2025 Reports

We had a good turnout of audience and performers for the 465th session of Harbury Folk Club on October 2nd and the Library was comfortably full right from the start of the evening.  It was good to see many more singers finding their way to our new venue.  The theme for the evening was ‘The Senses’ which is so wide-ranging that it didn’t really pose any problems for the singers when choosing their material.

I started with a Tom Paxton song, “Annie’s Going to Sing Her Song”, which puts the emphasis on Hearing.  Sue & Maureen also had a Paxton song – the multi-sensory “Marvellous Toy” – which followed the traditional “Blow the Candles Out”.  Rik was next with the 1952 ballad, “You Belong to Me”, and then a lovely recollection of  “Joan the Leather Queen”, a cheeky song written by the late Ron Shuttleworth for his wife, Jean (both regulars at Harbury Folk Club in the distant past).  We hadn’t seen Campbell for a while so it was good to be introduced to his new singing partner, Ruth, and two of his own songs, “Hold You” and “When Billie Sang the Blues”.  Pete Grassby was in particular good voice with two Harvey Andrews numbers, “Unaccompanied” and “Gift of a Brand New Day” – two very different but fine songs.  Michael closed the first half with “Watch the Stars” by Jimmy Reed and the bluesy “My Sugar So Sweet”.

Though they were missing nearly half of their singers, the Folk Club Choir boldly started the second half as an octet with two songs – “Bringing in the Sheaves” by Jim Boyes and the not-so-folky “True Colours”, a significant hit for Cindy Lauper.  My second song was “Polly Von” about a careless hunter who fired a fatal arrow at his lover (presumably because of his poor eyesight).  Mike was another singer to introduce his singing partner, Janine, with “Eyes on the Prize” (a song associated with the US Civil Rights Movement) and then “You Look Like You Love Me”, a novel song by Ella Langley.  Andrew was next with his own lively song, “Summer”, then he joined forces with Hugh to sing their hard-hitting song “The Man With No Friends” about a certain Russian president (you can hear their recording of this song on Spotify).  Hugh followed with a poetic sequel to the song to reflect recent political developments and the relationship with a certain US president.  He then read a more light-hearted verse called “Leave Me Alone”, voicing the feelings of an older generation.  It was good to welcome Kim again (once she’d found the door to the Library in the dark) with her two songs, the self-penned “Conkers in the Grass” about autumn, followed by Dougie MacLean’s “Not Lie Down”.  Without Liz, Pete had to go solo and he treated us to his own funny song, “The Carnivore Is Over”, and then the historic “Three Score and Ten”, about a deadly storm in 1889 which cost the lives of many Grimsby fishermen.

It was a particularly enjoyable and varied evening of high-quality music with a nice big audience to appreciate it (what a bargain for just £1 per head!). The charity raffle raised an excellent £90, to be split 50/50 between Cancer Research UK and Ovacome (a support organisation for Ovarian Cancer sufferers and their families).  My thanks to the team who set up the room and also the many who helped to turn it back into a library at the end.  It’s a non-trivial task but many hands make light work.

The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on Thursday, November 6th, in the Village Library with hosts Steve, Maureen & Sue and their theme ‘Names’.

Peter McDonald

The 464th meeting of the Folk Club took place on September 4th and was also the second time we met in the Village Library.

Before we can start the meetings in this new venue, the bookshelves and other items of furniture have to be rearranged but with the help of several willing volunteers this task was done quickly and without too much difficulty.  The room soon looked ready and inviting to accommodate an audience of up to 40.

As it happened, the audience was quite small, and at the start of the evening there were only 6 performers.  I therefore decided to have a long first half when all the perfomers were invited to present two items and in the second, shorter half, they would be invited to do one more.  Not long after starting however, two more performers arrived which led to the first half being even longer.

With it being the first week of the academic term, I selected schools and education as the the theme for the evening.  Most of the performers seemed to find no difficulty in finding material that fitted the theme, and we were treated to a programme of musical items ranging from traditional to ragtime, all of which was performed to a high standard.  For a list of what was performed, please see tinyurl.com/harbury-folk-club.

Everyone was in fine voice when we finished the evening at about 10:15, with the singing of the well known parting song “Rolling Home”.  I think we had all enjoyed an evening of good music in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and appreciated the good acoustics in this new venue.  The raffle raised £70.00 which was donated to the Trussell Trust Food Banks.  Many thanks to those who bought tickets.

With even more volunteers helping to return the room back to how it had been, this task was done in a matter of minutes.  Many thanks to Michael Luntley for being instrumental in the arrangements for the folk club using this new venue, and helping us to sort out the furniture at the end.

The next Folk Club on October 2nd will be hosted by Peter McDonald, and the theme will be “The Senses”.

Peter Bones

Who Sang What 

First Half

Liz and Pete: The Cuckoo, Trunch Alphabet Song
Peter Mason: Last Thing on my Mind, Black and White
Cheryl: Leave those Kids Alone, She Moved through the Fair
Rik Middleton: Rickety Tickety Tin, Some things the Grown-ups Won’t tell you
Michael Luntley: The Flowers of the Town, Going Cheap
Don Arthurson: Mixed Bag Rag, Three Rogues Together
Peter McDonald: Scythe Song, She’ll Always Be Freedom to Me

Second Half

Richard Collier: I’ve got the Wind in my Hair. Summers may go
Cheryl: A Sailor’s Life
Don Arthurson: Kingdom Come
Rik Middleton: Tale of Joseph Jones
Peter McDonald: Come Walk with Me
The Audience: Rolling Home

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better” (Richard Hooker 1547-1600)

The Folk Club has moved to the Library, a venue lacking in a bar but amply supplied with quiet space and a pleasant ambience. This is a permanent move for the foreseeable future. Whether from curiosity, or loyalty, a good crowd turned out for the club, and everyone seemed to enjoy the self-sufficiency requirements of bringing one’s own refreshments.

The theme for the evening was “Change” and commenced with me singing The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and one of my own compositions “One Hit Wonder”. Pete and Liz were next with Ralph McTell’s “Fergus Frog” from his ‘Alphabet Zoo’ album. They followed it with “Transvestite Progression”, a humorous alternative to traditional songs about women dressing as men to become sailors or soldiers. Rik was next and I didn’t write down the title of his first song. His second song was Jake Thackray’s song “The Lodger” about the antics of the landlady and her amorous daughters. Cheryl followed with her self-penned song “Changes” and then delighted everyone with her a capella version of Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game”. Colin and Carole were next on stage with “Hey, Hey A Working Day” and then the wistful “County Down” a song about displacement and change. The first half was brought to a close by Peter McDonald with Paul Metsers’ “Bring It To Be” and James Keelaghan’s “River Run”, both featuring participation-inducing choruses. 

After a short break the second half was expertly kicked off by Don with his acoustic version of Led Zeppelin’s “Been A Long Time”. His next song was the more traditional “Lowlands Of Holland”. Jason was next with his well observed self-penned songs “Designated Driver” and “She Takes Off Her Shoes And Dances In The Rain”. Peter Mason provided “Peppers And Tomatoes”, another Ralph McTell song, and followed that with “Early One Evening”, an amusing observation of pub ‘improvements’. With space to fill, Rik was invited back for another song and gave us “Barrack Street”, a tale of woe for a sailor who finds himself in a change of women’s clothing after too much drink. Colin and Carole returned with a train song, “The Canadian”, by singer/songwriter Eileen McGann. Peter McDonald sang the one song the rest of us had missed as an ideal match for the evening’s theme, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing”. To close the evening in a wistful mood, Pete and Liz sang “A Celtic Blessing”, with the appropriate refrain “Until We Meet Again…”

The raffle raised a very impressive £75.00 in aid of Cancer Research UK. Next month’s Folk Club will be in the Library when Pete Bones will be hosting. His theme for the evening will be: School and Education. All we ask in return for an evening of fine acoustic music is a £1.00 donation to cover the hire of the room. Bring your own drinks and glasses/cups and enjoy the entertainment.

 Ian Hartland

The theme for Folk Club number 462 was “Countries” and Steve, as MC, began by telling the story of his business visit to Hong Kong many years ago when he became a temporary member of the Wanchai Hash House Harriers and had to run up Kowloon Peak being chased by dogs and had to beware of the odd snake. At the end of the race he faced the “Down Down” ritual by having to drink a pint of beer in one go and his failure meant his left-over liquid was poured over his head.

Sue and Maureen opened the first half singing with “High Germany” and “The Mingulay Boat Song” which originated from the Hebridean Islands and was written by Sir Hugh Roberts. The audience joined in with the chorus and applauded loudly as Maureen and Sue’s harmonies were well received. Rik followed and began singing in German and then switched to English as he sang “Mac the Knife” which was a hit in 1959 by Bobby Darin but had been stolen from a German Musical. He followed this with “Rosalinda’s Eyes” from Cuba. We then listened to the lovely voice of Cheryl as she sang her self-penned “This land is our land” followed by “Galway Shore”. Jason told us of his experience of travelling in Uganda, working for an International Charity where they had taken in a million refugees. This motivated him to write the song “This dry and dreary land”. He also spent time in Pakistan where there were Afghanistan Refugees as well as the Taliban which prompted him to write “Let Me Sit at Your Feet”. Peter closed the first half first with the Reg Meuross song “England Green and England Grey” and then had the audience in fits of laughter with “They Never Mention the Flies”, a tale about how Australians promote their wonderful land but never mention the flies.

The second half opened with lots of humour from the “Daft Dames” as they started with “By the Portals of Leamington” (to the tune of “By the Rivers of Babylon”), which portrayed the story of a poor train service experience from our local station and continued with “Don’t play me your Concertina” using the tune from Evita, “Don’t cry for me Argentina”. Both songs were adapted from Les Barker songs. Rik sang Abba’s “Fernando” (a group from Sweden) and a song with a Mexican name. Peter sang “Shores of Old Blighty” which told of the journey a National Service Soldier made from England to Germany via Holland. Maureen and Sue sang “Come by the Hills” which reflected the hills of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The evening closed with the beautiful big sound of Rumble-o who started with “Queen Bee” followed by “3 Jolly Fishermen” and finished with “Galway Girl” – Ed Wilson managed to link each of their songs to the evenings theme, Bees have Colonies, there’s lot of countries who fish and Galway speaks for itself!

Whilst there had not been many performers throughout the evening, it had been very entertaining with lots of quality, comedy and laughter, but also mixed with serious and thoughtful themes. Everyone enjoyed the evening, which was reflected in the charity raffle, which raised a very generous £91 for Dementia UK.

The next Folk Club will be hosted by Ian Hartland on Thursday 7th August and will be held for the first time in the Village Library. The theme for the evening is “Change”.

Steve, Maureen & Sue

We had a good turnout of both audience and performers for the 461st session of Harbury Folk Club on June 5th.  The theme for the evening was ‘Ups and Downs’ and all the performers had put much thought into their choice of songs (or, in some cases, an explanation of why the song had some tenuous connection with the theme).

I started with the Huw Williams’ song, ‘Struck it right this time’, which deals with optimism in the face of adversity but, more importantly, has a great chorus for the audience to get their teeth into – and they didn’t disappoint.  Sue & Maureen were on next with that well-known folk song, ‘Bye Bye Love’, followed by the poignant ‘Dancing at Whitsun’.  Rik, without instruments this time, gave us ‘Oh no, John!’ (which most people seem to know) and ‘Jigs of London Town’ (which scored highly on Ups and Downs).  Pete Grassby arrived with a new hat and sang his two songs beautifully – ‘Ranter’s Wharf’ and ‘Rosebud in June’.  Newcomer Cheryl sang us the tragic tale of ‘Ellen Vannin’ (about an Isle of Man steamship that sank in 1909) and then the more serene ‘Eriskay Love Lilt’.  Pete & Liz brought the first half to a close with the Scottish standard, ‘Loch Lomond’, and then letter N of Ralph McTell’s Alphabet Zoo song collection, ‘Nigel the Nightingale of London Town’.

The Folk Club Choir started the second half with two ‘Downs and Ups’ songs – the Oyster Band song ‘Diamonds on the Water’ followed by ‘You Raise Me Up’, a familiar song but one with a powerful emotion.  My second song was Pete Morton’s ‘Another Train’ which is nothing to do with railways – more concerned with bouncing back Up after being Down.  Des sang us a stevedore shanty, ‘Fire Marengo’, and then a grim song, ‘Down Below’, about working in the sewers, truly in the spirit of the theme.  Jason made a welcome return to the Club with two of his own songs, ‘Don’t Lose That Spark’ (dedicated to his father) and ‘Solid Ground’, to which his wife, Liz, added her voice.  Peter Mason did magnificently to remember all the words of his two long songs, ‘The Chemical Worker’s Song’ (another one about poor working conditions) and ‘The Mary Ellen Carter’ about attempts to salvage a sunken ship.

Kim was in fine voice with a Jackson Browne song, ‘For a Dancer’, which she followed by her own song, ‘On Safer Ground’, based on a time she spent stuck on a mountain ridge.  Keith Donnelly, taking a break from his ‘Tomorrow, the World’ tour, struck a chord with the guitarists in the room with his first song, ‘Just One More Guitar and You’.  For his second, he got us moving ‘Round and Round’ in our seats, then of course we had to move ‘Up and Down’ as well.  The mighty six-piece band Rumble-o revived the two numbers they had performed at the Folk Club Concert in March, starting with the song ‘My Queen Bee’ by Johnny Flynn.  They followed that with the tune ‘Tammie Norrie’ (puffin) which showed off their musicianship on mandolin, accordion, guitar, double bass, melodeon and tuba.  To finish the evening, I gathered the choir around me to sing Runrig’s ‘Hearts of Olden Glory’ and the audience responded by singing along magnificently.  

It was a particularly enjoyable evening of musical Ups and Downs and the charity raffle raised a magnificent £100 for Cancer Research UK.  The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on July 3rd, in the Village Club as usual, with hosts Steve, Maureen & Sue and their theme ‘Countries’.

Peter McDonald

In recent folk clubs, there seems to have been a general trend towards there being fewer performers taking part.  The 460th meeting of the Folk Club, which was on May 1st, only had nine performers.  However it was a case of quality rather than quantity as I felt all the performances were all to a very high standard.  It also meant that the evening was relaxed, and we finished not long after 10:00pm.  This meant that for most of us oldies we were able to return home for our night-time cocoa at a reasonable hour.

Being May 1st, those in the audience who were members of Hereburgh Morris had observed the local tradition of being up at 5:00am to dance the dawn in at Chesterton Windmill.  Before dancing begins the well-known 15th Century song “Hal an Tow” which officially welcomes in the summer, is sung.  I therefore thought it fitting for the folk club to start with singing the same song.

The theme for the evening was “events” so after Hal an Tow, Liz and I continued with the John Conolly song “Broadside Man” which was set in the 19th century when news events were mostly made known by the singing of ballads. The evening continued with a variety of songs, mostly with a connection with the “events” theme and these included songs about a mining disaster, storm at sea, a massacre in Scotland, as well as several songs about happier and humorous events.

Liz and I finished the evening at about 10:05pm with the song “Singers’ Farewell” from the singing of Mal Waite.  The members of the audience were still in fine voice and enthusiastically joined in with the choruses.  It brought to an end what had been another fine evening.

The raffle raised a very substantial £95.00 for the Trussell Trust Food Banks.  Thanks to all those who bought tickets. The next meeting of the club will be on June 5th, when it is to be hosted by Peter McDonald and the theme is to be “Ups and Downs”.

Peter Bones

Who Sang What 

First Half
The audience: Hal an Tow
Liz and Pete: The Broadside Man
Liz: Number 2 Top Seam
Peter Mason: The World Turned Upside-down, Place Called England
Rik Middleton : The First of May, Lah-de-dah (Jake Thackray)
Andrew Higgins: Need a Doctor John (self penned), Don’t leave your Pants on the Sofa
Sue and Maureen: The LeaveTaking, Leaving on a Jet Plane

Second Half
Folk Club Choir: May Song, Travel These Ways
Peter McDonald: Glencoe Massacre, The Boatbuilders
Des: Bonfire Carol, Bring out the Banners
Kim: Sweet Rosemary, Maid in the Garret
Pete B: hree Score and Ten
Pete and Liz: Singers Farewell

Sometimes, life throws challenges at you, and you need to confront them with whatever confidence you can muster. And so it was for the 459th running of the Folk Club in April. Your humble scribe had contrived to lose his voice. Just eight acts were present for the evening at the start of the night and no more arrived later. As no specific theme had been set, everyone was free to sing or recite whatever they chose. And that can lead to a memorable event.

The evening kicked off with Sue and I performing Iris Diment’s “Shores Of Jordan”, which was to be our sole contribution due to lost voices. Luckily Rik was in good voice and performed Jake Thackray’s “Brother Gorilla” and “The Belle Of Barking Creek” by the late Paddy Roberts. Maureen and Sue followed with “Hush Little Baby” and the iconic “Right Said Fred” popularized by Bernard Cribbins in the 1960s. We have been lucky over the years to have hosted a number of disparate performers and poets have been prominent amongst them. Hugh recited his poem “Did You Pity Gene Pitney?” and followed with the incisive “The Human Asteroid”, referencing a certain contemporary American president. Peter Mason took to the stage next with Jez Lowe’s “You Won’t Make Old Bones” and Ralph McTell’s ever-popular “Streets Of London”. A debut performance at Harbury from singer/songwriter Andrew gave us “Mister Crow” and “A Foolish Thing”. Pete and Liz Bones were next to the stage with their lovely version of “The Loch Tay Boat Song” and that was followed by “Leaving The Land”. Having chosen to feature all available acts in the first half, that left Peter McDonald to complete the proceedings with John Kirkpatrick’s wonderfully titled “Laundro Loverette” about a romance amongst the washing machines, and “The Coffee Pot Song” with its tongue-twisting lyrics. 

After the break, it was an opportunity for first-half acts to provide an additional song or poem. Peter Mason chose another Ralph McTell song, “The Setting”. Rik gave us a Folk Club favourite “She Loved A Portuguese”, by way of a tribute to our much-missed friend Ted Crum who often sang that piece. Hugh recited another of his humorous poems, “Life In Coventry”. This was followed by Pete and Liz singing the ever-popular “Wild Mountain Thyme”, guaranteed to get everyone singing along. Andrew returned with another of his self-penned songs, “All They Do Is Tell You To Shut Up”. Peter McDonald completed the evening’s entertainment with “Jam Tomorrow” a humorous tribute to the late Sid Kipper.    

The raffle raised a creditable £60.00 for Myton Hospice. Next month’s Folk Club will be on Thursday 1st May. Peter Bones will be hosting the evening, and the theme will be “Events”.  

Ian Hartland

'Happy Memories' was the theme for the evening and Ian & Sue opened with “Spencer the Rover” and “Garden Party”. Rik sang “The Trees they do Grow High” and followed it with the Charles Aznavour song “She”, which he accompanied on the concertina. Jason & Liz followed with “When Sister Rosetta Sings”. Then, recalling happy memories, Michael recited a poem entitled “Sailing at Wells Next the Sea” and then he sang “The Turning of the Day”. Pete and Liz followed, singing “Bread and Fishes” with the audience joining in the chorus. In complete contrast they then performed “Chastity Belt”. Peter McDonald closed the first half with a fine version of the Dougie MacLean song “Talking with my Father” followed by the Huw Williams’ song, “Struck it right this Time”.

Ian & Sue started the second half with “Country Roads” and continued with Ian’s self-penned song ”Middle England”. Rik was next singing “Secret Garden”. Michael returned, entertaining us with “The Cocktail Hour’s Been and Gone” and “Elizabeth went to Marylebone”. Kim was next to entertain us with a song about Cobwebs and Dougie MacLean's "Scythe Song". Pete & Liz returned and sang “The Isle of Eigg” and Peter McDonald closed the evening with “The Hard Times of Old England”, with the audience singing the chorus.

The raffle raised £54 for Cancer Research. Thank you for your generous donations. Ian will be running the April Folk Club and there is no theme so, performers, the choice is yours.

Sue Hartland

The theme for the evening was “Relationships” and Steve and Maureen were concerned that, with so many friends and regular performers away in Birmingham at a concert, it would be a quiet evening. As it was, the evening turned out being very special, with so many surprises, debuts, wonderful performances and exceptional musicianship.

The evening opened with a first-ever get together of Maureen and Liz, combining their harmonious voices to sing “Two Brothers” and “A Cobweb of Dreams”. They certainly set the standard for the evening. It was good to see Des back at the Folk Club as he sang “Sammy’s Bar”, a tale of the relationship between a man and his car followed by Les Barker’s “The Turn of the Road”. Jason made his debut playing his guitar and singing “I will keep you warm tonight” together with “Daffodill Girl”. He performed very well to say it was his first ever solo. Next up came Rebecca accompanied by Jobe. Rebecca was making her debut at the Folk Club performing her own songs whilst playing the piano. Jobe apologised that he had forgotten his violin so produced his penny whistle from his inside pocket – he was rather good. Her first song was “It was a true love” and then she told us the story of how her Jewish Grandparents had escaped from Germany so she wrote the song “Where do we go from here?”. She finished her set with “To the Days” and the audience gave a loud round of applause. Steve invited her to return to the club as she would be most welcome. Rik sang “Sweet Mermaid” and then led the audience down the garden path as he introduced his next song about the challenge of having a three-way relationship. He began singing and we eventually realised it was “Alexander Beetle” written by A. A. Milne. A nanny had let Alexander escape from his match box which made her upset with guilt. The first half closed with Pete and Liz singing a Hebridean song, “Lad of Lovely Hair”, described as the lyrical account of a pregnant girl’s loyalty to her faithless young lover. They then sang “Valentine’s Day Song” which was an absolutely beautiful finish to the first half.

The second half commenced with a wonderful performance from Kim, singing and playing her guitar, initially with a self-penned number called “Late September” followed by a Sandy Denny song, “End of the Day”. Dave Fry then came up with two lovely pieces which he sang extremely well: “Cinderella Shoes” and “From Galway to Graceland”, which obviously included a few verses of Elvis. Ruth, with some piano support from Jobe, sang her own song, “The Elephant (in the room)”, which related to the Covid years when people couldn’t live normal lives. She then sang Sting’s “Fields of Gold” and finished with a Joan Baez number, “Diamonds and Rust” – Ruth was on form, the audience loudly applauded her exceptional voice and Jobe’s piano playing. Allan followed on, maintaining the high standards of the evening with “Kentish Town” and the very humorous number, “The Lovers’ Gift”, which was all about a woman’s partner making excuses for not getting her a Valentine’s Day present. Bob told us the background to his choice of songs and what an emotional time it had been over the last year. So he sang Ralph McTell’s “Let me Down Easy”, followed by one of the main songs from the Coen Brothers’ version of the film “True Grit”, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”. The audience felt for Bob and the challenge of the difficulties he and his family have had to cope with. Keith Donnelly carried his guitar bag up to the front, carefully placed it on the floor and explained at length the making of his new guitar. He picked up the bag, opened it and produced this shining new instrument – we all laughed loudly as we realised he had made it totally the wrong way round and yet he played it superbly and sang “Relation Ships” followed by “Son of a Gun”; Keith was well on form as usual. To finish the evening, Jobe brought out his Hammered Dulcimer which looked a magnificent instrument and the sound he produced was just wonderful. He then picked up his Electric Accordion and closed with a Valentine’s Day tune.

It had been a superb evening of debuts, songs, instrumentals and humour with every performer giving of their best. The raffle raised a very generous £130 which will be donated to the family of Dan Neal who has only just out of a a coma in Warwick Hospital, following an incident with a falling tree, that hit his car on 7th December in Leamington. His partner and his 10 month old daughter were rescued by the emergency services with minor injuries but Dan was in a critical condition, immediately put on life support and rushed to hospital where he is still in a serious condition.

The theme for next month’s Folk Club is “Songs with Happy Memories” and Sue Hartland will be running the evening.

Steve Darby

It was a chilly evening for the first Folk Club of 2025, on January 2nd, but plenty of singers braved the frost and ice (not to mention the Church Terrace flood) to entertain us, following the theme of ‘Fun and Games’.

I started the first half with a Jez Lowe song, ‘Big Meeting Day’, which delightfully describes how a group of people enjoyed themselves at the annual Miners’ Gala in Durham.  Rik followed me with ‘Big Tree’ and then the entirely plausible ‘A Polar Bear Sang in Berkeley Square’, written by Alan Bolt.  Sue & Maureen were right on-theme with the ‘Wassail Song’ and ‘Serving Girl’s Holiday’, as was Richard with ‘Punch and Judy Man’, but perhaps we should have waited until after the ‘watershed’ before listening to his ‘The Actress and the Bishop’!  Kim Hobday made a welcome return to the Club with Richard Thompson’s ‘Wall of Death’ and ‘Billy Small’, the tale of a gambler.

The Folk Club Choir started the second half with three carols to close off their Christmas season which saw them taking part in three local carol services.  They sang ‘Shades of White’ (by Ian Hartland), ‘Hark! Hark What News’ (a traditional West Gallery carol) and ‘Sweet Chiming Bells’ (a fun, folky setting of ‘While Shepherds Watched’).  After that, Margaret and Sue accompanied me as I got the audience to help me sing (and whistle) ‘Five Years’ Time’, a silly song by Noah and the Whale.  We had another rare appearance by Ruth Fortey who used her beautiful voice to good effect on ‘The Arrangement’, followed by a powerful version of the carol, ‘We Three Kings’.

Pete & Liz started with the delightful 1930s song, ‘Little Man, You’ve Had a Busy Day’, and then Liz stood well clear while Pete delivered his seasonal monologue – ‘Christmas Day in the Dog Inn’.  Calling in at Harbury during a break from his world tour, Keith was feeling reflective as he performed ‘Postcard from Peru’ (from where he had just returned) followed by ‘I love you to the bones’. 

To finish the evening, I was pleased to introduce Allan Richardson to the Club for, I believe, the very first time.  Allan is a very accomplished singer and songwriter from Kent but manages to visit the Warwick area from time to time.  He gave us two of his own songs – ‘Games in London’ (about the 2012 Olympics) and ‘Something We Know’ – then finished appropriately with a New Year song, ‘Snowfall’ by John Tams.

The charity raffle raised a magnificent £67 for Cancer Research UK.  The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on February 6th, in the Village Club as usual, when the hosts will be Steve and Maureen and their theme will be ‘Relationships’.

Peter McDonald