Village Quire Launch New CD: Good Old Way

Having spent a very pleasant evening at Stretford Church yesterday evening being entertained by the Village Quire we can report that The Good Old Way is now available in the form of their debut CD. This morning has been spent listening to this excellent collection of songs and readings which among other things documents the demise of the West Gallery Choir as well as the coming of the enclosures. For full details of this CD go to http://www.villagequire.org.uk/GoodOldWay So, as the song says, ‘don’t delay’ get your copy of The Good Old Way CD before they sell out, as we suspect that is not far off judging by the way they were going last night.

Congratulations to all the Village Quire for a great recording and a great concert. Keep it up. Here are details of how to buy and what you get:

On sale from 14 April 2012, the entire Good Old Way show is now available on CD from the Genuine Folk label www.genuinefolk.com

Track listing – Click on the titles to see the lyrics.

Reading 1: Mellstock Gallery from Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Psalm 100 Joseph Watts of Fenny Compton (1749) © Shelwin Music, Oxford 2005

Reading 2: Dick in Love from Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Deryn Du Trad. arr. Paul Guppy (2009)

Reading 3: The New Pa'son from Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Giberalter Words: Isaac Watts Psalm 72; Music W. J. White of St. Albans (ca. 1830)

Reading 4: Gallery vs Nave from Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Psalm 40 Joseph Watts of Fenny Compton (1749) © Shelwin Music, Oxford 2005

Reading 5: Fancy Makes Her Debut from Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

The Good Old Way Oral transmission (from the singing of The Watersons) Arr. Dave Newell

Reading 6: Enclosure is Mooted from Hawthorn Hedge Country by Fred Archer

Psalm 9 – Thorpe Tune William Knapp from William East's The Voice Of Melody (1748)

Reading 7: The Effects of Enclosure from Hawthorn Hedge Country by Fred Archer

Jordan Trad. arr. Dave Newell Reading 8: Bredon Hill by A E Housman

Psalm 15th – Bishop's Castle Funeral Hymn John Symons (ca. 1816) Transcribed by Gordon Ashman (1990)

Reading 9: Richard Surman Ties a Knot from Hawthorn Hedge Country by Fred Archer

Psalm 128 - Burton Bradstock Anon, transcribed by Rollo Woods (1981)

Reading 10: From the Diary of Parson James Woodforde 1740 – 1803

Spanking Roger James Nuttall (1745–1806) Transcribed/edited by Jean Seymour (1991)

Reading 11: From the Diary of Parson James Woodforde 1740 –1803

Old Sye Thomas Healey (ca. 1830) Transcribed/edited by Jean Seymour (1994)

Reading 12: Saturday 7th May 1870 from The Diary of Francis Kilvert

One May Morning Early Oral transmission (from the singing of the Copper family) Arr. Dave Newell

Reading 13: Sunday from Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

Hail Shining Morn Reginald Spofforth (1810)


We were also entertained by the Eardisland Village Band with a selection of period pieces most fitting for the occasion. We were both heartened to see two English System Concertina’s playing away. Even better, one was a Baritone. Yes, we know, it’s sad isn’t it, but that’s the way music gets us sometimes.

The concert was a sell out fundraiser for this interesting ‘farm yard church’ which is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It is dedicated to St. Cosmas and St. Damian, the patron saints of doctors. We shall say no more for fear of spoiling your visit.

What is FolkWorkshops?

We are an informal group of people who like music from the Folk Music Tradition. Some of us play musical instruments, some of us sing, while others like coming along to listen. We hold regular folk music evenings at Newton Church Room and at other locations such as the Crown Inn Longtown.

Singing: We are not a choir, although when we sing as a group we are known as Blackhill Folk. We also hold regular rehearsals when we have been asked to sing at a particular event. Supporters regularly attend Susie’s Song School near Glasbury during the winter months. We are also strong supporters of the Village Quire from Glasbury who organise occasional singing workshops. There is no need to be able to read music.

Singing Workshops: The Village Quire organise occasional guests to run these in Glasbury and also lead workshops themselves. Please see the Newsletter for the latest details.
Instrumental Workshops: We hope to run occasional workshops for specific instruments at beginners and improvers level as the number of players increase. We will be holding a Guitar Workshop sometime during the winter and other instruments will be added when possible.
Events: We are not a Folk Club but we can look like one at times. We have organised events such as our own Ceilidh, and helped with last year’s Concert and Workshop by the Village Quire from Glasbury in association with St. Margaret’s and St. John’s Churches.
Dancing: some of our supporters are folk dance enthusiasts and most of us try to support events run by Foxwhelp Morris whenever we can. Our members also attend singing workshops organised by other groups and individuals.

The e-Newsletter: through this and our twitter feed @FolkWorkshops we keep in touch with the growing number of fellow enthusiasts. We try to give early notice of folk music events and car sharing is often possible. We receive mailings from the English Folk Dance and Song Society as well as other groups. To register for the e-Newslettter send a request to john.baxter87@virgin.net

FolkWorkshops Newsletter

Dear FolkWorkshops Supporter,

A great deal of things seem to be going on. A quick look at Broad Sheep says it all. Supporters are gradually increasing on this e-mail list and so by the time the dark winter evenings arrive there should be a few more of us. Our Twitter followers are also steadily increasing but, ironically, not from among our own supporters. Since there seems to be a lot of people out there who are interested in what we do we shall continue to run the account as well as the FolkWorkshops tag for the Blackhilltales Blog which gets about a hundred visits a month. Since a major insurance company I know of only gets 900 visits a month with the aid of a vast advertising budget this tag connection seems to do very well with just the aid of the @FolkWorkshops account. If you would like to send in a review or article for publication then please e-mail it to us. This newsletter is always posted on the FolkWorkshops tag. ( see signature bit below if you were wondering what it was) Equally if you hear of an event which is worth publicising then that can be easily posted on Twitter if you let us know.

We will continue to have evenings at Newton Church Room. If we can have one or two sessions like the Wednesday 11th May evening then the winter months will soon pass by. Many thanks to Jim Neale once again and he sends his thanks to all of you who have supported the various events to fund his sons trip to Cambodia to do some teaching. We have also been made very welcome at the Crown Inn, Longtown, and so look out for announcements of regular sessions there as well.

Our singers who went to the Help the Heroes event in Peterchurch did exceptionally well. One of our group was in the audience and will give us some constructive feedback which will be useful for the next time we do this sort of thing. The general feedback from the organisers and members of the audience was very positive. As most singers had not performed before up on a stage with microphones, among all the cable, drums and amps, I think they should all be highly commended for that alone. Although at times the evening was a bit daunting in prospect it was one of those experiences which was well worth it. We have made a few more friends as a result and we have been invited back for next year. At the last count they had raised about £900.

Foxwhelp Morris: Now the light evenings are with us you may be looking for an outing. Why not combine support of a local hostelry with watching a bit of Morris Dancing. Here is Foxwhelps itinerary for places nearby. Full details can be found at: http://foxwhelpmorris.wordpress.com However, just a reminder that they will be at The Crown, Longtown this Tues 19th July from 7.30 pm and at The Yew Tree, Preston-on-Wye on 26th July.

Village Quire Visit: Make sure you put these dates in your diary. Workshop and Concert at St. John’s Newton and St.Margarets Church on September 28th and October 1st. This is a jint effort between FolkWorkshops and the two PCC’s so all offers of help welcome.

There are lots more events coming up in the Autumn and we hope to get most of this information to you in due course. In the meantime the August Newsletter may be delayed. Jane and I will be visiting a few folk clubs this August and a festival or two but we will be in back for our FolkWorkshops stand at the Longtown Show on the 20th August. We are then off again as our great niece is singing at Canterbury Cathedral and rather more mundanely we will be joining the sing around at Faversham Folk Club. It’s a long story but suffice it to say we were in Faversham, Kent, earlier this month buying another banjo and we were made very welcome at the local club when we made contact via e-mail in advance. It must have been reasonable as they have asked us back!

Finally, by visiting other singers and venues we have learnt quite a few things about developing our activities. Sing Arounds are a good way for individual singers and duos or quartets etc to develop their confidence and ability; whether singing or instrumental. There is nothing wrong in getting together separately to rehearse such contributions but such efforts should be given room to perform at the sing arounds without a group expectation that everyone should be able to join in with the whole piece. If there is a chorus, then all well and good, but individual performers need room to build their confidence and thereby add to the group experience. Equally, instrumental sessions, if run properly, can allow the beginners and improvers to learn from the more experienced in a way which allows them to learn from their mistakes without embarrassment. Several of the clubs we have come across make such sessions a regular event, separate from the main ‘club night’. This was the case with us in Faversham but as we were travelling back to our caravan in Walton-on-Thames that night via the M2, M20, M26 and M25 the invitation to try the new banjo out in the main bar with half a dozen instrumentalists the following night had to be declined! Consequently any players who are beginners or improvers should keep a look out for any instrumental workshop sessions which may be organised by individual supporters in the coming months.

If you can drop in at a local club when you are on your travels it can be quite a worthwhile experience, and in any case, you can always leave early.

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

FolkWorkshops Newsletter February 2011

LATEST: FOLK WORKSHOP on MONDAY 21st February at 7.30.

It’s time we started getting our repertoire together, whether for the various singing occasions which seem to be coming our way, or just for the fun of it. With the Hall being booked for our preferred night on the 26th and various other happenings John and Bridget have invited us to their home. New listeners, musicians and singers just as welcome here as at our usual venue. Please pass the word as this has not been put in the parish Newsletter. It really is true what we claim about our ethos, 'mutual support and encouragement' and a lot of good company.

Any queries please e-mail or telephone as usual leave a comment here. Or for twitter followers by DM on either @FolkWorkshops or @DacierOutten.

As you will have seen from the ‘stop press’ e-mails, quite a lot has been happening. We have had several additions to the e-mailing list, the articles on the blog, and a website is under discussion. You can follow on twitter @FolkWorkshops.

Please forward this Newsletter to people who you think would be interested. By clicking on the folkworkships link below it will take you to Newsletters and various folkworkshops blogs.

You will see that there are several family events taking place in summer camps this summer so who knows there might be a family out there who would like a change from the usual trip to Tenby!

The Wassail at Preston on Wye was a very enjoyable evening with enough of us turning out to give another public performance and make new friends. The article on this blog has had a record number of readers.

Some of us made our first visit to the Black Swan in Much Dew Church the other week to see what the sing around there is like. It has been going for 14 years with a group of singers and musicians who go under the name of Compost Heap. A great variety of songs and instrumental accompaniments made it a brilliant evening and none of us knew that it had been there all these years. On top of all this a very useful contact was made with someone who is organising some of the events in the list below.

Susie’s Song School. Susie is the female tenor from the Village Quire who has a wide collection of folk songs we can try out. The meetings are being held weekly at Cymbach Chapel starting at 7.30 and cost £4 a session. Depending on who is going each week a car share may be available so ask among the group. The first session covered 10 songs, some very old, with some familiar regulars from the folk clubs.

Events

Saturday 26th March: Our very own Ceilidh at Escleyside Hall complete with snacks and a licensed bar. Children go free, so why not make it a family night out.

If we can make a modest profit on this event we will be able to invite more groups and singers to local events as well as paying for the occasional master class or singing workshop from well established names on the folk scene. In the meantime we are building up a list of experienced people who might be able to give their services free of charge. If the Ceilidh goes well....who knows?

1st May: Arthurs Stone: See the sun rise with Fox Whelp Morris (To be confirmed)

Friday 6th May: at the Lion Ballroom in Leominster. Pete Coe supported by Hop Pickers Feast and a few 'old boys'. (In aid of a Cambodian charity)

Saturday 18th June: at the Court Yard Theatre, we have a Ceilidh with vintage 'Porridge' with young 13 year old Cohen Kilcoyne'Boy Wizard' on all instruments!!! (In aid of a Cambodian charity)

News from the Village Quire: www.villagequire.org.uk/ There are lots of events planned for 2011, not only workshops & concerts with the Village Quire, but also a vocal workshop & concert with folk musician John Kirkpatrick (from the BBC series Victorian Farm) later in the year. For details of this and all our concerts an eye on the website above.
28th September and 1st October: The Village Quire at St John’s Church Newton for Workshop and at St.Margaret's Church for concert.

'High Days and Holidays in the Welsh Border Marches'. More details soon but put these dates in your diary
28th Sept Workshop at Newton Church, 7.30 pm - 9.30 pm
30th Sept Rehearsal at St. Margarets Church 7.30 pm - 8.00 pm
1st Oct Concert at St. Margaret’s Church 7.30 pm, (joined by workshop)

Cas’s gig list updated February 2nd 2010: for those of you who don’t mind a bit of a journey across the border into Wales to see an artist you really like you may find this guide useful. It is supplied by the lady who runs the Pontardawe Folk Club. Also, check out @folkorbit on twitter who follows @FolkWorkshops

News from Susie Stockton

Polly Bolton is starting a monthly Friday Night folk choir starting on April 15th, then May 20th and 17th June. At the Women's Centre in Ludlow , from 7pm till 8.30. She'll be teaching her own harmony arrangements of traditional British songs.

The Oak Barn singing camp will be running for the 12th year from July 29th to 31st and they will be having the same facilitators as last year; Polly Bolton, Sue Harris, Gitka Partington and Mark Thomas. The cost this year will be £120 for the whole weekend if you are staying at the centre or £40 for a whole day if you are dropping in. Details will be on her website soon or contact her. info@oak-barn.co.uk OAK BARN CENTRE, CLEE ST MARGARET,CRAVEN ARMS,SHROPSHIRE,SY7 9DT,01584 823609

Also from Roxane Smith: are on www.harmonyjunky.co.uk/ will be running a new camp, with some good friends, on the weekend of June 10th-12th, near Leominster, www.herefordharmony.org.uk/

And finally, forget Glastonbury, and all the others. Why not support your local Folk Festival at Garway. Find full details on: www.learningobjectivity.com/garwayfolkweekend
This is probably enough to be going on with.