Oxford to Cambridge

Living close to Oxford, I have done a number of barn dances and concerts at Oxford University Colleges but yesterday evening, I travelled to Cambridge University to do a barn dance with 'Strung Up'.
It is unusual for me to travel 75 miles for a barn dance but we drove to Wolfson College Cambridge during the Friday night rush hour. Surprisingly, it was a clear run to Cambridge after we all met up at Stewkley.
The students came in after a dinner and all entered into the spirit, even though the dimmed lights made it look more like a disco than a barn dance!


Strung Up - Ed Houghton (guitar) Adrian Broadway (bass) Jonathan Ginn (fiddle) Tim Mason (banjo)

Tim Rooke calling in the darkened hall

Summer in West Cork

The summer Season in West Cork, Eire was very busy and very successful for me with solo gigs and performances with various bands.
I played a weekly solo gig at Fitzpatrick’s, Kilcrohane every Wednesday from 30th July through August.
Matt and Lorna Morton travelled down from County Mayo to join me for a weekend of bookings as ‘Gawkey’ – Fri 1 Aug at the Fastnet Bar, Goleen, Sat 2 Aug at The Tin Pub, Ahakista and Sun 3 Aug at Fitzpatrick’s, Kilcrohane. We played traditional Irish tunes and songs which were well received at each venue.

Gawkey at the Fastnet Bar, Goleen

I played in various sessions. The one below was a mixture of tunes and songs and took place in O’Meara’s Bar, Goleen with young and old joining in.

Session in O'Meara's Bar

Session in O'Meara's Bar

On the 10 Aug, I played with ‘Take the Floor’ at the Myross Wood Fete, Leap.

‘Take the Floor’ at the Myross Wood

The following weekend I played bookings Chris and Marilyn Mills from Oxford as ‘The Quarries.’ We played Fitzpatrick’s, Kilcrohane on Fri 15 Aug and the Tin Pub, Ahakista on Sat 16 Aug.

Quarries at The Tin Pub, Ahakista

The Tin Pub is a strange venue with breath taking views as can be seen below:

View from the Tin Pub beach

The entrance to the Tin Pub

Bound for West Cork

I'm just about to embark on my annual musical pilgrimage to West Cork. There's a hectic programme of performing and sessions for the next month. I'm doing solo gigs and performing with 2 groups coming over from England and 2 Irish groups.


'Gawkey' - me with Matt and Lorna Morton

A couple of dates are unconfirmed but the bookings are as follows:
July 30 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - solo
Aug 1 Fastnet Inn, Goleen - Gawkey
Aug 2 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - Gawkey
Aug 6 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - solo
Aug 8 Fastnet Inn, Goleen - Goleen Rovers
Aug 10 Myross Wood Fete near Leap - Take the Floor
Aug 13 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - solo
Aug 15 Fastnet Inn, Goleen - Quarries
Aug 16 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - Quarries
Aug 17 Goleen Festival - Goleen Rovers
Aug 20 Fitzpatrick's, Kilcrohane - solo
Aug 22 O'Mearas, Goleen - Goleen Rovers
We always get a really warm welcome from Eileen at Fitzpatricks and the audience made up of locals and holiday makers.
There are plenty of mixed music sessions in Goleen and Bantry and a particularly good traditional session at Ballydehob.


'Take the Floor' at Caseys Hotel, Baltimore

Goleen Rovers at the Goleen Festival 2007

Irish in Haddenham

Yesterday evening was the twice monthly meeting of the Irish session at the Rose and Thistle in Haddenham, Bucks.
It is unlike a normal session. It takes place in the back room of the pub so there are only the musicians in the room.
In the first half of the evening we try out more obscure Irish jigs, reels, polkas and hornpipes collected by Tony Blay. This is more of a workshop session led by Tony. The tunes are arranged into sets and rehearsed so that they become part of the group repertoire.
The second half of the evening is more in the traditional session style with different musicians playing Irish tunes and others joining in.


There is a good variety of Irish folk instruments played at the session: fiddle, whistle, flute, concertina, accordion, banjo, mandolin guitar and bodhran.
Pictured above are Dave, me and Penny.


Pictured above - Tony and Tim.
There are fourteen members of the group with about 8-10 attending at any one session.



Bruce
The session takes place on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month starting at 8.15

Festival Time

Yesterday was the start of the festival season for Haddenham Hoofers - two festivals in a day!

We started off at the Buckingham Festival at lunchtime, performing outside the old gaol in the town centre.

The Hoofers' Band - Ed Houghton (guitar) Tim Brooks (fiddle) me (double bass) Tim Mason (5 string banjo) and Penny Heydon (fiddle)

We then went on to the Haddenham Beer Festival to perform in the afternoon. The weather stayed sunny (despite the forecast) and the Beer Festival was extremely busy.

This photo shows the Hoofers getting ready for the first dance with the beer festival crowds looking on.

The Haddenham Hoofers are performing at the Sidmouth Folk Festival 1-8 August and Towersey Village Festival 21-25 August

Kinderhook plays at a Schools Folk Dance Festival

Today, 'Kinderhook' played at the High Wycombe and District Primary Schools Folk Dance Festival. This is an annual outdoor event and Kinderhook have played at the festival for the last six years. About fourteen or fifteen schools take part which means over 200 children. As you can see from the photos, the weather was good and all seemed to enjoy this annual traditional event.

Trevor Toms on guitar and me on banjo playing for the dancing

Traditional Music Sessions

There are a number of traditional music sessions in Bucks and Oxfordshire where musicians regularly meet to play tunes together. They all vary slightly in what goes on and who goes. Most include the occasional song - some include quite a few!
The sessions I like the best are those where it's mostly traditional tunes played by a variety of instruments (not too many accordians or melodions!) by good players. I usually take my Gold Tone tenor banjo so that I can play the tunes rather than accompany them.
My favourite traditional music sessions are:
1. The White Swan at Whitchurch, Bucks which takes place on the 3rd Monday of the month. Some really good musicians turn up here and many tunes are played during the evening (and hardly any songs). The Landlord (from the Czech Republic) serves up loads of free food to the musicians during the evening. The photos below show the session from last Monday at the White Swan.


I'm at the back of the photo on banjo with Matt Morton (from Kinderhook) next to me on flute.


Concertinas together! Pippa with the Anglo Concertina and Pete with the English Concertina - both excellent players. I see Pete North at the Killigworth Castle session mentioned below.

2. The Killingworth Castle Inn, Wootten near Woodstock, Oxfordshire which takes place on the 1st Monday of the month. There are always plenty of musicians in this pub which is well known for its live music, particularly traditional.
3. The Cuckoos Nest, Gawcott, Bucks which takes place on the second Monday of the month. This is a new session which started in April.
4. The Rose and Thistle, Haddenham, Bucks which takes place on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. This is an Irish session run by Tony Blay. It started in January 2008 and is struggling a bit with numbers. I hope it survives.

There are other sessions which I have been to in the past but don't go to now:
The Gardners Arms, Tackley, Oxfordshire, 2nd Sunday.
The Cherry Tree, Steventon, Oxfordshire - 3rd Sunday - English only - quite a long way for me;
The Eight Bells, Long Crendon, Bucks - 1st Wednesday - very local for me but too much reading music and singers.

Details about traditional sessions can be found in the free publication 'Shire Folk' a guide to folk and roots music within a 30 mile radius of Oxford (http://www.shirefolk.org.uk/)