2019 Reports

The December edition of the Folk Club had a decidedly sparse feeling about it. The theme being “Geography” it looked for all the world as if some of our artists had lost their maps, atlases and SatNavs and couldn’t find Harbury. The truth was that a number of regular artists were unable to make the evening due to illness or extenuating circumstances. As a consequence, we had just eight acts to see us through the two halves. This was probably the smallest number we’re seen performing at the club for some considerable time. However, what was lacking in quantity was compensated for in quality. 

Sue and I opened the evening with “I’ve Been All Around This World” and “The Shores Of Jordan”. Rik followed with the shanty “Rolling Down To Old Maui” and Alan Bolt’s re-write of a classic song, now called: “A Polar Bear Sang In Berkeley Square”. Diana gave us two unaccompanied songs, starting with Katie Melua’s “Nine Million Bicycles In Beijing” and “No Frontiers”. Don was next and performed “Sunshine On Leith” and a lovely version of “In The Bleak Midwinter”, cleverly interspersed with instrumental snippets from George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun”. Pete Grassby is always a welcome visitor and he started his set with “Admiral Benbow” and tacked the tune “Princess Royal” onto the end of it. His version of “The Lakes Of Ponchartrain” was a gem. The first half was brought to a rousing crescendo by Harbury Folk Club favourites, The Daft Dames. Brandishing handbells (after an amusing on-stage discussion as to who played which) they performed the Kipper Family Christmas classic “Hark, Hark The Bells”.

The second half was opened by the Harbury Folk Club Christmas Choir with performances of two carols: “In Bethlehem’s City” and “Pentonville” an alternative setting of “While Shepherds Watched…”. Peter McDonald gave us Paul Metsers’ “Riversong” with its infectious chorus and followed that with an amusing song about Australia, “They Never Mention The Flies”. Next it was time to ask performers from the first half to provide another song, if they were willing. Rik was happy to sing “The Road And The Miles To Dundee”. Don performed a lovely version of “Cry Me A River” and Pete Grassby sang the amusing “Ballad of Brock The Badger”. Sue and I closed the evening with Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby McGee” and then the almost obligatory Bing classic “White Christmas”. 

The raffle raised a creditable £77.00 from an enthusiastic and generous audience. The sum will be going to Myton Hospice.

 Sue is running next month’s club and her chosen theme for the evening is “New Beginnings”. Make it a date in your diary to hear more excellent music in Harbury Village Club on Thursday 2nd January 2020, starting 8:00pm.

Ian Hartland

The theme for the November Folk Club was “History and Historic Events” which I chose with certain trepidation as we only tend to remember bad news stories.  I therefore thought there would be a possibility that the evening could be dominated by sad and mournful dirges.  Fortunately it turned out that this was not the case.

Being near to Remembrance Day, there were several references to the World War One.  Indeed the very first item was the Folk Club Orchestra giving a rendition of “Old Grenadier” and “Battle of the Somme”.  This was followed by two further tunes of particular historic interest, namely “La Fete de Village” which dates back to 1799, and “Shove the Pigs Foot”.  There then followed items from 14 different acts, all who performed a variety of appropriate songs, tunes and spoken items and included no fewer that 4 self penned items.  I felt the choice of material and the standard to which they were performed was in general, very good.  From the comments I heard afterwards, it seemed that most of those present shared my opinion.

Although I enjoyed most items, I think my favourites were Sue Harris delivering the hilarious Bernard Miles monologue “Over the Gate”, and the Harvesters singing “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” – a song about the acts of retribution taken against the Confederates immediately after the end of the American Civil War.  It was good to welcome Dina Whitacre from Reading, who although has visited us on a previous occasion, made her debut as a singer, and beautifully sang “Home Lads Home”.  This is not a particularly well known song but it happens to be one which is in the repertoire of the Folk Club Choir.  It must have come as something of a surprise to Diane when the choruses were heartily joined in with in four part harmony.

Many thanks to those who performed and also those who supported the raffle.  It raised £94.00 for the British Legion Poppy Appeal. And thanks again to the bar staff and committee of the Village Club for doing so much to make us welcome. The next meeting of the club will be on December 5th and will be hosted by Ian Hartland.  The theme is to be “Geography”.

Who Sang What

First Half

Folk Club Orchestra: Old Grenadier & Battle of the Somme, La Fête du Village (Frog’s Legs) & Shove the Pig's Foot

Pete & Liz: Come, Come to Flanders Tommy

Ted and Sue: Mr Punch and Judy Man, Two Clubs Alike

Rik Middleton: Vessel Called Industry, I’m a Rambler

Maureen and Janny: Burning of Auchindoon, (with Ted) The Darbys' Decorating Disaster

Ian and Sue H: The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down, Waterloo (Abba)

Second Half

Pete Bones: Bournemouth

Martin Day: History of a Field, The Writing of Tipperary (Bill Caddick)

Peter McDonald: Appalachian Front Porch Game, The Boatbuilders

Don Arthurson: Lowlands of Holland, Voices That’s All (Chumbawamba)

Diane Whitacre: Home Lads Home

Sue Harris: They Died in Their Millions, Over the Gate

Rumble-o: Bold Nelson, Old England Grown New

Third Half   

Robin: People of the Heavens, Much Maligned

Laura Kisby: The King's Shilling, The Barber of Helm Shore

Pete Grassby: Pat McNab, Last Warwickshire Miner

Peter Bones

Folk Club number 419 - October 3rd.

With a combination of illness and holidays, several regulars were absent and Steve hosted the evening without Maureen who was not well, as was her normal singing partner Janny. The theme for the evening was “Endings and Beginnings”. At the beginning, there was some nervousness as there were not the usual number of performers and it was likely that there would be only two halves but, by the end with a few late arrivals, it “turned out nice again” and we had a full evening’s entertainment.

Norman was asked to open the evening but there was a delay as he had misplaced his capo. Pete Bones owned up that he had picked it up by mistake thinking it was his. We finally got underway as Norman sang Herman’s Hermits’ “I’m into something good” as it reminded of the beginning of a first loving relationship and he followed it with Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going” which signified the end of summer and the beginning of a new season. Rik sang a song which was a top 20 hit from 60 years ago called “Little Jimmy Brown” and then sang a song to the tune of “Early One Morning” about the demise of a man due to his drinking habit at his local pub. Sue Harris took us back to the beginnings of life with what she referred to as “Grandparents songs”, firstly “Welcome to the World” and then “Everything is possible”, a song about the end of the day and tucking a child in bed. Both were beautifully sung with feeling. Pete Mason reminded us of the end of the summer holiday season with “Punch and Judy Man” and then sang Eric Bogle’s “Now I’m Easy”. Bob announced he was singing songs “of Epic Scale” firstly with his 40 year old “DDT ditty”, which was about what’s wrong with the world and the way we pollute the planet. He ended with “Here at the end of all things”.  To close the first half, Steve introduced Ron who was really Don alias Bernard amongst some friends. He performed “The Waters of Leith” and, in a wonderful bluesy guitar style, “Amazing Grace”, which signified a new start in life for the writer of the song John Newton who was formerly a slave trader.

The Folk Club Choir opened the second half with a first performance of “That Lonesome Road” and then “Home Lads Home” which signified the end of the first World War. Pete and Liz gave us a rendition of Cecil Sharp’s 1709 hit “High Germany” which, in keeping with the theme, did feature the word “begun” and then sang their classic “Isle of Eigg” which was about the beginning and end of a relationship. Peter McDonald firstly sang about being in love and growing old with Ralph McTell’s “Naomi”, followed by Peter Morton’s “Another Train”, where the message was the start of the beginning is now. Robin gave us Ralph McTell’s “First and Last Man”, a sad song about a South American native tribe which caught a cold from the white man that killed them all. He followed this with Dave Swarbrick’s “Farewell to a poor man’s son”. Pete Grassby was on fine form with the self-penned “Fosse Way Shanty” and “Up the Noran Water”. Keith Donnelly closed the second half with “Free Ride Around the Sun” and then told us his next song was a stark but not finished song “Hit the Ground Running the Day I was Born”.

Late arrival Pete (our 4th Peter of the evening) opened the third half with a song about a railway train and its ending followed by “Derry Down Down Down”. Pete Grassby sang from the Coppers’ repertoire, “Thousands or More”, followed by Ron, Don, or was it Bernard, who sang a song written by Eddie Reader’s husband John Douglas and the evening was closed by Liz and Pete who sang the Celtic Blessing "May the Road Rise Up to Meet You".

The raffle raised a magnificent £85 for TOFS, a charity that supports children who were born unable to swallow. Next month’s Folk Club is hosted by Pete and Liz Bones, when the theme will be “History and Historic Events”.

Steve Darby

September’s Folk Club was number 418 but it was also our 35th birthday too. The theme was ‘Functions of the Human Body’. I chose this theme as this year was the 40th ‘anniversary’ of my Dad having had a stroke at the age of 35 back in 1979. I had also decided to have any money raised in the raffle to go to the Stroke Association.

Deb began the evening with a self-penned poem ‘Biological Clock’ which looked at women’s fertility. Bob Clucas sang a Simon and Garfunkel song ‘Poem on an Underground Wall’ about walking down the stairs and, his second was ‘Jobsworth’ by Jeremy Taylor. This was about a member of staff not opening the toilets when people needed to pee! Rik took to the theme with relish. His first song was ‘Wee Wee Tot’ about toilet training and his second, one of my favourites, was ‘Landlady’ by Jake Thackray. All about a male lodger getting into mischief with all of the female staff.

Maureen and Janny sang ‘The Sweet Nightingale’ which looked at walking and listening. Their harmonies are so sublime. And then Sue Crum joined them on her ukulele in their second song ‘It’s a Free World’ by Peggy Seeger. This included smoking, dying, eating and bad habits. This song was very funny. What was even more funny was that Sue Crum was a surprise guest and I unwittingly let the cat out of the bag when I introduced them. The hazards of an MC!!!  Peter Grassby popped into Harbury on his way to the Bromyard Folk Festival. He came to the stage eating and drinking so demonstrating the theme perfectly. His first song was self-penned about his cat getting into mischief whilst he was sleeping and his second was a song about singing called ‘The Minstrel’.

Pete and Liz Bones sang ‘Lad of Lovely Hair’ which Liz can remember singing when she was expecting Daniel. They followed that with ‘Three Score Year and Ten’ about seeing, hearing and dying. Pete said that dying was in fact a human body malfunction! Lol! Norman Wheatley finished the first half with ‘Mister Bojangles’ about dancing and ‘We Are the Same’ where Dave Fry and Deb assisted with his song regarding number two’s.

The second half began with another self-penned poem by Deb called ‘Mobility Morris’ which was about disabled people taking up morris dancing in their own unique way. Dave Fry teamed up with Norman to sing the Everly Brothers’ ‘Crying in the Rain’ and then ‘Dance With Me’. The Harvesters sang ‘Moon in a Bottle’ about playing and walking and then ‘When You Walk in the Room’ by The Searchers. Peter Mason sang a Jez Lowe song ‘Cursed be the Caller’ about waking up and ‘The Alcoholics Anthem’ about drinking….lots!  Don Arthurson ran to the stage and sang ‘Should I Stay or Should I go Now’ which was a nod to our flight or fight response. His next song was an Enda Kenny song about love running through your veins. Des was up next wearing a Coventry Cap looking like ‘Peaky Blinder’ and his two offerings were ‘Talk About Suffering’ and ‘The Holmfirth Anthem’.

The third half was opened by Peter McDonald and he sang a song by Dougie MacLean, ‘Talking With my Father’, and ‘The Man That I Am’. Peter Scott sang one song written in 1846 which was about skin and blood. His second was written in 1759 about members of the body.

The raffle raised £97 for the Stroke Association. The next Folk Club on 3rd October is being run by Steve and Maureen and the theme is “Endings and Beginnings”.

Debbie Ellis

It was a quieter club this month with a number of the regular performers either visiting Sidmouth Folk Festival or being on holiday. With only 12 acts we were able to comfortably schedule two halves. The theme was "Favourites and Favours" and the audience were treated to some great songs and tunes.

Janny opened the evening playing “Cats and Concertina” a tune written for her by the holidaying Peter McDonald. Don followed with “Don't Get Around Much Anymore” by Duke Ellington, and from Tom Paxton, one of our favourite artists, “I Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound”. Laura sang “It'll Take a Long Time” by Sandy Denny, and “I'm Still Standing” by Janis Ian. Pete & Liz were next with “The Road to Drumleman” by Willie Mitchell & Tony Cuffe. Liz’s beautiful unaccompanied singing of “Gilliver” by Roger Watson and Colin Cater was one our favourite performances of the evening.

Norman told us about Murray Burnett, the unsung author of the play on which Casablanca was based, and sang “As Time Goes By”. He then performed the self-penned "Unfavourite Things" to the music of Rogers and Hammerstein. Debbie had the audience singing along with “Liverpool Lullaby” by Stan Kelly, followed by “Dancing at Whitsun” by Austin John Marshall. Ian and Sue brought the first half to a fine close with “Hard Times Come Again No More” by Stephen Foster, and “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” by Christy Moore.

Janny opened the second half by reading a poem “Toodle-oo-EU” written by Rob Barratt the day after the Brexit referendum. Pete Mason followed with “Dalesman’s Litany” by F W Moorman and Dave Keddie, and “What's the Use of Wings” by Brian Bedford. Sue Harris sang “The Tinkerman's Daughter” by Michael MacConnel. She was joined on the stage by Robin to perform “10 cents a Dance” by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

Robin then had the stage to himself starting with Elton John’s “Skyline Pigeon” written by Bernie Taupin, followed by the more traditional “The Nutting Girl”. Peter Scott on concertina sang “The Girl with the Box on Her Head”, and followed this with Ron Shuttleworth’s “Strike the Bell”.  Martin Day brought a fine evening to a close with “The Fiz” by Elbow, and “Captain Stratton's Fancy” by John Masefield.

An evening of favourites and our thanks go to all performers, audience, and Village Club staff. The charity raffle raised £70 for Harbury e-Wheels. Next month’s club is hosted by Debbie on Thursday 5th September when the theme will be “Functions of the human body”.

Doug & Janny

The July session of the Folk Club (the 416th) was busier than ever.  I decided on a theme of ‘This Land is Your Land’ and to finish the evening with a finale featuring all performers singing Woody Guthrie’s famous song.  That meant that I had to fit all singers and musicians into two halves, dispensing with the traditional third.  With no fewer than 19 acts to accommodate, it was a nightmare of organisation and we were clearly destined for a late finish.

I started with James Keelaghan’s ‘River Run’ and then handed over to Bob Clucas, now a Harbury regular, who sang a song about a ‘mermaiden’ followed by the Bagpuss Miller’s Song!  Don showed off his guitar skills with a medley of Morris tunes and then the accompaniment for a ragtime song.  In complete contrast, Janny & Maureen sang ‘Let the Cold Winds Blow’ in unaccompanied harmony and were then joined by Ian & Sue for ‘I’ll Fly Away’ featuring Sue’s flatfooting in the instrumental breaks.  Our next singer, Gerda, now living in Cumbria, was making a rare appearance at Harbury although she was a regular during the very early years of the Folk Club.  It was a pleasure to hear her thoughtful songs – ‘Hard times ain’t gonna rule my mind’ and Kate McGarrigle’s ‘Mendocino’.  Poacher’s Pocket, now a 3-piece band, were up next with ‘Blue Cockade’ and Campbell’s own song, ‘Moving On’.  Along with hearty chorus singing from the audience, Des was on good form with ‘Shallow Brown’ and his own song, ‘Rolling Back the Welfare State’, surely destined to become a folk club standard.  Pete Grassby gave us a song of the Cotswolds and then ‘The friend I want to travel with is you’.  Closing a longer-than-usual first half, the Somerville Gentlemen appeared for the first time as a 4-piece with two songs led by Ted – ‘Wanton Seed’ and ‘Rout of the Blues’.

The Folk Club Choir opened the 2nd half with ‘Bright Morning Star’, formerly an Appalachian hymn, and ‘Queen of Waters’ about life on Britain’s inland waterways.  I followed with ‘Come walk with me’, a song which urges people to notice the natural beauty of their surroundings.  Rik had two contrasting songs – the traditional ‘Brigg Fair’ then Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’, skilfully accompanied on concertina.  Sue & Ted sang a favourite, ‘Come by the Hills’, and then Ted dipped into Flanders & Swann’s repertoire and came out with the unusual ‘The Society of Bedstead Men’.  Robin, on his own this month, sang ‘Striking for another land’ and Connie Dover’s ‘I am going to the West’.  His introduction to the first song worried Pete & Liz because it sounded as though he was about to sing a song they had planned.  However, all was well and they were able to sing Eric Bogle’s ‘Leaving the Land’ without fear of duplication and they followed it with the well-known ‘Bread & Fishes’, as a tribute to songwriter Alan Bell who died earlier this year.  Des was joined by Barbara and Gareth, as the a cappella trio ‘Thrup’nny Bits’, singing about ‘Peterloo Man’ and ‘Manchester Yeomanry Valour’.  By now, it was approaching 11pm as I asked Peter Scott to take the stage with the strangely satisfying story of ‘Arthur McBride’ followed by Tom Paxton’s tale of another US president, ‘Lyndon Johnson told the Nation’.  Ian & Sue, the Harvesters, sang ‘Railroad Bill’ and ‘Make me a pallet on your floor’ by which time we were wondering if we would all need pallets to sleep on in the Club.  The ever-patient Keith Donnelly sang a ditty about a kangaroo and a crab then finished with the ‘Raggle Taggle New Age Travellers-O’.  Finally, it was time for the finale, when at least 25 singers and musicians took to the stage for a rousing version of ‘This Land is Your Land’.

Not only did we have a huge cast of performers but the audience was also present in large numbers too.  Fortunately, the concert room in the Village Club provides comfortable seating for all when we have these popular nights.  The raffle raised an excellent £122 for Cancer Research UK.  The next Folk Club on August 1st will be hosted by Doug & Janny who have chosen the theme ‘Favourites and Favours’.

Peter McDonald

Your scribe remarked during the evening that in fifty years of singing in folk clubs throughout the country, I had never found a club which displayed such a talented and entertaining set of floor singers as Harbury.  Thursday night’s crop of musical talent produced an evening of laughter, moments of poignancy, and chorus singing of a mighty standard.

The theme was “Whatever makes you happy”.  Sue and I began proceedings with Sovay (a kind-hearted lady highway robber) and “The Gasman Cometh” from Flanders and Swann.  Following us came Rik Middleton who sang the show song “Oh what a beautiful morning” and “Flying down to Rio”.  Maureen and Janny told us they’d searched the folk annals for a happy song from the female perspective, but found to their consternation that all the girls’ songs were about death, lost love, pain and misery!  They gave us “Searching for Lambs” and “Cupid’s Garden” in their own inimitable style.  A welcome return from Bob Clucas brought a cleverly contrived out-of-tune self-penned song about his Dad, followed by his tribute to his favourite football team Liverpool.  What else could it have been but “You’ll never walk Alone”, which prompted the Harbury Chorus Engine to fire up with a vengeance!  Sue followed with a lovely rendition of Pam Ayres’ monologue about gardening “Once I get up from me Chair”, and we then delighted in a second serving of Flanders and Swann with a mighty “Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud”.  Norman brought the first half to a fitting end with one of his rib-tickling compositions which included the revelation that one of the happiest moments in life is getting out of bed and realising that nothing is hurting!  He finished with James Taylor’s “Carolina on my Mind”, and we all retired to the bar for much-needed refreshment.

Pete Bones began the second spasm with a song detailing the horrors involved in setting up a band, and was then joined by Liz for a super interpretation of Enda McCabe’s glorious “Wind and Tides Permitting”.  Peter Cooke unleashed the Harbury Chorus Engine with “The day we went to Rothesay-o” and a fine version of “Fiddler’s Green” accompanying himself on English concertina.  Laura took us to America with Eric Bibb’s poignant “Shingle by Shingle”, followed by “Happy Together”, the 1967 hit from the Turtles.  Peter McDonald then transported us to New Zealand, from whence Paul Metsers wrote “Play it All Again”, his tribute to the legend that is Nic Jones.  Back halfway round the world to Trunch in Norfolk, Peter gave us Sid Kipper’s lifestyle advice song, “Jam Tomorrow”.  Next came Poacher’s Pocket – Campbell and Colin were joined by Carol Gillespie, and their “Lady came from Baltimore” and “Rolling Home” were a joy to listen to.  Don presented a dilemma by stating that the things that made him happy were sad songs.  Hmm.  He sang Gretchen Peter’s “When you are Old” followed by Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” in exemplary style, leaving guitarists in the audience weeping in envy!  Peter Mason brought us “Lancashire Lads” and “Going for a Soldier”, a medley first put together by Dave Burland and that man Nic Jones.  His second song was the admirable Jez Lowe’s “Idle Time”.  Last came our very own Rumble-o, whose well-orchestrated versions of “Ye Mariners All” and “Row my Bully Boys, Row” brought the evening to a most satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to our lovely audience and musos, our June raffle made £90, which is winging its way to the Warwick Hospital charity fund SWFT.  Don’t forget next month’s theme is “This land is your land” and Peter McDonald will be in the chair.

Ted Crum

The theme for Folk Club Number 414 was “Light & Dark.”

Sue & Ian kicked off the first half, keeping to the theme, with “The Light from the Lighthouse” and “Bonny Light Horseman.” Bob was next with 2 Paul Simon songs, “Patterns” and “Duncan”. Sue Harris followed with “Once upon a time” and “The Turn of the Road”. Rik sang about May Day frolics in the outdoors and then a very serious song about clowns. Robin followed with “This is all the Light I Need” and “Light Flight”. Norman closed the first half with “Early Morning Rain” (written by Gordon Lightfoot) and “Switch the Light Off” and as instructed I switched the lights off at the end of his performance!The second half commenced with The Choir singing “The May Song” and “Lay Down your Weary Tune”. Peter McDonald followed with “We Stayed Awake” and “Here is My Home”. Laura made a welcome return to the Club, she sang “Dawn” followed by “There’s a Rugged Road” Peter Mason was next with “The Island” and “Man of War”. Don followed, having already helped out and accompanied 2 previous acts, he sang “Made of Light” and “Dark End of the Street” Des had us all joining in with his 2 songs, “New York Mining Disaster” and “When Autumn Skies are Blue” Pete Grassby sang “I Just Want You to Know” and “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie”. Rumble-o closed the evening with “Hal an Tow” and “Keep Hauling”

Thank you everyone who supported the raffle which raised £94.55 for Cancer Research.

The theme next month is “Anything that makes you happy” so don’t miss it.

Sue Hartland

“God made the country and man made the town”. So wrote William Cowper in 1785. Harbury Folk Club performers embraced “town and country” equally to find a wide range of material suitable for the April club’s musical theme.

The Harvesters (Sue and I) started the evening with Mark Knopfler’s “The Next Time I’m In Town” and followed that with “Who Will Watch The Home Place?”. Bob was next and sang the Kinks’ “Village Green Preservation Society” and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Janny and Maureen can always be relied upon to find ideal songs for any occasion and gave us “What Will We Do?” and then “My Husband’s Got No Porridge In Him”. Rik followed them and sang Ewan MacColl’s “Dirty Old Town” and then one of Jake Thackray’s more serious songs about “Old Molly Medcalfe”. Pete and Liz were next to the fore with Ralph McTell’s delightful “Nigel The Nightingale”, blithely singing in Berkeley Square. Their next offering was “The English Meadow”. Sue Harris had chosen to go solo this time and sang the lovely “Beating of My Own Heart” followed by another Jake Thackray favourite, “The Widow Of Brid”. The first half was brought to a close by Ted and Sue, commencing with the plaintive “Rambleaway” and then “The Farmer’s Toast”, which got everyone singing lustily in the chorus.

The number of available performers meant that second half would be the final one for this night and was opened by Harbury Folk Club choir with Jez Lowe’s “These Coal Town Days” and then followed with “Home Lads, Home”. Peter McDonald was next to perform and sang “Painting The Town” and “Where Ravens Feed”. An infrequent visitor to the club, but always welcome, Barbara sang “Still Waters” (written by yours truly) and then “When Yellow’s On The Broom”. Don, the man of infinite guitar chords, sang “A Town Called Birmingham” and the enchanting “Rhythms Of Your Grace”. Robin had also chosen to perform solo this time and gave us “City Of New Orleans” and another fine Ralph McTell song: “England”. Debbie was next and recited her poem “The Coffee Morning” and sang her own song “The Carnival Queen” with its rousing chorus. Peter Mason can always be relied upon to meet the brief and gave us “From Hull and Halifax And Hell” followed by Maggie Holland’s “A Place Called England”. Our next performer announced that he had performed at the club before but not in the present premises. Much head-scratching in pursuit of recollection ensued while Peter Scott sang “The Truro Agricultural Show” and the “Devon Bellringers Song”, accompanying both expertly on English concertina. The final spot of the evening went to the ever-popular “Poachers’ Pocket” (Campbell and Colin) who gave us “Scarlet Town”, giving Campbell the opportunity to play his recently-acquired banjo. Their final song was called “The Canadian”, another fine chorus song.

A total of sixteen different acts comprehensively covered the evening’s theme. The raffle raised an impressive £116.00 for Cancer Research. This will go towards the money being raised by Sue and me who will be taking part in May’s Great Birmingham 10K on behalf of this important charity.

Sue will run next month and her chosen theme for the evening is “Light and Dark”. Make it a date in your diary to see more excellent music: Thursday 2nd May, starting 8:00pm, in Harbury Village Club.

Ian Hartland

Every meeting of Harbury Folk Club is unique, and beforehand, no one can ever predict what it will be like.  The only thing we can be pretty sure about is that, whatever happens, we will be treated to fine music and entertainment.  The evening of 6 March 2019 was no exception.

I must confess to becoming a little concerned when learning that there would be quite a number of regular performers who, for one reason or another, would not be able to attend.  However, by 8:00pm, there were enough performers to fill two halves of the evening, and the room was filled to capacity with a warm and responsive audience who were soon found to be in good voice as well.

After Liz and I started with a chorus song, we were followed by contributions from Rik Middleton, “Ragged”, Bob Clucas, and Don, before Ian and Sue, aka The Harvesters, brought the first half to a close.  The second half included items from Maureen and Janny, Peter Mason, Sue Harris and further contributions from Rik, Ian and Sue, and Liz and me. 

Perhaps the most memorable act also came in the second half when two young newcomers, Ben and Stuart, performed some Gypsy Jazz on guitar and fiddle.  This was to give us a foretaste of what was in store for the Harbury Jazz Club which was due to have its first meeting the following Thursday.  Their amazing musical talent and quality of entertainment electrified the atmosphere and left us all buzzing.  We hope they will come again. 

With the number of performers being less than usual, the evening drew to a relaxing close at the early time of 10:00pm, but I don’t think any member of the audience or performer would have felt they had been “short changed”.  It had been yet another unique meeting, the likes of which could not have been predicted.

Many thanks to those who performed and also those who supported the raffle.  It raised £90.00 which has been donated to Harbury Village Club.  Once again the staff and committee of the club were welcoming, helpful and friendly and contributed to the success of the evening.

The next meeting of the club will be on April 4th and will be hosted by Ian Hartland. The theme is to be “Town and Country”.

Who Sang What

First Half

Pete & Liz: Green Grow the Rushes O

Rik Middleton: John Barleycorn, Bantam Cock

Ragged: Lady Lie Here, Feeling Groovy

Bob Clucas: Furgus the Frog, April Come She Will

Don Arthurson: Why do you Whisper?, On the Road

Ian and Sue H: The Stranger, East Virginia

Second Half

Pete  Bones: Wild Mounting Time

Maureen and Janny: Whitby Maid, The Slain

Peter Mason: Ginger Bill, Knocker Upper Man

Stuart and Ben: Minor Spring, Soureneir Disenprogan

Sue Harris: It’s Spring Again

Rik Middleton: A Frog he Did a Wooing Go

Ian and Sue H: Wagon Wheel

Pete and Liz: Celtic Blessing

Pete Bones

The theme for the February Folk Club was “Cheery Songs for Dreary Days” so, on a fairly dreary evening, the performers set out to cheer a willing audience.  Sue started off the evening with a song about proving love by performing various tasks, including killing dragons!  Pete and Liz Bones followed with a beautiful song, “Over the Lancashire Hills”, written by Simon Nicol.  Pete performed a glorious version of Albert and the Lion written about Cleethorpes by John Conolly.  It was Rik’s turn next and he sang “Cock of the North” and a song about Adam and Eve which showed his amazing ability to remember very complicated words.  The next group of musicians (Robin, Sue and Sally) caused your compere a great deal of trouble by changing their name yet again.  This month they called themselves “Ragged”.  The name established, they sang two very cheery songs including “Jambalaya on the Bayou” featuring Sue playing lager-phone.  Bob then made a lovely first visit to the Club by singing Paul Simon’s “Red Rubber Ball” and a self-penned song “Georgie”.  We hope he will become a regular visitor and we await the next verses of Georgie with impatience.  Peter McDonald sang two Tom Paxton songs, “I thought you were an A-Rab” and an impassioned plea against veganism, “Don’t Slay that Potato”.  Each was sung with tongue firmly in cheek.  The first half was brought to a close by the Choir performing two songs they sang at the Folk Club Concert, “Hand Me Down” written by Nancy Kerr and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallellujah”.  Both are firm favourites of the choir, featuring Lynne on accordion, Ruth on cello and the Peters playing guitar and piano.

The second half started in rather alarming fashion with an invasion of WW2 pilots.  No wait!  It was The Daft Dames performing a poem by Les Barker in their own inimitable fashion.  The performance would cheer even the most miserable onlooker!  The only way to follow such craziness was to introduce Keith Donnelly who got the audience moving left, right, up and down to accompany his first song. Keith then sang a version of “Scarborough Fair” which started off in a very gentle traditional fashion and changed as it went along….  By way of a complete contrast, Laura came on to sing two lovely songs accompanied by guitar and ukulele, “Life is a Long Song” by Jethro Tull and a 1950’s song “Tonight, You Belong to Me”.  Rumble-o came on to perform a super version of the song from the series “The Detectorists” and a song about Cornwall, “Cousin Jack”.  It was such a treat to hear these lovely songs again for those of us who had been at the Village Concert last month.  Sue and Ian performed their songs with their customary skill and dexterity with Sue playing banjo (a much-maligned instrument). “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “The Cuckoo” had the audience joining in the choruses with enthusiasm.  Morris Oxford performed the oldest known drinking song, “Bring us in Good Ale”, and “The Phantom Flasher” which gave us all another chance to join in with excellent choruses (when we weren’t laughing too much).  To finish the evening, The Somerville Gentlemen came on to sing two songs.  This was a very special performance as it was the first appearance as a “Gent” for Peter McD, but they were a depleted band as Ted was not able to join them.  Not withstanding, they sang the beautiful song “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” followed by a Cosmetheka music hall favourite “Love, Love, Love”.

What a lovely evening! We all went on our ways cheered and having had a really good sing.  We had raised a marvellous £100 for Cancer Research.  Peter and Liz Bones are running the Folk Club next month and the theme will be “Springing into Life”.

Sue Crum

With Christmas over for another year, and having celebrated the New Year only a few days before, we had our first Folk Club of the year. Tonight’s theme (and number 410) was ‘Family and Friends’. I had also read on social media that this year 2019 is the Centenary Year of the Village Club.

To start the evening Deb began proceedings with “Liverpool Lullaby” and then handed over to Rik who sang about “Three Drunken Maidens” who were sisters and came from the Isle of Wight. He then told us some fabulous stories about his upbringing and the use of Cockney between him and his friends. He then sang “Crazy World” which had a chorus for the Harbury Chorus Engine, which was all about family life. Then Sue sang a wonderful visual song about “When Father Painted the Parlour” and decorating nightmares. Then she performed the “Grandparents Song”. Up came Robin whose first song was by Ralph McTell, “First and Last Man”, which was rather spiritual and ethereal too. His second song was by John Denver called “Poems, Prayers and Promises” with Don on guitar. Laura (a Spa Strummer) played her guitar and sang a Gary Jones song, “A Child is Born” which had a beautifully simple chorus. Her second offering was “Miner’s Dream of Home” which was about a Miner who had been away from home for over 10 years and had been dreaming of home. The Harvesters sang about “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met my Baby”. Our final performer for the first half was Don who sang about a family member developing dementia with “I Get Lost in my Home Town”, where they are seen arguing with ghosts and not recognising members of the family anymore. He finished with an Eddie Reader song, from her album of Robbie Burns songs, with “Wild Mountain Side”.

The second half was begun with the Harbury Folk Club Choir and “My Dancing Day” from their recent appearance at Harbury Church’s annual Christmas Eve Carol Service. Their second offering was a Roger Jones song from the musical “The Inn Crowd”, “For to us a Child is Born”. Peter McDonald followed that with “The Friend” written by Alan Richardson who appears at Warwick Folk Club. This song was about meeting a ‘friend’ called Trevor in a bar. His second song was a Scottish song by Lionel McClelland called “Come and Spend a While wi’ me”. Then I continued my run of Peters. Pete Grassby sang a John Conolly song, “Widow Maker”, about how difficult it is in raising a growing lad. Then “Mother’s Day” and how we all love ours the best. Then without re’pete’ting myself, I introduced Peter Mason who sang about leaving people behind and “Brothers”. Keith Donnelly sang a song not for public consumption in the shape of a song for Bill Bates 60th Birthday and then “My Sister, Laura and Me”. He also told us of a secret trip he made to Ullapool to visit relatives but, when he got there, he found that they had made a similar trip to Leamington Spa on exactly the same date. Rumble-o sang about “Three Jolly Fishermen” about work colleagues/friends and, in jest, sang “Here comes the Sun”.

The third half was begun by Debs who sang “Summertime” and read one of her poems called “Mum” which she wrote for a friend’s Mum who had died. Des finished off the evening with “The Cherry Tree Carol” about Mary and Joseph and then “Shallow Brown” which was a rousing finish to the evening’s entertainment.

The raffle raised £92.00 for the Missing People charity. The next Folk Club is on February 7th when your hosts will be Ted and Sue Crum and the theme is “Cheery songs for dreary days”.

Debbie Ellis