These were our dates and performers before and leading up to lockdown lockdown 

MAR 2020
Another great evening with two main guests: Flaming June and Emma O’Reilly, both East Anglian performers.

Flaming June is a three-piece indie folk band from the Cambridge area.  Formed by singer/songwriter Louise Eatock, they have released nine EPs and received radio play from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, and Women of Substance Radio. They have played gigs and festivals throughout the UK including Standon Calling, Ely Folk Festival, Folkstock and The Strawberry Fair and have supported Big Country, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, and Eliza Carthy . There is more information on their website.

Emma O’Reilly, a singer-singer writer originally from Ballinasloe in County Galway, Ireland, but now Norwich-based is often compared to Tori Amos, Kate Bush and Regina Spektor for her imaginative, refined sound. Dramatic and always evocative, Emma’s music is a fusion of alternative rock, pop and folk, all informed by her classical training at the piano. Growing up, music was just a normal part of daily life for Emma, as both her home and her school always encouraged music making. She went on to study music at Third level and holds a BA in music from Trinity College Dublin. There’s more about Emma on her website.

There were floor spots from Jackie Ord, Elli Tri and Stephen Foster-Pilkington.

FEB 2020
Our main guest was Rob Barratt, originally from Dudley in the West Midlands and now living in North Cornwall. He managed to arrange a short tour in the area around our booking.  Rob retired from teaching – mostly in special needs education – in order to spend more time on what had been his hobby: poetry.  Since retiring he has written three collections of poetry and toured throughout Britain and Australia. Unlike many performance poets, Rob also sings. He is also on the committee of Bodmin Folk Club.

Much of Rob’s poetry, whose subjects include squid, distressed furniture, supermarkets whose names have lost their first letter (-orrison’s, -ainsbury’s, -esco, -o-op etc) is of the rhyming variety and involves plays on words. There are lots of his poems on YouTube. Here are some:

There is much more about Rob his website:

Our featured guests were Crayon Angels,  but  they had to cancel because their vocalist had lost her voice. Bof! stood in at the last minute with a selection of French and Breton songs and tunes.

There were floorspots from Bill & Sheila and Rachel Hack’s Revival.

JAN 2020
We had two main guests for the first evening of 2020. The first, Megan Wisdom has played at our club several times now and is a firm Hadleigh favourite. She has recently started a folk music degree at Newcastle University and fitted this booking into her college holidays. Megan sang mainly traditional songs occasionally accompanying herself on the sweet-sounding table harmonium. She also sang The Taunting Cuckoo, the song she won the song -writing competition we organised in 2015. The words to this song are in the Past archives page of our website. Scroll down to June 2015. There is more information about Megan on her website.

Our second main guest was Zoë Wren, a singer-songwriter from London. Since her beginnings as a busker in Camden, Zoё has gone on to perform on stages from Cambridge Folk Festival to Glasgow Celtic Connections to The Shard. She won the PRS Lynsey de Paul Prize and the Alan Surtees Trust grant, and has been played on BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris show.Her influences include the unorthodox harmonies of Joni Mitchell to the honest storytelling of Tracy Chapman.  Zoe’s “feminist” song about a female highwayman went down very well, as did Don’t touch my guitar a song about an occasion when Zoe was busking at an underground station and was harassed by a man who insisted on drumming on her guitar as she was singing.  Her music is available on Bandcamp. There is further information on her website where you can also listen to and buy her songs.

There were floorspots from the seven-piece  Glass Thistles from Woodbridge and and Alice Martin.

 

DEC 2019
Our main guests were Helen & the Neighbourhood Dogs, a 7-piece band from round these parts. A recent review of one of their gigs went like this.

When you see a band like Helen & the Neighbourhood Dogs and listen to their “East  Angliacana”, your first thought is “Why aren’t this lot huge? ”  With four singers, all of whom can take lead or deliver great harmonies, casually excellent playing, particularly from Shane Kirk on guitar and “Fiddly” on, of course, fiddle, and a truck load of great songs they really are a class act.  “Not The Kind Of Girl”, resurrected from their previous incarnation as Songs From The Blue House, Tony Winn’s “What’s A Rainbow” and the loping “Harrogate” were perhaps highlights but throughout the set the band laid down a serious groove, rocked out when they needed to, sang their hearts out – Helen Mulley has a fabulously aching voice – and generally had a ball. (Jeremy Searle, Americana UK)
Our audience loved the band’s music and their humorous patter.

Our featured guest was Holly D Johnston, a Suffolk singer-songwriter and storyteller
Holly’s heartfelt lyrics woven together in memorable tunes were sung with a warm. ethereal and passionate. More information HERE.

 

There were floorspots from Three Men in a Shed, Sarah Thompson and Friends and Davos Williams

NOV 2019
Our main guests for November were the classic four-piece folk-rock band Hunter Muskett.
The band began life at the end of the 1960s and were soon signed up by Decca Records. After the release of their first album, they toured at home and abroad for almost three years. Following a second album in 1974, they  split up . However in 2010, with the re-release of one of their first album, they got together again for a one-off gig.  They enjoyed this experience so much that they made another recording and did a few gigs. Fast forward to 2019, they have recorded two more albums and are gigging again. One of their members, Terry Hiscock, is a regular and popular performer at Hadleigh. More information on the band website. Their varied set and tight playing went down very well with our audience and we will be booking them again.
Our featured guest was Gemma Khawaja, a singer-guitarist from Norfolk. Gemma sang some traditional folk songs and some more modern compositions, and accompanied herself on guitar and shruti box. More information HERE.

There were floorspots from Elli Tree (Helen Woodbridge) and Tanglethread.

 

OCT 2019
Main guests were Rosewood, a trio comprising Simon and Val Haines and Phil Lyons. Their set  alternated songs and instrumentals from a wide variety of sources from 16th century Italy, the traditional English songbook, a Marks and Spencer’s TV advert and the soundtrack of  a Dutch film.

They played an unusual selection of traditional instruments including bagpipes, ukulele, concertina, and the not so traditional desk bells. More information on their website: https://rosewoodband.co.uk

Our featured guest was Sascha Osborn,  a London-based, singer-songwriter who blends folk and jazz influences in her songs of hope, loss and love.

More information on Sascha’s website: https://saschaosborn.co.uk
There were floor spots from Hazel Bradshaw and Terry Hiscock, whose band, Hunter Muskett are our November guests.

 

SEPT 2019
The main guests for the first evening of our 2019-2020 season were Mary Humphreys and Anahata, a couple who used to be based in East Anglia but have since moved to Yorkshire. Mary plays concertina and banjo and is the singer, while Anahata plays great accompaniment on melodeon, concertina and cello.

They played mainly traditional songs – many with choruses – and tunes and, as usual performed with great gusto. One of the songs in their set was collected in Hadleigh in 1907 by the composer and folk song collector Vaughan Williams.  Lots more to read about and listen to on their website.

Our featured guests  were Park and Ride, a couple from Colchester who performed another ultra eclectic range of folksy but not too folky songs and tunes, including the inimitable Je t’aime (moi non plus) made famous in 1968 by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Nel’s attempt to sing both male and female parts had our audience in stitches
They also played the great Carter family song Keep on the Sunny Side. There is more information on their Facebook page

Our evening opened with songs from Alice Martin and an unusual ukulele and double bass set from Kate and Rob

 

JUL 2019
The main guest for the final evening of our 2018-2019 season was the incomparable Tony Hall, melodeon play extraordinaire. He has played the British folk scene since the 1970s and can do things with his instrument that lesser mortals can’t even imagine. He also sings and has a wickedly wry, Norfolk sense of humour.   Tony doesn’t have a website, but he is appearing at a number of festivals in the coming months so look out for the name.

Our featured guests for the evening were Threescore, also from Norfolk, a trio who played a variety of instruments and sang some traditional and some of their own songs. There is more information on their website.

Opening the evening with an extended spot  were reformed duo, Alan Day on concertina and Mike Ainscough on guitar. Their mixture of styles could be described as folky/jazzy/old-timey – very entertaining. They were followed The Medlars, a trio from Colchester: the guitar and fiddle of Tom and Emma Hardy are joined by singer Alie Barnes.

JUN 2019
Our main guests were the  duo Sedbuskers from Hertfordshire. Sometimes known as the Bullenbush Band Duo, they are songwriters Ian and Sue Bembridge. They have performed all over the UK, from the ‘Old Profanity Showboat’ in Bristol Harbour to the main stage for the launch of the ‘Tour de France 2014’ in Hawes, North Yorkshire. They are equally at home in small folk clubs or performing on open-air festival stages.
There is more information about Sedbuskers on their website.

Support was supposed to be from The Delta Ladies, but sadly they couldn’t make it for personal reasons, but Annie Meehan and Tom Crossthwaite stood in at the last minute and were very well received. They will be playing for us again next year.

The evening kicked off with floorspots from Simon and Val Haines, Bill and Sheila and Grasshopper.

 

MAY 2019
Our main guest was Dick Miles, a singer and musician who used to live in Suffolk but now lives in Ballydehob a village in South West Ireland,  where he runs the annual Fastnet and Martime Festival.

Dick started off with a couple of chorus songs as he could tell from previous performers that our audience enjoys joining in. He accompanied his singing expertly on concertina, and guitar. There is more about Dick and his music on his website

Our featured guest was Jeremy Harmer, a singer-songwriter from Cambridge.  His songs have a fascinating socio-political edge to them.
Find out more about Jeremy’s music and other aspects of his life here http://www.otherloves.co.uk
The floor spots who kicked off the evening: were Val & Simon who played a couple of tune sets on melodeon and bagpipes, Steve ?, Tricker, Green and Ward with their catchy Americana repertoire and The Friendly Visit, a new band led by Paul Riley.

APRIL 2019
We had another wonderful French evening with main guests, Centralbal, a top band from central France led by the celebrated hurdy gurdy player Patrick Bouffard (see below) who was part of our French weekend last year as a member of La Chavannée. Centralbal comprises Patrick on hurdy gurdy, Colin Delzant on cello, Jonas Thin on bagpipes, and Fabien Guiloineau on guitar.

Find out more about the band on their website, HERE. Below is a YouTube clip of Patrick playing Le Dénicheur, a piece he played on our night.

Dave Shepherd kicked off the evening with a very varied, informative solo fiddle set. Dave is best known as the fiddle player in  Blowzabella’s. Local group Bof! continued the evening with a set of tunes and songs featuring Breton singer Gwendal Moële.

MARCH 2019
Our main guests on our March night were Harbottle and Jonas, a young duo from Devon whose eclectic music accompanies great stories. They put on a great show and went down superbly well with a larger than usual club audience. The duo combine the rich traditions of folk music with original and contemporary interpretations. Their music, performed on concertina, harmonium, and acoustic guitar is unique.

There’s plenty more to see and listen to on their website: https://www.harbottleandjonas.com

Our featured guest for the evening was Peter Hood, a singer-guitarist from Lowestoft, who  runs the Waveney Folk Club in the town.

The evening kicked off with floorspots from, Holly D. Johnston, who sang songs from her forthcoming album. This was followed by Alan Day, who performed Stanley Holloway’s monlogue My you do look queer, tunes on the concertina and a musical song. And finally, for the first time at the club Less Than Perfect, a local duo who performed acoustic versions of well-known pop songs. It was an all-round good night.

FEBRUARY 2019
The main guests on our February night were The Jigantics, a four-piece band from Gloucestershire. They played a blinder and went down very well with our audience who appreciated their varied repertoire and their excellent playing.

They began with Louden Wainwright III’s Swimming Song, a bizarrely surreal song which has always been a favourite of Simon’s. Their Americana tinged with Cajun is not something we hear too much of in these parts – sadly.  If you missed them at Hadleigh, there’s lots more about the Jigantics, including video samples, on their website.

Our featured guests were Simple Folk a Suffolk duo comprising Rachel Dodd and Steve Christopher who are building a reputation across East Anglia, and rightly so, with their stripped back versions of contemporary and traditional folk songs. Listen to samples of their music on their Facebook site.

The evening opened with floorspots from Tom Crossthwaite, Tanglethread and Terry Hiscock & Roger Trevitt, whose Buddy Holly cover of That’ll be the Day, complete with glockenspiel,  got some of the audience taking themselves back 60 years and joining in.

JANUARY 2019
Another excellent night with a good turnout despite the freezing weather. Once again, we had two main guests on January 4th: Revival and Stan Harvey, both of whom have  appeared at our club as Featured Guests

Revival is an Essex trio featuring singer Rachel Hack, guitarist Peter Slater and bass player Roy Bartholomew. The group sang a mixture of popular traditional songs, some of Irish origin and more contemporary compositions, including Nancy Kerr’s Queen of Waters. Revival formed in 2015 and have gradually built up a local fan base through their appearances at clubs and festivals in East Anglia. In August 2018, they appeared at Folk East Festival.

Stan Harvey is a Colchester-based singer of what we now term Americana. Having spent most of his musical life since the age of 15 playing in duos, trios and bands, Stan recently decided to take the logical step of going solo – and it’s proving a popular decision.

Stan’s early inspiration came from the American solo performers of the 1960s: Bob Dylan, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Phil Ochs, and Leadbelly, singers who, in turn, got their inspiration from an earlier generation: Woody Guthrie, The Carter Family and The Stanley Brothers amongst others.  Find out more about Stan on his website

The evening started with floor spots from Simon and Val Haines, Tom Crossthwaite and Angela Dennis

DECEMBER 28 2018
We had two main guests on December 14th:  Cambridge and Walker and Tony Winn. Tony very kindly stepped in almost at the last moment to replace Rosewood as Phil Lyons their singer guitarist was being operated on on that very date. Crayon Angels who were to have been our featured guests also  had to cancel for health reasons. Despite these setbacks, it was, as ever, be a great evening of music.
The duo  Cambridge and Walker came about as the result of a mutual interest in traditional songs, especially harmony singing, arising from individual performances at Blackfen Folk Club. David (Cambridge) sings and plays guitar/guzouki and has been building a reputation as a singer/guitarist in Cambridge and the surrounding area- his love of the guitar is such that he spends a good deal of his time building them.

Jenna (Walker) sings and plays melodeon/piano accordion and has been singing in Cambridge for many years. She recently completed a Masters in Traditional Folk Music. In their time together, they have appeared on local radio (Cambridge 105; West Norfolk Radio) and played at various folk clubs in East Anglia, with headline appearances at Cambridge, Blackfen, Great Bardfield, Milkmaid (Bury St Edmunds), Royston, and Thetford Folk Clubs.  There is more information on their website here.

Singer-songwriter Tony Winn has played at Hadleigh on several occasions in the past and has always proved a success. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, Tony mixes the touching with the hard-hitting, the poignant with a laugh. He sings about humankind and its world, reflecting his own oblique views on life as a member of the human race (which he is determined to win!). Among Tony’s influences are Tom Waits, Bob Dylan,  Loudon Wainwright, Randy Newman and The Beatles.

Come and Go with Me is one of the songs from Tony’s most recent recording.

 The evening started with floor spots from The Hadleigh Community Choir, who sang Christmas songs including the great Steeleye Span single Gaudete, and singer guitarist Terry Hiscock.

NOVEMBER 2 2008
Our main guest on this freezing cold night was Kelly Oliver making a first visit to Hadleigh and coming all the way from Stevenage. Kelly treated our audience so a combination of traditional and self-penned songs, accompanying herself on guitar and introducing her material in an informative and charming way. Many of the songs were from her new (third) album Botany Bay. Our audience were fully absorbed in Kelly’s performance – so much so between songs you could hear a pin drop. Her final song Molly Malone (aka Cockles and Mussels) had the audience singing merrily along. One member of the audience knew all the words. The video below is a song Kelly wrote in memory of her grandmother who came originally from Tralee in Ireland.

There is more information about Kelly on her website:http://kellyoliver.co.uk

Our Featured guests were the six-piece Bards of the Heath a band put together by John Goodluck, known maybe to some of you as a folk singer, the leader of the folk rock ceilidh band Trunkles and presenter of the local radio folk music show Folk-al-pint. They played a variety of traditional songs and modern compositions on traditional themes – and got us singing along to John Barleycorn.

Bards of the Heath  were formed in 2004 as a musical unit in  order to take on  gigs at unusual venues, such as events in the  Ipswich Museum and found that many of John’s earlier Ballads from the 70’s fitted in with the Bardic theme of poetry & stories. There is plenty more about John Goodluck and Bards of the Heath here.

The evening began with a song composed and sung by Sarah Thompson, Lest we forget, to the tune of She Moved Through the Fair. The song tells the story of a young man going off to France during the First World War and was composed to be sung during the Festival of Remembrance to be held in the United Reformed Church in Hadleigh on 10th November. Sarah was accompanied by Val Haines on recorder and Simon Haines on melodeon.
There followed three songs from Hazel Bradshaw and a 20-minute set from Sudbury-based electro-acoustic duo False Colours, who finished their set with this catchy song:
Here’s Something

 

OCTOBER  5 2018
Our main guests were Fiona Larcombe and Terry Mann, a great duo who performed for us two years ago. They replaced the Foxglove Trio who, unfortunately,  had to cancel. Fiona is an accomplished singer of traditional songs and a fine fiddle player. Terry Mann is an expert accompanist on guitar, banjo and melodeon. In his other life, Terry is a classical composer and a musical instrument maker. The variety of the couple’s repertoire and their informative, light-hearted introductions made a real impact on our audience. https://terryandfiona.bandcamp.com

Our Featured guest was Peter Kerr and Friends who won our audience over with their chorus songs – many of which were popular in the 1950s and 1960s and which were remembered by everyone, who sang along with gusto.The evening started with floor spots from Bill Johnston, Rosewood and Jackie Ord. When Jackie finished her set the audience persuaded to sing the song she is best known for. Two River View Wrabness.

SEPTEMBER 7 2018
Our main guests on September 7 were The Shackleton Trio. It was a great night.Georgia Shackleton (fiddle, vocals), Aaren Bennett (guitar) and Nic Zuppardi (mandolin). played an original  blend of folk and self-penned material that showcase Georgia’s unique songwriting skills, alongside a vibrant display of instrumental brilliance influenced by British, American and Scandinavian folk traditions, with a regional twist from the group’s native East Anglia.

Together they have toured the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, appeared at Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Towersey Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Folk East, and concert halls and folk clubs across the UK. There is more information about trio on their website.

Our Featured guests were  The Somali Road Attic Band – that’s Linda Baddeley (vocals), David Bartlett (vocals, guitars, harmonicas and percussion) and Richard Byers (vocals, guitar) – a trio who grew together out of the regular nights run by the Bury Folk Collective. This West Suffolk-based trio are passionate about what they do and are dedicated to having fun playing the songs they love – in this case, an eclectic mix of covers that includes Dylan, Ewan McColl, Richard Thompson, America and the Decemberists. This is folk music from people who have sung and played a lot of folk music – expect an unmissable, unforgettable Somali Road Attic Band take on some great songs.
You may know Linda Baddeley and David Bartlett as members of Sound Tradition.

The evening opened with floor spots from regular Alice Martin, Simon and Val, and The Merry Harriers who brought an unusual but very welcome set of Irish tunes and songs to the club.

JUNE 2018
Our main guests on June 1 were to have been the duo Oka Vanga, but unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, they  had to cancel. (We will be booking them in the future.) Instead, at short notice, we managed to book Red Velvet, a five-piece Cambridge-based band on their second visit to Hadleigh.  As before before they went down very well with our audience. Here is how they describe themselves:
Red Velvet perform the songs of the outsiders, the outlaws and the dispossessed from the folk tradition that these times demand (the “red” part), along with a selection of songs of the heart with a jazzy, edgy, bluesy feel (the “velvet” part). The result is a passionate and sensual set.
Here they are playing at Ely Folk Festival a couple of years ago.

There is more information about Red Velvet on their website.

Our Featured guest is Stephen Foster Pilkington from Brightlingsea. He did a floor spot some time ago and we decided then that we’d like to hear more of him. He’s a difficult performer to classify – possibly a deliberate policy on his part.  He performs solo and with rock bands.
You can hear more on Stephen’s Facebook.

MAY 2018
Unusually for Hadleigh our Folk and Acoustic Music Night this month was on the second Friday of the month. We had two local acts: Harbour Lights Trio and Terry Hiscock.
Harbour Lights Trio consists of Rob Neal, Derek Simpson and the “singing gamekeeper” Alvar Smith, often seen in pub sessions around Blaxhall and Snape as well as regular performers at folk clubs and national festivals. Their set featured  traditional songs, music hall numbers and the occasional tune. Their emphasis is on entertainment and audience participation.  They certainly got our audiences going, joining in with their chorus songs and laughing at their Suffolk humour.  Find out more about the trio on their Acoustic East page
Our Featured guest has appeared several times at Hadleigh: the popular singer-songwriter and excellent guitarist, Terry Hiscock. Back in the day he was a founder member of the folk-rock group Hunter Muskett, who played alongside Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention.
On this occasion, Terry brought a fellow member of Hunter Muskett to play with him: Roger T played guitar, sang and did a great glockenspiel accompaniment to the Buddy Holly song, Everyday.  We hope to book the full band some time at the club.
Watch a video of Terry playing at a Hedingham music night.

The evening began with two excellent Floor spots: the Americana band Hargreaves  performing at the club for the first time, and Hadleigh favourites The Columbines

APRIL 2018
This was our annual French evening leading into our weekend of workshops music and dance. There were no floor spots this evening, but performances from two local bands and one from France.
We kicked off the evening with Breton and French songs from Gwendal Moële and Bof!  Check out their website.

Next came a new trio: Shepherd, Pack and Veal – from various parts of the UK – playing a variety of instrumentals on violin, accordion and clarinet. Dave Shepherd and Anna Pack have played for us before, but this year they were joined by Jo Veal from Sheffield.

Top the bill this year will be the wonderful La Chavannée from Château-sur-Allier in central France. The 8-piece version of the band included some of the most respected traditional  musicians in France, including two generations of the Paris family:  Frédéric, Manu and Eveline, Catherine, Gabrielle and Mathilde with Maxou Heintzen and Patrick Bouffard. La Chavannée have not visited the UK for several years, so this was a very special night.  Here they soon after their arrival.

On Saturday April 7th La Chavannée led two workshops – music and dance – during the day a played for a dance in the evening.  Here’s what they sound like:

There are plenty more YouTube clips of the band. You can find out more about La Chavannée on their website.

MARCH 2018
Sadly, for the time in our seven years we had to cancel one of our evenings due to bad weather. Below is the programme you would have seen and will now see next season.

This is another of the occasional evenings when we have two main guests. This time it’s Rosewood and Walker & Cambridge.
Rosewood comprises Phil Lyons, Simon Haines and Val Woollard.
Determined not to be pigeon-holed, they include in their set  a wide range of songs and tunes that can  be described as “folk” in the broadest sense. These are played on a collection of acoustic instruments.  There’s loads more about Rosewood on their website here.
Cambridge & Walker are a duo from Cambridge who are making a reputation for themselves throughout East Anglia.
David Cambridge sings and plays guitar in Cambridge and the surrounding area. Jenna Walker sings and plays squeezeboxes and has been singing solo for many years. During the 2016 festival season , David and Jenna decided to try try working together as a duo. They went public in the autumn at Black Fen, Cambridge and Bury Folk clubs and friends and audiences convinced them to carry on.

Our featured guests are a trio called Crayon Angels from deepest Essex. Here they are performing one of their songs:
This is how they describe themselves:
Crayon Angels are an acoustic guitar-driven trio combining songs influenced by some of the British greats (Richard Thompson, Ray Davies, Andy Partridge etc.), delivered by a soulful female vocal and coloured by atmospheric electric and slide guitars.

FEBRUARY 2018
Sadly, for the fiOur main guests for February were to have been Andy Matthewson and Lisa Winship, a duo from  Reading , but unfortunately Lisa couldn’t make it so Andy played once more for us as a solo singer/guitarist. Despite this and the fact that he had to borrow Jeremy Harmer’s guitar, his 60 minutes was much appreciated by our audience. Here’s a reminder of Andy’s playing and singing.
There’s more about Andy on his website.

Our Featured guests are Capstan Full Strength, an East Anglia group originally formed to sing sea shanties. Since those early days, they have branched out and now sing a wide range of folk-related songs, many of which  have choruses for  audiences to join in with. Here’s a sample recorded last year at a day organised by Suffolk Folk.

There were floor spots from duo The Half-Hardy Perennials, Annie Meehan and Jeremy Harmer and Josh.

JANUARY 2018
Happy New Year – to all our  loyal audience
Main guests on our first night of 2018 were  Bijoux Toots a group based on the Suffolk/North Essex border. They’re a talented bunch of musicians who focus on strong vocal harmonies, combined with accordion, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, ukulele and double-bass.  They play the widest range of material you can imagine – and got the audience joining in on songs by David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. Watch them below.

Our Featured Guest was Stan Harvey who did a floor spot for us last year and impressed us with his rendition of songs by American songwriters from the 1940s to the present day. In this longer set he sang some great songs. His Woody Guthrie song, Talking Dust Bowl Blues was a revelation.  Interestingly, Stan avoided the well-known American songs – wisely in my opinion.
You can find out more about Stan on his website here.

Our evening opened with excellent floor spots from three local singers: Hazel Bradshaw, Alice Martin and Jackie Ord, whose song “Two River View Wrabness” is always a hit with our audience.

DECEMBER 2017
In December our main guests were  ALDEN, PATTERSON AND DASHOWOOD, a trio from Norwich who proved very popular indeed. Their music is clearly influenced by folk traditions from both sides of the Atlantic.
There is much more to read on their website here.

Our Featured Guest was Alan Day. Alan played tunes on his anglo concertina and dipped into his impressive collection of monologues, three of which he managed to cram into his set. Here’s one of the monologues he didn’t perform for us.

The evening began with floor spots from Mike Green & Dave Tricker, JP on his Scottish small pipes, and Simon and Val Haines.

NOVEMBER 2017
Our main guests on November 3 were the four-piece TWO COATS COLDER. Since playing for us a few years ago, they have performed at clubs and festivals all over the country.
Watch and listen to them playing at Moira Folk Festival in 2016. They did another great set for us and were much appreciated by our audience.


As expected the band got our audience you singing along to their melodic and laid-back mix of original and traditional songs featuring guitars, bass, mandolin and harmonium.

Our Featured Guests were father/daughter duo The O’Driscolls. Stephen plays guitar and Hannah percussion. Their unique vocals are characteristed by unusual harmonies.Watch and listen here.

If you would like to hear more, go to Resonance fm radio and listen to half an hour of Stephen and Hannah talking singing. Click here.
There were floor spots from Will, PJ, Tony Winn and Rachel Hack’s trio Revival.

OCTOBER 2017
In October  we had two main guests Paul Scourfield and Phil Lyons.
Paul is a stylish melodeon player and singer from Hertfordshire who performs material mainly from the English tradition.  He has appeared at major festivals including Sidmouth, and Towersey, as well as folk clubs around the country.  Paul is also a member of the English dance band Chalktown.
In his 45-minute set, Paul alternated between songs and tunes.

Find out more about Paul on his website at: http://www.paulscourfield.co.uk

Phil Lyons is an accomplished guitarist and singer of traditional and contemporary songs. He has appeared solo at the club in the past as well as with Bof! and Rosewood.
At the club on October 6th he’ll be treating us to “A Sailor’s Life” his compilation of songs and talk about life in the British navy. Phil is interested in naval life at the time of Nelson.

Find out more about Phil and listen to samples of his songs here.

SEPTEMBER 2017
Our main guest on the first evening of our seventh season was Terence Blacker, now a firm favourite at our club. In addition to singing what are probably his three best–known song: Sad Old Bastards with Guitars, I’d Rather be French, and The Young Girl with the Ukulele, Terence sang Still Searching for that Heart of Gold, another of his bitter-sweet songs referring back, with multiple musical references to hippy days of the early 1970s.

As usual, Terence had our audience in stitches. Find out more about this English Georges Brassens on his website at: http://terenceblacker.com/music

Our Featured guests were The Columbines, a local Folk / Americana group playing original songs and their own unique arrangements of folk songs. They sang a couple of songs with Terence Blacker during his set.

We started the evening with three excellent floor spots from John Hughes and friends, newcomer Anni Meehan and Megs Martin.

 

 

SEPTEMBER 2017 – JULY 2018

SEPTEMBER 2017
Our main guest on the first evening of our seventh season was Terence Blacker, now a firm favourite at our club. In addition to singing what are probably his three best–known song: Sad Old Bastards with Guitars, I’d Rather be French, and The Young Girl with the Ukulele, Terence sang Still Searching for that Heart of Gold, another of his bitter-sweet songs referring back, with multiple musical references to hippy days of the early 1970s.

As usual, Terence had our audience in stitches. Find out more about this English Georges Brassens on his website at: http://terenceblacker.com/music

Our Featured guests were The Columbines, a local Folk / Americana group playing original songs and their own unique arrangements of folk songs. They sang a couple of songs with Terence Blacker during his set.
We started the evening with three excellent floor spots from John Hughes and friends, newcomer Anni Meehan and Megs Martin.

OCTOBER 2017
In October  we had two main guests Paul Scourfield and Phil Lyons.
Paul is a stylish melodeon player and singer from Hertfordshire who performs material mainly from the English tradition.  He has appeared at major festivals including Sidmouth, and Towersey, as well as folk clubs around the country.  Paul is also a member of the English dance band Chalktown.
In his 45-minute set, Paul alternated between songs and tunes.

Find out more about Paul on his website at: http://www.paulscourfield.co.uk

Phil Lyons is an accomplished guitarist and singer of traditional and contemporary songs. He has appeared solo at the club in the past as well as with Bof! and Rosewood.
At the club on October 6th he’ll be treating us to “A Sailor’s Life” his compilation of songs and talk about life in the British navy. Phil is interested in naval life at the time of Nelson.
Find out more about Phil and listen to samples of his songs here.

NOVEMBER 2017
Our main guests on November 3 were the four-piece TWO COATS COLDER. Since playing for us a few years ago, they have performed at clubs and festivals all over the country.
Watch and listen to them playing at Moira Folk Festival in 2016. They did another great set for us and were much appreciated by our audience.


As expected the band got our audience you singing along to their melodic and laid-back mix of original and traditional songs featuring guitars, bass, mandolin and harmonium.

Our Featured Guests were father/daughter duo The O’Driscolls. Stephen plays guitar and Hannah percussion. Their unique vocals are characteristed by unusual harmonies.Watch and listen here.

If you would like to hear more, go to Resonance fm radio and listen to half an hour of Stephen and Hannah talking singing. Click here.
There were floor spots from Will, PJ, Tony Winn and Rachel Hack’s trio Revival.

DECEMBER 2017
In December our main guests were  ALDEN, PATTERSON AND DASHOWOOD, a trio from Norwich who proved very popular indeed. Their music is clearly influenced by folk traditions from both sides of the Atlantic.
There is much more to read on their website here.

Our Featured Guest was Alan Day. Alan played tunes on his anglo concertina and dipped into his impressive collection of monologues, three of which he managed to cram into his set. Here’s one of the monologues he didn’t perform for us.

The evening began with floor spots from Mike Green & Dave Tricker, JP on his Scottish small pipes, and Simon and Val Haines.

JANUARY 2018
Happy New Year – to all our  loyal audience
Main guests on our first night of 2018 were  Bijoux Toots a group based on the Suffolk/North Essex border. They’re a talented bunch of musicians who focus on strong vocal harmonies, combined with accordion, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, ukulele and double-bass.  They play the widest range of material you can imagine – and got the audience joining in on songs by David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. Watch them below.

Our Featured Guest was Stan Harvey who did a floor spot for us last year and impressed us with his rendition of songs by American songwriters from the 1940s to the present day. In this longer set he sang some great songs. His Woody Guthrie song, Talking Dust Bowl Blues was a revelation.  Interestingly, Stan avoided the well-known American songs – wisely in my opinion.
You can find out more about Stan on his website here.
Our evening opened with excellent floor spots from three local singers: Hazel Bradshaw, Alice Martin and Jackie Ord, whose song “Two River View Wrabness” is always a hit with our audience.

FEBRUARY 2018
Sadly, for the fiOur main guests for February were to have been Andy Matthewson and Lisa Winship, a duo from  Reading , but unfortunately Lisa couldn’t make it so Andy played once more for us as a solo singer/guitarist. Despite this and the fact that he had to borrow Jeremy Harmer’s guitar, his 60 minutes was much appreciated by our audience. Here’s a reminder of Andy’s playing and singing.
There’s more about Andy on his website.

Our Featured guests are Capstan Full Strength, an East Anglia group originally formed to sing sea shanties. Since those early days, they have branched out and now sing a wide range of folk-related songs, many of which  have choruses for  audiences to join in with. Here’s a sample recorded last year at a day organised by Suffolk Folk.

There were floor spots from duo The Half-Hardy Perennials, Annie Meehan and Jeremy Harmer and Josh.

MARCH 2018 – This evening was cancelled due toi appalling weather

APRIL 2018
This was our annual French evening leading into our weekend of workshops music and dance. There were no floor spots this evening, but performances from two local bands and one from France.
We kicked off the evening with Breton and French songs from Gwendal Moële and Bof!  Check out their website.

Next came a new trio: Shepherd, Pack and Veal – from various parts of the UK – playing a variety of instrumentals on violin, accordion and clarinet. Dave Shepherd and Anna Pack have played for us before, but this year they were joined by Jo Veal from Sheffield.

Top the bill this year will be the wonderful La Chavannée from Château-sur-Allier in central France. The 8-piece version of the band included some of the most respected traditional  musicians in France, including two generations of the Paris family:  Frédéric, Manu and Eveline, Catherine, Gabrielle and Mathilde with Maxou Heintzen and Patrick Bouffard. La Chavannée have not visited the UK for several years, so this was a very special night.  Here they soon after their arrival.

On Saturday April 7th La Chavannée led two workshops – music and dance – during the day a played for a dance in the evening.  Here’s what they sound like:

There are plenty more YouTube clips of the band. You can find out more about La Chavannée on their website.

MAY 2018
Unusually for Hadleigh our Folk and Acoustic Music Night this month was on the second Friday of the month. We had two local acts: Harbour Lights Trio and Terry Hiscock.
Harbour Lights Trio consists of Rob Neal, Derek Simpson and the “singing gamekeeper” Alvar Smith, often seen in pub sessions around Blaxhall and Snape as well as regular performers at folk clubs and national festivals. Their set featured  traditional songs, music hall numbers and the occasional tune. Their emphasis is on entertainment and audience participation.  They certainly got our audiences going, joining in with their chorus songs and laughing at their Suffolk humour.  Find out more about the trio on their Acoustic East page
Our Featured guest has appeared several times at Hadleigh: the popular singer-songwriter and excellent guitarist, Terry Hiscock. Back in the day he was a founder member of the folk-rock group Hunter Muskett, who played alongside Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention.
On this occasion, Terry brought a fellow member of Hunter Muskett to play with him: Roger T played guitar, sang and did a great glockenspiel accompaniment to the Buddy Holly song, Everyday.  We hope to book the full band some time at the club.
Watch a video of Terry playing at a Hedingham music night.

The evening began with two excellent Floor spots: the Americana band Hargreaves  performing at the club for the first time, and Hadleigh favourites The Columbines

JUNE 2018
Our main guests on June 1 were to have been the duo Oka Vanga, but unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, they  had to cancel. (We will be booking them in the future.) Instead, at short notice, we managed to book Red Velvet, a five-piece Cambridge-based band on their second visit to Hadleigh.  As before before they went down very well with our audience. Here is how they describe themselves:
Red Velvet perform the songs of the outsiders, the outlaws and the dispossessed from the folk tradition that these times demand (the “red” part), along with a selection of songs of the heart with a jazzy, edgy, bluesy feel (the “velvet” part). The result is a passionate and sensual set.
Here they are playing at Ely Folk Festival a couple of years ago.

There is more information about Red Velvet on their website.

Our Featured guest is Stephen Foster Pilkington from Brightlingsea. He did a floor spot some time ago and we decided then that we’d like to hear more of him. He’s a difficult performer to classify – possibly a deliberate policy on his part.  He performs solo and with rock bands.
You can hear more on Stephen’s Facebook.

JULY 2018
Our main guests on July 6 were Sally Ironmonger and Brian Carter who have been writing, performing and bickering together for nearly 20 years.  They have produced three studio albums of songs about shipyards, prostitutes, trips to the seaside, self-deprecating amusing songs and protest anthems. They are an absolute one off. They have a quirky and distinctive style, with Brian’s unusual and accomplished guitar technique the perfect accompaniment to Sally’s unique voice.   They love what they do, and their aim is to entertain, with songs that make you laugh, or cry, or just think.
As on their last visit to Hadleigh, Sally and Brian had our audience in stitches for much of their set.
There is more information about this duo on their website.

Our Featured guest was Paul Riley singer and expert guitarist from Colchester who sang a a variety of bluesey songs in his inimitable style.
Paul has been part of the local folk scene for many years and has performed most recently at Hadleigh with Breton singer Gwendal Moële. Paul sing folk songs, blues songs and some of his own compositions, accompanying himself on guitar. He adds the occasional instrumental items in his set. Find out more about Paul here.
There were excellent floor spots from Mike Green, Peter Kerr and Alan Day.

SEPTEMBER 2016 – JULY 2017
6 September 2016
Our club night on 2nd September got our sixth season off to a great start. There were excellent floor spots from John Hughes, The Columbines, and Alan Day who was joined on a couple of sets of tunes by Simon and Val Haines.
Matt Haines was our featured artist. Most of his songs were ones he had written himself and included what he called his greatest hit: Home for Tea. You can hear and buy this song along with others of Matt’s  on itunes.

Sound Tradition were our main guests and put in a rousing performance which got our audience joining in on many occasions. Their acapella singing is always impressive and sounded particularly effective in the Ansell Centre with its good acoustics.  In addition to traditional songs, they included one of  their own compositions which has won a number of song-writing competitions: The Morecambe Bay Cocklers – a powerful documentary song which ius likely to stand the test of time. One or two songs were accompanied by a harmonium or spoons.

5 October 2016
Unusually this year, we had two club nights in  September.  On September 30 our Main guests were Kerraleigh and Martin, The August List, a duo from Oxfordshire, who describe themselves thus: We play backwards country / porch folk music with a startling roack and roll attitude. Acoustic guitars, kick drums, harmonicas and our voices are deployed with passion on songs that take in life, love, death and merry making.
Their poppy songs were fresh and unusual in a folk environment. Our audience really appreciated the range of Kerraleigh’s fantastic voice which of sounded wonderful with minimal amplification in the Ansell Centre as well as the tight musical arrangements of each of the duo’s songs.
By the way their photo, below, is not a fake. They bought a cheap guitar and did it for real.You can find out more about the duo on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/theaugustlistmusic
and listen to some of their songs on Bandcamp at http://theaugustlist.bandcamp.com/
Our featured guests  were Green, Tricker and Ward, a local trio who specialise in American folk and country material.

7 November 2016
Another great night with an pleasingly large audience. Someone said they thought our main guest, Claude Bournbon might have brought in some blue guitar fans. Anyway it was a varied evening, unusually without floor spots.
Two cancellations gave Bof! the chance to play for 40 minutes, and include in their set of French and Breton songs and tunes, their “Marlowe Theatre” set of four pieces they played when they supported the great Frankie Gavin and De Dannan in Canterbury on October 20th. (If you don’t know them, click on the link above and watch some of their videos.)
Our featured guests were Tom (guitar) and Emma Hardy (violin), a duo from Colchester also known as The Medlars.
Audiences will have seen them before as two thirds of the Breton band Trio Saozon with singer Gwendal Moële. They played mainly English music, but also included French and Swedish sets.

Our main guest, Claude Bourbon is a Swiss-French singer guitarist who sings with a soft purring voice accompanied by virtuoso guitar. He is known throughout Europe and America for amazing performances that take blues, Spanish, Middle Eastern, and Russian styles into unchartered territory. Each year, he plays more than 100 shows around the world. During his 60 minutes in Hadleigh he created a magical atmosphere which captivated our audience . He plays intricate picking style with the occasional addition of a bottleneck. You could have heard a pin drop throughout his performance. One audience member on leaving said That was wonderful. So cool. I fee so relaxed now.
Claude is known throughout Europe and America for amazing guitar performances that take blues, Spanish, Middle Eastern, and Russian styles into unchartered territory. Each year, he plays more than 100 shows around the world. Find out  more about the man and his music at: http://www.claudebourbon.org/

2 December 2016
Our main guests were club favourites Mary Humpreys and Anahata, musicians who specialise in English traditional music and song. Mary sings and plays concertina and banjo while Anahata plays melodeons, Anglo concertina and cello. Based in Cambridgeshire, much of the duo’s material is based on Mary’s research into locally collected traditional songs.
This year our December programme did not feature carols, but Mary and Anahata included the wonderful Christmassy song Sweet Chiming Christmas Bells  in their set and had the audience joining in lustily with the chorus. There’s plenty more information about this excellent duo on their website here.

Our featured artist for the evening was Bernard Hoskin, a singer-songwriter  from Cambridge. Bernard played a range of self-penned songs, covers and traditional material, accompanying himself on guitar.
You can find out more about Bernard and hear samples of his music on his website at http://www.bernardhoskin.com/

Instead of floor spots on December 2nd, Martin Newell and The Hosepipe Band presented their most recent offering: Martin’s poem, The Green Children, accompanied by music composed and performed by the Hosepipe Band.Martin Newell and the band playing The Green Children at Folk East in Autumn. Lots more here.

January 2017
We had another great night on January 6th when our main guests were Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer. This was the third time they’d played at Hadleigh and there was a general consensus that they just get better every time we see them. Their choice of material is always interesting and varied and they tend to alternate songs and instrumental sets. Vicki’s nyckelharpa is now her main instrument, but she still plays Scottish smallpipes, flute and Swedish bagpipes. Jonny plays guitar and accordeon but now also plays a Swedish cow horn on one particularly fascinating instrumental piece.
You can find out more about Vicki and Jonny on their website, here.  You may also like to read an article Simon wrote about the couple for Living Tradition magazine. See below.
The Featured artist for our January evening was Angela Dennis who has playedin local folk clubs for many years, performing self-penned songs as well as traditional and other contemporary material. Angela is also a community musician who runs several choirs. Find out more about her on Facebook.

Angela sang and played expertly and presented her songs with a gentle sense of humour.
There were floor spots from Phil Lyons, Alan Day and James Eastwood

January 2017
Article about Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer from Living Tradition magazine

March 2017
March 3 was another busy night at the club when our main guests were The Where’s Spot Band, a four piece from deepest Essex, who specialise in close harmony singing. Over the last 2 years they have earned well-deserved success playing major folk clubs in the East and South East, and also performed at several festivals further afield in the summer. Their repertoire is eclectic with inventive arrangements of both traditional & contemporary folk songs plus a few surprises thrown in!  A personable band of musicians with lifelong experience, a varied yet distinctive sound, superb vocal harmonies and an entertaining fun presentation.  Website: www.WheresSpotBand.com

Our Featured Guest was Megan Wisdom who was one of the winners of our original song competition with her song, The Taunting Cuckoo a few years ago.  Since then Megan has sung in clubs and sessions throughout the area. Megan sings mainly traditional English folk songs – usually  solo and unaccompanied  but sometimes in harmony with others. Megan won the Percy Webb Cup in 2015 and performed at Folk East Festival in 2016.

March 2017
During the evening of our Poetry and Music Day on May 20th, Megan Wisdom, our featured guest on March 3rd, accompanied by Park and Ride keyboard player, Cara Bruns, will sing She Lit the Fire, an original song inspired by the story of the Burston School Strike and written by Simon Haines.  If you don’t know about this, the longest running strike in British history (1914 – 1939),  you can read about it here.
Below are the song lyrics and you can listen here: She Lit the Fire

She Lit the Fire (Simon Haines, 2016)

To Burston school one winter’s day,
The children trudged from far away,
In threadbare clothes no hats upon their heads
They shivered with cold and fear
In their draughty classroom drear
They longed to be back home tucked in their beds.

Kitty Higdon felt their cold, Kitty Higdon shared their fear
So she bravely lit their schoolroom fire
The fire, the fire, she lit the schoolroom fire
Kitty Higdon bravely lit the schoolroom fire

Kitty cared for children well,
She didn’t threaten them with Hell,
She taught them how to think, but not to pray.
She helped them value school,
More than just a moral rule,
She taught them how to think and how to play.

Kitty Higdon thought it right not to teach by means of fright
And she bravely lit the children’s fire
The fire, the fire, she lit the children’s fire
Kitty Higdon bravely lit the children’s fire

Now Tom Higdon helped his wife
At the school throughout his life
And helped the village workers find their voice
He fought the Burston rector
Likewise the school inspector
And as councillor he was the village choice.

Tom Higdon lent a hand and the village took a stand
He bravely lit the workers’ fire
The fire, the fire, he lit the workers’ fire
Tom Higdon bravely lit the workers’ fire

Attempts were made to ban
Kitty Higdon and her man
Using charges based on threatened children’s lies
The pair were forced to leave
Which made all the village grieve
And caused the children all to go on strike.

They refused to go to school, disobeyed the rector’s rule
The children lit the Burston fire
The fire, the fire, they lit the Burston fire
The children lit the Burston fire

Working folk throughout the land
Heard the news and lent a hand
They sent money a new school for to build
The strike school soon appeared
And just as the rector feared
With village children it was quickly filled

The strike school lasted long till the Higdons both were gone.
Burston village lit the nation’s fire
A fire, a fire, Burston lit the nation’s fire,
Burston village lit the nation’s fire.

April 2017
On April 7th, our French night, the Ansell Centre seemed fuller than it has been for some time. Trio Saozon, with Breton singer Gwendal Moële, kicked off the evening with a selection of songs sung in French or Breton.

The were followed by the duo Dave Shepherd, from thje band Blowzabella, and Anna Pack on fiddle and melodeon respectively. They played instrumentals in a variety of styles.

Top of the bill were La Mère Folle, a six-piece band from the Morvan region of France. Among their number were Francois Tillerot on button accordeon and multi-instrumentalist Isabelle Blô on bagpipes and hurdy gurdy.
A few keen French dancers in the audience used some of the corners and sides of the hall, to practise their bourrées, mazurkas and schottisches.
We continued the French theme on Saturday 8th April with morning and afternoon music and dance workshops and an evening “bal”.

MAY 2017
Our main guests were the duo, Terry Mann and Fiona Larcombe. Fiona, an accomplished singer of traditional songs and a fine fiddle player was  expertly accompanied on melodeon , guitar and banjo by Terry Mann, who can, so they say, play anything  he turns his hand to. Terry is also a classical composer and a musical instrument maker. The variety of their repertoire and their informative, light-heated introductions made a real impact on our audience and we will certainly be having them back at some point in the future. You can hear some of their music at https://terryandfiona.bandcamp.com

Our Featured guest was local singer-guitarist Tom King, who came and did a floor spot a couple of years ago. Tom grew up on the folk scene frequenting festivals nationwide throughout his childhood and was influenced by everyone from Bob Dylan to Bellowhead.
On the night Tom put in a highly professional performance and impressed our audience.

JUNE 2017
Our June evening featured two main guests: Red Velvet and Face Furniture
Red Velvet, a five-piece band based in Cambridge, perform songs of the outsiders,
the outlaws and the dispossessed that our times demand – that’s the “red” part of their repertoire, and songs with a jazzy, bluesy feel – that’s the “velvet” part.  There’s more about Red Velvet here: https://www.lemonrock.com/redvelvet

Face Furniture, an acoustic duo from Colchester, comprises Adrian May on vocals, ukulele and guitar and Murray Griffin on double bass.
Adrian has been well-known in the area for many years, starting out as a writer and singer of comic songs which had audiences rolling in the aisles. Many of the songs they at Hadleigh were from Adrian’s  recent collection of poems, Discovering England. Find out more about the duo at their website: http://www.facefurnituremusic.com/
Our Featured guest was local folk legend Paddy Butcher from Elmswell near Bury St Edmunds. Paddy sang mainly traditional songs, accompanying himself on guitar. Neither his melodeon nor his hurdy gurdy out in an appearance this time. More on Paddy at https://acoustic-east.org.uk/?page_id=110
The evening began with three songs from Terry Hiscock.

JULY 2017
Our main guest on the last evening of our sixth season was the John Ward Trio from Lowestoft. The band consisted of John Ward – guitar, bodhran and vocals, Lynne Ward – vocals with Les Woodley – double bass, mandolin and vocals.
They performed songs from their latest album Sargasso. More information on John Ward’s website at: http://www.johnward.org.uk

Our Featured guest was local singer Richard Byers, who breathed new life into some traditional songs and introduced us to other more  contemporary songs, accompanying himself  tastefully on  guitar. Richard is a founding member of Bury Folk Collective and is involved with the organisation of Bury Folk Festival.
There were floorspots from Hazel Bradshaw, A Light Left On and Rachel Hack’s band, Revival.

SEPTEMBER 2015 – JULY 2016
10 September 2015
Our spot on the Saturday evening at Folk East was a great success. The audience for the first act, Rosewood, was somewhat thinner than we might have liked due to competition for the main stage, but thereafter things picked up. Terence Blacker, with his sometimes humorous and sometimes wistful songs put in the kind of polished performance we have come to expect from him, and East Creek Union finished off the evening in great style with their old-time American  music.

14 September 2015
The first night of our fifth – Yes, fifth! – season was another wonderful evening of varied music. Our first floor spot, the duo Wildwood Jack, had phoned us the evening before the club night to ask if they could book a floor spot. We said Yes and they entertained us with three great songs. We shall be asking them back as guests at some point in the future. Next was Alice Martin who sang three new songs in her inimitable, traditional style, this time unencumbered with guitar or madolin. And finally, Alan Day, played us lively tunes on his concertina (once he managed to get their case open!). Val and Simon, on melodoen and bagpipes, joined Alan for a final set of French Waltzes.
Our support act was The Ross Birkitt Trio, who played a varied set of songs and tunes with Ross, on guitar, Alison on flute, and Eliza on violin. Ross is their main vocalist, but Alsion and Eliza contributed tasteful harmonies on some of the songs. All three are excellent high-quality, professional musicians who clearly enjoy performing.
Our main act, The Askew Sisters, who last visited the club in January 2013, again put in a classy performance, alternating songs and tunes on fiddle and meloldeon.
Both are excellent musicians and Hazel Askew’s voice gets more assured every time we see them perform. It is hard to believe it’s now ten years since they started playing as a duo. Although they play in other combinations (Emily in Alma Fiddles and Hazel in Lady Maisery), there is something special about their act as sisters. They finished the evening off with their lovely arrangement of “If I were a Blackbird” and got the whole audience joining in with the chorus. You can see them performing this on YouTube here.

5 October 2015
This was another very varied night. We kicked off with  floor spots from  John Hughes, Bill n’Sheila (Johnston) and Revival (Rachel, Pete and Roy). Support was from the wonderful Quay Street Whalers from Orford and other parts of deepest Suffolk. They treated us to five or six lively chorus songs. Our main guests were Bryan Causton and Penni McLaren Walker.

Penni is an award-winning singer songwriter in the folk tradition. Bryan is a multi-instrumentalist who brought his band Strangeworld to the club in 2012 and went down a storm with our audience. You can find out more about this talented duo on their website.

6  November 2015
This was an unusual evening from two points of view: firstly, we adapted the standard pattern of the evening to accommodate the contribution from the main guests, Martin Newell and The Hosepipe Band,  and, secondly,  the main focus of attention was modern poetry rather than folk music.
Martin Newell is probably  known to many people as a rock musician (Cleaners from Venus / The Brotherhood of Lizards), as a journalist – he writes a regular column for the East Anglian Daily Times, as a poet – or all three. The Hosepipe Band is mainly a ceilidh band, but does on occasion perform original music to listen to.
Martin and the band performed two of Martin’s long poems: Song of the Waterlily and Black Shuck. Martin read his poems, accompanied by original music composed by the band. Some of this was  folky, but because members of the band come from very different musical backgrounds, there were elements of classical, rock and jazz. You can find out much more about this project and hear samples of the poetry and the music here. CDs of this poetry-with-music show are available from the band’s website.
The two poems were separated by the evening’s support act Phil Lyons who treated us to a selection of his sea songs. Phil gave us  a number of remarkable “factoids”, including the story of what happened to Nelson’s body after he died at Trafalgar, and the practice of cannibalism by sailors who were shipwrecked and needed food to survive.
You can hear a couple of Phil’s songs here.

12 December 2015
Our last club evening of 2015 was held on December 4 when main guests Maggie & Stan were supported by popular local singer-song-writer Jackie Ord.
It was a great, fun-filled night which started with carols. The audience joined in enthusiastically, singing from sheets they had printed from the website or which we provided, Maggie & Stan together with club organisers sang or accompanied the singing on an array of instruments. Jackie Ord followed and also managed to get people joining in on some of her songs, especially her ever-popular autobiographical Number Two Riverview and the slightly cheeky Doing it Myself.
You can find out more about Jackie, hear some of her songs and download her album from her website.

Main guests Maggie & Stan (aka Pluck and Squeeze) were up to their usual standard, with their highly entertaining selection of songs an instrumentals. They made excellent
contact with our audience and encouraged them to participate wherever possible. Their mix of comic music-hall songs, such as Did your first wife ever do that?*, Stan’s speciality  dialect songs like the Geordie  The Lass Doon On The Quay and their bouncy dance tunes, make them a unique act. One of the highlights of the evening was Maggie’s version of a lovely Graham Miles song,  Exercise 77, which she had learnt from the singing of Martyn Wyndham-Read a couple of weeks earlier. They performed in costume at Whitby Folk Week in the summer – see photo above.
*You can hear a 1930s version of  Did your first wife ever do that? sung by Marie Kendall here.

18 January 2016
We kicked off the new year in great style with, as ever, a varied programme of floor singers and guests. Terry Hiscock started the evening, followed by The Inside Out Trio and finally Martin Walker. Our support act, A Light Left On, comprised  Gabriela Eva, vocals and guitar and David Brown on keyboards. The majority of their set comprised songs skilfully sung by Gabriela in a style which she herself on her website describes as “Hip-hop/Folk/Soul/Jazz”. Her sparse, rhythmic guitar playing, together with David’s jazzy piano playing suited these songs perfectly. David ended off the set with a solo song of his own called Cake, a clever and funny song which you can hear on YouTube.

Our main guest was the incomparable Kath Tait with her wonderfully funny, provocative, sometimes rude songs about everyday life. Her own family life is one of the subjects when she tells her first husband was a Fascist and her third was in prison. Performing in a woolly hat and accompanying herself on guitar, mouth-organ and English concertina, Kath sings her own songs with a deadpan, slightly mournful expression which reminds me slightly on Buster Keaton

The last time Kath came to Hadleigh, the evening was held in the URC next door and she remembers feeling a bit embarrassed singing the word of some of her ruder songs. If you didn’t make it, have a listen to Bastard on YouTube or Lentils on her website – the same page has the words to many of her best songs.

17 February 2016
On February 5th  when our main guests were East Creek Union, purveyors of high-quality old-time  American music.
When they first played in Hadleigh, they were a banjo-fiddle duo, but have now expanded to a five-piece which includes ukele, double bass, harmonica and more vocals. They sounded very professional at the club. Support was from Tony Winn, an excellent singer-songwriter.

We started off our evening with four very different floor singers: Alice Martin, Stephen Foster-Pilkington, Megan Wisdom and Rory Gilbert – very varied but all excellent musicians.

21 March 2016
On March 11th  main guests were Pete Cooper and Richard Bolton made a welcome return to Hadleigh. The last time they came – three years ago – the club was held in the United Reform Church as The Ansell Centre was being refurbished.
Pete – fiddle, mandolin, vocals – and Richard – cello, guitar, vocals – played dance tunes from English and other folk traditions, sang British and American folk songs and presented exciting new pieces of their own.  There’s plenty more information about them on their web site.

Support came from Robert Castellani, first-class guitarist who did percussive things with his instrument that left our audience gobsmacked.
Find out more about Robert from his website.

 

22 April 2016
Our second Hadleigh French Music and Dance Weekend took place in the Ansell Centre from 15-17 April and was very another great success.

The Friday evening concert featured  Richard Overton and Maria O’Brien, Gwendal Moële & Paul Riley, Dave Shepherd & Anna Pack and the Paris-based Duo Synkro: Francois Tillerot & Isabelle Blô
  
Richard & Maria                                     Gwendal & Paul

 
                     Dave & Anna                                              Isabelle & François

These were the Saturday dance and music workshops:
Morning
Dave Shepherd – French fiddle music from the Auvergne
Anna Pack – Diatonic accordeon (aka melodeon)
Duo Synkro – Dances from Morvan and Bresse
Bof! with Phil and Linda Lyons – French and Breton dance basics
Afternoon
Dave & Anna – Dances from Brittany and Western France
Duo Synkro  – Tunes from Jura and Bressse
Gwendal Moële & Catherine Legg – Singing for dancing
Saturday Evening
Dance with  Bof!, Duo Synkro, Dave Shepherd and Anna Pack, with an interval spot from Gwendal Moële, Catherine Legg and the singing for dancing workshoppers.

There was some casual French music and dancing in the Ansell Centre on Sunday afternoon.

8 May 2016
We had another very varied night on May 6th with main guests Na Mara (Rob Garcia and Paul MacNamara) and support from club stalwart  Paddy Butcher (standing in for Swallow and the Wolf who were unable to make it.)
Na Mara

The evening began with floor spots from newcomer James Eastwood, Simon and Val Haines, and Angela Dennis.

9 June 2016
Our June evening was an experiment which seemed to work very well. Instead of Floor spots followed by a support act followed by a main guest, we had three main guests in what we called our Acoustic East Evening. Acoustic East is a collective currently made up of 25 singers or groups from East Anglia – see all the acts here.
Our  acts were, in order of appearance: Dragonfruit, No Strings Attached and Rosewood, offering three very different aspects of folk music.
Dragonfruit, comprising Ian Heywood on guitar and vocals and Clare Woodock on violin and vocals, kicked off with a set of pop songs from the 1920s to the 1990s as well as some written by the duo themselves.

No Strings Attached, which features Gwendal Moële and Catherine Legg, sing unaccompanied traditional songs in English, French, Breton and Spanish. Glorious harmonies.

Rosewood, Simon and Val Haines and Phil Lyons, brought the evening to and end with their somewhat eclectic repertoire of songs and tunes, some traditional, some contemporary – with a touch of anarchic chaos and humour.

12 July 2016
Our last club night of the season was on July 1 when our main guest was singer-songwriter from the North-East, Richard Grainger, who was born into a musical family and served his time in Teesside Folk Clubs joining the Fettlers in 1986  before launching a solo career which has taken him round the world and produced 11 albums of original and traditional songs.

Richard is a fine guitarist and now regarded by many, as Teesside and North Yorkshire’s best living folk -songwriter.  He managed to get our audience singing along to many of his songs with a chorus.
Richard was ably supported by the fabulous Tango Innominado, a group of tango musicians and their dancers who played and danced to great Arentine tango music.

The evening started with floor spots from local singers Alice Martin and Hazel Bradshaw.

23 July 2016
This year we managed to squeeze in an extra folk evening in Hadleigh when we booked the super-trio, The Firestarters of Leiden. Nobody would have heard that name before because it was their first and possibly their penultimate public gig. But the people who came to dance to them knew the three virtuoso musicians very well: Blowzabella’s long-time fiddle player Dave Shepherd, the demon accordeonist from Belgium Simon Gielen, and world famous hurdy gurdy player Nigel Eaton.
This was a one-off gig in preparation for a performance in France the following weekend. Whether they’ll play again is a not known. We were very lucky to have them.

22 August 2016
This year, Hadleigh Folk Club session at Folk East Festival at Glemham, north of Woodbridge, was on the Sunday morning 10.30 – 12.00 in the Broad Roots Club tent.  Not, one would have thought, a particularly popular time to sit in a tent listening to folk music.  BUT it worked. We managed to fill all the seats and have some people standing for an excellent three-guest programme.

Megan Wisdom kicked off proceedings with her authentic folk songs sung in a beautifully clear voice. She varied her set by inviting two “special guests”: Will Pod, with whom she sang The White Cockade, and then Ella Beal, who did a slow step dance while Megan sang the wonderful Betsy Bell. Megan performed with great poise and made a real impression on the audience.

  
Megan and Will                                                              Megan and Ella

Next were Gwendal Moële and Paul Riley performing their French chansons. They sang songs by Jacques Brel, including the powerful Port of Amsterdam, Charles Trenet’s greatest hit La Mer, La Vie en Rose from the repertoire of the legendary Edith Piaf and a franglais version of Boum, with Gwendal singing in French and Paul Riley singing the Petula Clarke version in English. Great stuff.

Our final guest was Kath Tait, a singer-songwriter, originally from New Zealand but now a long-term resident of London. Her set started with her song Lentils, which you can watch on YouTube here. Kath has an amazing capacity to write songs which make you laugh and cry at the same time. Many of her songs are based on her own life experiences and as a listener one can’t help identifying with some of the situations she describes. Her demure stage appearance belies a great sense of humour which she reveals gradually as her set progresses. My favourite introductory line is: “My first husband was a fascist and died of spontaneous combustion.” It introduces a song about intolerance and bigotry.
Kath’s set went down a storm at Folk East.  You can find out more about her, listen to recordings etc on her website here.

 

SEPTEMBER 2014 – JULY 2015
7 September 2014
We kicked off our fourth season with an excellent line-up. We started, as usual, with three floor spots from Rosewood, who played three tracks from their recently released EP, Paddy Butcher, who sang three songs associated with the late great Peter Bellamy and Gwendal Moele and Paul Riley, who sang three French chansons – including Edith’s Non, je ne regrette rien.
Support was from the St Albans duo Na Mara with their hard-hitting political songs. They were followed by the ever-popular couple Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer with a wonderful variety of songs and instrumentals.

4 October 2014
“Its amazing! Your evenings are so varied.” This is what one of our main guests, Issy Emeney, said after our October folk night. And there’s no denying that. We started with two floor spots, the first from local singer-guitarist Paul Riley with his bluesy songs. The second was from Astrakan, a couple from Brittany who sang and played three traditional Breton songs, accompanied on the guitar and unusually the oud, a middle-eastern stringed instrument similar to a lute.
Our support act was the Crayford family from Sudbury. Their line-up was clarinet, guitar, fiddle and ukulele. Their act consisted of a wide variety of pieces, ranging from classical to Western Swing. Their final rendition of the Tom Jones hit Delilah had our audience joining in and laughing whenever Emma added a phrase on the Swanee whistle.

Main guests, Issy and David Emeney, originally from Sudbury but now living in Cheddar, put on their usual polished performance singing a mixture of traditional songs and Issy’s own compositions. Issy’s melodeon playing is first rate and David’s guitar work is superb.

11  October 2014
Our Song-writing competition has now ended. We received nine entries which are now being considered by the  judges. The result will be announced in early November and the winning song will be published on this news page. Thanks to everyone who entered.

8  November 2014
Our November club night was probably the most varied in all the time we’ve been running.
We started, as usual, with our floor spots: songs from Jackie Ord, Keith Sadler and Alice Martin. Jackie and Alice sang songs with choruses and invited our audience to join – as ever, they needed no invitation! Keith sang two very different songs which invited us to share important emotional experiences.
Our support act was a first for us. We had two couples dancing  to the music of the wonderful Tango Innominado. One of the dancers gave us some basic information about the different kinds of dances they did: tango, milonga and vals. The expert dancers demonstrated these to music from the Golden Age of Argentine Tango – the 1930s-1950s, music composed by giants of tango music, including Carlos Gardel and Anibal Troilo. The band line-up consisted of Violin, Piano, Accordeon / Vibrandoneon and Double Bass.Tango Innominado
We hope that some of our audience might be attracted to try tango lessons at one of the classes put on for beginners by Suffolk Tango at Kesgrave, Henley or East Bergholt. Details and times can be found on their website at www.SuffolkTango.org.uk
Our main guests were to have been Andy Clarke and Steve Tyler, but sadly Andy was not well and so could not sing. Fortunately for us, Steve brought an excellent replacement: Katy Marchant. They play together regularly, both as a duo and  in a variety of early music and folk groups. (Have a look at Steve’s website – you’ll be amazed). The range of their music and the variety of instruments they played during their set were breath-taking. Steve is best known as a hurdy gurdy player, but also played harp, drum, tamborine and cittern. Katy played recorder, shawm, bagpipes and sang some wonderful ancient songs. Their set comprised medieval and traditional, and some of their compositions. The audience were spell bound and gave them a great reception. All in all a wonderful night.
Steve Tyler and Katy Marchant

10 December 2014
We had another excellent night on Friday December 5. Instead of the normal floor spots we had carol-singing. Led by Steve and Juliet Wiles with Val and Simon Haines we stumbled good-humouredly through seven carols, one round and a poetry reading. Our audience likes nothing better than a good sing – and everyone joined in brilliantly.
Support was from East Creek Union, a recently expanded local four-piece band, whose line-up includes fiddle, banjo, double bass, ukulele and vocals. Great authentic-sounding old-time American music.
Our main guests were a girl trio from Hertfordshire Said the Maiden, who sang a mixture of a capella songs and songs accompanied by fiddle, guitar and whistle. The sound of their three voices singing in perfect harmony filled the Ansell Centre and delighted our audience. They did a brilliant version of the Dolly Parton classic, Jolene and also sang one of my favourite folk songs Spencer the Rover

20 January 2015
We kicked off the new year with what amounted to a main act with two support acts. The evening started with two instrumental pieces from Woodbridge guitarist Robert Castellani. This was followed by our first support act: Amuseon from Picardy in northern France.

They sang a played a variety of French tunes and songs from their regio on bagpipes, accordeon and percussion. You can find out more about the group on their website.
They were followed by Essex duo Colin and Karen Cater with their songs and tunes traditional and contemporary.

The couple who run, folk publishing company Hedingham Fair and Duton Hill Folk Club are stalwarts of the East Anglian music scene.

Our main guests were a young couple who did support at the club about a year ago, Danny Pedler and Rosie Butler-Hall. These two dynamic musicians who formed as a duo in late 2011. Danny, from Essex, plays hurdy gurdy and accordion and Rosie, from Wiltshire, plays five-string fiddle and sings. They play mostly English and French songs and tunes and enjoy a close relationship with the audience at their live gigs. (This was certainly true of their visit to Hadleigh) Their music is characterised by flowing melodies, intricate harmonies and strong rhythms while keeping the flavour of the traditional style.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this duo in the future. You can find out more about them and listen to samples of their music on their website.

7  February 2015
Another excellent night with floor spots from Phil Lyons – who admirably stood in for two singers who didn’t show – followed by Mike Green and High Ward.
Support was from Holly Johnston, who had travelled all the way from Scotland where she now lives. Holly sang mainly her own beautifully crafted songs and then sang two accompanied by her father Bill on guitar. Watch Holly and Bill sing The Sun and the Moon and Richard Thompson’s  I wanna see the bright lights tonight on YouTube here:

Our main guests were the talented Sam Kelly Trio with their eclectic repertoire of traditional folk songs, blues and contemporary compositions. Sam himself has wonderfully flexible voice which can sound raw and Seth-Lakeman-like but then changes to sound gentle or bluesy.

Sam played guitar with Jamie Francis on tasteful banjo and Evan Carson on percussion. Their arrangements were imaginative and their playing was tight. If the folk world has any sense – I do wonder sometimes – it will snap this trio up. If you didn’t see them in Hadleigh, you can catch them at this year’s Folk East on the weekend of 21 – 23 August at Glemham Park. You can find out more about the trio here.

9  March 2015
Our folk club evening on Friday March 6 was devoted to music from France, Brittany and Belgium. In addition to being a normal club evening, it was also  a taster for a full day of music and dance held on Saturday March 7.
Bof! opened the Friday evening, followed by Katskoo from Belgium, local band Trio Saozon and finally Duo Shepherd-Gielen.

During the day on Saturday there were music and dance workshops with a dance (Bal) in the evening. The evening dance featured Bof!, Katskoo, Duo Mistral (Chris and Caroline Shaw) and Duo Shepherd-Gielen, which from time to time became Trio Shepherd-Gielen-Eaton when they were joined by ex-Blowzabella hurdy gurdy player Nigel Eaton. This provided the perfect opportunity for a mass performance of Nigel’s Halsway Scottische – 13 musicians present knew the tune and joined in. This can be seen and heard on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/simon.haines.37

These are photos of all the bands who played over the two days.

 
Duo Shepherd-Gielen (England/Belgium)         Katskoo (Belgium)

  Trio Saozon (UK/Brittany)                                          Duo Mistral (UK)

Bof! (UK)

This was the complete programme for the two days in pdf format
March 6-7 Programme-1  /  March 6-7 Programme-2

15 April 2015
Our folk club on April 10 featured Cambridge quartet The Jumping Beans with support from  other-daughter duo Alice and Megs Martin. Floor spots from Simon and Val Haines, Stan and Maggie Moore and the Columbines. It was another well-attended night.
The Jumping Beans

26 May 2015
Our club night on May 1st featured main guest Terence Blacker with his intelligent and witty songs.

Support was from Elaine Barker and there were floor spots from Anna Baldwin, John Cunningham, Henry Lawrence and Terry Hiscock.

6  June 2015
Another great night at the club last night with main guest Louise Jordan with her songs and poems – some traditional but many of her own compositions – all tastefully accompanied on guitar and keyboard.
 
Louise Jordan                                       Where’s Spot

Support was from Essex band Where’s Spot who treated us to a wide range of songs including an intriguing medley of four Beatles numbers, skilfully woven together. Great harmonies.
The evenings three floor spots were special, too. We started off with Tom King from Felixstowe who sang three songs, then we heard three songs each from the joint winners of our last year’s Song-writing competition; Megan Wisdom (The Taunting Cuckoo) and Ellie Masterman (Patchwork). Here are the words of the two excellent winning songs.

 July 2015
There is no club night in August, but there will a Hadleigh Folk Club session at Folk East on Saturday 22 August featuring Rosewood, Terence Blacker and East Creek Union. We’ll be on the Garden Stage from 7.20 – 9.20 pm.
Our fifth season kicks off on September 4th with main guests The Askew Sisters and support from the Ross Birkitt Trio.

3  July 2015
Our fourth season finished on a high note with our guests Sally Ironmonger and Brian Carter. Several of their songs had our audience in stitches, but these were balanced by more serious songs, some of them documenting the decline of the shipyards in their home town of Chatham.

Sally Ironmonger and Brian

Support was from Park and Ride, Cara Park and Don Qui Ride (aka Nelson Surfquake). Their quirky set included the stylophone version of the 1960s hit Telstar and Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime.  (Both parts were played by Don/Nel)
Park and Ride – Nel on guitar and Cara on stylophone

Great floorspots too, from Tricker, Green and Ward; Rachel Hack and guitarist Peter; and The Columbines. Rachel’s slow version of She Moved through the Fair is wonderful.

JANUARY – JULY 2014
28 July 2014
FOLK EAST – 15-17 August, Glemham Hall
•   Hadleigh Folk Club at Folk East
We will be organising a 90-minute programme in the Club Tent at Folk East Festival from
4.00 – 6.30 pm on Friday August 15. Appearing, not necessarily in this order will be
•   Phil Lyons
•   Trio Saozon
•   Park and Ride (below)
•   Bof! will be playing on the Broad Roots Stage at 23.00-00.30. This spot is programmed as
a concert spot, but last year, at the same event, some of the audience were moved to
dance

TWO MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
•   October 11 – a Mini-Bal with Bof! and Trio Saozon, starting at 8pm in the Ansell Centre.
In the afternoon there will be a dance workshop, so you can brush up your French
dance; this will be followed by a shared supper.
                      Trio Saozon

•   March 6 2015 – The folk club evening will consist of a concert of French music with Bof!,
Trio Saozon,  Katskoo from Belgium, and Duo Shepherd-Gielen.

•    March 7 2015 – Music and dance workshops, followed by an evening Bal with Bof!, Duo
Mistral,  Katskoo, and Duo Shepherd-Gielen.
                                               Duo Shepherd-Gielen
•    All events at the Ansell Community Centre, Market Place, Hadleigh, IP7 5DL. Further details to be announced

4 July 2014
Last Friday evening was the last of our evenings before the start of our next – fourth – season on September 5th. Despite the hot humid atmosphere, and Wimbledon on the TV, a good sized audience turned out.

We started with three floor spots, the first was from Dave Tricker who originally planned to perform with Mike Green, but Mike was unable to be with us, so Dave did two songs on his own: The Good Ship Kangaroo and Icarus (Anne Lister). Next Marz Harley, a recent arrival on the local music scene treated us to two songs accompanying himself on funky, jazzy guitar. Finally we had two self-penned songs from the Ipswich duo Trick: Nick on guitar and Trudy on whistle, melodica and percussion.

Our support act comprised two musicians well-known to our audience, but not performing  together: Paddy Butcher (melodeon and hurdy gurdy) and Phil Lyons (vocals and guitar). As Echoes of Bal Musette they introduced us to Bal Musette, a particular  style of French music and dance that  became popular Paris in the 1880s with the influx of migrants from rural parts of France who poured into the capital to find work bringing their regional music with them. Paddy and Phil played examples of the kinds of music and dance that would have been played at a bal musette: the bourrée, the schottische, and the mazurka.

Our main guests were Mick and Sarah Graves from Maldon in Essex. Sarah on English concertina, banjo and vocals, and Mick on fiddle and mandolin provided us with a great end-of-season performance. Mick and Sarah do most of their playing  in The Metric Foot Band and, sadly, don’t get to play as a duo very often these days, though one would never have realised this from their polished performance.   They played a varied set of songs and instrumentals. Highlights of their set for me were their unusual version of The Bonny Light Horseman Sarah’s clog dance – Sam Sherry’s Waltz, and their final song You can’t teach an Englishman to tango.

11 June 2014
Our June 6th evening was special in several ways. Our main guest Tony Hall, from Norfolk, has been one of the country’s most well-respected melodeon players for several decades now.  An appearance at Colchester Folk Club in the 1970s was what inspired Simon to take up the instrument nearly forty years ago – yes, he’s been going that long. In addition to his solo appearances at clubs and festivals all over the country and recording a number of  albums – vinyl and CD – Tony has played on many important recordings by other folk luminaries, including No Roses, one of the first Albion Band recordings, featuring singer Shirley Collins, Silly Sisters, the influential album from Maddy Prior and June Tabor, No Relation, by Young Tradition members  Royston and Heather Wood, and Penguin Eggs, the seminal album by Nic Jones. In addition to being a marvellous singer and instrumentalist, Tony is a humorous, self-effacing performer in the old style, slightly wary of the direction the modern folk scene is going. By trade Tony is  a  cartoonist, so instead of selling CDs, he offered the Hadleigh audience a chance to buy his collection of melodeon cartoons called Squeezeboxing, an Uneasy Guide. Here’s one I love:

Supporting Tony was virtuoso cellist / composer Kathryn Coombs accompanied by The Hosepipe Band’s Geoff Coombs on mandolin and Sarah Allen, from Flook on flute. What a wonderful sound the trio made on their first public outing.  They go by the name of Chodompa Music, but it’d be hard to categorise their music using the normal genres, but I guess  “jazz” would come closest. All the pieces were composed by Kathryn herself and each created its own distinct mood.

There were also floor spots from Henry Lawrence and Peter Rushmer who both sang and accompanied themselves on guitar. And a last minute contribution, a dramatic rendition of The Galway Shawl  from Graham Schofield.

This was also the first folk event attended by three of Simon’s grandchildren. Ivy and Stanley were too young to know what on earth was going on, but three-and-a-half-year-old Rufus couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He’d brought along his own toy plastic melodeon, but was too tired to stay long enough to hear Tony play it. Here he is in full flight.

3 May 2014
Another brilliant, packed out evening on May 2nd
Floor spots from
•  The Institukes – a six-piece band featuring clarinet, guitar, ukuleles, flute and vocals
•  Dave Baalham and Poppy – guitar and vocals
•  Ross Birkett with daughter Eliza – songs with guitar and mesmerising violin playing

Support was from Stan Bloor and Maggie Moore, otherwise known as Pluck and Squeeze. They treated us a variety of excellent songs and tunes on melodeon, accordeon, guitar and ukulele. Songs ranged from tales of industrial revolution hardship to music-hall ditties. One of these, Did your first wife ever do that? had everyone in fits as they joined in with the chorus. This song was in marked contrast to the melodramatic story of Grace Darling whose superhuman efforts saved the crew of a ship off the Northumberland coast.

The evening’s main guests were John Ward and Mario Price with  added vocals from Lynne Ward. Some of our audience remember John and Mario from their previous appearance at the club and, as before, they went down a storm. Their material is also very varied, ranging from John’s inventive songs, many of which revolve around fishing and his native Norfolk town of Lowestoft, to chorus-driven traditional English songs, like Yarmouth Town and Byker Hill, to tune sets featuring Mario’s fast and furious violin playing – particularly notable on an Eastern European tune.  The last song in their set featured a blistering bodhran solo from John. This thoroughly professional, entertaining duo brought the evening to successful close. I am sure we will be seeing more of them in the future.
Interestingly, when audience members were choosing which CD to buy, they asked, “Which one has the song about the daughter leaving home on?” and “Has he recorded Leaving without leaving, a song about the slow decline of relationship?”

7 April 2014
We had an excellent night on April 4th with a near-capacity audience who enjoyed a varied programme
Floor spots from
•  Anna Baldwin – a fiddle tune and two songs
•  Barry Askew  – tunes two on melodeon and one on concertina  – Barry’s first time in front of a large audience
•  Vere and Wyn – two songs
The support act for the evening was by The Larks, a local duo who sang mostly their own songs. Liz Miller is the lead vocalist accompanying herself on mandolin. Her partner, Chris Wilbraham plays guitar and adds some vocal harmonies. The Larks sang have just brought out a 5-track CD Field. Their set included most of the songs on this recording, including Mermaid, Field and Whistle and Ride. There is more information on the Larks’ website.

The evening’s main guest was Andy Mathewson, a singer-guitarist from Berkshire. He amazed our audience with his guitar playing and varied material learned from 1920s American blue and ragtime guitarist Blind Blake, Billy Holiday, The Boswell Sisters as well as some of his own songs. Andy also played a delightful instrumental version of the Paul McCartney song I will. His knowledge of twentieth century  music was impressive. We will certainly be booking Andy again some time in the future. Find out more about the musician and his music at www.andymathewson.com .

15 March 2014
You may have seen in the East Anglian Daily Times (Friday 14th March), BBC Suffolk’s Stephen Foster wrote a short feature about our song-writing competition in which he said “The winning songs will both be aired on my radio show on BBC Radio Suffolk.” That’s a great offer and should be a real incentive to all those budding song writers out there.

9 March 2014
We had another evening of very varied music last Friday with three new Floor spot acts:
•  Neil Hadden playing tunes expertly on the piano accordeon
•  The Complicated Folk, a three-piece local band who played original songs on guitar,
mandolin and  percussion (on empty guitar case).
•  Holly Johnson  who sang her own songs accompanied by her guitar and a flute.
Support was from Halfcrownstreet – Simon Haines, Val Haines and Phil Lyons
Our main guest was singer Steve Turner who put in a great performance singing mainly traditional songs accompanying himself mainly on English concertina and guitar. He also played instrumentals on mandolin.
Our next evening on April 4 has main guest Andy Mathewson from Berkshire. Originally Andy was one half of a duo with Lisa Winship, but some months ago their musical partnership broke up – one of the risks associated with booking bands a year in advance. Luckily, Andy is an excellent solo performer of what he calls vintage acoustic music. This includes 1920s blues as well as music from other  parts of the twentieth century. Andy is an excellent guitarist, and also write some of his own songs for which he has won awards.

6 March 2014
PRET A DANSER is a new group meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at the Minories in Colchester. The aim is to learn and enjoy French and Breton traditional music and dance.
At 7.00 pm musicians are welcome to come to learn and share tunes for the dance. From 8.00 -10.00 pm there will be dance tuition for newcomers and an opportunity for all to dance. Come and experience the fun of dancing to live music and/or playing it! Admission £5.
More information on Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/367539256717896/

20 February 2014
Our next club night is on March 7th when we welcome main guest Steve Turner. You’ll find lots off interesting information about Steve and be able to hear samples of his music at http://steve-turner.co.uk/index.htm. Support if from Halfcrownstreet – a close relative of the four -piece group Crownstreet who played the first of our music nights in September 2011. Singer-guitarist, Phil Lyons, who doesn’t regular floor spots and supports at the club has replaced Stuart and Bobby Moffat.

We had an excellent evening on February 7th despite the fact that Alvar Smith could not make it due to a bad throat. We had  floor spots from Steve and Kate Dines, Alice Martin, Colin and Karen Cater and Sally Ironmonger. And, in Alvar’s absence, we had great support from Roger Middleditch, Eammon Andrews, Lindsay Want-Beal and her 14-year-old step-dancing daughter Ella – stalwarts of the Suffolk music scene. All of these performers can be seen regularly at the session at The Harbour Inn Southwold  – on the second Thursday of the month. Main guests Tin River, from Bungay, gave us a great selection of songs and tunes on melodeon, whistle and guitar. This was very much a local, East Anglian evening that was appreciated by our  loyal Hadleigh audience.
Eammon sang a song that is becoming a firm favourite in our household: Man All Tattered and Torn – this version by Suffolk singer Geoff Ling.

Lindsay Beal left on melodeon, playing for Ella Beal dancing

14 Jan 2014
Our next night is on February 7th, when our guests are the trio Tin River Band from Norfolk. We first saw them playing at the Harbour Inn in Southwold, when they accompanied melodeon wizard Tony Hall as well as singing songs and playing tunes of their own.
Our support act will be Alvar Smith, one of our favourite singers at sessions in Suffolk pubs, like the Snape Crown and the Harbour Inn. Here’s a recently recorded YouTube clip of Alvar singing the classic chorus song, Pleasant and Delightful, at The Bell, Walberswick:

3 Jan 2014
Happy New Year! We had another great night on January 3rd when our main guests were Colchester Waits with their ancient instruments and jolly tunes and songs. Support was from Paul Riley and Gwendal Moele singing mainly French chansons, including songs by Edith Piaf (Hyme a l’Amour), Charles Trenet (La Mer), Jacques Brel (the English version of Ne me quitte pas). Unexpectedly, they finished their set with a rousing rendition of La Marselleiaise, with its inspiring chorus:
      Aux armes, citoyens,  Formez vos bataillons,  Marchons, marchons!  etc.
Amazingly many of our audience joined in – with feeling!