2026 Reports

The room was all set up in the Library as usual but there were just a few performers having arrived, so Steve asked each performer to do two in the first half and one in the second half if they were able to. As it was, it turned out to be a lovely evening of humour, song and music.

The theme for the evening was “A bit of what you fancy does you good” and Steve opened the evening by giving out some very good news. Back in December 2024 a tree fell in Leamington, hitting a car carrying a mother, 10-month-old child and father who was driving. Emergency services were able to rescue the mother and child with minor injuries, but the father Dan was in a critical condition and ambulance services immediately put him on life support. The proceeds of the folk club raffle went to a charity set up to support him and his family. The good news is that after 16 months in hospital and rehab care, Dan is finally able to return home. We all wish him and his family the best for their future and a hopeful return to normality.

First up was a lovely surprise when Maureen and Janny, who was wearing clogs and carrying an open umbrella, sang in Dutch, “Onder Moeders paraplu”. It had been a while since the two of them had last performed together and we all enjoyed the expressive humour of the song. Peter McDonald explained his first song by Nanci Griffiths was about the plight of American farmers in the 1930s, when drought was creating “Trouble in the Fields” and was followed by a Tom Paxton song, “My Lady’s a Wild Flying Dove,” dedicated to Margaret. Pete and Liz sang a Bill Jones song about men left in the lurch for a change and then the famous John Tams song from the TV series “Sharp” called “Over the Hills and Far Away”. Bob and Anne took a turn each with Anne playing the violin to Phil Cunningham’s “The Gentle Light that Wakes Me” and Bob reminded us it was Maundy Thursday so sang “Now the Green Blade Rises”. Keith Donnelly was in fine, humorous form. Unfortunately an Easter egg somehow got stuck inside his guitar so he couldn’t play it, although the audience had to laugh at his attempts to remove the egg. Further attempts to talk with a plectrum in his mouth created more hilarity – it was another silly Keith performance. The first half finished with Maureen and Liz singing “Cobweb of Dreams” followed by the surprise arrival of Peter Grassby who had been delayed by a Fosse Way diversion.

The short second half started with Keith singing “Jesus at the Airport”, Peter sang “Peace Must Come”, Liz and Pete followed with “Messing About on the River”, Bob sang a Sydney Carter song and Pete Grassby, as the late arrival, was able to close the evening with three pieces.  He was in particularly fine form singing “Upside Down Inside”, on his melodeon he played “Rose of Risby” and concluded the evening with “Rolling Down the Fosseway” which described the journey of the road from start to finish and we were all joining in with the chorus. 

The raffle raised £50 for TOFS, a charity that supports children born unable to swallow.  Next month’s Folk Club will be run by Michael when the theme is “Dance”.

Steve Darby

The theme for the 470th session of Harbury Folk Club on March 5th was ‘Wine and Beer’, two topics that regularly crop up in folk songs.  It was also the content of many carrier bags brought into the Library to compensate for the lack of a bar.

I started the evening with a Paul Metsers song, “One More Time”, which makes a fleeting reference to wine.  Sue & Maureen were up next with “The Leave Taking” (aka “Our Captain Cried”), followed by “Serving Girls’ Holiday”.  Rik was bang on theme with his two songs – firstly the marvellous “Old Peculiar” and then “The Squire and the Parson”.  Pete and Liz also got to the heart of the matter with “Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl” and “Doll Thy Ale”.  Pete Grassby was feeling under the weather but was still in fine voice with “The Landlord’s Jack” (referring to a large beer jug) and then “High Wire”.  Mike & Janine (alias ‘Up the Duff’) gave us a capstan shanty, “Paddy Lay Back”, followed by “Shotgun Wedding”.  To close the first half, Michael recited a couple of limericks and sang “When a Knight Won His Spurs”, just because he likes the song.

“Wine and beer, we’ll drink without fear” is a memorable line in “The Innocent Hare” so I just had to sing that Copper Family song to start the second half (noting that this is a hunting song where, crucially, the quarry escapes).  In contrast, I followed that with “Geordie Will Dance the Jig”, a tender song by Huw Williams.  Pete G invited other musicians to join him as he sang the catchy “Barrack Street” and then everyone sang along when ‘Up the Duff’ performed the shanty, “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood”.  Pete B returned to the stage to deliver the Kipper Family’s sensitive romantic tale, “Wild Mounting Time”.  We hadn’t seen Kim for a few months so it was good to welcome her back for three songs: “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones, “Down Where the Drunkards Roll” (not a song about our Folk Club) and “One More Glass of Wine”.  It was left to Keith to close the evening in his own inimitable fashion with a few gags and two of his own songs: “Let’s Have Another One Before We Go” and “T-shirt”.  I think many of us learnt about T-shirt ‘cannons’ for the first time!

It was another enjoyable evening of high-quality music in front of an appreciative audience.  March being Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, the £85 raised in the charity raffle has been split 50/50 between Ovarian Cancer Action and Ovacome (a support organisation for sufferers and their families).  As always, my thanks to everyone who helped set up the room and turn it back into a library at the end.

The next Folk Club will be at 8pm on Thursday, April 2nd, in the Village Library, with hosts Steve, Maureen & Sue and their theme, ‘A Little Bit of What You Fancy’.

The Folk Club website now has a new, easier name so you can find out more about what goes on at:
harburyfolkclub.org.uk 

Peter McDonald

As the meeting of the February Folk Club approached, I became increasingly worried about whether we would have enough performers to fill an evening.  Some of our usual contributors were at another folk event in Birmingham, some were ill and some were away visiting their families.  It was also raining heavily which tends to discourage some from coming.

By 7:30pm the library was ready and I was expecting a very quiet night.  However by the time we started at 8:00pm, we had a reasonably sized audience of 25 and there were 9 performers willing to take part.  

With Valentine's Day being only nine days away, I decided to have “Love and Romance” as the theme for the evening. Liz and I started the evening with the well-known music hall song “Just Like the Ivy”.  The performers who followed seemed to find material of varying degrees of relevance to the theme and we were treated to some fine music, poetry and banter.  I particularly enjoyed the tune “Romantic Waltz” which Anne Clucas had written.  It was played beautifully on her viola with a sensitive accompaniment provided by Bob on guitar.  Another highlight for me was the clever and amusing poems written and presented by Michael Luntley.

Once again there was a warm and friendly atmosphere with good entertainment with plenty of laughter, and culminating with everyone joining in with the singing of the well-known Robbie Burns love song, “Green Grow the Rushes”.

The raffle raised £52.00 which was donated to the Salvation Army.  Many thanks to those who bought tickets.  The next folk club will be on March 5th and is to be hosted by Peter McDonald.  The theme will be “Beer and Wine”.

Who Did What

First Half:
Pete & Liz: Just Like the Ivy
Mike (from Leamington): Autumn leaves, I will Go Wherever You Go
Rik Middleton: New Years Day, A Polar Bear Sang in Berkeley Square
Bob and Sue Clucas: Romantic Waltz, Winter Love
Peter Mason: Anni Munroe, Nana’s Song
Richard: In the Darkness of the Night
Michael Luntley: My Dog is Like a Shoe, The Best of Times

Second Half:
Pete and Liz: Holly the Hedgehog
Mike: Eddie Moore
Rik: Gentle on My Mind
Pete Grassby : Best Days of my Life, Until I Love Thee
Peter Mason: January Man
Bob Clucas: Gold Coast History
Keith Donnelly: You Broke my Heart, So Many Questions
Pete and Liz:Green Grow the Rushes

Pete Bones

The 468th edition of Harbury Folk Club took place on New Year’s Day 2026, giving rise to speculation that the room might be half-empty after the inevitable previous evening’s celebrations. We need not have worried as we had a sufficiency of performers and audience, despite it being a cold and wet night. 

I kicked off proceedings with “The End Of The Pier Show” and a traditional Irish song, “As I Roved Out”. Pete and Liz followed with Brandywine Bridge’s “English Meadow” and “The Wassail Song”. Bob Clucas is a big fan of Paul Simon and sang his “Flowers Never Bend” and then sang a lovely self-penned song “Faith Full”. Don took to the stage next with a tribute to the late Chris Rea with his “Road To Hell” and then gave us the seasonal “In The Bleak Midwinter” which he cleverly interspersed with snatches of “Here Comes The Sun”. Richard then sang Graham Miles’ “When The Snows of Winter Fall” and “Plaisir D’Amour” to test our long-forgotten school French lessons. Pete Grassby was up next and sang “I’ll Love Thee” by Robert Burns and then the sea shanty “Salonika”. The first half was brought effortlessly to a close by Peter McDonald, who sang “Red Corvette”, a humorous song by John McCutcheon, and then Allan Richardson’s “The Friend”.

The second half opened with the Harbury Folk Club Choir singing the two songs they had performed in church on Christmas Eve, “Diadem” and ‘Hush, Hear The Angels Sing”. Keith Donnelly is an ever-welcome performer at the club and gave us “The Banshees’ Scream” and followed it with “The Teddy Bears’ Witchcraft Picnic”, an hilarious re-working of the familiar children’s song, though definitely not suitable for under-11s! Pete G completed his contribution with the popular “The Higgler” and was followed by Pete Bones with the Kipper Family’s “Northrepps Twelfth Night Song”. Bob then sang the wistful “Ballad From An Upstairs Window”. Don gave us “All Things Are Quite Silent”, a song about the dreaded Press Gangs. Richard sang an old favourite, Jeremy Taylor’s “Red Velvet Steering Wheel Cover Driver”. Peter Mc sang the uplifting “We’ll Sing Halleluia”. I closed the evening with a song I had written back in 1977, “I Just Wanted To Share Some Memories”. 

At the end of the evening we had indeed all made some fine memories to carry forward into 2026. Thanks, as ever, go to all the performers and to the audience, without whom the club could not survive.            

The raffle raised a very impressive £60.00 in aid of Cancer Research UK. Next month’s Folk Club will once more be in the Library, starting at 8:00pm, when Pete Bones will be hosting. His theme for the evening will be: Romance. 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