2017 Reports

#397. December 2017 - 'Friends & Family'

The 397th edition of Harbury Folk Club was an evening of top-class entertainment from no less than eighteen different acts. It kicked off at 8:00 prompt with the largest act yet seen at the club, Harbury’s own Folk Club Orchestra. They performed “Bethany’s Waltz” and then a medley of “La Fête Du Village / Shove The Pig’s Foot A Little Further Into The Fire”. Janny and Maureen had the task of following that, but charmed us with “The Banks of Allan Water’ and “The Power Cut”, a song about spending Christmas without electricity but enjoying it much more as a result. Rik followed with a song about memories, “My Father”. He then gave us the late Jake Thackray’s hilarious song about the landlady’s three amorous daughters. Barbara had come to the area for another occasion, but stepped up to sing “I’m Always Glad To See A Man Like Thee” and then “That Room Up In The Sky”. The guitar-playing talents of Don were next on show as he sang the classic “All Things Are Quite Silent” about a woman whose husband was press-ganged into the Navy. He followed that with a lovely song called “Faithful”. The ever-reliable Des came on next to get us all singing to “When We Are Together” and a fine version of “The Cherry Tree Carol”. The first half came to a show-stopping spot from the zany Daft Dames with their version of the Kipper Family’s “Hark, Hark The Bells” complete with hand bells and inflatable antlers!


The second half opened with another of Harbury’s ensembles, the Folk Club Christmas Choir, who gave us “Rejoice And Be Merry” and “Pentonville”, which is one of many carols to utilise the lyrics of “While Shepherds Watched”. Sue Harris provided the next two songs and was joined on stage by the patient (and well-behaved) German Shepherd guide dog, Eva. Sue sang “Welcome To The World” and “Everything is Possible”. Eva lay down to enjoy the music. Peter Mason came up next, singing the humorous “By Jove How The Money Rolls In” and the moving “Kilkelly, Ireland”. John Zetterstrom was in seasonal mood and performed Marty Feldman’s “Christmas Is A Joyous Time Of Year’ and “Cher-ista-mas, Here It Comes Again” (I think that’s how it should read?). Long-term favourites, Pete and Liz, gave us the lively “Hey, Hey, Hey, Mary” based around the Nativity, and then Pete recited an old favourite, the Kipper Family’s poem “It Was Christmas Day”. We then enjoyed the vocal talents of Pete Grassby who sang John Conolly’s emotional song “A Sailor’s Bride” and then regaled us with a version of “As I Came Home”, about a man who returns home the worse for drink to find his wife has left ‘souvenirs’ of a male visitor. The second half was brought to a great finish when Keith Donnelly sang the classic “Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas”. He then completed his spot with his self-penned song ”Another World”, which had the audience joining in enthusiastically.


The third half brought Peter McDonald to the stage with the humorous “The Friend” about two people reuniting but being unable to remember who each other is. He followed that with Jez Lowe’s “She’ll Always Be Freedom To Me”. Lou was singing without granddaughter Mary this month but proved equal to the task with “Jock O’ Hazeldean” and the lively “Old Maid In The Garrett”. Ted and Sue provided a seasonal Wassail and then played a pair of Ted’s foot-tapping dance tunes, “Suzie’s Stomp and Jojo’s Jig” on melodeon and ukulele. The Harvesters brought the evening to a close with “I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas” which got the audience joining in for this final number. 


The raffle raised a highly impressive £100.00 for Myton Hospice. Thanks to Pete Grassby for supplying the additional prize of a bag of cooking apples. Thanks also to everyone who performed and, of course, to the audience who turn out every month to enjoy a high-grade evening of music and song and encourage every performer, from beginners to professionals. Thanks also to the staff at Harbury Club who always work hard to set up the room and tirelessly serve drinks to the thirsty throughout the evening.


The next Folk Club will meet on Thursday 4th January when Sue will lead the night with the theme: Points Of The Compass.


Ian Hartland

#396. November 2017 - 'Emotions'

Most folk songs convey some form of emotion, so when I suggested “Emotions” as the theme for the night, it was not difficult to find appropriate songs.


Liz and I started the evening with an attempt to set the emotion of merriment, by singing “Landlord fill the Flowing Bowl” and soon the audience, that numbered between 50 and 60, was singing along with gusto. There then followed a number of songs performed by the 11 individual artistes or groups, containing references to a variety of emotions including anger, sorrow, love, hate, homesickness and reflection to name but a few.


Although I found most of the items performed were to a very high standard, my particular favourites of the evening were Don Arthurson who is a newcomer to the club and proved to be a very talented rag-time guitar player, and Keith Donnelly who sang “Happiness is a Sad Song” which he wrote just for the evening.


After a very full three “halves”, the entertainment finished with an informal music session which seemed to provide an uplifting emotion to conclude what I thought was a most enjoyable folk club.  Many thanks to all who contributed, whether as a performer or a member of the audience.  For a complete list of who sang what, please see below.


Thanks also to those who contributed to the raffle which raised a respectable £76.00, which being near Remembrance Day, has been donated to the British Legion Poppy Appeal, and thanks again to the bar staff and committee of the Harbury Club who once again were very helpful and welcoming. 


The next meeting of the club will be on December 7th and will be hosted by Ian Hartland.  The theme is to be “Friends and Family”..


Who Did What


First Half

Pete & Liz: Landlord fill the flowing bowl

Rik Middleton: Empty Chairs, Harry Go Back to Guyana

Mary Lou: Lead me straight to you, A game of Football

Don Arthurson: Hesitation Blues, Since you've been gone

SRS: All around my hat, Home again of Dreams

Peter McDonald: The Man that I am, Another Train


Second Half

Pete & Liz: Little Tim MacGuire

Ted & Sue: High Germany, Rambling Sailor

Martin Day: Tortoises come last, Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower

Ian & Sue H: Lily of the West, Going down that road

Pete Grassby: Pat McNab, Take your time my lovely old lad

Keith Donnelly: Happiness is a sad song, Love in the real world


Third Half

Ted & Sue: Wedding Song

Mary & Lou: I wish I was a maid again

Peter McDonald: Four Strong Winds

Keith Donnelly: Isn't that the way to say Goodbye?

Pete Grassby: Boothferry Bridge

Assorted musicians: a few tunes


Pete Bones

#395. October 2017 - 'Pack of Cards'

Maureen and Steve were panicking as several regular performers were absent and it looked as if Plan B needed to be implemented whereby there would be no 3rd half and performers would be asked to appear in the second half as well as the first. As it was, everyone who did perform raised their game and we had a wonderful evening’s entertainment.


The theme for the evening was “Pack of Cards” and Steve introduced the theme by explaining why he had chosen to wear his Glastonbury 2011 T-Shirt. The list of artists printed on the back included bands such as “Queens of the Stone Age”, “B.B King”, “Bombay Bicycle Club” and “Two Door Cinema Club”, all band names that fitted with the theme. Soon to come were some “Ace” acts who were going to “Pack” a lot in and “Jack” up the pace!


First up were Maureen and Janny who started with Kate Rusby’s “Let the Cold Wind Blow”, a song containing many Hearts and then they harmonised so well with “Game of Cards”, which was accompanied by Ian who played his mandola stringed instrument for the first time at Folk Club. Debbie followed initially telling us the tale of  Zsa Zsa Gabor who famously said she never hated a man badly enough to return his diamonds. She recited her poem ” My Icy Heart” and her partner Simon’s face went flush such was the revealing content. She sang “Carnival Queen” with an enthusiastic audience joining in with the chorus. Keith thought about doing something by Geoff Dunham called “Abdul the Dead Terrorist” (Geoff  was an entertainer who was a bit of a magician with playing cards) but instead Keith sang Peter Sarstedt’s “Frozen Orange Juice” which did mention the word heart and he then sang the Irishman Pat Campbells song, “The Deal”, a story of a man who came to an arrangement with God when there were birth complications so he asked God to take his life instead of his wife and daughter’s. SSR came up next or was it SRS or even RSS, no one was quite sure. Whoever they were sang Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” followed by the King of Heart’s (Elvis) “Love me tender”. Sue and Ian sang “The Cuckoo” which made mention of the Jack of Diamonds and then sang a Kate Long number, “Who will watch the home place,” another song that referred to matters of the heart. Norman closed the first half with a very versatile performance of song and entertainment firstly with Harry Belafonte’s “Jamaica Farewell” where the Kingston Town was featured throughout, then came Norman’s transformation into “The Great Normando” assisted by the very glamorous and able, “Miss Viv Atious”. We were captivated as Norman entered the isolation chamber where he was  telepathically linked to Miss Viv Atious to magically guess which playing cards were being selected from the pack. It was odd that the Jack and Nine of Hearts were so prominent. Norman finished his show by singing “Let me be your Teddy Bear”.


The Folk Club Choir opened the second half with “Queen of Waters” and “Let the River Run” (which featured King frequently as well as the word Heart), two songs which  they were to perform 48 hours later at the Festival of Voices at Warwick Hall. Keith made his second appearance of the evening with two more songs, “Play the Joker every time” and “Shuffle, cut the cards, I’m playing blind”. Sue and Ted sang “Queen's Duty” followed by “Wayward Boy” which Ted told us was all about a Knave who was a right card. Peter sang two songs – “Lovers Heart”, which was written by Andy M Stewart and Phil Cunningham, followed by Paul Metsers’ “Some Day”, another song where the audience could join in with the chorus. Sue and Ian sang, “In good King Arthur’s Days” and Norman closed the evening firstly with a William the Conqueror monologue, “King”, and then a very apt song, “Turning out the lights”:


“This is when the evening ends, we made some music, we made some friends,

 but now we close the door, turn out the light ‘cos it’s time to say good night”


The raffle raised £80 for TOFS, a charity that supports children and adults who are/were unable to swallow. Next month’s Folk Club will be hosted by Peter Bones when the theme for the evening will be “Emotions”.


Steve & Maureen Darby

#394. September 2017 - 'Rebellion'

REBELLION!

With the nights drawing in, a group of non-conforming, rule-breaking, establishment-rattling and resistance-fighting bunch of folk performers (and their associates) came to Harbury Village Club to start up a local anarchic and maladjusted melodious free-for-all!  Des was performing elsewhere tonight and so the MC Deb started off the 394th folk club (and our 33rd Birthday!) with a call to arms:


“Good evening Harbury I hope that you’re well? We’ve got songs to be sung and stories to tell! We’ve got raffle prizes and tickets to sell. So let’s take to our seats as it’s time to REBEL!”


After that rabble-rousing welcome (this month’s theme being Rebellion!), she went straight in and recited a poem of hers “The Rioter”, and then up came Ruthless Rick who entered into the spirit of things by stating that he couldn’t be bothered with the theme and would ‘sing about what he what he wants to sing about!’ His song, “The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington”, was all about a very free-spirited individual with a dash of brutality thrown in. His second offering was all about two fighters reminiscing about their experiences in the Mexico rebellion of 1910 with the unforgettable ABBA classic, “Fernando”.


Up came Harbury’s answer to Thelma and Louise in the shape of Maureen & Janny and they sang a song by the Rainmakers called “Avila” which was all about a town dweller with a rebellious attitude. And the effects of this were “sweet peace…never have you fallen upon this town.” Their next was by the Silly Sisters, “The Burning of Auchindoun”, which told us of a castle in Auchindoun, Scotland, that was owned by the Herod of the North and his assault on a neighbour’s castle. He wreaked havoc everywhere he went and the result was a rather nasty beheading! Lou and Mary are Grand Father and Grand Daughter who have performed at Harbury on many occasions. They sang “Step it Out Mary” where a personal rebellion ended in tragedy. This got the Harbury chorus engine up and running. Then Lou recited a fabulous Robert Burns poem “National Rebellion” all about the Jacobite uprising. Then they both sang  “Ye Jacobites by Name” where we were treated to beautiful harmonies from both performers.


Marc was our next performer and he was pleased to tell us about the warm and friendly welcome that we have given him at Harbury Folk Club. Both of his songs were French songs (that would please the Harbury Twinning Society members in the audience!). His first was called “Mandrin” who was a crook and highwayman who lived in the 1750’s and challenged the state. His second was a self-penned song called “Baby Boy” that spoke about “freedom no more your own” and “cut off your beautiful hands”. It was a hard hitting song of medieval practices still going on in the 21st Century.


Norman Wheatley, our fine and dandy Pimpernel, took to the floor and sang a self-penned song called Rebellion – Part One, which was all about pencils and ‘2B or not 2B’! Then he recited a poem called “Brighton Rock” from a Graham Greene Novel that had a fabulous play on words. This was all about redundancy. And to finish our first half, Norman sang another self-penned creation called “Rebellion!” This was a comedic look at all the reckless things done by a young man. The catchy chorus went, “I was going to be a teenage rebel and it’s all about rebellion".


Our second half was opened by Deb reciting another one of her poems called “Under the Radar” about rebelling in the workplace. Then we had the fabulous Gangster and his moll, Ted and Sue Crum who sang about a “Female Drummer” who fell in love with another female soldier. And then Ted sang “Bitter Withy” which was about Jesus as a naughty child! Peter Mason was our next performer who sang “Dears” all about the Luddites, named after Ned Ludd, who lived in Anstey, and then “General Ludd” all about the Luddite Rebellion. Sue and Ian Hartland sang the “Lee Boys Lassie” that told us of a girl being accepted in a new community. Then it was shaky-egg time with “Garden Party”. To finish off the second half and the evening we had the Godfather of Folk, Peter McDonald, who sang “England Green, England Grey” which was a protest song about protests and people protesting. And his last number was a tune by Phil Cunningham called “Golden Memories”. Using modern technology, Peter used a backing track of his own piano part, whilst he played his concertina. He told us that he “can’t play both at the same time!” but Ted Crum thought the folk club was becoming a bit like Karaoke!


And with that our Rebellion came to an end but, to top the evening off, the raffle raised £100 for the RNLI. The next folk club will be hosted by Steve and Maureen Darby and the theme is ‘Pack of Cards’.


Debbie Ellis

#393. August 2017 - 'Manual Work'

This month's theme was "Manual Work", and the performers’ talents shone through as they enthusiastically worked the audience.  


The evening was opened by Janny with her debut solo performance with a song about washing an Australian miner’s clothes.  Rik was serving his union time, and then working the hot asphalt. Sue Harris covered the pit closures in South Wales. Martin sang about a miller before reviving that moving folk classic “Right Said Fred”. Norman met the challenge set by Martin to write a song with words without the letter “e”, and then returned to the theme with a handy man. Peter McDonald told us about Captain Swing and the riots against threshing machines, and continued the farming theme with learning to scythe. Pete & Liz beautifully delivered a song about a factory girl, and then Lynne accompanied Pete gave us Tony Capstick’s parody of that bread commercial.


Ian & Sue opened the second half with tales about a blacksmith and then a lazy John. Des had us rolling home with weary labourers, and then addressed the power of workers unity. Jan and Campbell lamented about the changing times on the Clyde, and then told us of the desire of a café owner for a lorry driver. Robin sang about tin miners in Cornwall, and Irish labourers lonely for their home. Helen introduced a hammer, and then had a long drive at night. Keith brought a fine half to a close with a song about his Dad’s ferry boat on the Tyne, and his rework of Men at Work – Down Under.  


The third half was the most enjoyable for us. We had managed to fit every act in, whilst trying to manage the time constraints of each half, and so at last we could relax. Mark, who is new to the club, sang and played two fine numbers. Bob came dressed for the part as to why he could not work today. Keith had us joining in with pirate noises. Ian and Sue brought the evening to a close with their homage to the waterways of Birmingham.


A fine evening of entertainment and work ethic, and our thanks go to all the performers, the audience, and the Village Club’s staff. The charity raffle raised £105 which has been donated to Harbury e-wheels.  Next month’s club is hosted by Debbie Ellis on Thursday 7th September when the theme will be “Rebellion”.


Doug & Janny

#392. July 2017 - 'Something beginning with S'

On a warm July night sprinkled lightly with much-needed rain, we kept our monthly date at the Village Club.  We were aware that several of our usual suspects were absent on other duties, and your scribe had been resurrecting a multitude of songs and tunes in anticipation of having to fill out a depleted list of singers.  How wrong can you be?  We ended up with twelve acts who produced an evening of excellent musicianship, even prompting a legendary third half because nobody wanted to go home!


The theme was 'Songs Beginning with S'.  Sue and I began proceedings with a harmonica-backed version of Sovay, telling of a female highway-person.  Pete Mason gave us Streets of London and a Sean Lakeman/Katherine Roberts song, Wisdom of Standing Still.  Norman Wheatley pushed the boundaries of the theme (an old Harbury tradition) by singing I’m Into Something Good, with the justification that it was “a Summery Song”.  He redeemed himself totally with his second song, written especially for the occasion.  Entitled Sing Something Sibilant, to the tune of Buffalo Girls, every word began with an S.  A real tour de force, it was cheered to the rafters.  John Hill, a relative and much welcome newcomer to the club, sang Senor by Bob Dylan, and Seven by David Bowie.  Campbell and Jan came up with The Snow Falls from the singing of John Tams, followed by a self-penned song called Escape to the Country.  Richard gave us Across the Sea by Stan Graham, and The Seashore, one of his own compositions.  Martin Day finished the first spasm with Santiago Serenade from Tom Waits, and St. James Infirmary on ukulele and harmonica.


Our beloved Harbury has been much dug up by contractors in the past few weeks, laying brand new yellow gas mains, so it was inevitable that your scribe should begin the second spasm with The Gasman Cometh, on the (I thought very sound)  basis that gas makes a sound like sssss when you turn it on.  Rik Middleton sang Spurn Point and South Coast, rapidly followed by Pete and Liz Bones with Settle to Carlisle Railway and The Skin Song.  Janny and Maureen sang Sweet Nightingale and Silly Old Fool, emphasising that the second song did not refer to anyone in the audience.  Their respective husbands did not look entirely convinced, it should be added.  Des Patalong fired up the Harbury Chorus Engine with South Australia and Shallow Brown, followed by Sue and Ian Hartland who ended the second half with Spencer the Rover and Sail Away Ladies.


To complete the evening, we asked Pete Mason, Campbell and Jan, and Des to give us one more song each.  Pete sang the evocative Slip Jigs and Reels, Campbell and Jan gave us Singing through the hard Times, and Des finished the evening in a positive storm of harmony with The Innocent Hare.  Our raffle raised an astonishingly generous £100 which has made its way to the MND Association.  Next month’s club will be on August 3rd.  Our hosts will be Doug and Janny, and the theme will be Manual Work.


Ted Crum

#391. June 2017 - 'June or anything that rhymes with June'

“Small but perfectly formed” would be a good way to describe the audience at Folk Club No. 391 on June 1st. Actually, there were over 30 people in the Village Club’s concert room but, because of the space available, it did feel a little sparse. Those that came were treated to a good choice of seats and an evening of fine music – 30 songs or tunes performed by 10 different acts – some soloists, some duos. The theme was ‘June’ or anything that rhymes with ‘June’ and, true to form, we were entertained by a variety of interpretations of the theme.


Apart from the items that really did mention ‘June’, the most popular rhymes were undoubtedly ‘moon’ and ‘soon’ but Robin was pushing his luck when he sang a song by Paul ‘Simoon’! He was on safer ground when he accompanied his daughter Claire singing Mary Chapin Carpenter’s lovely song ‘The Moon and St. Christopher’. Norman excelled himself by writing a new song especially for the evening’s theme – the emotive ‘Gone too soon’ – and he also included the nostalgic ‘Owl and the Pussycat’ (complete with the runcible spoon). Ted generally tries to find a Flanders & Swann song that fits the theme and this time it was ‘A song of the weather’ (“June just rains and spoils the crops, thirty days and never stops”); before that, he and Sue had played some tunes on melodeon and ukulele. Ian & Sue sang Ian Tyson’s ‘Someday Soon’ and followed that with Sue dancing some energetic flat-footing to Ian’s fiddle playing with a tune called ‘June Apple’. Pete Grassby chose a Frank Sinatra song to croon – ‘This was my love’ – and then found the word ‘soon’ in ‘Hard Times of Old England’. Keith sang two of his own songs, ‘Soon I must go away’ and ‘Freemantle Sand’, which may or may not have had the magic rhyming words but we enjoyed singing along with the catchy chorus.


Making only their second appearance at the Club, Campbell & Jan embraced the theme with suitable words hidden in ‘Collier Brig’ and ‘Billie sang the Blues’. I stuck to a lunar theme with ‘Once in a very blue moon’ and ‘The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress’ while Peter Mason sang Sandy Denny’s ‘Rising for the Moon’ and revived the old favourite, ‘Jug of Punch’, which conveniently contains the “month of June”. Someone had to sing ‘Rosebud in June’ and Des duly obliged, preceded by Sydney Carter’s ballad of ‘John Ball’ (who was apprehended in Coventry in June 1381, having played a prominent part in the Peasants’ Revolt). After everyone had performed two numbers in the first and second halves, we had a quick-fire third half when we all sang one more each. Pete G brought the evening to a close with ‘Grey Funnel Line’ (by which time we were tending to abandon the theme) and the audience responded with some fine harmonies.


Despite the smallish audience, the raffle raised an excellent £64 for Cancer Research UK. Next month’s Folk Club, at 8pm on July 6th, will be hosted by Ted and Sue and their theme will be ‘Something beginning with S’. We’re always at Harbury's Village Club on the first Thursday of the month but you shouldn’t come along unless you enjoy free entry to an evening of good quality acoustic music in a relaxed, light-hearted, atmosphere with comfortable seats and a genial MC!


Peter McDonald

#390. May 2017 - 'Names'

The theme for the 390th Folk Club was ‘Names’ and I think that everyone came up with a song that mentioned at least one name.


Ian & Sue opened with ‘Spencer the Rover” and ‘Willie Moore”. Peter Mason followed with ‘John Conlon’ and ‘The Mary Ellen Carter”. Maureen & Janny sang the beautiful ‘Searching for Lambs’, which mentions May, then they excelled themselves by singing ‘Dame Durden’ which contained far too many names to mention here! Rik gave us ‘The Great Valerio’ and ‘Joseph Jones’ and SRS followed with ‘Alberta’ and ‘Georgia’. Debbie recited 2 of her poems entitled ‘Trolled’ and ‘The Coffee Morning’ and Martin closed the first half with ‘Young Henry Martin’ and ‘Isambard Brunel’, a song about the S.S. Great Eastern.


The 2nd half opened with the Choir singing 2 very timely songs, ‘Now is the Month of Maying and ‘The May Song’. Peter McDonald stayed on stage and played 2 tunes on melodeon – ‘When Chloe’ and ‘Ville de Quebec’ – and then sang the very funny ‘Red Corvette’. Norman made a very welcome visit to the club and entertained us with ‘Mr. Bojangles’ and ‘My Family Tree’. Sue & Ted were next with Sue singing ‘John O’Dreams’ and Ted singing all about Marylyn Monroe. Des followed with ‘Joseph Baker’ and an old favourite ‘The Alabama’ which got us all singing. Pete & Liz kept us singing with 2 lovely songs ‘High Germany’ and ‘Flash Company’. Pete Grassby was in fine voice, singing ‘The Trapper and the Trawlermen’ and ‘Kin to You’. Keith closed the evening with ‘Isn’t that the Way to say Goodbye?’ and then a song called ‘Katy’ which was a world premiere performance!


A big thank you to everyone who supported the raffle which raised £99. I am taking part in the Race for Life for the 17th time next month and this amount will be going to Cancer Research.


The theme for next month is ‘June or anything that rhymes with June’ when Peter McDonald will be hosting.


Sue Hartland

#389. April 2017 - No theme

Harbury Folk Club’s 389th edition was a packed evening of entertainment from eighteen different acts. The decision to run without a theme can be a double-edged sword as some artists like the challenge of finding specifically-focused material. Not in April. We enjoyed a varied programme of songs, poems and props and lack of a theme seemed no deterrent to anyone’s creativity.


The Harvesters duo kicked off the first half with two self-penned songs: “Dancing With Nancy” and “Middle England”. Janny and Maureen aptly sang of “One April Morning” and followed that with “We’ll Yodel It Over Again”. Rick played his concertina and sang “When The Night Surrenders To The Sun” and the Beatles’ “Long And Winding Road”. Nikki gave her debut performance at the club with the popular “Killing Me Softly”. We’re hoping to hear more songs from her at future events. Peter Mason announced that he was on a career break and sang “Idle Time”, followed by “All Used Up”. Surely not? A welcome return to the club from talented a capella singer Ruth Fortey delighted us with “Rhymes And Reasons” and then took us on a “Bus To Saint Cloud”. We hope she doesn’t leave it too long before returning. The half closed with the effervescent Martin Day who recited the ballad of “Cosmo McGrew, The Fairly Accurate Prospector” and then another hilarious poem about the Battle Of Hastings and Harold, on his horse, with his hand up his hawk, amply demonstrated with the aid of a brightly-coloured parrot puppet. Priceless!


The ever-popular Daft Dames opened the second half in lively style. They sang “After The Goldfish” and “Don’t Play Me Your Concertina” (to a well-known tune from “Evita”). The trio S.R.S. followed with an upbeat “Jamabalaya’ and a song called (I think) “For The Sake Of Somebody”. Pete and Liz engaged us with Ralph McTell’s “Weather The Storm” and the plaintive “We Never Mention Aunt Clara”, a relative who made more of her life than perhaps might have been deemed conventional. Grandfather and granddaughter duo Lou and Mary charmed us with their two songs: “You’re Falling Way Behind” and “Whose Garden Was This?”. Peter McDonald debuted a new song, “England Green and England Grey” by Reg Meuross, and followed that with the chirpy “Cigarette Packet Song”.  John Zetterstrom took to the floor with his lively “Bad Health Song” and coupled it with an original version of the venerable “Greensleeves”. The second half was brought to a harmonious conclusion by two songs from newcomers to the club, Jan and Campbell. They deftly joined “The Grey Funnel Line” with “A Sailor’s Life” into a single, engaging composite. The inviting chorus of “The Golden Vanity” completed their set and got the audience fully involved in the accompaniment.


With yet more artists to shoehorn into the evening, and no opportunity for any earlier performers to offer an additional number, the third half kicked off with Des singing Tom Lewis’s timeless “A Sailor’s Prayer” and then he was “Rolling Back The Welfare State’. John Hill made his welcome return to the club with “Lisa, Lisa” and completed his offering with “On The Border”. Ray gave us “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and “Four Strong Winds”. To close the evening in fine musical style, Graham and Tina, otherwise known as Morris Oxford, sang of “A Brisk Young Butcher” and finished with the teasingly humorous “Nine Times A Night”.


The chosen charity was Cancer Research, for which Sue and I are both competing in the Great Birmingham 10K on April 30th. We raised a magnificent £89.00 on the night. Many thanks to everyone who so generously contributed, both in money and also in song.


The next Harbury Folk Club will be on Thursday 4th May, run by Sue who has chosen “Names” as the theme. Get there early if you want a great evening of music and entertainment. We’re in the Village Club and we start promptly at 8:00pm.


Ian Hartland

#388. March 2017 - 'Spring'

With it only being the second day of “meteorological” spring, I felt it appropriate to have the theme for the Folk Club meeting on March 2nd as simply “Spring”.


There were not quite so many performers as some recent months which made programming the evening much more relaxed.  This, combined with a good selection of songs, delivered by talented performers, resulted in another pleasant and enjoyable evening.  Most of the items delivered had some connection with the season of spring, but there were others that included spring as in well, spring as in suspension systems, or spring as in jump.


Spring being the time of year when we start thinking about day trips inspired the Daft Dames to perform the song “Away Day” which they presented at the recent folk concert in the village hall.  This is a hilarious parody of the Latin song “Gaudette” and for this they dressed up very convincingly as nuns and sang in beautiful harmonies.  To me this was one of the highlights of the evening.  Another highlight was the singing of “Kenny the Kangaroo” by Peter McDonald.  This is a lovely Ralph McTell song and refers to the springing of the kangaroo as he “boings around all over Australia”.


With there being only 12 acts to fit in, it was possible to have a third half during which we had a bonus song from eight of those who had previously performed.  Liz and I finished with the song Celtic Blessing and, being at the front listening to the rich wall of sound coming from the audience, provided a delightful conclusion to what had been another great folk club.  See below for a complete list of who sang what.


The raffle raised a total of £87.00, for the Salvation Army.  Many thanks to those who contributed.  Thanks also to the bar staff and committee of the Harbury Club who once again were very helpful and welcoming. 


The next meeting of the club will be on April 6th, will be hosted by Ian Hartland, and there is to be no theme.


Who Did What


First Half

Pete & Liz : Road to Drumleman, Unseen Highway

Rik Middleton: Old Wild Goose, Skylark

SRS: Here comes the Sun, Island of Dreams

Ted and Sue: Lord Franklin, Transport of Delight

Janny and Maureen: Sweet Nightingale, Almost Every Circumstance

Pete Grassby: Lovely Molly, I’m leaving the Marwin


Second Half

Daft Dames: Away Day

Martin Day: Nobody knows you (when you’re down and out), What a Mouth!

Ian and Sue H: Hard Times, Train on the Island

Keith Donnelly: Seasons flow like the tide, Story about Annie Black

Des: Winter turns to Spring, Rosebud in June

Peter McDonald: Forest Lawn, Where Ravens Feed


Third Half

Martin: ????

Des: What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor

Ted: Nancy does the Polka

Ian and Sue: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Peter Grassby: Cotswold Town

Peter McDonald: Kenny the Kangaroo

Keith Donnelly: ????

Pete and Liz: Celtic Blessing


Peter Bones

#387. February 2017 - 'The last two songs you would choose to sing ... ever!'

The theme for Folk Club No. 287 was “The last two songs you would choose to sing ….. ever.” Steve opened the evening by clarifying the theme as it could have been misinterpreted. With the number of iconic musicians who passed away in 2016, the idea was to have a theme based upon the last two songs you would sing on your death bed or the two songs you would sing at your own funeral but, as they sounded a little macabre, the theme needed to be toned down.


Maureen and Janny stepped up first to perform “Horncastle Fair, a song from their all-time favourite singers, The Threllfalls. Sue and Ted then accompanied them on percussion and bass as they sang the comical “The hot water bottle cover”. Des followed with a self-penned Neo Liberalist anthem called “Rolling back the welfare state” and we then all joined in with “Babylon has fallen”. Pete and Liz chose a new favourite, “Kings Navy”, which told a Jack Tar story about the Navy not being as glamorous as it’s made out, particularly when you have your legs blown off by a cannon ball. They then sang an old favourite that bought back memories of the last 35 years from when Liz was pregnant with Daniel, “Little Man”. Pete Mason chose songs that invoked memories and influenced his singing and so he performed Ralph McTell’s “The Setting” and Steve Tilston’s “Slip Jigs and Reels”. John Hill from Kineton made his debut at the Folk Club and sang two Leonard Cohen songs, “My Secret Life”, followed by “Dance me to the end of time”; both were well sang. Ray was on his own as he sang “Grey Cock” and “Butcher Boy”, a depressing song of a girl spurned in love who ends up hanging herself. Sue and Ted closed the first half with firstly a song written by Sue’s friend called “Kill me a dragon” and then, in keeping with the theme, Ted just had to do a Flanders and Swan song, “The Slow Train”.


Sally and Robin opened the second half and they told us of Sally’s three children’s brilliant weddings where at the last one they sang “Lean On Me”. They followed this with the first song they ever performed at Warwick Folk Club, Keith Hancock’s “Absent Friends”. Peter McDonald performed a song from his favourite songwriter Paul Metsers, “Farewell to the Gold”, and then the very poignant Dougie MacLean number, “Talking with my Father”, a song many in the audience could identify with. Sue Harris accompanied by Robin sang “Rosemary’s Sister” and then told us how she sings a song to all the new children born into the family, “Welcome to the World”. Ian and Sue chose two random songs, one by Iris Dement, “Let the Mystery Be”, and the second by Rick Nelson called “Garden Party”, as it’s all right now. Martin surprised us when he told us his first song, about following in dad’s footsteps when first starting work, “Dead men’s boots”, was written by Sting and then sang, “Absent Friends”. The half closed with the rich sounds of the ever-improving Rumble-o performing Green Day’s “Time of your life” and ended with John Tams’ familiar, “Over the Hills and Far Away”.


The third half saw Keith Donnelly in fine tune as he sang, “Jesus at the Airport” and then the very sad song which was inspired by the killing of a Swan in Leamington by yobs, “Swan Song”. Next, Pete Grassby played a tune on his melodeon that had taken 4 years of practising such is its complexity, “Sir Sidney Smith’s March” and then sang a true tale which he wrote himself, “The ballad of Orca the Cat”. Des closed what had been a full evening’s excellent entertainment with “Windmill in Old Amsterdam”; as we all joined in with the chorus, we all thought we saw a mouse with clogs on running across the floor.


The raffle raised a very generous £95 for the Warwickshire Air Ambulance Service and next month’s Folk Club will be hosted by Pete and Liz Bones when the theme will be “Spring”.


Steve & Maureen Darby

#386. January 2017 - 'Celebrations and Special Occasions'

It was minus 3⁰C on my dashboard as I pulled up outside the Village Club for our 386th Folk Club. The theme was ‘Celebrations and Special Occasions’. Des opened the evening’s entertainment with a fabulous Brian Blessed impersonation to bring the audience to attention. Flash Gordon, fabulous film! His first song was ‘Staines Morris’ and his second was about falling in love with a carnival girl in ‘Fakenham Fair’. This got the Harbury Chorus Engine warmed up for the evening’s entertainment ahead. Pete and Liz Bones were up next with ‘Gower Wassail’ that had a fabulous catchy chorus of ‘fal-de-doll be-doll’. And their second was one of Pete’s all time favourites, ‘Crazy Man Michael’, that had Liz singing a beautiful crisp and clear vocal.


Our third performers were SRS, who have attended Harbury Folk Club on several occasions, and they are a trio who played keyboard, guitar and flute. They sang, ‘The Things You Wish Yourself’ and ‘Innocent New Year’ which was all about short-lived New Year’s resolutions! Ray came to Folk Club all by himself as his regular singer/wife was recovering after her second hip replacement. He sang ‘Dancing at Whitsun’ which is one of my favourites, and the ‘Manchester Rambler’ all about the right to roam.


Peter McDonald was our next performer and he sang a Huw Williams song, ‘Struck it Right This Time’, and a Richard Thompson song, ’We’ll Sing Hallelujah’. These were two fabulous songs with one about optimism and being positive and the other one had a chorus for us all to sing along to. Then we had Ted and Sue Crum. Ted spoke about the worry of having a song ‘gazumped’ by another performer. (I can remember when I first started going to Folk Club I was always so worried that the song that I had spent ages practising would be performed by someone else before it came my turn. It didn’t stop me singing ‘Dirty Old Town’ for the second time one Folk Club though!) But Ted and Sue were lucky and they went on to perform ‘The Serving Girl’s Holiday’ and ‘A Song for the Weather’.


Our next performers are fabulous. I first saw them at our Folk Club years ago and I was hooked. And to have the pleasure of MC’ing for them at Warwick Folk Festival was awesome. They decided to ignore the theme completely! The Bianco Quartet sang ‘Bye Bye Love’ and ‘I Made it to Heaven’. Both songs were arranged beautifully. And that was the end of the first half.


After a quick runaround the audience selling raffle tickets, the second half began with the Warwick Folk Festival ‘Mini Choir’ (Graham, Rosie, Tina, Celia, Liz, Peter & Margaret). They sang ‘Fa’ afetai’ and ‘New River Train’ and the arrangements of these songs were exquisite. The five members of Rumble-O sang ‘We Will Sing’ and then ‘Bold Nelson’s Praise’ all about the Battle of Trafalgar. Lou and Mary are Grandpa and Grand Daughter. He can recite poems by Yeats and she can play loads of instruments. And how they harmonized! And Mary played the keyboard magnificently! Their two songs were ‘Glad I Didn’t Know’ and ‘The Most of the Earth’.


Keith Donnelly. Do I need to say more? He sang ‘Isn’t That the Way to Say Goodbye?’ and ‘Let’s Have a Party’. He is a splendid raconteur. His stories are based on real life events and given the Donnelly Twist at the end. He gets his inspiration from everywhere. He also takes audience participation to a new level too. This time he got us waving our arms up in the air and it was great fun. He also sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to my Mum whose birthday it was that night. Richard sang ‘What Kind of Life’, a song about his father which was rather poignant and a John Golding Song, ‘Get Along, Move Along’.


Pete Grassby sang a John Conolly song, ‘The Widowmaker’, and ‘It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie’. Debbie brought with her a poem and a song. The poem ‘Love as a Traveller’ was written for a wedding and, with all the well deserved BEM’s being awarded in the village, she sang a song that had a very tenuous link to Sir Ken Dodd in it with ‘Liverpool Lullaby’. The Folk Club Choir finished the evening (yes, we had two halves this time which is very, very rare – by the time the second half had come to an end it was hometime!) with two Christmas songs – the traditional carol ‘Hark, Hark, What News’ and John Kirkpatrick‘s ‘Chariots’.


We had seven raffle prizes! Yes, seven. And the raffle raised £80 (Des rounded it up) to be split equally between the Trussell Trust and the Salvation Army. The next Folk Club will be held on 2nd February at the Village Club. The theme is ‘The last two songs you would choose to sing….ever!’ Your hosts for the evening will be Maureen and Steve Darby.


https://www.trusselltrust.org/what-we-do/

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/


Deborah Ellis