December - Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman

Dartford Folk Club

BBC Radio 2 Best Folk Club of the year 2008 www.dartfordfolk.org.uk Enquiries: dartfordfolkclub@gmail.com FLOOR SINGERS WELCOME (PLEASE BOOK) Please See Website For Further Details

FEATURED GUESTS

6 December - Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman 13 December - Phil Beer and his special guest Miranda Sykes 20 December - Edwina Hayes 27 Dec 2022 **FESTIVE GREETINGS!** Sorry we are closed! 3 January 2023 - “All The Local Talent” Showcase spots for our ‘Residents & regular local talent* 10 January - The Kimberleys 17 January - Pete Morton 24 January - Bully Wee Band (Rescheduled from Jan 2020) 31 January - Aaron Catlow & Brooks Williams

FOR UPDATES AND FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE & FACEBOOK PAGES

DARTFORD WORKING MENS CLUB Essex Road, DA1 2AU EVERY TUESDAY 8.30 TILL 11.00

Ye Olde Chequers Inn, 122 High Street, Tonbridge, TN9 1AS First and third Mondays of each month, 8 - 11 pm Subject to the Covid 19 emergency, please check our website for the latest information tonbridgefolkclub.org

5th December Sally Ironmonger & Brian Carter

19th December Simon Kempston

16th January Four Gone Confusion

6th February Dave Ellis & Boo Howard

20th February Dick Miles

6th March Alan Reid

Tel: 01892 822945

info@tonbridgefolkclub.org www.tonbridgefolkclub.org

 Available for live and online events, Julie and Gavin Atkin sing and play mainly trad music on a variety of instruments.  Our online Sunday night Zoom sessions are friendly, fun and attract some great performers. If you’d like to join us, drop us a line!  Gavin is running tunes playing meetings with Goudhurst

U3A on Mondays. Email for details  Don’t forget our dance band The Tonic! ‘A great band –music that makes you want to get up and dance! So good that we book them every year!’ John Sweeney, dance event organiser and caller  See www.youtube.com/c/GavinAtkin for samples

Contact: Julie and Gavin Atkin gmatkin@gmail.com More info at Singdanceandplay.net Farnborough Social Club

6 Pleasant View Pl, Farnborough, Orpington, BR6 7BL

DECEMBER 1st, 8th, 22nd, 29th Singers & Musicians Night 15th Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer (Xmas Special Night)

JANUARY 2023 5th, 19th, 26th Singers & Musicians Night 12th John & Di Cullen

Orpington Folk Music and Song Club exists to promote folk music and song. It is a non profit making organisation and is for those who wish to listen to or take part in an informal evening of folk music and song. For those who wish confirmation of guest(s) nights they can call any of the telephone numbers below. Thursdays @ 8pm 01959 532 754 020 8325 6513

Website: www.orpingtonfolkclub.org.uk E-mail:orpingtonfolkclub@hotmail.com

Scene & Heard

Have you heard any news of the iceberg… lettuce, that is …? It’s been a crazy couple of months again, times which bring folksongs back to life… ‘they talk about the market, boys, but that is all my eye’.. ‘scarce have they got any shoes to their feet’…’ I wish that the wars were all over’… ‘I hope that they’ll pardon their prodigal son’… Fortunately we have plenty of good news to report as the festival season passes with 2022 as strong a year as can be remembered and with clubs up and running. Good to revisit Crabble Mill to catch up with the East Coast crew for the evening with Alan and Chris Davis, whose mellifluous sounds so graced the Kent scene for many years. I’ve always admired Alan’s choice of song and the gentle emphasis he puts on the lyrics: making them flow naturally and meaningfully. The less said about his jokes, however… glad to see Ade with some Viv Stanshall inspirations… Faversham hosted Nigel Hobbins, a songwriter of great originality whose percussive and quirky chord changes always surprise- his CD Levitating In Lockdown well worth seeking out. Faversham Hop Festival was blessed with fine weather, fortunately, as the folk stage was way out at the Albion Tavern, with Andy on sound fixing and mixing among the greenery. Helen North was her usual charming self first thing in the morning, with Crisis (Taylor & Sadler) rocking in on appropriately swampy sounds to follow. Quality here was high, the mighty CJ passing on drum-humping duty and Dave Raey’s gypsy jazz much appreciated out on the lawn. Trommelfluit’s evening concert at the Arden was a welcome meeting with old friends, the Belgian lilt a reassuring sign of returning normality. Throughout the weekend the town was packed with music of all genres- the programme emphasizing how important the festival is to the survival of many businesses over the year. Graham ‘The Hat’ and the committee are to be congratulated, and are keen to reboost folk input, dance and music, if it can be done. Good fun. A cracking evening at Faversham with Rattle On The Stovepipe saw Dave Arthur back in Kent following his recent move to Norfolk. Our loss is their gain, Dave always so supportive of those who had genuine interest in folk music English and American, a former editor of EFDSS’s magazine and author of the majestic volume ‘Bert- The Life And Times Of A.L. Lloyd’, (ISBN 978-0-7453-3252-9) , which has so much first-hand observation of the emerging folk scene from the 1960s onwards. Invaluable and insightful: he was there. Pages 139-142 especially will draw nods and smiles. Rail and bus strikes thwarted several excursions- it would be good to hear from clubs across the region of their successes, in particular NW Kent, where Dartford and Orpington are meeting regularly. Please do send reports to AKF- we need them for balance. I’m always pleasantly surprised to listen to artists I’ve enjoyed on stage or at festivals over the years, often quite a while after they were recorded… the Open Water CD particularly, Joanne Doolan, Jeff Alexander and Richard Rozze, impressed. I enjoy artists whose skill is so clearly focused on the songs, bringing out powerful emotion through the setting. Jeff’s own instrumental CD River Moon I commend to guitarists all, fine expression of beautiful tunes. As with Terry Lees and with Will Allen’s gorgeous English Fiddle which I wish I’d had more space to praise last issue, the unhurried tone is delightful. And so too is CJ’s Passing Through, slow of me not to catch up with her own songwriting and expressive vocals. The title track is a gem. A real shock to hear of the passing of Paul Sartin, who so enhanced and amused the folk scene. The Bellowhead and Belshazzar’s Feast gigs we shall all remember, and many of us will have attended one of his singing courses in which he generously shared his enthusiasm and musicianship. It’s his oboe playing I shall particularly recall, to be found

across the spectrum of traditional recording. Like Jeff Gillett on guitar, clear and melodic. One of the good guys. And so to Tenterden… elsewhere a fuller report, the last of the local festivals and as ever a hive of traditional emphasis. The procession much appreciated by a good crowd, and events across the available venues featuring local and national acts. This year’s enormous craft tent spared many traders the blustery excitements of yesteryear, and in a daze of autumn the season drew to a close. It’s been a grand summer amid friends old and new, a renewal of the bonds which we share through our interest in this many-faceted jewel we call ‘folk’… and long may we make music together. Harvest home and gather ye fuel while ye may… Further to the Broadstairs piece last month, I’m pleased to set the record straight re singing at the Festival. Anne Hilton reminds us of the Song Spot in the Retort House from 1966 onwards, and of the contribution of Clive Bennett and friends before the pub sessions began. Anne comments on the supportive atmosphere which set her and her sister singing. There really is a need for a definitive timeline/ history of the early years- I can’t do it because I was always playing cricket! Many names spring to mind... perhaps memories can be gathered? Chris Griffin adds to the discussion about the unifying nature of chorus singing: ‘I started singing with the Morris after their dancing... Julia and I both think there is nothing to beat a good old singsong in a pub or folk club so we wholeheartedly agree...’ -and so do several others who have offered their opinions at folk clubs around Kent. As I said in my Tenterden slot, all I’ve ever aimed to achieve was that people are happier when the go out than when they came in... and we are all in our own ways entertainers... other views also welcomed!

Bob Kenward