FolkWorkshops September Newsletter

September is the month which marks the slowing down of the festival season and the settling down for the winter evening sessions. This is not to say that things are any quieter on the events front as you can see from the various events guides. But first a quick look back at the month just gone.

Sian and I made two trips to Kent. The first to buy an upgrade banjo and the second to hear our great niece sing with the Wallingford Choir during their week’s residency at Canterbury Cathedral. On both occasions Jane and I sang at the Faversham Folk Club’s singaround evenings (by invitation in the sense we invited ourselves: that is how it works), and it confirmed the value of the informal and tolerant approach. The second session was made up of totally different people to the first, but the talents were equally impressive with people travelling from various parts of the county to attend. On both occasions it was clear that a lot of original writing is going on as well as songs being passed on from one singer to another without any clear indication of where they have come from. There were no inhibitions about reading the words from a sheet on a music stand, (apparently some Folk Clubs can be quite snooty about this) or coming along with homemade instruments or exotic instruments. Jane and I did a number with the banjo and psaltery; another couple did several pieces with dulcimer and guitar while another couple sang beautiful harmonies and original songs to a homemade amplified electric lute!

Incidentally, some of us are beginning to take the ‘workshop’ idea a bit further. John is in the process of getting the things together to build a ‘dulcijo’ while another is tracking down plans for building a ‘cigar box’ guitar. However, don’t hold your breath as such things take a while!
We have had some encouraging feedback regarding our singing at the Songs and Poems Among the Flowers evening at St.Margarets and there are plans for other occasional events of this kind. Thank you again to all those who took part.

The other highlight of the summer was our caravan/stand at the Longtown Show (complete with the new @FolkWorkshops banner) which drew a lot of people, including a good few youngsters. It got a bit hectic at times but it was most rewarding and we made some new friends. One husband may well find that he will building a dulcimer for his wife as a Christmas present while one youngster is looking forward to a banjo in his Christmas stocking if Dad keeps his promise. Thanks to all those who turned up to help and sing and to all those visitors who made it worthwhile. We have been asked back for next year if we can make it.
Various plans are being made to resume our evenings at Newton Church Room and occasional evenings at the Crown in Longtown and elsewhere. Regular singers have already been given the new collection of songs for our winter programme. It is never too late to start so let us know if you want to be added to the list of those to be notified of rehearsal sessions.

EVENTS

The first events will of course be the Workshop with the Village Quire at St. John’s Newton on Wednesday 28th September at 7.30 and their concert in St. Margaret’s Church on Saturday 1st October at 7.30.If you want to take part in beautiful harmonising please come to the workshop. Tickets are £5 for the workshop and £10 for the concert. A combined ticket is £13. You can reserve your tickets by phoning John on either 01981510629 or 01981510388. We have attached a poster if you have room to display it somewhere such as in your car etc.
Our other fixture is a FolkWorkshops session with the Longtown WI on Tuesday 18th September at 7.30. The aim will be to get as many people singing as possible as incited by our regular singers and songs, aided and abetted by a glass of wine or two. In between songs there will be short explanations of the folk repertoire and instruments. We will take as many instruments with us as possible by way of display items as well as for accompaniment. Sadly, the ‘dulcijo’ is not expected to be ready by then.

Susie’s Song School the Song School again on Wednesday, October 5th, 7.30 - 9.30, and will run fortnightly. If there are any songs that you fancy doing, or any queries, please let Susie know. Details will be avaia;lable on the Viggae Quire Website.


John Kirkpatrick Workshop and Concert, 15th October: John Kirkpatrick
Vocal workshop and concert
The Victorian Farmer’s Year in Song
Gwernyfed High School, Three Cocks
LD3 0SG Contact: Dave or Cheryl on 01497 847676
Workshop 2 - 5 pm
Concert 7.30 pmTickets £7.50 concert only / £10 workshop only / £15 combined workshop and concert.This will be a brilliant event for those wanting to learn more about folk song and to have a pleasant evening out. For booking details visit http://www.villagequire.org.uk


So, at the beginning of our third year, let’s hope we continue to grow, get more people singing and playing, but most important of all, that we have an enjoyable time in the process. Perhaps you will be encouraged by the following quote from the latest English Folk Dance and Song Society Magazine in an article written by Sarah Morgan of Craig Morgan Robson regarding one aspect of our activities. I know it strikes a familiar note for some of us,

‘The community choir movement is one of the huge musical success stories of our time. Underpinned by egalitarian principles that singing is our birthright, and that everyone’s voice is of value...these open access choirs (which anyone can join without an audition or music reading skills) can be found the length and breadth of the country...many do not even use the term ‘choir’ lest it should be off-putting for those whose experience of singing in schools was to be told ‘stand at the back and mime’.


Keep on singing and strumming!

FolkWorkshop's Newsletter: June 2011

Dear Supporters,

Many thanks to all those who made it to the recent FolkWorkshops Session. Jim Neale greatly enjoyed the evening and he tells us that there will be others wanting to visit in the future from the general direction of the Black Swan in Much Dewchurch. Everyone enjoyed his songs, music and stories. Many thanks Jim, and please come again. The softer lighting and refreshments seem to have been appreciated and as usual thanks go to all those who helped set the room up, provided snacks, and most importantly, did the washing up. The surprise appearance of a spider dangling above the singers heads during the performance of the Wreck of the Old ’97 also added to the general mirth caused by the ensemble of guitars, banjo, bass guitar, harmonica and the percussion provided by Sue. Thanks also to all of you who gave so generously towards the cost of the evening and to Jim’s Cambodia fund.

There seems to be a lot of live folk music just at the moment. The Pete Coe Concert in Leominster was an inspiring evening and the trip to the Festival Hall Singing Festival to hear the Village Quire, the Martin Carthy 70th Birthday Interview and many other choirs, was well worth the effort. Please see the attached photo of a new recruit to the Village Quire who joined them in the Roof Garden of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Needless to say the Village Quire were on top form in front of large and appreciative audiences.

The Norma Waterson benefit organised by The Village Quire raised £1400. It was a great evening and a local discovery was Anne Lister, a singer and song writer from Pontypool. Dave Swarbrick performed a wide range of pieces including works recently discovered among forgotten manuscripts at the British Museum. This seems to be a growing trend as while we were at Cecil Sharp House earlier in the year the librarian told us that they have been working on a new collection from among their own archive.

With news that the Shrewsbury Folk Festival ( August26th/29th) is now sold out, if you are thinking of going to a local festival this year make sure you don’t miss the boat. The Bromyard Festival is being held on 9th/11th September.

News and Events Update


Foxwhelp Morris: Alison has just told me that the Foxwhelp Morris appearance at the Angel at Grosmont for this coming Tuesday the 31st May has had to be cancelled. This comes as a timely reminder that they will be dancing at the Crown, Longtown on Tuesday 19th July. Other bookings near us are The Harp, Glasbury on Tuesday 7th June 2011 The Pandy Inn, Dorstone on Tuesday 5th July 2011 and at The Yew Tree, Preston-on-Wye on Tuesday 26th July 2011.

Garway Folk Festival: Day tickets are now on sale. We are off there with our caravan on Friday morning whether its emptied of junk or not. Might see you there. http://www.learningobjectivity.com/garwayfolkweekend/tickets.html
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Mid-Summer Singing Workshop Brecon Beacons Saturday 18th June: An all day event. Please see the earlier e-mail of 17th May but note you could still get to the Ceilidh advertised below.

Ceilidh for Cambodia|: The Courtyard Hereford: Saturday 18th June: This is Jim Neale’s event so why not try some mutual support!Tickets are now available from the Courtyard ticket office. A good evening for £7.50 with concessions.


Help the Heroes Fundraiser: Peterchurch Fire Station 25th June: We have been given a 15 minute slot and rehearsals start at the Griggs, Wednesday 1st June

10 Years of Fund Raising at the Griggs: A Celebration: John Biggs writes ‘At 6 p.m. on Tuesday 12th July, we shall shut the gate on the last National Garden Scheme visitor after 10 years of garden visits for charity. Over the last 9 yrs we have sent off in excess of £7,500 to nominated charities. If FolkWorkshop’s supporters consider this worthy of celebration, then we would suggest the following evening, Wednesday July 13th, for a sing in the garden and hopefully a B.B.Q.’ Many thanks John and Bridget. This is a great idea and many thanks to John and Bridget for the invitation. I am sure there will be quite a few who would like to accept this invitation.

Longtown Show: Saturday 20th August: general publicity presence with some musical instruments, English Folk Dance and Song Society literature and shelter from the heat or rain in the caravan and possibly a CD or two being given a spin.

Longtown W.I. FolkWorkshop event:Tuesday 18th October: This has now been confirmed and should prove to be an enjoyable evening of song. We hope to do as many chorus songs as possible as well as say a bit about folk music generally. Please think of suggestions for songs and we can run some chorus words off.

Village Quire Workshop and Concert Sept and October 1st: as last year there will be a singing workshop on the Wednesday 28th at St.John’s Newton and the concert on the Saturday 1st October in St. Margaret’s Church. On the Sunday it will be St. Margaret’s Church Harvest Festival at 11. am followed by a Harvest Lunch. It will be a busy weekend so volunteers in all departments will be welcome. More detail in early September.

Spreading the Song: Can we repeat the plea that you forward this e-mail to those who you think will be interested in joining in with FolkWorkshops activities. Because we are neither a Folk Club, nor a choir or even a music teaching organisation an explanation of this ‘umbrella’ organisation is often needed. Hence the Longtown Show stall and our delight in being invited by the Longtown W.I. for an evening of song. FolkWorkshops can be whatever supporters want to be. If there are enough to form workshops for individual instruments where skills and ideas can be swapped then that can happen. If funds permit we can ask experienced players or singers to give classes. We are also acutely aware that there are many younger people who would like to sing but somehow are not sure what to do about it. If you can tactfully encourage them and explain the possibilities then they might turn out to play or sing folk music. A quote which we recently heard at the Martin Carthy Interview is well worth keeping in mind, ‘The only harm you can do to a folk song is not to sing it’.

Best wishes from all at FolkWorkshops and our singers, Black Hill Folk

Stop Press: latest Newsletter

STOP PRESS: AGAIN!

Dear Supporters,

If you have recovered from the last Newsletter, here is a bit more news. FolkWorkshops is intended as a community based group, which, as our twitter account clearly states, is a place where ‘We get together to sing folk songs & play instruments in a tolerant & relaxed atmosphere of mutual encouragement and support’. We are based in the hills above the Golden Valley in Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches.

With so much going on it is not surprising that we have several dilemmas as to what support can be given to the many events going on. Susie’s Song School has regular support, and the sing around at the Black Swan is also a big draw, especially as they ask us to have a go. So that’s Wednesdays and Thursdays covered, and some of us also have church choir on Thursdays.Thursday evening also clashes with the Night Jar Folk Club at the Courtyard. (Even nationally, Thursday night is Folk Night!) We also want to continue to support Newton Church Room. By way of contrast we have already had offers to sing in 2 local pubs should we want to. We want to keep it as local as possible.

So, you can imagine our delight and increased ‘dilemmaring’ when Alan McCardle reported that the new landlord of the Bridge Inn, at Michaelchurch, had offered the dining room as a location for a practice sing along! We therefore had a dilemma to solve at pretty short notice as for various reasons the first opportunity would be Wednesday 23^rd Feb. Rather than lose the momentum Alan, John Biggs, and Jane and I thought we ought to go ahead. As the session at the Griggs is already set up this coming Monday 21^st we thought we would do that as well just to add a bit more choice for those who might not have enough dilemmas to solve.

The reason for this hasty decision lies in the fact that many people in the community would like to help the Bridge thrive as a successful local pub, which, like so many country pubs in these difficult times, needs local support. Nationally we have been losing village pubs at an alarming weekly rate ( 9 at one point) so this would be our small opportunity to do something. If you can get to the Bridge Inn on Wednesday you will be supporting the new landlord who is also the proprietor of the Golden Valley Brewery based in Peterchurch. What day of the week and how often future sessions might be held remains to be agreed. In the meantime we think we have a win, win , win situation so tell your friends and support your local pub and its new landlord. This is in no way intended as a performance so please invite anyone who might like to join in or just listen while having a real ale or a lemonade! Please forward this e-mail to others or pass the word on to those you know who are not on e-mail. Your local pub needs you!

Hoping you can get to both sessions.

PS Don’t forget the Gig for Norma concert in May: http://www.villagequire.org.uk/

Why not follow us on twitter. We now have 24 followers, most of whom are not on our mailing list, so keep up to date with events in between these Newsletters. ( of which there are too many)

@FolkWorkshops

New Orleans Jazz and the Trad and Folk Music Revivals: Pt 2 of A Draughtsman’s Journey

So what happened to all these young Cartographers, surveyors and draughtsmen/women? A great many chose to leave soon after completing training, because of course, with all the development that the country required to heal the wounds caused by the war, local government offices, public utilities, construction companies etc were also desperately seeking people with cartographic skills. The words, Ordnance Survey, inserted in the 'Previous Experience' box on an application form, seemed to almost guarantee an interview at least, and perhaps the offer of a job closer to home. But for those of us who stayed, the O.S., like so many other large institutions of that time, gathered us in like a huge enveloping family.

To find accommodation for all these young people arriving from all over the country, many leaving home for the first time, was the job of a small but efficient welfare department who would search Southampton for suitable lodgings. Recreation was catered for by a sports and social club which could provide facilities, for most popular sports, and a long list of hobbies like photography and stamp collecting. One of the welfare department's main competitors for accommodation was of course the rapidly expanding Southampton University. Many of us found ourselves sharing digs with University students and, with their help, it was not difficult to 'acquire' a Student Union Card which opened up a wealth of other recreational possibilities.

The popular music of the early sixties was all around us in the pubs and coffee bars, but so also was jazz. Both traditional and mainstream were enjoying a revival and the bands of Alex Welsh, Chris Barber and Monty Sunshine were frequent visitors to The Concorde Club, then housed in an annex of the Basset Hotel. Across town in rather less salubrious surroundings, was the infamous Yellow Dog Jazz Club. Housed in a cellar under a pub, and accessed by one narrow staircase, this establishment was considered by most respectable citizens to be a hell hole, a den of sex, drugs and alcohol. This was to greatly malign it, for while all those three commodities were as available there, as they were in other similar venues, The Yellow Dog provided the opportunity to hear some of the finest exponents of New Orleans style jazz then working in Britain. The bands of Alan Elsdon, Keith Smith and Kid Martyn were regular visitors on a Friday evening, with occasional visits from The 'Guvner' himself, Ken Collier. During the interval Long John Baldry would sing and play the blues of Muddy Waters, Rev Garry Davis, Leadbelly and all the other musical legends of Chicago and the southern states. One evening we all flocked to the Gaumont Theatre where a festival of American Blues and Gospel artists had rolled into town. Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Browny McGee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Bo Didley to name but a few. To warm up there was a British blues band, that no one had heard of, called The Rolling Stones. Actually they were quite good.

Following blues singers like Gerry Loughran and Long John Baldry led me from the jazz clubs to the folk clubs (often the same pub on a different night) and my musical education which had started in the southern states of America completed a full circle and brought me back home to the folk music heritage of the British Isles. For several years 'The Concorde' hosted The Balladeer Folk Club once a week with resident singers, Dave Williams, Vic Wilton and Pete Mills along with fellow O.S. cartographer, author and folk music historian, John 'Paddy' Browne. There were regular performances by national and international stars of folk music including Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Martin Carthy, Bob Davenport, The Watersons, the list goes on. I was a sponge soaking up all this music which spoke so eloquently, and often with exquisite poetry, of the human condition, past and present.

Flute

Follow on twitter @Flute66

To be continued.

Hard Times Waltz

At long last here are the lyrics. Music is now available. Please leave a comment should you want it sent to you. All rights reserved, see earlier blog for terms and video of the first and last performance. Lets hope this song has a short shelf life. Judging by the lack of any responses to date it looks as though this will be the case.


Hard times they have come to old England
Hard times they have come round again
We are told that it’s going to get better
But we know that they do not know when.

Now those banks that were once built of marble
With a cash point at every door
Have run out of loans of our money
And alls quiet on the factory floor
And those vaults that were once filled with silver
Have been swapped for derivative bets
But the bookies have all done a runner
Leaving us with the gift of their debts
Now we all should have seen what was coming
But our jobs seemed quite safe at the time
And we are now being robbed of our warm homes
But no ones been charged with a crime

Chorus

Now our nation is said to be wealthy
Second homes second cars plastic yachts
But the bailiffs came round, did a clear out
Now my life being sold in three lots
Now those banks that were all kept oh! so shiny
Are now owned by you and by me
But they still won’t lend us our money
Or tell us our banking is free
So who has got all of our money?
And where have those bankers all gone?
Perhaps they are hiding and hoping
That no one joins in with this song

Chorus

Is the spirit of Albion sleeping?
Is it time to strike up on Drakes Drum?
Do you think that King Arthur will hear us?
To rise from his slumbers and come
Will the monkeys still stay on Gibraltar?
And the ravens not fly from the tower?
Will Nelson set sail to our rescue?
To control those great levers of power
Will some heroes stand for election?
Will they know what they really must do?
Will they keep to their word, and surprise us
And pull poor old Albion through?

Chorus

But we mustn’t get sad and downhearted
We must pick ourselves up from the floor
Keep an eye on those banks of fake marble
And the man with the key to the door.
Yes, the boom has gone bust and the bust has gone boom
And the profits have melted away
And it’s now we must join together
And win back a bright shiny day
Because the people who have all the answers
With the power to make dreams come true
Are here with us standing together
Yes, the people of BRITAIN it’s you!

The Hard Tmes Waltz

Blog Trailers

If you have stumbled upon this site I thought you might like to know what will be happening here in the near future. This might encourage you to follow the site, to share it with others and to comment.

With the Mr Speaker controversy moving on. Did the Queen have something to say? Will Mr Martin resign his seat and cause a Glasgow bye-election. PM won’t want that. Watch this space for comment

The last fortnight has been filled with constitutional drama and has given the politics side of this blog to gravitate towards Westminster and in the nature of things that will happen from time to time, especially with a year of electioneering stating up. AS my recent blog emphasised the European Elections could be a useful starting point for the General Election. Although the PM can usually decide when to ask the Queen for a general Election, the five year life span of a Parliament now boxes him in and as time goes by his options narrow. So lots of fun to come.

In the meantime why not look out for some of the following blackhilltales. The list does not show an exact the order in which they will appear:

Hay Festival at Hay-on-Wye: Why Not?
Visits to local towns and markets
The joys of insulating old properties and rural poverty
Travails with the Energy Saving
Time to Update the Solar Panel

World Premier of our new folk song: details may follow, if not too embarrassing. Sorry.

Country Pubs
Fixed Penalty Fines in a not so supermarket

Occasional series: Watch out its Wildlife!
Occasional series :Briefing Notes for Debaters.

You will have noticed that articles are a bit long for a blog. Some effort will be made to keep some down to 300 words while others that need a bit of room will be not go much beyond 600 words.

And there will be more articles but various DIY jobs are getting rather urgent.