2024 Reports

The theme for Harbury Folk Club number 455, “Wind and Rain”, had been set a month earlier without the benefit of an accurate weather forecast. On the evening of the club meeting, weather warnings were in force for windy and rainy conditions, which may have kept some performers away. If only Lottery predictions could be so accurate?

The evening commenced with The Harvesters performing “What Have They Done To The Rain?” and the Buddy Holly classic, “Raining In My Heart”. Peter Mason followed with renditions of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Kathy’s Song” and “When Winter Comes Howling In”. Bob and Ann took the stage next with the combined song and instrumental of “Winter Winds” by Sandy Denny and Pete Grassby’s “Malvern Hills”. Rik was the next performer and sang Jake Thackray’s “Old Molly Metcalfe”, a tragic tale of a farmer’s demise. He followed this with “The Robin Adair”, a story of race between two clipper ships. Dave Fry reminded the audience of the conditions outside with Dougie MacLean’s “Wild And Windy Night” and evoked more than a few memories with his fine version of The Cascades’ “Rhythm Of The Rain”. Colin Pitts is a familiar name on the wider Folk scene and had travelled from Evesham to perform. His self-penned songs, “October Winds” about a memory of a girl at a fairground, and “The Rolling Ramillies” about a family member’s time on a battleship, were very well received. Pete Grassby completed first-half proceedings with “The Stranger”, on which he accompanied his singing with a Shruti box, and “The Fosseway Shanty” which substituted lorry drivers for the more traditional sailors. 

The second half was started in fine style by Peter McDonald, singing Steve Knightley’s “Tall Ships” accompanied by Margaret who recited The Wreckers’ Prayer in between verses. He then gave us “Four Strong Winds” by Ian Tyson. Richard was next to the ‘stage’ and sang “When The Snows Of Winter Fall” and “Those Big Far Away From You Blues”. Don was up next with his fine arrangement of “In The Bleak Midwinter” with George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” performed as an instrumental interlude in the familiar carol. He was then joined by Bob and Ann for the song, ”Walking On The Waves”. Pete Bones sang The Spinners’ popular song “Ellen Vannin” about a shipwreck in the Irish Sea, and then wielded his melodeon for “The Dog In The Microwave”. Given his performance in the first half, it seemed only right to offer Colin the opportunity to sing a couple more of his songs to round off a fine evening of entertainment. His song about a girl in a red coat from his latest album, followed by the humorous “I’m A Fence Man”.  

The raffle raised a creditable £51.00 for Myton Hospice. Next month’s Folk Club may have been and gone by the time you read this, but it will be/have been run by Peter McDonald, with the more cheerful theme of “Fun and Games”. 

Ian Hartland

The theme for Folk Club Number 454  was 'War and Peace'. In the build up to the start of the evening, in the background was playing two pieces of music from Holst's Planets Suite – Mars representing the God of War and Venus representing the God of Peace. The room was packed full in anticipation of a great evening of live music. However, Steve opened the evening with two short stories of what the horror of war brings to families with tragic losses of life. His great uncle killed on the Somme and an uncle that never was, killed in a Birmingham bombing raid.

The music began with Maureen and Sue singing “Sweet Peace” and “Dancing at Whitsun”; it was lovely to hear Sue playing the guitar. Rik followed with songs about a son being taken by the Press Gang and the joy of being “Demobbed”. Debs read two of her poems which brought domestic war into the fray along with the battle of psychosis. Pete Mason sang “Willie McBride”, a song about graveside reflections together with Harvey Andrews' “Margarita”. Richard sang “The Squaddies Lullaby” and “I was Dreaming”. We then had a surprise when Ruth and Jobe performed together at the club for the first time, singing “I won’t take things for granted” and the WW2 classic “I’ll be seeing you”. We hope they will return. The first half finished with the Folk Cub Choir singing “Hallows' Eve” and “Home, Lads, Home”.

The second half opened with Pete Grasby singing “The Stranger” and Sting's “Russians”. Jobe then returned with his amazing electronic accordion to play a solo jig, “Secret City Grove”.  Michael sang a song about the charge of horses in Palestine in 1817, “The Horses that Ride to the Guns” followed by a Strawbs number. Pete and Liz at last brought some humour to the evening with Les Barker’s “Transvestite Progression”; we all laughed for the first time of the evening. They followed with the Celtic Blessing. Further humour came along when Celia, with some assistants, recited “Guy of Warwick”, a tale of the killing of the Warwick Dun Cow. Bob told the tale of the amazing life of Bob Everet DSO, who was a Hurricane pilot and who, in 1929, had won the Grand National on a 100 to 1 outsider. He then sang a gospel song from the ‘70s about peace. Peter McDonald sang “From a Distance” and the appropriate “Peace Must Come”. The evening concluded with the choir singing a solemn song from “War Horse”, “Only Remembered”. It had been a very full evening of entertainment with every performer at their best, which was much appreciated by the audience.

The raffle raised a generous £90 which will go to the British Legion.  December’s theme is ”Wind and Rain” and the evening will be hosted by Ian.

Steve Darby

When choosing “Special Places” as the theme for the evening, it was before the campervan tour of the north which Liz and I were planning.  We thought the trip would involve visiting numerous special places which would inspire us when selecting a couple of songs to perform.  Sadly, after only one night way, we developed a fault in the campervan and had to curtail the trip. We had only got as far as Whitby! 

After sharing this tale of woe with the audience, we opened the evening with songs about two of the places we had intended to visit, i.e. the Settle Carlisle Railway, and Ilkley Moor (the Les Barker version). There was a good sized audience who joined in the choruses with ethusiasm and in fine voice.  This set a lovely atmosphere which lasted all evening.

Altogether there were 11 performers, and in all the items presented, some reference to their particular “special places” was made.  For a full list of who sang what, please see below.

It was good to welcome Jem Patterson to the Folk Club as a solo performer.  He was already known by many as a member of the Somerville Gentlemen’s Band, but it was great to apreciate him on his own and experience his dextrous guitar playing and pleasing singing voice.  It is hoped he will become a regular.

On several occasions during the evening, peoples’ homes were mentioned as being their own most special place.  I felt it was therefore very fitting that Peter McDonald, who did the final spot, finished with the beautiful Tom Paxton song “Home To Me is Anywhere You Are”.  It was a perfect way to bring to a close what had been a very good evening of music and entertainment.

The raffle raised £85.00 for Katherine’s House Hospice near Banbury.  Five years ago they  provided wonderful care for our late daughter-in-law.

Next month, the hosts are to be Sue Crum with Steve and Maureen Darby.  The theme of “War and Peace”.
Pete Bones

Who Sang What 

First Half

Liz and Pete: Settle Carlisle Railway, Ilkley de Moor (Les Barker version)
Rik Middleton: Our House, Talk to Me of Mendocino
Pete Grassby: The Old Figurehead Carver, Upsidedown Inside
Peter Mason: Lancashire Fusilier, Kilkelly Ireland
Richard Collier: The Green Banks of Grain, Sweet Thames Flow Softly:
Daft Dames: Day Trip to Bangor, Show Me the Way to go Home

Second Half

Folk Club Choir: Place in the Choir, Somewhere Along the Road
Michael Luntley: Porth O’er, This is Home
The Harvesters: Norwegian Wood, Another Day in Middle England
Jem Patterson: April Come She Will, Jack of Diamonds
Peter McDonald: Caledonia, Home to Me is Anywhere You Are 

‘Celebrations’ was the obvious choice for the theme at the September Folk Club as 40 years ago the very first Harbury Folk Club was born.

Ian & Sue began with the Beatles song ‘P.S I Love You’ followed by ‘Who Will Watch the Home Place’. Don was next with a jazzy and bluesy version of ‘Amazing Grace’ and then ‘When I meet my Bonnie Lassie near the Gloaming Star’. Rik followed, making a popular choice with ‘My Grandfather’s Clock. We all joined in with the chorus and he sang three verses, I only ever thought there were two. ‘Messing about on the River’ was his next choice and again the audience sang along. Peter Mason changed the mood with the lovely song ‘ Who knows where the Time Goes?’ and in contrast, followed with ‘The Alcoholic’s Anthem’. The Somerville Gentlemen’s Band entertained us with ‘Painting the Town’ and ‘Play it all Again’ which had a lovely instrumental ‘Planxty Davis’ at the end of it. Michael was next with a song about his Great Granny ‘Esther’ and then he made us smile with his second song called ‘Losing My Hair’. Then Richard performed ‘Your Old Mate’ and followed up with a poem about the South Coast. Peter McDonald finished the first half with ‘It’s good to see you’. This was the song he opened with at the first folk club at The Old New Inn all those years ago. He followed this with ‘The Appalachian Front Porch Game’.

Ian & Sue opened the second half with ‘Never Again’, a song about not repeating mistakes! Peter Mason followed up with ‘Idle Time’. Rik gave us ‘The Engineer’ followed by Don performing ‘Nettle Wine’. Michael gave us a Jim Crawford song entitled ‘Gone Fishing’ and then Richard entertained us with a Jeremy Taylor poem to the tune of ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter’. The Somerville Gentlemen’s Band concluded the evening with a beautiful version of ‘He’ll Have To Go’.

The raffle raised £70 for Myton Hospice, thank you to everyone for your generosity.

Peter Bones has chosen ‘Special Places’ as the theme for the October Folk Club.

See you then!

Deborah Ellis

For the 451st Folk Club I chose ‘Adventure’ as my theme. My philosophy is that you are never too old or infirm to have an adventure. It is just that you have to respect your own limitations and parameters but there are still adventures to be had.

I began the first half with one of my own poems, ‘The Journey’. Then Pete Mason sang about going out and having your own adventures with ‘What’s the Use of Wings?’ His second offering was ‘Harris and the Mare’ that he learned when he was 15 years old. He also asked, ‘How do the ages of people in songs get younger?’ Along came Hugh who has not been to Harbury for a while. He presented two of his own poems. ‘Driving Dilemmas’ was about going somewhere you don’t want to go again – like the Coventry Ring Road! Then he recited a poem that he had written six months ago called ‘Messiah and the Monster’ that had a strong theme and presentation. Rik was next. His first was a Tom Paxton song called ‘Outward Bound’ about sailing and then he entertained us with a Jake Thackray offering, ‘The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington’, which was about a disastrous adventurous lady and came with a health warning!

Tricia came to the folk club with a reading. The reading came from Just William by Richmal Crompton. It was about Just William’s second encounter with Violet Elizabeth. I remember watching this as a television series with Bonnie Langford as Violet. Tricia performed the extract with passion and humour. She brought the words to life. Along came Richard who gave us a John Golding double bill with ‘Here’s to the Sunnier Day’ about adventures through summertime and ‘I was Dreaming’ about the adventures we have when we are dreaming. Our last performers, Debra & Martin, came from America. Actually they were visiting a relative in Birmingham and Pete Grassby told them to visit us whilst they were here. Their two songs were ‘On the Venezuela to Trinidad Run’ by Roger Hussey and ‘Sing John Ball’ by Sydney Carter. The Harbury Chorus Engine enjoyed joining in with both.

I began the second half with another of my poems ‘Love as a Traveller’ that I wrote for a wedding many years ago. That was about starting the adventure of married life. Then Pete & Liz Bones came to the stage and they sang ‘King’s Navy’ all about being press ganged into life on the sea with the promise of a life filled with adventure. Then Pete recited the poem, ‘Ramsbottom Family’, about the adventure of going to a folk festival. Then I asked Kim to entertain us. Kim had a beautiful voice and played her guitar beautifully too. Her two offerings were ‘The Blue Cockade’ and ‘Sail Away to the Sea’.

Dave Carvell, whilst having a music stand problem, sang about a scary adventure where a ‘Runaway Train’ was heading towards Chicago. Then ‘Sloop John B’ which we all sang along to. Then Ian & Sue Hartland sang a Robbie Robertson song, ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, and a Utah Phillips song, ‘Singing Through the Hard Times’.

Keith Donnelly completed the evening by telling us of his adventures since leaving Warwick University, especially when he hitch-hiked to Greece. He then sang about ‘Machu Picchu’. Then he told us about his father seeing sand from here in England going to the Sahara Desert for road building! Apparently this was the sand they needed! Then Keith finished with ‘The Salmon’.

I chose Mountain Rescue as my charity as many adventures end up with their valuable assistance. The raffle raised £56. The host for the next Folk Club on September 5th is Sue Hartland and her theme is ‘Celebrations’.

And by the way, adventures only stop when the road runs out!

Deborah Ellis

The theme for the 450th session of Harbury Folk Club on July 4th was ‘Making Choices’, coinciding as it did with Independence Day and, perhaps of more local interest, the General Election.  Unfortunately, the clash of dates seemed to have taken its toll on attendance so we had a smaller than usual audience and cast of performers.  However, it was a case of “quality not quantity” and the concept of ‘choices’ was interpreted in a number of intriguing ways by the singers.

I started the evening with a Christy Moore song, ‘The Voyage’, which celebrates the development of a family and the life choices that are made. Sue and Maureen followed with perfect song for election night – ‘Left, Right, Right, Left’ by Brian Bedford, highlighting some of the tedious aspects of political election campaigns.  Rik sang not one but two Billy Joel songs, ‘And so it goes’ and ‘New York State of Mind’, leaving me wondering what the composer would think if he knew that his songs had been accompanied on concertina.  Our resident poet, Debbie, read two of her own poems, ‘The Meeting’, dealing with frustrations in the workplace, and ‘Miss Mundane’ which is not an apt description of the author.  Keith Donnelly finished the first half with an audience-participation number, ‘Bob the Duck’, where we had to bob and duck in appropriate places, and then an altogether more serious song, ‘Rambling Girl’, with a very skilful guitar accompaniment.

The Folk Club Choir started the second half with three unaccompanied songs.  Our first was ‘The Weather Man Says’ which amusingly exaggerates his influence on our lives, followed by ‘John Ball’, a Sydney Carter song which celebrates the work of a Lollard priest who was executed for his leading rôle in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.  Our last song was ‘Harbour’, a song by Anna Tabbush dedicated to the plight of refugees all over the world.  My second song was the ‘title song’ for the evening – ‘Making Choices’ by Huw Williams, which confronts the world leaders’ dilemma of relieving poverty versus spending billions on space travel.  Don was up next with an original song, ‘Rhythms of your grace’, followed by ‘Should I stay or should I go’ by that well-known folk group, The Clash.

Pete & Liz chose two particularly good songs: ‘Toss your pennies’ and, one of our favourites, ‘Aunt Clara’, about the notorious relation who managed to prosper through her dubious lifestyle.  With only a few weeks to go before his starring role at Warwick Folk Festival, Keith returned to the stage for one final song, 'Left, Right, Down and Blue' – very fitting for election night.  Once again, the audience were required to move around in their seats in response to key words in the song.  You had to be there!

The charity raffle raised a magnificent £61 for Cancer Research UK.  The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on August 1st, in the Village Club as usual, when Debbie will be the host and her theme will be ‘Adventure’.

Peter McDonald

The June edition of Harbury Folk Club proved to be a little quieter than expected. As the date coincided with the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the theme had been nominated as: ”Going Back”. This seemed to offer a wide range of interpretation, and so it proved. 

Just seven acts turned up to perform on the night. The Harvesters duo kicked off proceedings with “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and followed that with Ralph McTell’s “From Clare To Here” which tells of an Irishman’s yearning for going back home when working far away. Rik followed with the “Spotted Cow” which follows the adventures of a milkmaid trying to locate her lost bovine charge. He then offered an early Billy Joel composition “The Falling Of The Rain”. Pete and Liz always like to perform “Rosebud In June” in this very month and then offered the “Bundling Song”, a tale of courtship whilst tied in a sack. Who said people in olden times didn’t know how to keep themselves amused before the advent of television and social media? Kim was next to the stage and she sang Dougie McLean’s “Over My Mountain” followed by the plaintive “I Can’t Find My Way Back Down”. Dave Carvell always likes to find something different and started with the Bee Gees’ “Massachusetts”. Then he was joined by his partner for “My Old Man’s A Dustman”. Peter Mason gave us “Across The Hills Of Home” and the powerful “From Hull and Halifax And Hell”. To close the first half, our seventh performer was Keith Donnelly who had cleverly and hilariously reimagined “My Old Man’s A Dustman” with references to radioactive waste. He closed the first half with his song: ”Bringing Me Back To You”.

With no new artists arriving, we chose to go around again in the second half, with just a single contribution from each artist. The Harvesters sang “Thyme”, a song they had recorded twice in the past, once on a vinyl LP and later on a cassette. Rik sang a song called “Nostalgia”, with thought-provoking lyrics. Pete and Liz sang the second Ralph McTell song of the evening with the ever-popular “Streets Of London”, which had audience and performers alike joining in the chorus. Kim sang a lovely version of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now”. Dave followed with  Lindisfarne’s “Meet Me On The Corner”. Peter Mason gave us “A Place Called England”, a popular choice on Folk Club nights. Finally, Keith returned with a lovely song called: ”A Sweet Nightingale Forgets Her Song When The Snows Fall Down”. 

The raffle raised a magnificent £40.00 for Cancer Research. This was especially notable as there were only around 30 people in the room. 

Next month’s Folk Club will take place on Thursday July 4th, which coincides with the General Election (as well as American Independence Day). Peter McDonald will be running the evening and has chosen “Making Choices” as his theme. We say “Vote for Harbury Folk Club” and come along and enjoy some great live music.                  

Ian Hartland

With it being May, my thoughts drifted away from the reality of the soggy cold spring we have endured, to dreams of forthcoming holidays by the sea. I therefore chose “Sea Songs for the theme of our folk club of May 2nd, 2024. What better way of starting the evening could there be than having the Folk Club Orchestra playing the “Sea Song Medley” in the first spot? I was therefore delighted that enough members of the Orchestra were able and willing to take part and did so after first playing the lovely tunes “Horseshoe Harbour” and “The Windmill”. Although the Orchestra has now been together for over 10 years, it was only the third time it had performed at the Folk Club, and it appeared to be well received by the audience.

After instruments, music stands and players had left the performance area, we were running a bit late, and there were still a further 13 performers to fit into the evening. I therefore felt that it would be a struggle to finish much before 10:30pm. We pressed on with a varied programme of material, the subjects of which mostly had something to do with the sea. It was lovely to welcome to the Folk Club, for the first time, Kim from near Banbury whose singing and guitar playing were beautiful. We hope she will come again.

My other favourite spots were those performed by Sue and Maureen, Peter McDonald, Don Arthurson and Keith Donnelly who finished the evening in magnificent style with a hilarious set which had never been performed before. The whole evening finished about 10:45 and because of Keith, I came away aching with laughter.

The raffle raised £85.50 which, in keeping with the theme of the evening, was donated to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Next month, the host is to be Ian Hartland and his theme is "Going Back".

Pete Bones

Who Sang What 

First Half
Folk Club Orchestra: Horseshoe Harbour / The Windmill,Sea Song Medley
Liz and Pete: Six Thousand Miles, Wild Geese
Sue and Maureen: Sailing Home to Mingulay, Dance to Your Daddy
Rik Middleton: Captain's Apprentice, Rolling down to Old Maui
Peter McDonald: Lord Franklin (Les Barker parady), Combing the Spanish Main (Sid Kipper)_
Peter Mason: Make and Break Harbour, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda/The Gift of Years
Daft Dames: The Garden Gnome Song, Breaking Wind Suddenly

Second Half
Folk Club Choir: Follow the Heron. Bridge over Troubled Water
Bob and Anne: Mermaiden,., The Bonny Barque the Bergen
Don Arthurson: All Things are Quite Silent, The Water of Leith
Kim Hobday: Too Close to the Wind, ?
Richard Collier: The Seashore, Across the Sea
Keith Donnelly: International Diplomacy Lunacy, Variation of Teddy Bears Picnic

The theme for the April Folk Club was” Déjà vu” and, as it was, we hadn’t had such an evening like this before. The audience arrived but not many performers did. It transpired that several Harbury regulars had been hit with illness and when combined with other regulars going on holidays for the Easter Week there were only 5 acts to fill the evening’s entertainment. In the end it turned out to be a lovely evening of music, song and laughter which the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

Sue and Maureen commenced proceedings with the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” followed by “Hush Little Baby”, a song collected by Cecil Sharp when he was in America. Steve was concerned about the lack of performers so decided to fill some of the time by singing his school song which is in Latin, “Throsailia”.  Peter McDonald had researched the Folk Club archives back to 1995 and was surprised that the theme had never been used before. He went on to sing “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” and Tom Paxton’s 1964 song, “Last Thing on my Mind” which Peter himself last sung in 1987.  Debbie was definitely up for the evening’s entertainment and recited two fun poems from her 2012 and 2013 repertoires, firstly “The Coffee Morning” and then the hilarious “Zona Nudista”, based upon her real life experience when on holiday overseas. Don closed the first half with Gretchen Peters’ “It’s Strange But True” and Derek and the Dominoes’ “Layla” – his guitar work was brilliant.  To make it a full Folk Club evening, all of the performers were happy to do another stint in the second half.

Debbie set the standard for the second half when she recited the challenging poem of Les Barker’s, “Déjà vu”. Her diction and timing were eloquent and she had us all laughing. Sue and Maureen sang The Threlfalls’ “April Morning” and John Denver’s “Leaving on an Airplane”. Peter then sang two serious songs, “The Man that I am” which was the subject of child transportation from the 1870’s onwards followed by “Farewell to the Gold” written by Paul Metsers. Don sang “Lowlands of Holland” and then played some superb ragtime guitar music. Steve had held back the star performer Keith Donnelly for the second half and asked him to entertain us for the last 25 minutes of the evening which he certainly did. He did his own version of “Déjà vu”, “Sweet Nightingale Forgets Her Song”, a fantastic medley of about 20 songs singing and playing just the first line and closing with “Ghosts of Love”. In between there was his usual comedic banter and jokes. 

What could well have been a very short night of entertainment due to lack of performers turned into a great evening with everyone giving their all to please the audience who gave lots of positive feedback at the end. All’s well that ends well!!

The raffle raised £50 for TOFS, a charity that supports families whose child is born unable to swallow requiring major surgery to repair the oesophagus.

Next month’s Folk Club will be run by Pete Bones with the theme of “Songs of the Sea”.

Steve Darby

The Harvesters set the theme of “American/American’t” by opening the 446th Folk Club with Ian singing “City of New Orleans” followed by “Deep River Blues”. Martin followed with a Bill Caddick song, “One Hand on the Radio, one on the Wheel”, and then continued with “Rikiti Tikiti Tin”. Rik was next with “Sixteen Tons” and “I Never Thought You Would”. Hugh delivered a poem about Donald Trump and guns entitled “That Man and His Mantras” continuing with a poem called “Slogans”. Bob gave us “Dear Mr. President” and “The Great American Novel” by Larry Norman. Dave Fry performed “Dr. Jazz” and “Georgia” and Peter McDonald closed the first half with a Tom Paxton song, “ I Thought You Were an Arab”, and a Nancy Griffith song about the great depression entitled “Trouble in the Fields”.

The second half was opened by Peter Mason who gave us “Can’t You Dance the Polka” and a lovely song called “Kilkelly, Ireland”. Michael was next with “Send You Back to Your Mama” and “Sugar Cane”. Mat delivered a poem called “Texas” then Dave sang about the Atom Bomb “Made in Tennessee” followed by “The Battle of New Orleans”. Des was next with “As the Alabama Rolled” and then a Gospel song, “Talk About Following Jesus”. Don gave us “Blind Willy McTell” and “Still Crazy After All These Years”. Keith closed the evening with one of my favourites, “Jesus At The Airport”, and “Like a Bat Out Of Hell”.

We had 13 acts entertain us and the raffle raised £50 for Macmillan. The next Folk Club will be hosted by Maureen, Steve and Sue and the theme is “Déjà Vu”.

Sue Hartland

Due to the recent documentary about the Post Office scandal I decided my theme for this month’s Folk Club would be ‘Justice’. In my usual style I donned the outfit of a Crown Court Usher and turned the Village Club into a Court of Law instead. We all took to our feet when ‘Court Rise’ began the proceedings. In Court Number 445 tonight we would go through a list of ‘cases’ going through the justice process. The audience became the ‘Jury’ and they were all sworn in in respect to the Magna Carta. And what a fantastic peer group they turned out to be. Then one by one each case was brought before the court and the following is what was recorded by the stenographer when someone implemented the Freedom of Information Act.

Deborah KC began with ‘Miss Otis Regrets’, as Counsel for the Prosecution, that opened the folk club and, with that, witnesses for the prosecution were called up. Sue and Maureen started with ‘The Deserter’ which was about someone who kept getting caught all the time. Even Prince Albert made a cameo appearance! Their second being ‘Blow the Candles Out’. Was the character in this song innocent or proven guilty? Sue’s guitar playing was fabulous evidence in this case. Then Bob Clucas played a Paul Simon song ‘Against the Law’ where there was some joining in of the chorus from the public gallery! Bob then played a song that he had self-penned that day. This was called ‘Just Isn’t Right’. The Press Bench had fun with that one. Peter Mason sang about a song from crimes committed in Northamptonshire with ‘Too Close to the Wind’ and ‘Oakham Poachers’ where three brothers were either going to be transported or hung together!

Then the court heard evidence from our own Bonnie and Clyde in Dave Carvell who played a Johnny Cash song ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, including the use of his weapon, the harmonica. Then Shirley joined him with ‘In the Jailhouse Now’. Sue Harris sang the ‘Ballad of Bethnal Green’ with more joining in from the public gallery but pleaded clemency with ‘The Hair of the Widow of Brid’. To finish the prosecution, Peter McDonald, a Silk through and through, sang a Jez Lowe song, ‘Back in Durham Jail’, about a young criminal. Then he spoke about the practice of piracy where you record music onto blank cassettes. Luckily this was for his own private use. He did admit to Jez Lowe of this practice and was told by Jez that he was too cheap to buy his albums! Peter finished our first half with ‘One Man Bound’. Peter has made reparations since.

Then it was time for the Counsel for the Defence and ‘Good Evening’ Des produced the Black Cap and this caused shock from the public gallery. He performed an amazing monologue about the Gun Powder Plot and the torture of Guy Fawkes. Some people have said that he was the only man ever to enter the Houses of Parliament with the most honest of intentions! His monologue was called ‘The Judgement’ and he finished with ‘Rolling Back the Welfare State’.

Pete and Liz Bones sang a song by Graham and Eileen Pratt called ‘Doll Thy Ale’ all about drinking excessive quantities of ale and not a breathalyser in sight from the Traffic Police! Then a beautifully executed bit of cutthroat defence was brought before the court with Liz singing ‘Lady Policeman’ by herself! The Harvesters sang one of my favourites ‘A Long Black Veil’ where the lead character was innocent but pleaded guilty for love. Then they sang ‘The Stranger’ about where the pineapples grow. I hope this is all that they are growing! Pete Grassby sang ‘Alice Brand’ where justice is done at the end. Then with his squeezebox he sang ‘The Lakes of the Pontchartrain’.

Then Deborah KC summed up the prosecution case by reciting her poem ‘The Meeting’ which covered most aspects of Employment Law and its breaches. It was enough to make a CEO uncomfortable with accepting bonuses and other financial renumerations! Peter McDonald summed up the defence with a John McCutcheon song, ‘Red Corvette’.

Then we had the Judge summing up all the evidence of the night’s performances to the Jury. It was here they were told that the raffle raised £75 for Victim Support and that next month’s Folk Club will be hosted by Sue Hartland and her theme will be ‘American & American’t’!

Debbie Ellis

The theme for the 444th session of Harbury Folk Club on January 4th was ‘Thanksgiving’ because I liked the idea of songs of gratitude.  As usual, the performers rose to the occasion and used their skill (and imagination) to present relevant songs in an evening of contrasts – of both musical styles and emotions.

I started the evening with ‘The Prickly Bush’, a traditional song where the subject is appealing to anyone who can save him from the gallows (by bribing the hangman).  Pete Grassby followed me with the song ‘Appleby Fair’ about the annual horse fair in Cumbria, followed by his own topical song, ‘Beating the Covid down’.  Our only female duo, Sue and Maureen, were up next with ‘Avila’, a song that describes a longing for peace in a town that has endured hardship and trauma, and then ‘Serving Girl’s Holiday’ with its gratitude for a break from lowly work.  Rik sang one of my favourite Tom Paxton songs, ‘Outward Bound’, and then Graham Nash’s ‘Our House’, reflecting the songwriter’s brief relationship with Joni Mitchell.  Dave went to town with ‘Thank you’ songs – firstly Ray Davies’ ‘Days’ and then the Scaffold’s ‘Thank you very much’.  Peter Mason finished the first half with a touching Eric Bogle song, ‘Rosie’, and then the magnificent ‘January Man’ which he sings so well.

The Folk Club Choir started the second half with a reprise of two songs that they had sung at Harbury’s Christmas Eve Carol Service – ‘When a Child is Born’ and ‘Lyngham’ (one of many rustic settings of ‘While Shepherds Watched’).  My second song was Steve Knightley’s ‘Tall Ships’ which expresses gratitude for ships deliberately wrecked on the rocks (by disabling lighthouses) so that their cargoes could be plundered by those in desperate poverty.  I was joined by Margaret who read verses from ‘The Wrecker’s Prayer’, interspersed in the song.  Pete & Liz joined the ‘Thank you’ competition with ‘Thanks a Lot, God’, an amusing, but sincere, ‘hymn’ from the Kipper Family, then followed with the famous ‘Amazing Grace’.  Des sang a traditional carol, ‘We Be Wise Men Three’, and then a powerful song called ‘Go Home’ by Angeline Morrison, dedicated to “all the people who ever have been made to feel unwelcome in the place they call home”.  Our resident poet, Debbie, read one of her own poems, ‘Inner Light’, then sang George Gershwin’s classic ‘Summertime’.  Michael advised us to stay single with ‘Bachelor’s Hall’ and then gave us one of his own songs, ‘So much of him and each other’, dedicated to his late brother.  Then we were ready for something a little lighter and The Harvesters obliged with their two songs to finish the evening – Ian Tyson’s ‘Someday Soon’ and ‘Handle with Care’ by the Travelling Wilburys.

The charity raffle raised a magnificent £72 for Cancer Research UK.  The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on February 1st, in the Village Club as usual, when Debbie will be the host and her theme will be ‘Justice’.

Peter McDonald