April 26th 2016

It was great to welcome new and new-to-the-session friends from Bewcastle, Simonburn and Larrison this month. Rob (guitar), Philip (concertina, bodhran and whistle), Val, Adele and James (in seating order clockwise!) regaled us with music and songs and provided a muster of new audience. Norman brought Highland singing and playing on guitar and mouth organ and Jasmine guitar and more contemporary songs, generally entering into the spirit of things, too.
As well as the above, other instruments were recorder, mouth organ and small pipes.

So to begin with tunes. David began with regulars on these pages, 'Mount your Baggage' and 'Pawky Adam Glen' and later followed with 'Nobel Squire Dacre' and 'The Apprentice Lads of Alnwick,' a personal favourite as a former (childhood) denizen of the town, variously inhabiting no fewer than three gaffs there. Rob and Philip gave us 'The Press are in the Van' (!) and 'The Lambs are Eating the Rushes.' Later these two played 'Da Slockit Light' by Tom Anderson of Shetland, a meditation on the depopulation of his birthplace  (the old word 'slockit' meaning a light that has gone out) on guitar and bodhran. They later contributed, 'Dougherty's' and 'The Woman I never Forgot.' Carol gave a lovely rendering of 'For Ireland I dare not speak Her Name' on recorder following this with 'Mrs MacClelland.' Norman's 'Barra to Balloch' and the grand, 'Farewell to the Creeks' were played in pibroch style on mouth organ with guitar accompaniment. Dave (guitarist) led the finishing reels including 'The Merry Blacksmith' and 'The New Road to Alston,' and Carole threw in 'Jimmy Allen,' also a reel on recorder. 

Robbie began the singing  with 'When Canons are Roaring,' from Strawhead's songbook and, later, 'The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant.' Old ballads had been mentioned so Eliza sang 'Renardine' and, later, 'Thomas the Rhymer,' (also the song 'John Anderson my Joe') and Katy later contributed the plaintive ballad, 'Queen Jane' which many believe is about Jane Seymour, as well as 'Roseberry Lane'.  Phil launched a brief mining theme with 'The Donnybristle Mining Disaster.' Katy picked up the baton and ran with 'Pit Boy' which reminded David of Ted Edwards' fine song, 'The Coal and Albert Berry.' David later sang 'Tarry Wool' in honour of our local shepherd who was present. Phil sang 'Jock McGraw of the Forty Twa' and, in waltz time, his own 'Prancing with Ewes' based on 'My Uncle Walter goes Dancing with Bears.' Carole contributed 'The Lock Keeper' and, later, 'The Morning Lies Heavy' by Allan Taylor and Jasmine gave us, Richard Thompson's, 'A Heart Needs a Home' sung by Richard and Linda Thompson and Karine Polwart's, 'I'm gonna do it' as well as, 'If you Were a Sailboat' by Katy Melua.
A Highland song from Norman from the singing of Sheila Stewart, was the evocative, 'The Corncrake among the Whinny Knowes.' Dave played and sang, 'The Rolling Hills of the Border' with Philip on bodhran and Philip, accompanying himself on concertina, sang, 'My Virgina Bride.' Dave on guitar later sang 'All the Answers' by Ilse Delange and later 'Orion' (sorry haven't noted name of writer legibly) and Phillip and Rob commemorated the peasants revolt with 'John Ball' by Sydney Carter.
I for one enjoyed the evening with its wide range of songs and music. We seemed to manage to fit a lot in. (Angus, we missed you.) Thanks everyone. See you next time, on the 24th May.

22nd March 2016

Great night on Tuesday. Voices, mandolin, guitars, pipes (Spanish gaita in D, Swedish sackpipa, Anglo-French small pipes), accordion, recorder. Plus three welcome audience members; Isobel, Susan and friend.
Tunes were: Angus on mandolin led polkas: 'Egan's', 'Ryan's'; David on small pipes offered 'Mr Preston's Hornpipe' and on sackpipa 'Brudmarch' (Wedding March) and 'Efter Nedegards Lars'; Kevin on gaita, a Catalonian tune and Tom Bigby's Waltz and later 'Believe me if all Those Endearing Young Charms,' 'I'm awa Young to Marry Yet' and 'Frisky,' then another Catalonian tune plus 'Pass Calles,' (Asturian) and 'Highland Laddie (Northumbrian); Dave on guitar gave us some rocking Irish jigs; 'To the Wedding,' 'Hogmanay' and 'Lemonville'; James on accordion two airs and a reel, 'Lonesome Eyes,' 'Sally Gardens,' 'Miss Monahan,' and, later, 'Sunset on Conachair' plus he led some lively tunes to play us out and Carole, a choice selection on recorder, 'Ivan Drever, 'Banks of the Ness,' 'The Ross Memorial Hospital,' 'Out on the Ocean' and 'The Merry Blacksmith.'
Songs were: Dave H. 'Me name is Delaney,' 'Farewell to the Haven' by Davy Steele (Battlefield Band) and Jez Lowe's 'Black Diamonds'; Katy sang, 'The Auld Hoose' by Caroline Lady Nairne (1766-1845) whose family were ardent Jacobites and a surprising number of well-known Jacobite songs such as 'Charlie is my darling' were written by her - note from Katy), 'The Miraculous Fish' (the text of 'this was first printed in 1636 when a whale beached itself on the Wirral though the tune is modern - Note from Katy) and Strath Erli; Miriam gave us Nick Jones' 'The Warlike Lads of Russia,' Bruce Mainland's 'The Penny Whistle,' and 'False Love'; Phil sang Archie Fisher's 'The Final Trawl,' Martin Wyndham Reeves', 'The Old Man of the Sea,' that old favourite, 'The Shelves of Herring' and 'The Parting Glass'; Carole was reminded by Angus of Archie Fisher's, 'Waltz into Winter' and also sang a Les Barker's wicked 'Me Husband's got no Porridge in Him' and Tom Paxton's 'Outward Bound'; Eliza did 'The Hern...' which Miriam suggested might be a Ricardian period Arthurian-romance-type tale in song - interesting - 'Twa Corbies' and 'The Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun'; Angus rang the changes with a bluegrass style song, 'Up This Hill and Down,' 'The Summer Before the War,' and Claire Lynch's 'Be Ready to Sail'; Robbie, who once trained soldiers gave renderings of Harry Andrews' 'The Soldier,'  'One-Eyed Jack' from the Bellowhead songbook and 'Over the Hills and Far Away'; David threw in 'The Plains of Waterloo' Beth gave us 'Put Your Hand in Mine' by Emily Smith and 'The Recruited Collier.'
Thanks for contributions, all of which led, I hope, to a generally good time being had by all. Our next night is 26th April. Hope to see you there.

February 23rd 2016

Greetings. A slight technical hitch on the blog has delayed me a bit - not being the greatest at ironing them out. I put a few 'labels' on this month's blog settings in the hope of tempting a few more of you along to our once monthly gathering (fourth Tuesday). We are a sing around-cum-session, that is, we try our best to include both song and instrumental and encourage joining in with tunes wherever it works. The village has a caravan site and RockUK outdoor centre and we welcome any who bring their  voice/ instrument on holiday. Right; ad. over.
Small and select again this month. Much enjoyed the craic all the same. Kevin came down from Carlisle with his Swedish-cum-Galician pipes adapted by his own good self. David brought sackpipa and smallpipes and Phil and Angus accompanied some of their pipe tunes on guitar in addition to bringing a fine selection of songs with accompaniment. Robbie joined us, though without his Strawhead song book (or strictly speaking, without the one borrowed from Carole) on this occasion.
Kevin started off proceedings with 'Morfa Rhuddlan' and later gave us an Asturian melody, 'Batri Bam' as well as Northumbrian tunes from the Peacock manuscript which were suitable for playing on this instrument (see above), 'Highland Laddie,' 'Frisky,' 'I'm Awa Young to Marry Yet' and 'Paddy Whack' as well as 'Bolero de Santa Maria' from Majorca. David's tunes were one on sackpipa (title not recorded by me) and on small pipes,  'Herd on the Hill,' 'Holmes' Fancy, 'The Lowland Dance,' 'Up wi' Eli Early,' 'Never Love Thee More' and 'Fourpence-halfpenny-farthing.'
Phil sang 'Peggy Gordon', 'John o' Dreams,' 'The Dawning of the Day,' 'The Road to Drumleman' by Willie Mitchell, the butcher of Campbeltown, and Tony Cuffe collected by Hamish Henderson and the excellent, 'The Bluest Little River Between the Tyne and Tees' by Alan Clarke. Angus sang the evocative, 'The Summer Before the War' by Connie Dover, 'Song for Ireland' by Phil and June Colclough, Alex Glasgow's 'When God Created Englishmen,' Eric Boswell's 'Take me up the Tyne in a Little Boat' and Tom Paxton's 'I Will Love You.' A grand selection.
Interspersed with tunes David sang 'The Horn of the Hunter' and 'The Rambling Soldier' in honour of Robbie. Eliza sang a version of 'The Bunch of Thyme,' 'Lads o' the Fair' by Bryan McNeill, the ballad 'Mill o' Tifty's Annie,' Robin Williamson's 'The Road the Gypsies Go' and 'Mallie-O.'
Generally a good night. Hope to see you next month.

26th January 2016

Rain didn't quite stop play. Flooding on the Kielder road and possible flooding between Carlisle, Brampton or Hawick and Newcastleton made some journeys dicey.  The intrepid duo, Phil and Angus, from just south of The Wall navigated the back way from Greenhead. Robbie joined us for a couple of soldiering songs and there followed an evening of congenial company (for us anyway), grand songs and tunes and snippets of folksong lore and biology (otters, rampaging dragon flies, caddis fly larvae) washed down with Peter's finest ale.
David was armed with three sets of pipes; English small, French and Swedish, almost equalling the number of the company present, and with a couple of guitars and a silent bodhran we were ready for anything.
Angus produced a fine variety songs from Tyneside and further afield, ranging from Johnny Handle's Danny's (about a famous club) and Alex Glasgow's 'When I was a Little Lad,' to, 'I'm Glad i'm Working Down Below' by John M. Garrett who wrote a book on British Music Hall songs. Angus also sang, 'Flowers,' as sung by Iain Mackintosh and a medley of 'The Waters of Tyne' and 'Weel May the Keel Row' and 'Roses from the Wrong Man' by Christine Lavin' and also, Harvey Andrews' 'First you lose the Rhyming.' Good songs sung in fine voice and accompanied on guitar.
Phil, reminded by Angus, gave us another Alex Glasgow, 'Hard Times at the Mill.' He was prompted by Robbie's interest in soldiering songs to sing, 'Jock McGraw o' the Forty-Twa' from the singing of Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor of the 'White Heather Club,' on the BBC, fondly remembered from childhood and 'The Galliards.' He also gave us 'Lord Huntley' as sung Bob Axford and Rosemary Hardman and finished with Ewan McVicar's 'All the Tunes in the World' - a fitting last song. All smashin', as they say over the border.
Robbie's were both collected by his current favourite, Strawhead, 'The Recruiting Officer' or 'The Merry Volunteers' (depending on your point of view), the Queen Anne version and 'The cannons are roaring,' an English Civil War song.
In between tunes David sang 'The Fellows that Follow the Plough' and Eliza tried out 'Get up and Bar the Door' to the tune of 'The Quaker's Wife' with Ewan McColl's refrain and offered a Tyneside, 'Dol-li-a,' a round, 'Rose, Rose, Rose Rose' and in honour of Burn's Night just past, 'Dainty Davie,' the bawdy version which the lads didn't think particularly ribald at all. I have seen the odd other verse, not necessarily Burns' which might have raised an eyebrow.
David's tunes were on French G pipes, 'Mundess,' on English small pipes, 'Last Night I Lay wi' Jacky in me Arms' and 'Apprentice Lads of Alnwick' - not the same ones as those who used to frequent the 'Birdcage' of former fame and glory. On sackpipa, 'Liten Lek' and 'Pols Fr Roros' and, finally, on French pipes an Andro which is a 'turn' dance or circle dance where the joined hands also circle one way then reverse or turn.
Though we were few David and I certainly enjoyed the night. I hope our friends did, too.    Eliza

December 22nd 2015

What a feast of tunes as well as songs and carols, seasonal, celebratory, ritual and otherwise for our festive gathering. We were joined by Robert and his fantastic fiddling for the first time; normally at choir practice on a Tuesday, we benefited from the holiday on this occasion. Miriam, back from Leicester, and Beth from Germany gave us the benefit of their singing and Kevin swelled the musician's contingent on bagpipes and concertina.
David opened on small pipes with 'Little Wee Winking Thing,' a curious title whether referring to a baby (Katy) or candle or other thing entirely. This was followed by Katy's Gascon carol, 'Pat-a-Pan,' Miriam's traditional English carol, 'Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day' and Ruth's dialect poem, 'Winter's Came.' Eliza sang a couple of wren hunting songs during the evening, the first, an Irish and the second a Welsh version. Some discussion of etymology and origin ensued (see comment - thanks in advance, Miriam).
Carole accompanied herself on guitar for her song 'The Island' about Westray and Robert burst in with Hector McAndrew's Kalianan Cottage, 'Bodaich Bheaga Abriachan' or 'The Little Old Men of Abriachan' and 'Loch Ness.' Kevin played three Spanish tunes on his adapted pipes with Spanish chanter on Swedish Sackpipa bag: 'La Amistad,' (friendship), 'Van Ness,' and 'Muineira.' Angus' first was Fairport Convention's 'The Summer Before the War' followed by David's 'Poverty Knock,' and Phil's rendering of Les Barker's much relished, 'Oh the Hard Cheese of Old England.' Returning to the seasonal were Katy's 'Time to Remember the Poor' or 'Cold Winter is Come,' an evocative traditional song and Ruth's 'The Shepherds' a setting of an early poem by William Morris, then Carole's 'When Winter comes Howling in' and Eliza's 'Gower Wassail.' Miriam gave us, 'Let no Man Steal Your Thyme,' David, the sea shanty 'Sailing Over the Dogger Bank ,' Angus took us to Whitley Bay with Aggie and Joe (sorry didn't note the title of this one) and Phil, 'Indiana' by Andy Mitchell and sung by the band, 'Patrick street.'
Tunes were from James on accordion 'The Sally Gardens' and 'The ? Behind,' Robert, with general joining in, 'The Pinch of Snuff' and Kevin on concertina with Matt Seattle's 'Lindisfarne' and the tune for the pantomime figure, Morgiana (in Spain).
Katy and Miriam duetted on 'O Come O come Emmanuel' and Beth sang, 'The Galway Shawl' and 'Ye Jacobites by Name,' a traditional song, rewritten by Robert Burns. Carole lightened the mood with 'The Rottenstall Annual Fair and Angus with, 'Higher Education' by Norman Turnbull.
Tunes during the latter part of the evening were James' 'Gaster's Dream' (and another one, unknown), the strathspey, 'Captain Carswell' and 'Inverness.' Robert continued with 'The Rushmore Downpour,'and 'We'll Make Charlie Wear the Crown' and David with 'Low Country Dance' and 'Up wi' Eli Early.' Kevin further mined the Spanish seam with two regional tunes; a Catalan and an Asturian Melody and Carole gave us four tunes on recorder: 'Bonny Nancy', 'Ireland, I dare not speak your name,' 'Tweedside' and 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.' Robert and Kevin played together on fiddle and concertina for 'Crested Hen,' 'Saddle the Pony' and 'Blackthorn Stick.' The musicians rounded off the night with polkas and Northumbrian tunes led by James and then Angus.
Beth gave the finish a fitting flourish with 'Stille Nacht.' Thanks for your contributions everyone.
January's date is the 26th. Hope to see you there.

24th November 2015

Great to see Frank and Corrie with several instruments between them and also our local singer-instrumentalist, Rod, who slipped in quietly, tuned his guitar and gave us the pleasure of his company while his guitar sat there smug in the knowledge that it was in tune...job done for the night (which was fine). Also welcome back Ruth. Also good to see our other regulars including Carole who is becoming one of them. And long may it last.
So to business. Upstairs is grand and the large table set up with everyone sitting round is generally convivial and friendly. Good tunes from various sources and occasionally Europe on accordions (I think, though not the 'piano' variety), pipes, fiddle, recorder, whistle and guitars.
Frank and Corrie opened and closed the session, starting with two Northumbrian song tunes, 'Up the Raa' and 'Footy against the Wall' and 'La Sansonette, 'a Scottische from France on accordion and pipes. They later played an English Playford tune, 'Kettledrum,' then 'The Far Away Waltz' on box and fiddle, followed by 'The Woody Cock' on box and wooden recorder and later the Playford tune, 'Jenny Pluck Pears,' again on box and wooden recorder. Other numbers were on box and pipes; a Morris dance tune from Oxfordshire, 'The Old Drove Road,'and 'The Laird of Drumblair,' a strathspey. Angus played a couple of sets of tunes on mandolin with the musicians joining in. These were 'Winster Gallop,' 'Jaimie Allen' and 'Salmon Tails' and later, the polka set which includes 'John Ryan's' and 'Egan's' (I think). David played 'Lassie gae Milk on Cow Hill' on small pipes.
Katy began a military theme with Tennyson's 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' arranged for singing. Robbie, a former soldier, sang his military songs, Strawhead's 'One-Eyed Jack' and 'Over the Hills.' These, perhaps, triggered (unintentional pun) Phil's later 'Brave General Wolfe.'
Carole accompanied herself on guitar for Jez Lowe's, Yankee Boots and her own piece drawing on John Masefield's 'Sea Fever' as well as Stan Rogers,' 'The Lock Keeper' and Ian Tyson's, 'Four Strong Winds.' Angus also did a Stan Rogers, 'Tiny Fish for Japan,' and Cyril Tawney's 'Chicken on a Raft,' a good chorus number (if you can keep up). Ruth was well equipped with 'The New Nation Song Book' and the odd separately published song score. She sang 'Blow, Blow thou Winter Wynd' from Shakespeare's 'As You Like It.' Also 'Smoke Gets in your Eyes' (we benefited from the 'fire' theme at Brampton Folk Club - The Howard Arms - 3rd Tuesday) and 'The Nightingale. Also on the theme of 'fire' was Dawn's 'Fires of Ninety Eight' by John Warner. Dawn also sang 'The Last of the Widows,' and Davey Steele and John McCusker's 'Last Trip Home,' more of her evocative repertoire.
Corrie sang Sir Walter Scott's lovely Jock o' Hazeldean. As well as the aforementioned, Phil gave us 'The Donnybristle Mossmoran Mining Disaster,' and 'Cloudberry Day.' As discussed, there was a time when people here would pick yellow cloudberries, native to the arctic tundra, boreal forests and Newcastleton (and Northumbrian and other) fells. Apparently they are much sought after in Norway. Katy set off a deal of harmonising with her rousing, 'All the Good Times Are Past and Gone,' by Bobby Bare and later gave us the beautiful 'Three King's Sons; an Ode to the Sacred City' a Sinhalese Buddhist piece (partly as a riposte to Carole's comment about religious songs - let no one say we don't throw in a bit of religion and politics on folk nights).
Eliza, influenced by the season (though not the month) sang the 'The Month of January.' She later followed with 'The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry,' and 'The Lament of The Lass of Loch Royale' and Steven Schwartz' 'The Road the Gypsies Go.' David's songs were, 'The Lincolnshire Poacher,' Mike Harding's, 'King Cotton' and 'Roving Navvy' by Ian Woods.
I certainly enjoyed the night once again and look forward to our pre-Christmas night on the 22nd of December. Hope to see you there. Bring whatever songs and tunes you like; festive, seasonal or whatever takes your fancy, floats your boat etc. Eliza