March 2017

Lawks: getting left behind! Busy book writing (of which, more anon, perhaps).
So, where was I? The March session turned out to be a lively night on which we were visited by the jolly, rollicking company of a singles club plus others: Jill, Sally, Joyce, Sheila, Francis, Mary, Jane, Debbie, John, some of whom were singers and offered up a song or two, and much enjoyed these were, too. Janet introduced herself and brought her guitar, which was great. We were also joined by a friend, Robin, of the old days at the Colpitts in Durham and our good regulars. The Colpitts session may well be still going. I wonder whether there is still a furious water boiler for glass washing, pawing the ground and snorting spurts of steam at intervals.
David started us off on pipes with the tune, to the song, ' Broom Bezoms' and later did 'Valse de Pol. ' Other tunes were Charlie's 'Harvest Home' and 'Trumpet Hornpipe' with joining in by other instrumentalists and, later, 'King o' the Fairies' and 'Willa Fjord' or 'Spooky Skerry.'
There were lots of good songs, particularly featuring some from Lancashire such as Carol's 'Oh Pendle' and Cicely Fox Smith's, 'Hunting o' the Hare'. A selection of others were: Janet's 'Sadly Certain,' Katy's, 'Generations of Change,' Richard's spirited rendering of the bothy ballad, 'Nicky Tams,' and Robin's 'You Are' by Graeme Miles. Robin, a great friend of, and collaborator with, Graeme during his lifetime, is also a fine exponent of his haunting songs of Teeside and beyond. Ann sang, 'It Made me the Man that I Am,' a song of an emigrant to Australia, and Angus, Gillian Welsh and Dave Rawlings,' 'Dear Someone. 'Phil picked up on the earlier spooky tuned gave us Dorothy Una Radcliff's, 'The White Dog of Yockenthwaite.' Janet gave us 'The Nightingale' and Tom Paxton's, 'Can't help but Wonder Where I'm Bound.' We were privileged to be treated to Cubby's story of,'The Spanish Waiter,' told with great aplomb.
There were plenty more songs and some laughs but the above gives a flavour of the evening. Thanks for coming, all. A grand evening.