see and hear Michael in action leading a massed group of community choirs from across the UK at the Thames Festival. Google: Sing for Water London 2009 Part 2. Then you’ll know what a great day this will be!

Tea/coffee and a bottle of water for each participant will be provided.

Please bring something for a shared pot luck lunch.

Directions: Village Hall is just behind North Mundham School on B2166 between

Runcton and Hunston, South of the A27 Chichester Bypass and has its own car park.

(Money raised over our costs will be donated to Water Aid and St Wilfrid’s Hospice)

So ... when does autumn begin?

2011-09-07T09:35:00.069+01:00

Those television weather reporters seem to be in some disagreement.
Is it when the weather suddenly turns bad?
Is it when leaves fall from the trees?
As early as 1st September I heard one of them talking about autumnal weather.

Teachers and students hold that summer ends when they return to school.

Astronomically-minded people contend that autumn begins at the equinox - 21st September.
(Well, that would be 21st March in the southern hemisphere.)

Now ... does it matter?

Here's a seasonal song from the pen of Robert Burns (1783):

Now Westlin' Winds

Now westlin winds and slaughtering guns
Bring autumn's pleasant weather
The moorcock springs on whirring wings
Among the blooming heather
Now waving grain, wild o'er the plain
Delights the weary farmer
And the moon shines bright as I rove at night
To muse upon my charmer

The partridge loves the fruitful fells
The plover loves the mountain
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells
The soaring hern the fountain
Through lofty groves the cushat roves
The path of man to shun it
The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush
The spreading thorn the linnet

Thus every kind their pleasure find
The savage and the tender
Some social join and leagues combine
Some solitary wander
Avaunt! Away! the cruel sway,
Tyrannic man's dominion
The sportsman's joy, the murdering cry
The fluttering, gory pinion

But Peggy dear the evening's clear
Swift flies the skimming swallow
The sky is blue, the fields in view
All fading green and yellow
Come let us stray our gladsome way
And view the charms of nature
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn
And every happy creature

We'll gently walk and sweetly talk
Till the silent moon shines clearly
I'll grasp thy waist and, fondly pressed,
Swear how I love thee dearly
Not vernal showers to budding flowers
Not autumn to the farmer
So dear can be as thou to me
My fair, my lovely charmer

Here's Dick Gaughan's rendition from 1983 ...

Click here for his chords and notation.

Will somebody sing this at the club soon?
... just for me?
... PLEASE?

Being the 2nd of September, 2011 ...

2011-09-03T00:24:00.009+01:00

In the chair: Dogsbody.
Present: 17 other friendly people including a new face: Laura's friend, Ian.
Ian came armed with a heavy-metal instrument that looked a bit like this:

It was so heavy that Lynda had difficulty lifting it!

Absentees: Several.
Apologies: None!

Any other business:
Oh, yes: these were the 'doings' ...

The Seeds of Love: Colin
Alexandra Leaving: Lynda
Motherless Children: Ian & Laura
The Circle Game: Angela
The Wild Goose: Roland
The Leaves of Life, (Seven Virgins): Roger
I will always love you: Jane & Roger
Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes: Duncan
Candy Man: Mick
Carolina on my mind: Mike
Bright Fine Gold: Mave
John Barleycorn is a Hero Bold: Nigel
The Last Thing on my Mind: Margaret
I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song: Lucy
Don't Care Where They Bury my Body: Paul
Babes in the Wood: Ken
All among the Barley: Colin
The Little Pot Stove: Ken
Last Train from Bacup: Mave
The Galway Shawl: Lynda
Heart and Soul: Ian & Laura
Five Years' Time: Angela
Little Black Horse: Roland
Lost Lover Blues: Roger
My Bonny Lad: Jane
Bringing in the Sheaves: Duncan
Khosidl: Mick & Mike
Dead Skunk: Mike
The Wind that Shakes the Barley: Nigel
Both Sides Now: Margaret & Paul
I Don't Know how to Love Him: Lucy
Hey Jude: Paul
Blue Moon: Ian & Laura

Perhaps the most memorable chorus came from Mike and is worthy of documentation here:

Dead skunk in the middle of the road (x3)

... Stinking to high heaven.

(Loudon Wainwright III)

However, it is inappropriate to single out any individuals ...
You were all good!

Now, don't forget ...
Don't come next week (9th) because we won't be there!

Important information

2011-08-27T13:59:00.000+01:00

The City Folk Club will NOT be meeting on Friday 9th September because the Guide Hall will be otherwise occupied.

Otherwise, it will be business as usual for all other Fridays in September, and throughout October.

Being The 26th of August, 2011 ...

2011-08-27T11:31:00.004+01:00

Berry appeared thus:

As host for the evening, he welcomed twenty participants and made a prompt and enthusiastic start at 20.22 hours precisely.

Here's what we heard:

Walk Right Back: Berry & Ken
Clare Morris: Howard
Take me back one more time: Marion & Mick
Lavender's Blue: Yvonne
The Harvester: Mike
John Barleycorn: Roland
Will the Circle be Unbroken: Angela
Unchained Melody: Tony
The Bergen, v.1/The Road will be calling us on: Eddie
Rolling with the Flow: Les
When this bloody war is over: Nigel
12-string shuffle: Mick
She's like the Swallow: Lynda
Rout of the Blues: Colin
Burglin' on the side: Ken
Forty Shades of Green: Howard & Berry
Carolina Pines: Marion & Mick
Everybody's Talking: Marion & Mick
Mortningtown Ride: Yvonne
Fotheringay: Mike
Butter and Cheese and All: Roland
West Virginia Miner: Angela
Home Lads Home: Eddie
You can't Read my Mind: Les
Maggie: Howard
Dark-Eyed Molly: Nigel
O'Carolan's Draft: Mick
Molly Bawn: Lynda
John Ball: Colin
Lara's Theme: Berry
A Layabout's Lament: Ken
Scarlet Town is Burning down: Marion & Mick
Halcyon Days: Mike & Yvonne
Miss me when I'm Gone: Angela
Thousands or More: Eddie
Jambalaya: Berry, Ken and full cast

Wow!!!
Thirty-six items of music, a preview of Tony's bathroom suite, engaging banter, a creole menu: what more could you desire on a Friday evening?
No tears were shed and there was no poetry ...
... and it cost you nothing!

Be warned: next week it will cost you £2.00.

Being The 19th August, 2011 ...

2011-08-25T16:14:00.003+01:00

Dogsbody has been away for a few weeks.
Last week he was here:

Nevertheless, on his return from remote regions, he was grateful to receive reports of the club's activities.
He is delighted and encouraged that his absence passed unnoticed.

Lynda diligently chronicled the song list.
Here it is:

Steal Away: Paul
College Boy: Lynda
Lazy Bones: Allis & John Gradwell
When somebody thinks you're wonderful: John G. & Allis.
Bouffard's Waltz, Hebridean Waters, South Wind & The Red Lark: Lorna
A Merry Little Minuet: Roger
Seashore: Mick
A Sound Proposition: Tony
Ballad of Accounting: Ken
Bright Fine Gold: Mave
Crantock Games: Nigel
It's a Wonderful Life: Paul
Andrew Lammie: Lynda
Ain't Misbehavin': Allis & John
Up the Lazy River: John
Blaze Away: Lorna
Roll on John: Roger
Ride a Mile (slip jig): Mick
Bidin' my Time: Ken
I live in Trafalgar Square: Mave
You were always on my mind: Nigel
Girl from the North Country: Paul
Most of us are Sad: Lynda
Momma's little baby loves shortnin' bread: Brenda
My Heart belongs to Daddy: Allis & John (plus Paul)
Who's sorry now?: John
Nelly Bligh: Lorna
Waltzing's for Dreamers: Roger
Blues in E: Mick
The Mary-Ellen Carter: Ken & Mave
Thousands or More: Nigel

No mortal injuries seem to have been inflicted, no complaints have been received
... and no money changed hands, did it?

Early one morning between Snaresbrook and South Woodford …

2011-08-17T22:32:00.003+01:00

I started the best gainful employment I ever had at the age of thirteen.

My day began at 6.00am, and the morning paper-round occupied an hour or so that most people wouldn’t normally use. Mr. Unwin, the newsagent on Hermon Hill, was a very kind employer who paid me 7 shillings and 6 pence a week.

About the same time I learned to whistle, and I would gaily walk the streets whistling my favourite melodies in the cool hush of each morning as I pushed ever-increasing thicknesses of newsprint through inadequate letter-boxes.

Dvorak was my favourite: I could handle all four movements of his 9^th Symphony, and my rendition of the adagio was the forerunner of a well-known advertisement for bread.

At the end of Falcon Way, (part of my round,) there was a footbridge traversing the overground section of LT’s Central Line.

One day I stopped whistling to quietly observe an early commuter making his way to the tube station at Snaresbrook.

He wore a pin-striped-suit, a bowler-hat, and bore an immaculately rolled umbrella. With great agility he ascended the steps at the top of which he launched forth with a clarity and purity of voice that was astounding:

“Early one morning …,” he sang … and the Sun rose!

“Wow!” I thought.
A young soul was captivated.

Thereafter my whistling graduated to Rach 2 and those Paganini variations. I even attempted Beethoven’s glorious 5^th piano concerto. I was rather good at Sibelius’ Karelia Suite, and for moments of adolescent gloom I took on RVW’s Tallis variations. Schoenberg, of course, was beyond me.

But … every weekday morning I would cease my cacophony at 3 Falcon Way.

If I was early, I would wait.
If it rained, I sheltered under a nearby laburnum tree.

Regularly this man appeared and, to my delight, he would repeat the same ritual.

I wondered about him ...

What was his day-job?

Whence cometh his confidence to greet and celebrate the day in such a public fashion?

I wanted to say, “Hello,” but I was very shy in those days.

Thus was born an interest in folk song.
That city-based financier, or whatever, will never know the gift he gave me, but I thank him.

Here are some lyrics:

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below:
"Oh, don't deceive me, oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

"Oh gay is the garland, fresh are the roses,
I've culled from the garden to bind on thy brow.
Oh, don't deceive me, Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

"Remember the vows that you made to your Mary,
Remember the bower where you vowed to be true.
Oh, don't deceive me, oh, never leave me.
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

Thus sung the poor maiden, her sorrow bewailing,
Thus sung the poor maid in the valley below:
"Oh don't deceive me! Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Of course, people my age will remember this from schooldays, and realise that its inclusion in music lessons totally missed the point.

Watch out for the second chapter in this serialised autobiography in due course.

Being The 12th of August, 2011 ...

2011-08-13T13:25:00.002+01:00

I know that Angela set up the room.
Here she is, admirably demonstrating how to sing to the club's music stand:

That's great, Angela, and thank you.

It is rumoured that Paul was MC.

(I have yet to obtain a suitable image of Paul, but you all know what he looks like.)

Dogsbody was unavoidably absent giving this excuse: 'ear wax', so what actually went on remains a mystery.

This post will therefore be edited when such intelligence is shared.

Addendum, 24/09/2011:

Paul has finally shared intelligence about the 'doings', as follows:

All The Good Times: Paul & Roger

On my Way to Canaan's Land: Angela

The Turkish Lady: Roland

Love is Life: Mave

Rufford Park: Ken

Geordie: Sheena

Out of the Blue: Mick

Little Bitty Tear: Berry & Howard

The Chivalrous Man-Eating Shark

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow: Phine

L'Assassin: Tony

Banks of the Nile: Roger

A Very Good Year: Paul

The Shepherd's Daughter: Angela

The Ship in Distress: Roland

Rue (? Herb in my Father's Garden): Mave

The Indian Lass: Ken

Volunteer Fire Department: Sheena

The Rambling Pitchfork: Mick

We'll Meet Again: Berry

A Fire in Mauritania: Howard

It's Too Late, Baby: Phine & Sheena

Things are 'bout Coming my Way: Roger

Being The 5th August, 2011 ...

2011-08-12T14:05:00.006+01:00

We have to thank Laura for setting up the venue and for occupying the hot seat:

Here are the items that were performed:

Come Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl: Laura
What a Friend we have in Jesus: Roland & Roger
Don't Forget the Singer: Angela
What have they done to the Rain?: Margaret
Bind us Together, Lord: Yvonne
My Favourite Colour Scheme: Mike
Buddy, Can you spare me a Dime: Roger
Leaving on a Jet Plane: Lucy
Home, Lads, Home: Eddie
D'you want your old lobby washed down?: Ron
Enrico/Alexandra Park: Alan
School Days Over: Nigel
Little Vagabond: Ken
You are my Honeysuckle: Mave
Bridge over Troubled Water: Sheena
Pilot of the Airwaves: Paul
Wild Mountain Thyme: Laura
Spanish Ladies: Roland
I'll Fly Away: Angela
The Four Marys: Margaret
My Grandfather's Clock: Yvonne
We'll Meet Again: Mike
The Dimming of the Day: Roger
Dream River: Lucy
See that Rainbow Shine: Eddie
Eavesdropper: Ron
Blessed Margaret Pole/O'Carolan's Welcome: Alan
The banks of the Tees: Nigel
Going for a Soldier: Ken
Do you Remember: Mave
One more Cup of Coffee: Sheena
O, Very Young One: Paul

Even during the holiday season a respectable attendance of at least 17 bodies was achieved
... and all this would have cost the casual observer nothing at all!
I wish I'd been there.

And now for the next obscure instrument ...

2011-08-10T22:33:00.004+01:00

I came across this ensemble in Switzerland last week:

Hans Kennel mit Alphorn Werkstatt Zug

I asked Hans, "What tobacco do you use?"

These instruments made a very pleasing sound, and there were no polluting emissions.
You can find an example at alphorn.

So, Lorna, how about trading in those smaller woodwind instruments for something like this?

(I have a web-link for a retail outlet.)

A Different Kind of Folk Club

2011-08-01T17:27:00.002+01:00

Some of our number found themselves in Yorkshire last week, and decided to see what the Scarborough Folk Club was like. It runs from 9pm on a Monday evening in an ethnic pub in the middle of Scarborough. The dark, wooden ethnicity of the pub was only undermined by the absence of sawdust. The two real ales were... off, leaving Guinness, John Smith's on keg and something else. The 'club' was in a smaller area, through a wide archway, down a few steps, so sound spill could be a problem. Wheelchair access, even if you got through the street-level but angled entrance, is therefore very difficult, and impossible unaided.

Our experience of this 'Folk Club' might not be typical, but we speak as we find. We've been to some 'clique-y' clubs, but this one took the cake. THIS IS NOT A FOLK CLUB - it is an irish ceilidh band in public rehearsal. The 5 or 6 musicians sat round a table at the narrower end of the small room, and studiously ignored the ten or so 'audience'. To give them their due, they didn't actually stare and say "You're not one of us, so **** off", but their attitude seemed to be simply that. They might have had ten of the best singers in the world in the pub, but they wouldn't have known, nor, we suspect, cared. Although we entered and left between items, others just wandered in and out whenever they wanted to. One of the 'in-crowd' would start a tune, and the others crept in, on mandolin, fiddle, concertina and guitar. All played quite competently, but the finishes were, at best, ragged. After each tune, a discussion ensued about technicalities of playing for ceilidhs, such as the right tempo for a reel. No attempt was made to acknowledge, let alone involve anyone outside the 'inner circle'.

After five or six tunes, the lady guitarist started very promisingly to sing a slow song to her guitar accompaniment, but, as she had her back to us, and all the other clique members joined in playing the melody line and comprehensively drowned her out, we couldn't tell what she was singing. Then somebody started another tune. We concluded that that would be the pattern for the evening, and at the end of the tune, we left.

On a scale of 1-10:
Welcome: zero
Friendliness: -273 (i.e. absolute zero)
Inclusivity: same
Musicianship: would say 7, but for the crassness over the lady singer, so 4.5

Compare this with your experience at the City Folk Club, and rejoice in your good fortune.

Being the 29th July, 2011 ...

2011-07-30T16:11:00.003+01:00

I believe that Berry MC-d.
Lynda tells me that this is what was heard:

I am a brisk lad: Lynda
Lowlands away: Roland
Bright Morning Stars: Angela
Williams Rufus: John
The Costermonger's Song: Sylvia
Jesus Saviour, Pilot me: Jane
The Owl & the Pussycat: Roger
I Only Want to Be with you: Yvonne
Cockles & Mussels: Mike
A bag of boiled sweets (from Les bonbons - Jacques Brel): Tony
Early One Evening: Howard
Johnny my man: Nigel
One More River/Fire down below/Mademoiselle from Armentiers: Lorna
Hold me Like a Baby (?): Mike P.
Angie: Mick
I Could Easily Fall in Love with you: Berry
Am I that easy to forget?: Lynda
The Conscripts: John
Ballad of Bethnal Green: Sylvia
John Barbary: Jane
Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child: Roger
Mrs Bennett's Eyes: Yvonne
Just a Simple Love Song: Mike
Maggie/Silver threads among the gold: Howard
Love me tender: Nigel
Geud Man of Ballengigh: Lorna
Fire and Rain: Mike P.
Itzikel: Mick
It's a Sin to Tell a Lie: Berry
The Lavender Cowboy: Sylvia
Tomorrow is a Long Time: Jane & Roger
Butterflies: Mike & Yvonne
The Trees they do Grow Tall: Nigel
A Reel: Mick & Mike P.
Theme from the Godfather: Mark

Lynda added the following personal note:

Thanks to Berry for being a brilliant MC, to Nigel for putting up and taking down the lights, and to everyone who helped set up and clear away.

We had a lovely evening as always, with lots of laughs. As I turned off the lights I thought how lucky we all are to be able to get together and sing and play, and leave with a rosy glow of contentment.

Being The 22nd of July, 2011 ...

2011-07-23T00:34:00.010+01:00

A person who once appeared thus occupied the MC's chair ...

That's how he had dressed for the Royal Wedding, even though HRH forgot to invite him.

Here's what we heard:

John Barleycorn: Colin

Part of You: Paul

Who'll be a Soldier: Brian & Laura

The Coast of Peru: Roland

How Many Biscuits: Angela

Just Walk Away, Renée: Roger

Daughter of Heaven: Lynda

The Lock Keeper: Tony

You Know who I am: Jane & Roger

Tickle Dew: Mick

Some Day Soon: Margaret

Where's the World News I Knew: Berry

Davey-Davey Knick-Knack: Laura

Bold General Wolfe: Nigel

Make it, Mend it: Ken

Scarborough Fair: Mave

Trip Over the Mountains/Hewlett: Bill

Unicorns: Colin

Dreamin': Paul

Over the Hills and Far Away: Brian & Laura

Andrew Rose: Roland

Il était une Bergère: Angela

Blow my Blues Away: Roger

My Lady is a Wild Flying Dove: Lynda

Fare ye well ye Banks o' Sicily: Duncan

Three Polkas: Mick

Tonight Will be Fine: Jane & Roger

Sadness: Margaret

Another You: Berry

Thirty-foot Trailer: Nigel

My Grandfather's Ferret: Ken *

Come By the Hills: Mave

I've Got Sixpence: Bill **

* It did not go unnoticed that Ken was funny, but he's already had a badge for that.

** Bill's bizarre mathematical understanding qualifies him as a creative accountant.

I think we should appoint him as treasurer!

Good night, all!

Love Your Park ...

2011-07-20T14:48:00.008+01:00

Clearly it is picnic season.

There will be a musical event in the Bishop's Palace Garden near Chichester Cathedral on Wedneday, 27th July, 12.00 - 2.00pm.

By virtue of the City Folk Club's friendship with the Chichester Folk Song Club, we are invited.
Details are on CFSC's website - click here: love your park

Shall we go along?
(That sky looks ominous!)

Being The 15th July 2011 ...

2011-07-16T00:38:00.004+01:00

Once again Angela occupied the chair and was presented with another badge for her collection.
It was one of those cosy evenings with just sufficient numbers to pay the rent.

It started to rain outside as Angela led off optimistically with 'You Are my Sunshine'.
We all joined in enthusiastically.

Then:

Like a Bird on a Wire: Paul
The Streams of Lovely Nancy: Lynda
Old Gospel Ship: Margaret
Don't Think Twice ... : Mike
Just a Song at Twilight: Mave
Tout le Monde est Malheureux: Tony
Take a Look at that (,) Baby/Doc's Guitar: Mick
Dives and Lazarus: Roger
Two Jews: Bill
The Carter: Nigel
The Happy Man: Colin
Awake, Awake: Angela
If You Love Me: Paul
Andrew Laimie: Lynda
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well: Margaret
Dans les Bras: Tony
Farewell, Farewell: Mike
I Don't Know Just Exactly Who You Are: Mave
Kerfunken Jig: Mick & Mike
Hobo's Lullaby: Roger
The Constant Lovers: Nigel
(?) Johnston/Princess Beatrice: Bill
Reynardine: Colin
Battle of New Orleans: Paul
(Title awaited): Bill
Farther Along: Roger

Paul and Tony discussed cognitive dissononce.

A badge was awarded for a rude song, although Lynda, in all innocence, had not realised the possible rustic metaphor of her song. Dogsbody's obscure interpretation of 'The Streams of Lovely Nancy' was hotly contested.
Angela thought Bill was funny, so he got a badge.
Having exhausted our supply of awards for being rude, Tony had to content himself with a badge celebrating 'free association'.

Folk on the Meadow ...

2011-07-11T17:23:00.015+01:00

It went rather well.

Thank you to those twelve CFC participants who came along to the picnic at The Old Bridge Meadow in Bosham on Sunday 10^th.
I was particularly pleased to welcome Frank, an all-too-infrequent visitor to CFC gatherings.

Here’s Frank …

Bill played his mandolin …

Then Bill fiddled. Click - waltz & pugwash
You’ll find Les singing about flowers here – http://youtu.be/rvd-jELyays

Fortunately, we were blessed with fine weather and all musicians performed as excellent advocates for what we do at the club.

Brian, (chairperson of the meadow friends,) came along with his wife, Audrey.
Rachel, (hon. sec.) came along with strawberries and ice-cream!
Other local people wandered along and some delightful youngsters plied us with biscuits.
One lady even made a request that Paul fulfilled with his customary aplomb.
(No, that is not a rustic metaphor!)

Brian welcomed us warmly, and he was enchanted by Mave’s rendition of The Boy I Love. Mave obliged us all with an encore.
Then Brian kissed Audrey ... click -> to play:

Thank you, Friends of the Old Bridge Meadow.

Thank you, everyone who abandoned the British Grand Prix to come along.

A conversation that Jane had with Brian included the questioning phrase: "Next year ... ?"
Hmmmm ...!

Brian wrote to me later as follows:
"So many thanks to you and your friends for a wonderful afternoon; truly magical! It was of even more special for Audrey & I."

Being The 8th of July, 2011

2011-07-08T23:46:00.022+01:00

Mike P. was the latest recipient of the recently designed MC's badge.
He handled us all very gently during an evening that was constrained by time.

Roland was so anxious not to miss anything that he brought his dinner with him:

Onlookers salivated profusely.

Remarkably, we had a quorum by 8.00pm and music began only shortly after.
Proceedings had a distinctly French feel as we were delighted to welcome Roland and Angela’s cross-channel friends: From left to right: Fleur, Anne-Marie and Anne ...

Here’s what we performed ...

Free Traders: Mike
The Rose: Lynda
Let it be: Les
Seasons of the Year: Mave
A French Song: Ken
I Wanna go Home: Berry
J’ attenderai Toujours: Angela
Santiano: Anne-Marie, Anne, Fleur, Beatrice, Roland & Angela
Gipsy Rover (Rover Gitan -?): Anne
I Went to Market: Tony
Seashore: Mick
Bold Princess Royal: Roland
Galloways: Colin

During free association Lynda graciously accepted a birthday card from Ken:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYNDA!

Then we got on with ...

Caledonia: Mike
Molly Bawn: Lynda
When the Saints ... : Anne & the French/Selsey Ensemble
I’ll Fly Away: Roland & Angela
L’eau Vive: Anne-Marie, Anne & Fleur
Il y à Longtemps que je t’aime: Tony and the French quarter
All Over the World: Les
No, No Courgettes: Mave
English Channel no. 5: Ken
Jambalaya: Berry & Ken
Breton Gavottes: Mick & Mike
Aux Champs-Élysées: The French/Selsey Ensemble
Twa Corbies: Colin

Then everybody helped to pack up, and we were out of the building, (as requested,) by 10.30pm, having secured une vraiment entente cordiale!

So, when we all be invited to visit our French friends?

Advance Notice about Friday 8th July ...

2011-07-05T10:21:00.002+01:00

Please remember that we are hoping for a prompt start at 8.00pm with music on Friday.
This is because we will need to begin packing up at 10.15.

Doors will open at 7.30pm, and an Ancient Mariner will occupy the MC's chair.
Here he is:

Anyone who dares to attend in the guise of an albatross will be shot, thus:

It might tempt you to come along when I share the fact that we will be graced with the company of Anne-Marie, a French friend of Angela and Roland.
Some will remember that Anne-Marie engaged us with a rendition of Santiano last year.
I have requested that she perform this anthemic piece once more.
The chorus and some youtube links to the song are on this blog at http://cityfolkclub.blogspot.com/2010/07/santiano-more-like-this-please.html
I thought this was rather a good song:

Yes ... there are a lot of words, but all you really need to remember are these three common French words:
"Hisse et Ho!"

Being The 1st July, 2011

2011-07-02T01:09:00.007+01:00

A sufficient number of people abandoned watching Wimbledon on their television sets to generate a quorum at the City Folk Club.
(A 'quorum' means that we can pay the rent.)

Three delightful ladies, Lynda, Laura and Margaret turned up early.
They ran out of things to talk about so they sang songs before anyone else arrived:
Meet me on the Corner
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Dogsbody was enchanted.

Paul graciously accepted the badge of authority as MC.
Here is the noble countenance that shined upon us:

The recently designed badge appears thus:

Then we got under way:

You are the New Day: Colin
La Vie en Rose (en Français!): Laura
Stewball: Lynda
Copper Kettle: Margaret
Hold on Tight to Your Dreams: Berry
Shall I Tell you about my Life: Roger
Bermuda Triangle Exit: Mick
The Jolly Waggoner: Nigel
Lovely Joan: Jane W.
Raining in my Heart: Paul
Tougher than Most: John
Spencer the Rover: Colin
The Flagship: Laura
She's Like the Swallow: Lynda
Black is the Colour: Margaret
It's All Just Talk: John
You Won't See Me: Berry
Romeo and Juliet: Roger
St. Louis Tickle: Mick
The Oggie Man: Nigel
The Song of Gilgalad: Jane W.
Your Mother and I: Paul
Banks of Sweet Primeroses: Colin
I'll Get Over You: Laura
Kathy's Song: Lynda
The River is Wide: Margaret
I'll be Your Sweetheart: Berry
Lay me down a Pallet on your Floor: Roger
Harvest Home/Kilomona Barn Dance: Mick
La chanson des vieux amants (Song for old lovers): Jane W.
I Wish I Knew You Before: Paul
Here's a Health to the Company: Colin
Down in the Easy Chair: Laura
Caleb Myer: Lynda
Rolling Home: Nigel

Then, in happy and contented spirits, we all rolled home!

Ahoy, Sailors ...

2011-06-26T13:31:00.019+01:00

SHIP’S LOG.

Being the year of our Lord 2011, 25^th day of June.

Vessel: MV Richmond
Condition: Seaworthy and sound, with valid certificate issued by HM Admiralty

Position: 50° 49' N / 0° 46' W

Weather: fine

Wind: very light south-westerly breeze - falling

Sea state: mill-pond

Visibility: good

Crew:

In command: Cap’n John

Helms-person: Alex

Bosun: Nigel

Cabin-person: Penny

Passengers:

34 disreputable transportees, all of whom have been convicted of being associated with a subversive organisation known as The City Folk Club.

It was declared that all such reprobates should receive this mark:

There should have been 35 convicts, but one absconded apologetically prior to departure.

The notorious ring-leader of this group, (widely identified by magistrates as Dogsbody-the-Dubious,) pleaded with the Captain to pardon Jane. In consideration of a gift of ship’s biscuits, such forgiveness was duly granted.

Details of voyage:

After departing from the wharf, the transportees decided that entertaining themselves with music and song might assuage their fears of a dangerous voyage to uncharted regions.

Indeed, their music was so enjoyable that it is worth documenting in this journal:

Claudy Banks/Speed the Plough: Bill & Colin
Spanish Ladies: Colin & Bill
Sunshine on my Shoulder: Les
Sailing to Philadelphia: Lynda
Haul Away for Rosie-O: Paul
Merrimack County: Lucy & Paul
A Klezmer Tune: Mick (Click khosidl to play)
Combing the Spanish Maine(?): Ken
Sydney Bernard: Jane W.
Warlike Seamen: Roland (Click warlike seamen to hear this manly song.)
Singing Holy unto the Lord: Angela & Roland
When the Ship Comes in: Mike
Among the Leaves so Green: Tony
Valparaiso: Laura & Colin
Barges: Dave
Safe in the Harbour: Jane & Dave
Corina: Anthony
Cutthroats, Crooks and Conmen: Anthony & Carrie

After a few alarming scrapes with the canal bank and a prolonged three-point turn, it was decided to moor temporarily at Hunston.

The convicts were allowed to disembark for exercise.
Here's a rather good photograph that Laura took:

Here's another taken from the bridge by Jane T. Witness the misty twilight:

Some had ephemeral intelligence that there was a nearby hostelry. It is reported that they were well received therein, but they mislaid their intelligence during an excursion that incurred only a slight delay in the continuing voyage.

Getting under way again, the aforementioned dogsbody announced the answers to an intellectual exercise that he had earlier distributed on paper. He called that ‘a quiz’.

Jane and Robin scored highest and were warmly congratulated for winning this highly desirable prize:

There was more joyous music as the vessel returned to the Canal Wharf:

Lady of Beauty: Eddie
Wild Mountain Thyme: Margaret
Manchester Rambler: Mave
Some Rival: Jenny & Bill
The Shipping Forecast: Robin
All I Want is You: Beatrice and Angela
Farewell Shanty: Paul & full cast

Here’s Margaret singing ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’:

During the voyage only four bodies were temporarily lost, intelligence diminished, there were no severed limbs, and such maidenheads as were present remained unmolested.
The transportees were declared to be exempt from further prosecution, and they were permitted to return to their homes.

Seriously:

Thank you to Cap’n John and his crew.
They have always proved so very friendly and helpful.

Thank you too to the Canal Society, and the booking manager, (Val and Denis,) who permitted us to come back.

Importantly, thank you to all who came along to support this club activity.
You all gave of your very best to our mutual entertainment.
A grand time was enjoyed by all.

It is a privilege to be one of you.

Being The 24th of June, 2011 ...

2011-06-25T00:47:00.001+01:00

Mr Beresford Greene bravely stepped up as MC.

He did not look thus:

He has been observed to be so-attired in the past, and that noble countenance, (suggestive of wisdom and intelligence,) is unmistakable.

Berry began by delivering an impassioned speech of appreciation and gratitude to David, our sabbatical host. This was warmly greeted with widespread agreement and rapturous applause.

Then we got on with the business of the evening ...

Hey Baby: Berry & Ken

Tom Bowling: Colin

The Rose: Lynda

Picture on the Wall: Angela

Down in Cupid's Garden: Roland

Polly Oliver: Margaret

How Can I Tell You?: Jane & Roger

Windy Old Weather: Mave

Heart Like Wheel: Ken

Fathom the Bowl: Nigel

How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times: Roger

My Dearest Dear: Jenny

Hares on the Mountain (Knife at the Window): Bill

Sisters of Mercy: Paul

Lonesome Town: Berry & Ken

When All Men Sing: Colin

Sally Free and Easy: Lynda

Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone: Angela

Lord Franklin: Roland

Go Away From my Window (It Ain't Me, Babe): Margaret

Barbr'y Allen: Jane

No Regrets: Roger

Chickens in the Garden: Mave

When the Ship Comes in: Ken

The Census (William Gill): Nigel

My Cape Breton Home/The Black Joke: Bill

Holmfirth Anthem: Jenny & Bill

Your Cheating Heart: Paul, Berry & full cast

Sympathetic reference was made regarding the recent passing of Mike Waterson, (RIP,) who will be sadly missed on the folk scene.

I counted at least three musical tributes to Mike during the evening.

Mave's rendition of 'Chickens in the Garden' was delightful.

For future reference the choral progression of the legacy is as follows:

Cosy little farm
Cow
Pig
Sheep
Goat
Stock
Fields
Barn
Chickens

We'll all remember that next time, won't we?

(... and Angela volunteered to do sign-language!)

Many thanks, Berry:

YOU DONE GOOD!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to such an enjoyable evening, and it only cost you £2.00!

Quiz Clues: Final Answer?

2011-06-23T07:28:00.000+01:00

Just when I thought I'd finished compiling the quiz, and verifying the answers, it came into my mind that a tie-breaker might be necessary.
Here's the pictorial clue:

Just in case that's too easy, here's another:

Note for PSM: Right-clicking the image and looking at filename in properties will be of little help in discerning the answers.

Forward Planning ...

2011-06-22T13:15:00.000+01:00

Now let's move on ...

CFC will continue to meet regularly on Fridays, with all dates confirmed throughout July and August.
BUT ... on Friday 8^thJuly we must vacate the Guide Hall by 10.30pm because the Guides will be kipping down there.
So, early finish means a prompt start at 8.00pm … please? (Doors will open 7.30pm.)

I do not need to bore the reader with more about the boat trip except to say, "Still one space left!"

Next: there will be Folk on the Meadow, on Sunday 10^th July, 1.30pm onwards.
This is not an official club event, but I have been invited to bring along some musical friends to what will be locally promoted as a 'family picnic' on The Old Bridge Meadow in Bosham. You can find out about the meadow here: friends of the OBM.
Here's a map:

It will cost you nothing, and you are advised to bring something to eat and drink, and something to sit on. Voices and instruments will be welcomed. If it turns out that we’ll need umbrellas, then the picnic will be cancelled at short notice. (Phone me in the morning - 01243 574021.)
There is just one problem: there are no public facilities nearby … so go before you come!
Last year a few of us enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at a similar event.
Our organically-generated music was so well received by the local populus that they invited us back again!
Here's Bill last year:

Finally: your attendance during August will be FREE, as last year.
This is because your regular attendance and generous weekly subscriptions have generated a marginal surplus in CFC's funds.

After all, it was never our intention to make a profit!

Being The 17th June, 2011 ...

2011-06-20T22:05:00.000+01:00

Angela occupied the MC's chair once more.
It is reliably reported that she did so with great aplomb and sensitivity.

Here, in no semblance of order, is what was performed:

Crying Holy unto the Lord: Angela & Roland
Just as the tide was a-flowing: Roland
Chickens in the garden: Mave
Sailing to Philadelphia: Lynda
Peggy Gordon: Nigel
Roll on: John
I'm going to marry a far nicer boy: Sylvia
Hey, it's good to be back home again: Mike
A Sailor's Life: Roger
To Ramona: Paul
Hard Love: John
Green fields: Margaret
Look at us: Pam
Bosham Bells: Ken
My Mountain Home: Angela & Roland
Flying Cloud: Roland
Stately as a Galleon: Mave
Country Roads: Lynda & Paul
The Parting Glass: Nigel
An account of a sea journey: John
Oh I do hate to sail upon the ocean: Sylvia
Playing with my bohdran: Mike
Things about going my way: Roger
Hello Mary Lou: Paul
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy: John M.
Annie's Song: Margaret
Rover: Les
Music & movement: Ken

I have to thank Lynda for collating the above information, collecting money, ensuring that the hall was left as it was found, and for being ...

So, who's in the chair next time?
Come along and find out.

So, where's our 'genial host'?

2011-06-17T08:39:00.000+01:00

David has decided to take an indefinite and richly-deserved sabbatical from the club.

Ken writes as follows:

On behalf of the club, I wish him well in whatever interests he will pursue, and thank him for his contributions to the club over the last six years or so, and particularly for his MC duties over the last four.
In this role, he has placed a unique stamp on the club, and was largely responsible for the significant increase in numbers, attracted in part by the warmth of his welcome.
He will be much missed, and we await his return, in whatever capacity, as soon as he himself wants to delight us again with his personality and music. Lynda has agreed to organise a rota of people to MC. It is clear that such an irreplaceable MC cannot be replaced by just one person.

I have no doubt that Ken's sentiments are widely shared.
For me it has been a great privilege to work alongside David who has been an invaluable source of encouragement, and a great figurehead for our gathering.

Now, let's get on!

The Canal Trip: joining instructions.

2011-06-16T08:37:00.000+01:00

You all know that the M.V. Richmond will depart from the Canal Basin promptly at 19.00 hours on Saturday 25^th June. In previous years we have been permitted to board from 18.40 hours, so come early.
I shall be happy to collect £5.00 from anyone who has not yet paid as you board.
(By the way, there is room for one more. If you'd like to occupy the spare berth, please let me know - 01243 574021.)

Getting there:
There is limited space for clients to park alongside the canal basin, near the Canal Shop. Take the gravel track off Canal Wharf adjacent to the recently-refurbished Waterside Inn, (sat-nav: PO19 8DT.)
Otherwise there is on-street parking on Canal Wharf, and, (last time I looked,) parking was free at the Chichester Gate complex - off Terminus Road.
In the event that alcohol might be consumed, it is recommended that you come to Chichester by public transport. Both the railway and bus stations are nearby.
The vessel will return to the wharf at 22.00 hours – well in time for late trains.
(Buses? … don’t know.)

Catering:
There will be none provided! You are invited to bring your own picnic-style sustenance and beverages. You will be eating and drinking from off your knees, but glass-ware has been requested.
(I plan to eat before I come.)
I have volunteered that we will take our own rubbish home, so bring a black bag.

Music:
That’s up to us.
There is space for instruments, but your grand piano will not fit through the door!

There will be no musical amplification provided, but, should you wish to bring your own, there are 220/240v sockets in the performance area at the front of the ship.

We are not planning a themed musical programme; just bring along songs/tunes you’d like to perform and share.

Be warned: there may be some video recording. If you would prefer not to have your performance recorded, (and possibly placed in the public domain,) please tell the video-cam operator; that will probably be Jane.

Quiz:

If you’ve watched the pictorial clues on this blog, and done your research, you’ll know about this.

Here’s a reminder:

If you click quiz clues that will take you to the archive.
There will be 20 questions of a nautical theme, (verified by wikipedia,) and you will trust your fellow voyagers to mark your answers sympathetically.

Please bring a pen/pencil.

Teams and collaborations are permitted, but there’s only one prize.

Finally:

Do not bother to print out this information. Save the trees, and commit it to memory.

Any tickets that have been distributed are totally superfluous. You won’t need them.

I know who’s coming; I know who’s paid!

Any questions? Please feel free to phone me at 01243 574021.

Being The 10th June, 2011 ...

2011-06-11T00:42:00.000+01:00

This evening Paul, at very short notice, took over the role of MC.
He was rather good, but not as pretty as the previous substitute.

Here's the slightly blurred company in candle-light:

... err ... well, some of the company.

Others were still engaged in free association.

Now here's the song list:

If I had a Hammer: Paul

Valparaiso: Laura & Colin

The Turkish Lady: Roland

The Shepherd's Daughter: Angela

Travelling Light: Richard

Molly Malone: Mike & Yvonne

God Bless Texas: Les

A Heart Needs a Home: Mike

Shuffle Rag: Mick

The Big Ship: Mave

Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping: Ken

The Leaves of Life (Seven Virgins.): Roger

I am a Brisk Lad (The Sheepstealer): Lynda

Mole in a Hole: Paul

Reynardine: Colin

Magdalen McGillivray: Laura

Warlike Seamen: Roland

Carter's Blues: Angela

Drunken Sailor: Richard

Till the Stars Fall from the Sky: Mike & Yvonne

Halcyon Days: Mike & Yvonne

Six Days on the Road: Les

Circles: Mike

I Wonder if Anyone will Marry Me Now: Mave

Give to the Belly, Boys, Beer ... : Ken

I Need Your Love So Bad: Roger

Most of us are Sad: Lynda

Too Soon to Know: Paul

The Innocent Hare (Sportsmen Arouse): Colin

Then we said, "Thank you." to Paul.

Everybody helped to clear up.

Eventually we all went home, (very quietly,) luxuriating in warm feelings that we had been surrounded by wonderful people.

Being The 3rd June, 2011

2011-06-08T06:54:00.000+01:00

Once again Lynda diligently documented our doings.
(Don't you just love alliteration?)

Kazookulele: David
I'll Follow the Sun: Paul
Sealed with a Kiss:Lynda
Ranzo away: Roland
The Gypsy Girl: Angela
When Will the Good Apples Fall: Les
Dalesman's Litany: John
Blues in E: Mick
Pale Blue Eyes: Jane
I'm not Afraid to Die: Roger
I Could Easily Fall in Love with You: Berry
Qu'il est difficile à l'aimer: Tony
24 Hours from Tulsa: David
Michael in the Garden: Paul
Dublin City in the Rare Auld times: Lynda
The Ship in Distress: Roland
No Telephones in Heaven: Angela
Rover: Les
Khosidl: Mick
Poor Wayfaring Stranger: Jane
Ballad of Billy the Kid: Roger
Hors d'oeuvres: Berry
Au Près de ma Blonde: Tony
Save the Last Dance for Me: David
Picture of You: Paul
When Morning Breaks: Lynda
Always the Singing: Angela

Thank you, Lynda.

Canal Trip Quiz clues ...

2011-06-07T08:27:00.000+01:00

Not long to go now, so here is another selection of images to stimulate your research ...

What follows will be utterly unhelpful, but a question will be asked.

Enjoy the music anyway ...

Columbus was robbed!

And now, for Ken ...

Being The 27th of May, 2011 ...

2011-06-05T21:22:00.000+01:00

Dogsbody wasn't there, so Lynda kindly undertook to document the evening's proceedings.
Thank you, Lynda.

Ukulele Lady: David
Goodbye: Paul
Blackwaterside: Lynda
Come All You Virginia Girls: Angela
Butter and Cheese and All: Roland
Faded Coat of Blue: Richard
Columbus: John
Rag Pickin': Mick
Banks of the Nile: Roger
A Most Unpleasant Way, Sir: Ken
I Can't Help Falling in Love with You: David
Father and Son: Paul
I'm a Freeborn Man: Lynda
Sailing on the Deep Blue Sea: Angela
General Wolfe: Roland
Never Grow Old: Richard
Saint Swithin's Day: John
Harvest Home/Philharmone Barn Dance: Mick
Brave Wolfe: Roger
A-Z of Folk Songs (Fred Wedlock): Ken
Come Here: David
Cryin' Waitin' Hopin': Paul
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: Lynda
Crying Holy Unto the Lord: Angela
The Bold Princess Royal: Roland
Colecreek March: Richard
The Unquiet Grave: John
Jessica: Mick
Lost Lover Blues: Roger
Lakes of Ponchartrain: Ken

Now, I have no way of knowing whether I have put these in the correct order, but it's my best guess.

It sounds like you enjoyed another evening of supreme quality.
I wish I had been there.

I trust that you all departed in complete silence and left no evidence of your presence for others to question later.

While we were away …

2011-06-05T07:54:00.000+01:00

Four participants of The City Folk Club visited Slovenia and stumbled into the International Wild Flower Festival based around Bohinj.

Here's a wild flower:

One evening we followed the Franc Urbanc Male Voice Choir around the delightful village of Stara Fuzina:

It didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand the words.
One of their songs seemed to be about oil containers; it can be heard here: oil-a-drum

It cost us nothing, and we were utterly charmed.

The choir departed.

We drank beer, fairly cheaply, and sat outside the pub singing English songs.

Nobody seemed to mind!

Here's another wild flower:

The above image is subject to copyright, published here by permission.

Any attempt to download it on to another machine will seriously corrupt your hard-drive!

Canal Trip, Quiz clues #8 and more ...

2011-06-01T11:35:00.000+01:00

Dogsbody might be away, but technology allows him to post this in his regrettable absence.

Heres are some more pictorial clues to tantalise:

#8

#10

(Contestants are advised that ealier comments made by MwP/psm are entertaining - but unlikely to be helpful.)

Canal Trip, More Quiz clues

2011-05-24T06:52:00.000+01:00

Again, in no particular order, and of little relevance ...

#5

No, this is not Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, but you're on the right track.

#6

Now, #7, specially for Ken ...

Being The 20th May, 2011 ...

2011-05-21T10:15:00.000+01:00

This was a different and delightful evening, largely because Angela occupied the MC's chair.
Angela is much prettier than the usual incumbent.
Here she is:

(Photo courtesy of Mr. B. Greene, cropped by dogsbodyphotoediting.com, and published by permission.)

Two new ladies turned up, Catherine and Patsy.

They rapidly got the idea of what goes on, and contributed admirably to the music and our entertainment.

Down to business promptly ...

A Mole in the Ground: Angela
The Green Grove: Roland
Whatever Happened to Saturday Night: Lynda
Castle of Drumore: John
[A song by Ralph McTell]: Catherine
Aunt Tessy's White Horse: Lorna
Time Drags by Real Slow: Berry
In the Mood: Mick W.
Baby Take Your Time: Mick T. & Marion
I'll Lay You Down: Eddie
The Musical Lovers: Colin
Yellow Roses: Angela
The Flying Cloud: Roland
Never, oh Never Again: Lynda
Lay Me Down Lowly: John
Chocolate Song: Catherine
Lord Franklin: Ken
The Rope Waltz: Lorna
Mull of Kintyre/Together/Sailing my Balloon: Berry
(Accurately described by Lynda as 'a compote of Berry's'!)
When the Ship Comes in: Ken
I Live in Trafalgar Square: Mave
My Darling Asleep/Walls of (?): Mick W.
Hard Times: Mick T. & Marion
The Night is Young: Eddie
Dancing at Whitsun: Colin
Little Boy Billy: Angela
Ship in Distress: Roland
Dainty Davey: Lynda
I Cannot Come to the Banquet: Catherine
(Enigmatically, this offering contained the lyric: 'I have married a cow and bought me a wife!')
Only You: Patsy & Catherine
Captain Pugwash: Lorna
Don't Think Twice: Berry
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park: Ken
Last Train from Bacup: Mave
When Kings Come Home: Mick W.
You Are my Sunshine: Mick & Marion

Very many thanks to Angela.
Her experience at dealing with unruly children ably equipped her for keeping several adult (?) reprobates in order.

Banal Quiz Clue #61

2011-05-19T06:39:00.000+01:00

Contestants should be aware that any resemblance to any known semi-sentient being is probably quite justified.

The Banal Quiz Organisers have generously provided the actual question, so you don't have to guess it/scratch your head/give up in understandable confusion:

Question: What is the difference between a duck?

Answers, on a £10 note, please, to the man with the spotty guitar.

At the discretion of the organisers, a prize of an evening in with Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be awarded. (The seriousness of this will be assessed by Kenneth Clarke, MP, for what that's worth).

Canal Trip, Quiz Clues #3 & #4

2011-05-18T06:54:00.000+01:00

Now, this one, #3, is easy ...

Contestants should be aware that these clues will appear in no particular order and bear only obtuse reference to the questions yet to be asked.

Here's #4 ...

No, the name of this historic vessel is NOT the answer.

This is beginning to remind me of that classic Two Ronnies 'mastermind' sketch: "Give the correct answer to the question I asked before the last one!"

Being The 13th May, 2011 ...

2011-05-14T18:52:00.000+01:00

Nineteen delightful people attended the City Folk Club, including one new participant, bearing a ukelele AND a banjo! Allan was warmly welcomed.

Here's what we heard:

Blue Harbour: David
I'm Only Sleeping: Paul
Lord Franklin (parody): Ken
The Big Ship: Mave
Kiss Me Mother: Angela and a collection of angelic reprobates
Brave General Wolfe: Roland
Next Time Around: Eddie
Down Where the Drunkards Roll: Lynda
Vestapol: Mick
Crazy Love: Mike
Pie in the Sky: Tony
Grey Funnel Line (Caribbean version): Jenny
Afraid of Loving You Again: Phine
Tunes of Glory: John M
Inisheer/Sir Sidney Smith: Allan
Drink Old England Dry: Colin
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles: David
His Eye is on the Sparrow: Paul
Indian Tea: Ken
Man of the Flying Trapeze: Mave
Our Town: Angela
Bold Princess Royal: Roland
Ain't no Grave: Eddie
Only Wonder Why: Lynda
Tobin's Jig/Lark in the Morning: Mick & Mike
Annie's Song: Mike
The Way You Look Tonight: Tony
Dirty Old Town: Jenny
Too Late, Baby: Phine
The Minstrel Show (?): John
O'Carolan's Draft: Allan
Thousands or More: Colin

Canal Trip update, Quiz clue #2

2011-05-10T08:47:00.000+01:00

Even if you are not coming on the canal trip, you might enjoy this:

The answer to the question that has not yet been asked could be Tubular Bells, but, sorry, that would be WRONG!

Being The 6th May, 2011

2011-05-08T07:25:00.000+01:00

In the absence of two much-loved mutual hecklers it was a quietish evening at the City Folk Club.

Here's what Ken and Berry missed ...

Oh, Balloon: David
Searching for Lambs: Colin
Birds: Lynda
Journey of the Sorcerer: Mick
April Come She Will/Kathy's Song: Mike
Lord Franklin in (C-sharp!): Roland
The Yorkshire Couple: Angela
Jumping Joan: Lorna
Brown Adam: Laura & Colin
Letiing Go: Les
Mollymauk: Jane W.
Behind the Wall: Lucy
I'll Be There: Paul
Ukulele Lady: David
The Grenadier and the Lady: Colin
Maid of Culmore: Lynda
Breton Gavottes: Mick & Mike
Anchorage: Mike
Oh Good Ale: Roland
East Virginia: Angela
Road to Boston: Lorna
Lady Came from Baltimore: Laura
Trashy Woman: Les
Once I had a Sweetheart: Jane W.
Merrimack County*: Lucy & Paul
Heartbeat: Paul
Twenty-four Hours from Tulsa: David
Long Pegging Awl: Colin
Bound for the Mountains and the Sea: Lynda
Rag (?): Mick
Miss Ohio: Mike
No Sorrow There: Angela
Farewell Shanty: Paul

Everyone sent healing vibrations to Jane R, and wished her well for a speedy recovery from her recent surgery.

*Those of you who were regrettably absent were denied a stunning performance.
It can be viewed by clicking this link: David's track of the week.

Jane R is indisposed

2011-05-05T23:30:00.000+01:00

Jane Renshaw is in St. Richard's, likely undergoing an operation. On behalf of the City Folk Club, I'd like to wish her a speedy recovery, and a swift return to singing at the Club.
I sent her good wishes on behalf of the club over the Hospital Radio this evening, but I don't know whether she was able to hear them. She's on Fishbourne ward. Visiting hours on wards at St. Richard’s Hospital are: 3pm to 5pm, and 6.30pm to 8pm each day. Phone your request to 01243 788122 x3000, email studio@chr1431.org.uk, or drop a note through the Studio door (next to the West ward block).
Ken Hobbs.

Canal Trip update, Quiz clue #1

2011-05-04T09:11:00.000+01:00

There are still four spaces left for our voyage aboard MV Richmond on 25th June, and I eagerly await money from some of those who have said, “Yes!”
If you would like to join this expedition into unknown territories, please let Colin know ASAP – tel: 01243 574021 or email dbsandw@googlemail.com.

I warned you in an earlier post that there will be a quiz concerning all things nautical.
It’s a hard quiz, so I propose to publish some pictorial clues.
Here’s the first:

Hmmm?!

Important instruction

2011-05-02T21:30:00.000+01:00

Appended to the most recent invoice for our hire of the Guide Hall was a very important directive that I am required to share with you all.
I quote, in bold and caps, verbatim, as follows:

WILL YOU PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE FRONT DOOR IS SECURELY HOOKED BACK WHEN LEFT OPEN.
IT HAS BEEN BADLY DAMAGED BECAUSE THE WIND CAUGHT IT WHEN IT WAS LEFT OPEN AND UNFASTENED.

Normally, of course, we don't need to leave the front door open, and I do not believe that we, CFC, are culprits in this instance. Nevertheless, it is important that we comply.

Indeed, it is preferable to keep that outer door closed lest undesirable by-passers get wind of what goes on during Friday evenings. After all, we must not disturb the neighbours, must we?

So, the CFC rule becomes, "Please close the outer door behind you."

SEEMPLES!

Being 29th April 2011 …

2011-05-01T11:13:00.000+01:00

Twenty-one jolly people turned off their TV sets and attended The City Folk Club.
Several accepted the challenge of wearing something in keeping with the celebratory atmosphere of the day.
Here they are …

(The fact that individuals willingly posed for these images assumes consent for publication of these photos, courtesy of Mr. Beresford Greene.)

The absence of the usual MC was much lamented, and Bill took the chair with considerable aplomb.
Here’s what we did …

Master of the Revels: Bill
Clementine (Cwm Rhondda): Colin
You Do Something to Me: Brenda & Berry
White Dress: Ken
The Last Train From Bacup: Mave
Fall in Love: Berry
Flying Cloud: Roland
Yes, Sir, That’s my Baby: Angela
Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying: Jane 1.2 & Colin 1.2
I Must Get Married Today: Jane 1.2 & Colin 1.2
Lavender’s Blue: Yvonne
Please Don’t Call Me Louise: Mike
False Bride: Lynda
The Bold Fisherman: Jane R.
Love is Come Again: Duncan
Dancing With You: Eddie
Going Nowhere: Mick
Bay of Biscay: Roger
Maggie Watson’s Polka: Bill
On One April Morning: Colin, Ken & Bill
Standing in the Church: Mave
It Had to be You: Brenda & Berry
All I Want is You: Angela & Roland
Bushes and Briars: Jane 1.2
Blame it on the Moon: Jane 1.2 & Colin 1.2
Don’t You be Foolish, Pray: Ken
I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper: Yvonne
Butterflies: Mike & Yvonne
Peggy Gordon: Lynda
If No One Ever Marries Me: Jane R.
The Water is Wide: Duncan
Next Time Around: Eddie
Some observations about all things patriotic, royal and theological: Berry
(This offering was deemed to be an incontinent display of naked emotion. It was quickly interrupted by our astute MC. Poor Berry! Perhaps he can be persuaded to complete his dissertation in a blog post?)
Rambling Pitchfork: Mick
Farther Along: Roger
Come Write Me Down: Bill & Colin

The Last Train from Bacup

2011-04-30T01:21:00.000+01:00

Before I embark on the song list for 29th April, I am inclined to say how moved I was by Mave’s song about those last trains in the Rossendale Valley.

Oh, those sounds of loose shunting, the rattle of three-link couplings, the screech of wheels as decaying wagons traversed impossible bends, the exhaust of steam from tired shunters: these are such fond memories of my childhood in Bacup.

Those were proper trains!
By night they brought raw cotton for the mills, and coal to power their machinery. They took away the finished products of a local workforce who had no hope of more gainful employment.

The sounds of those trains were a reassurance.
They were good noises in the night that echoed around the valley.
"All is well in the world!" they said.
They were pure lullabies that could be heard through every bedroom window.
Children would sleep and dream of owning a Hornby Dublo train set.

In those days we believed in Father Christmas.
All I wanted was that little pick-up goods train hauled by an ex-LMS Fowler 3F 060T, on a small-radius oval of track, but times were hard then.

Thanks for that delightful memory, Mave.

'Diddly-dum!'

Memoirs of a Folk-Song Collector

2011-04-29T11:47:00.000+01:00

Miss Letitia Vormal de Hyde has been song-collecting, and having adventures in and around Lingham Peveril, Somersetshire. Her activities have attracted some criticism from some of the local womenfolk.

Not long after my return to my lodgings, I determined to leave Lingham Peveril and return to my home. The shouting in the street below my window, and the several stones thrown through the casement caused me to doubt that I was welcome in the village. As Old Trouser conveyed my baggages down to the waiting carriage, (I had decided that I would not endure the doubtful comforts of the dog-cart again), who should appear but young Digby Charlesworth, apparently desirous of knowledge of my intended movements. Digby insisted in accompanying me in my carriage to the railway station. During the journey, the track proving equally uneven as on my way up to the village, Digby was thrown across the carriage and thereby became sprawled across my muff. It took him several minutes to remove himself, only to be thrown into me again, he being forced to use his hands to save himself from being jettisoned to the floor. Naturally, I seized hold of him, fearing he might sustain an injury.

We arrived at the railway station all too soon, for I had scarcely time to smooth my habiliment, and Digby to adjust his hose, before the door of the carriage was thrown open. I stepped down, and turned to wave goodbye to my tired but happy travelling companion, who could raise but a finger as a parting gesture. As I boarded the train, my thoughts were full of Lingham Peveril, Digby, and the semi-destitute but lusty fellows I had encountered, until my eyes fell on a dandy of a man, all silks and lace cuffs, who was occupying my compartment. “Good day, sir”, I remarked, remembering to cast my eyes modestly downwards, (although this was of little avail, for the gentleman’s nether garments were so fine and well-tailored as to leave nothing to a young lady’s imagination). “How far are you going, sir?”, I enquired. “Madam”, he said, with what I imagined was something resembling a twinkle in his eye, “I will, God willing, go all the way”. “Why, my dear sir”, I whispered, “I am going that way myself. Do you perchance know any songs?”.

Greetings from Budapest

2011-04-21T15:45:00.000+01:00

Now, just because Dogsbody is away tomorrow doesn't mean you can misbehave.

My mobile phone has given up the ghost, so I can't send a text message to Lynda to remind her to count people, collect money and turn the central heating back to 'auto' before vacating the hall.
Perhaps someone will be kind enough to remind her.

Jane and I marginally enjoyed an evening cruise with dinner on the Danube yesterday evening.
Believe me, our club's canal trip will be much more fun. Our own sandwiches will be better and the entire exercise will be far more economic.
Only four spaces left!

(Apologies for any spelling mistakes. This Hungarian machine fails to recognise any words I have written, and declines to close brackets!(% ... ) THERE!

Being The 15th April 2011 ...

2011-04-16T00:16:00.000+01:00

Sixteen people attended the City Folk Club for another cosy evening.
Here's what we did:

A Week Before Easter: Paul & Colin
I Can't Help Falling in Love with You: David
April Come She Will: Lucy
Fly Me to the Moon: Brenda & Berry
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy: Roland & Colin
Darling Nellie Across the Sea: Angela
People Will Say We're in Love: Berry & the music machine
Lost Lover Blues: Roger
Ohio River Boat Song: Jane R. & David
Amoreuse (?): Lynda
May You Never Have to Run (?): Mike
Zeppelin: Mick
Director's Chair: Lorna
The Unquiet Grave: Jane & Colin
I'll See You in my Dreams: David
And the Reason is (?): Paul
Floating Down the Dream River: Lucy & Roger
La Vie en Rose: Brenda & Berry
I Wish I Were a Mole in the Ground: Angela
Take These Chains from my Heart: Berry & Paul
Owl and the Pussycat: Roger
Waiting to Hold You (?): Jane R. & David
When the Spring has Come: David, Mick & Roger
Sailing to Philadelphia: Lynda
Catch the Wind: Mike
'Slowish Slip-Jig': Mick & Mike
South Sea Crumble: Lorna
Babes in the Wood: Jane & Colin
Delta Dawn: Lucy & Paul

Everyone had a wonderful time, and we all went home with happy feelings.
Importantly, nobody had to apologise!

P.S. Jane - the one who has the great misfortune of being married to Dogsbody - wishes to thank everyone at CFC who has undertaken to sponsor her forthcoming charitable bike-ride in aid of Action Medical Research. She promises to attend again in the near future to collect your money!

Foreign object

2011-04-14T11:42:00.000+01:00

I ask, out of academic interest only: who was the clown who put a Comic Relief Red Nose in my guitar? And do they have any instructions on how to get it out? (I suppose I must be grateful that it wasn't a Giggler).

Being Almost The Week Before Easter ...

2011-04-13T12:56:00.000+01:00

Every year someone asks, "Will the City Folk Club be meeting on Good Friday?"
Every year the answer has been, "Yes."
So shall it be for Friday 22nd April this year.
For that evening, Dogsbody will be absent. However, someone else will extract money from you!

Furthermore, the following Friday, 29th, is also a public holiday.
For those of us have not received an invitation to that Royal shindig, the City Folk Club will meet as usual on that evening.
In celebration of the occasion, gentlemen will be expected to sport a floral buttonhole:

Ladies are invited to wear headgear that looks something like this:

Available from here.

I am advised that this is known as a 'fascinator'.

(Personally, however, I question that trade description.)

Oh, and gloves will be obligatory!

The challenge will be to play any musical instrument while wearing 'marigolds'.

Grovelling Apologies - a correction

2011-04-12T16:21:00.000+01:00

It not being possible, for some reason, to post comments to Mr. Greene's 19th Nervous Breakd- sorry, 'Fit', I am obliged to make this post to record some small correction to the referenced apologies. To wit: a) I have never claimed to be, and rarely am, 'note perfect', and I was not during Mr. Greene's rendition - however, had Mr. Greene performed as we rehearsed, I might have coped better. b) I have not been offered compensation, let alone waived rights to it. Mr. Greene can expect to hear from my solicitor.
An understanding and compassionate being that I am, and fully cognisant of the sad effect of advancing years on declining faculties in those over 67, nevertheless, I will, at some future point, regardless of the inherent uncharitableness, definitely have my revenge.

Beresford Greene Speaks; Nineteenth Fit ...

2011-04-10T08:16:00.000+01:00

Grovelling Apologies

Let's be straight about this, anyone can make a mistake can't they? I am surely no more prone to it than anyone else – am I? The fact is I have messed up. I have to issue a public admission to save on having a three match ban. No I didn't swear using the F word into a nearby camera. But I would have – if there had been one around.

Do you remember what I gone done? I gone done and maligned that fine man and astounding always note perfect guitarist none other than Mr Ken Hobbs. Yeah the Grand National winner in 1948. That's the one. Yeah well I intimated that our Friday collaboration was rather less that it could have been on his account. This was very uncharitable of me and could not have been further from the truth.

You see Mr Hobbs was very careful about getting his instrument into tune as I waited not very patiently with a look of resigned inevitability on my face while all the while seemingly oblivious of what the actual key should be for this particular song. As a result I launched off in exactly the very key that I cannot manage to sing in. Now all this would not matter so much if I had not let that kindly Mr Hobbs take most of the blame. In fact Mr Hobbs very quickly adjusted his key so as to be hardly noticeable and this fact attracts additional credit to him of the highest score.

Sometimes my presence of mind is not so present you see. Mr Hobbs has kindly agreed to waive his right to compensation if I issue a proper grovelling apology and me being so very mean – well here it is.

Berry