Around Kent Folk issue 101 for October / November 2020

o u nd r a

ke nt folk Issue 101 October / November 2020

Your FREE Guide to Folk Events in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and beyond

“Virtually Tenterden guests” Published by Tenterden Folk Festival, Charity No 1038663 Promoting folk song, music, dance, crafts and traditions.

ISSN 2634-7830 (Print) ISSN 2634-7849 (Online)

Welcome to issue 101 of Around Kent Folk, the independent folk magazine for Kent, Surrey, Sussex and beyond, which is now published six times a year by Tentrden Folk Festival, edited by me with the invaluable assistance of Andy Wood from Anmar Printing Services.

The “New Normal” seems to be online folk clubs, sing-a-rounds and gigs, and virtual festivals, using Zoom, Facebook, YouTube and several other systems. There is at least one folk club on Zoom nearly every night and an increasing number of folk musicians presenting regular gigs. You may have even been to the first virtual festival live from Australia. Many of these involve a lot of work and are of high musical and technical quality but sadly others are rather poor, possibly due to erratic or slow internet speeds, lack of quality equipment such as cameras or microphones and/or knowledge of the software being used. The thing they mostly lack is the feeling of a live gig, the banter, the friendly heckling, the interaction, the crack. You may be able to see a selection of head and shoulder thumbnails of an online audience sitting at home with a pint, but it is just not the same as all being in the same room together. As an audience member you normally see the backs of the heads of the people in front of you, not a row of mugshots. I’m used to standing at the front acting as compere at a concert, but I just end up feeling self-conscious sitting at home watching some of these events. So how long is this going to go on?

I’ve recently attend several Association of Festival Organisers meetings on Zoom (meetings is what Zoom is really designed for and does best) with organisers from across the country.

The general feeling seems to be that 2021 festivals are still at risk and some due to be held early in the year will now definitely not take place as the lack of certainty makes it impossible to commit to booking venues, infrastructure, guests, etc. Some festivals may never happen again due to the financial implications and effects of the pandemic.

Some spring festivals are planning a new look, cutdown festival to allow for continued social distancing, others are thinking of a smaller event plus live streaming online, while still others are just hoping to be able to run there events in the normal way. The summer offers more chance of normality of a kind, especially for outdoor and green field festivals and events but most organisers expect some form of social distancing to still be in place even then. Whether the old normal will have returned by autumn 2021 could depend on a vaccination being made generally available and what the reaction of our regular audiences is. At present we are working on the assumption that the country will be back to close to normal in time for Tenterden Folk Festival 2021 and will be watching what other festival do and hopefully learning from their experiences.

Please continue to support your local folk club, venue, festival, magazine and the professional folk musicians who have had no prober paid gigs since February, in whatever ways you can and hopefully the scene will eventually claw its way back to where it was before this catastrophe happened.

Alan Castle (Editor) PS: You can make a donation to Tenterden Folk Festival or this magazine via our websites or by post (see payment details on last page). Thank you. www.tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk www.aroundkentfolk.org.uk

STOP PRESS Some outdoor events and a few socially distanced indoor events MAY start again in the next couple of months Please check before travelling to venues and follow government and NHS advise and help keep the folk scene safe.

Goodbye to ELSIE’S Saturday Sing and Play Nights

It is with a heavy heart and with tears in my eyes that I write this obituary to Elsie’s Saturday Sing and Play nights at the Queens Arms at Cowden Pound. The Queens Arms, a Grade 2 listed Victorian pub, has, to our dismay, become a holiday let during the Covid crisis. I cannot count the number of unbelievable nights of folk music I have enjoyed over the past 40 years in the Queens Arms.

Every fantastic night hosted by ‘Elsie’s Band’ singing trad songs and those written by Tony Deane, John Hills and Dave Watts from the band and other contemporary songwriters.

There have been evenings when you could not get a paper between the people, when the singing has been absolutely spine tingling. There have been evenings when we have laughed until we could barely stand. There have been evenings when we have sung until our throats hurt. Many times we have felt so privileged to be part of evenings which really should have been recorded in the annals of Folk music - Scan Tester, Gordon Hall, George Spicer, Ron Spicer, Bob Copper, Beggars Velvet, Jim Causley, Will Noble and John Cocking, Johnny Collins, Martyn Wyndham Read, etc etc.

Elsie ran the pub, which had previously been run by her mother, Annie. She had strict rules, including no children, no ice, no lager, she continued, always wearing a wraparound overall, until she became too frail to manage. The saddest thing about the demise of the Queens Arms is the loss of a venue steeped in local music for many decades where friends have met and shared their love of traditional music. I feel the walls of the pub have absorbed the singing and music of friends long gone like Tony Deane, Mike Hutchison (who died far too early and was replaced in Elsie’s Band by Iris Bishop) , Den Giddens and Bill Dennis. I sincerely hope that Elsie’s band, Dave Watts, John Hills and Iris Bishop, will find a new venue and our ‘sing and play’ nights can continue after Covid but there is no doubt that they will never be quite the same again. Elsie’s band are currently looking for a local pub which would be prepared to host a Sing and Play night one Saturday a month. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Sharon Cope Find us online at www.aroundkentfolk.org.uk and on Twitter as @AroundKentFolk, where you can always find a link to the latest and past issues of AKF. Please pass this link on to your mailing lists and place it on your social media so that as many as possible of our regular readers can find AKF online until we are able to get back to a full print run and physical distribution of the printed magazine.

Stay well and take care in these difficult times

Dartford Folk Club BBC Radio 2 Best Folk Club of the year 2008 www.dartfordfolk.org.uk 01322 277218 hawleymkm@aol.com

FLOOR SINGERS WELCOME (PLEASE BOOK) RESIDENTS: DARTFORD RAMBLERS - ROB MITCHELL TRIO - IAN PETRIE

6th October - CLIVE GREGSON **THE CLUB’S 47th BIRTHDAY!**

13th Oct - THE MAGPIES Rescheduled for April 2021 20th October - CARDBOARD FOX 27th October - TOM LEWIS All October acts will not take place & are currently being rescheduled.

3rd November - JEZ LOWE 10th November - THE DOVETAIL TRIO 17th November - ANTHONY JOHN CLARKE & DAVE PEGG 24th Nov - MAIRE NI CHATHASAIGH & CHRIS NEWMAN We are awaiting a decision on whether it will be possible to safely host live music at the venue under the current legislation.

Please check our Website and Facebook pages for updates

To receive regular updates: Email (put ADD on subject line) dartfordfolk@googlemail.com

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

Scene & Heard

• Looking into autumn, let’s hope that more is seen and heard gradually.. the outlook is bleak for chorus singing but at least instrumental gatherings are keeping music alive and the latest research suggests that individual singing is not altogether the threat that it was assumed to be. In viral terms at least... it’s been interesting watching venues adapting using shower curtains and 6’ poles, then having audiences of a dozen or so when artists stream... at least there’s a live audience, with all that means for rapport and bonhomie...

• Help Musicians is a great way of supporting many artists these days, and Fairport Convention have arranged a release of Meet On The Ledge, with a horde of top musicians, the proceeds from which will go to the deserving. Of course many, like George Sansome of Granny’s Attic have new releases of merit on which to spend our accumulating cash, Bandcamp being an easy way to access their work. Keith Donnelly’s shows have been worth watching, as have the regular Edwina Hayes and Anne Lister sessions.

• Faversham Folk Club took a summer break for the first time and is now back in action on Zoom... most clubs continued, and the week is full on the customary club days, with the opportunity both to visit distant sessions and to attract new participants from all over the globe... the Woodshed session in August saw locked down Lancastrians and an Oregon songsmith alongside the regulars... and though chorus singing is housebound it is interesting to see the addition of actions and interpretive dance as means of participation.. just stay away from the windows...

• I do wonder how many artists will survive the exposure of their repertoire under conditions of computer sound... I guess we will flock to see the real thing after months of auto compression! Better I suppose to have something...

• For now the flood of virtual festivals, including Tenterden, has provided a platform for the more tech-savvy performers. I feel sorry for the ploughman who, after a day’s labour, returns to his hearth, settles into his armchair and buffs up his SM58s to battle with rural WiFi...

Gavin Atkin has been furrowing away furiously, keeping his Sunday session alive, possibly with trained fieldmice at his generator’s treadmill...

• I haven’t yet heard of a club able to meet as we took as normal... with crowds to support artist’s fees packed into club rooms... I’d be glad to hear of any plans to reconvene. Most I think are looking well into the future to be legal, viable and safe. Good to see guests being virtually booked- as the joke says, maybe: All my gigs were cancelled, and I did my annual accounts. With no travel , accommodation and expenses I found I was £432 better off...

• Thus far it seems the petition to save local radio folk programmes across the country has met with little success. All we can do is keep up the pressure. After all, what is a national broadcaster supposed to provide? Balance demands that English folk song and music be part of a truly multicultural provision. Traditional song has a way of demonstrating that history has happened before...

• Keep fit one and all and with luck as per the bells of Norwich, all shall be well again Bob Kenward

TENTERDEN

TENTERDEN

olk festival

folk festival

folk festival

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Tenterden

“Tenterden the Jewel of the Weald”

Folk song, music, dance, crafts and traditions

The first virtual Tenterden Folk Festival is being planned

I should be busy finalising the last minute plans for the 28th Tenterden Folk Festival but sadly that is not possible. However, instead we are at the early stages of planning the first virtual Tenterden Folk Festival for 1st to 4th October. We hope to present several singa-rounds and song sessions as well as the always popular “Cinque Ports sea songs and shanties session” all on Zoom.

We also hope to post a few original videos from festival guests past, present and future on You Tube.

We also plan to run an online photograph exhibition using the photos taken by our official photographer Phillip Hinton at Tenterden Folk Festival 2019.

We would also like to see your photos from past festival on Facebook and Tweet.

What else we do will depend on the level of interest and support this generates.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Alan Castle (Festival Director)

Virtually Tenterden As you have probably heard or seen, Tenterden Folk Festival is going virtual from Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th October. The original idea was just to have a couple of Zoom sing-arounds and post some special videos to You Tube. BUT, with a lot of technical input from Peter Collins, plans have developed as we have gone along and now events will include: The Caxton lunchtime Zoom sessions each day and evening sessions on Friday and Saturday live streamed on Face Book Open Zoom sessions with Travelling Folk on Thursday and Sunday An open Zoom dance with Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer on Friday Cinque Ports Sea Songs and Shanties Zoom on Saturday also live streamed on Face Book Graeme Knights open Zoom on Saturday Gavin and Julie Atkin open Zoom on Sunday Between two and four live streamed You Tube concerts on each day Several other special events including a Zoom workshop with Nick Dow, a TFF photograph exhibition on You Tube and Tumblr, The Highworth Folk Band on the free music stage, Morris dancers, etc.

There will also some videos on Twitter.

Guests joining us on Zoom and / or in concert will include Barrie and Ingrid Temple, Barry Goodman, Bob Kenward, Brian Peters, Broomdasher, G&G Morris, Gavin and Julie Atkin, Graeme Knights and Family, Highworth Folk Band, Jeff Warner live from the USA, Jez Lowe, JIB, Jim Mageean, John and Di Cullen, Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham, Morrigan, Nick Dow, Nunhead Folk Circle, Pete Castle, Peter Collins, Pete Luscombe, Peter and Barbara Snape, Roses are Red Morris, Scold Bridle, Tom Patterson, Travelling Folk, Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer and The Wilson Family.

Virtually Tenterden is still developing so we will be posting information and a full programme on Facebook, Twitter and our website as soon as we can.

We hope to see you all there!

Alan Castle (Trustee and Festival Director)

FOLK-AT-THE-DRUM The Club meets every Thursday at ‘The Drum’ Inn at N. Stanford, Stone Street (Between Cant’ & Hythe)

14 June - Keith Kendrick 15th October - TOM Needham LEWIS and Sylvia 12 July - Geoff Higginbottom 22nd October - DEBRA COWAN 23 August - Peter Collins All other evenings Singers Nights Guest Nights 8.00 p.m.

Singers Nights 8.00 p.m.

Members, Guests & visitors are always During the lockdown find us on welcome to play, sing, listen or do all three! from 7pm.

On ClubZoom Nights everyone who wishes gets a spotFor to perform.

Guest Nights detailsOnsee there is limited time for ‘floor artists’ butwww.folkatthedrum.co.uk a phone call usually gets you a spot.

Tel: 01797 320518 mobile: 07890 292467 or email: david@plesbit.net www.folkatthedrum.co.uk

Tonbridge Folk Tonbridge FolkClub Club(Nellie’s) (Nellies) The Beer Seller, 64 High Street, The FlyingTonbridge, Dutchman TN9 118 Tonbridge Road, 1EH Hildenborough, Kent TN1 9EN First and third Mondays of each month, First and third Mondays of each month 8-11pm 8 - 11 pm

Mondayto4the June: John Di Cullen Subject Covid 19 & emergency, Expect an eclectic mix of robust, reflective please check our website for the latest and humorous songs. information: tonbridgefolkclub.org Monday 18 June: Chris Cleverley During lockdown, we have been An extremely talented singer-songwriter posting videos on our Facebook with many diverse topics in his songs, page www.facebook.com/tonbridgefolkclub accompanied by accomplished finger style guitar playing.

Our provisional programme is:

Monday, 5th 2 October Monday July: Consort ofDick OneMiles Lizzie Gutteridge combines medieval and Monday, 2nd November Naomi Bedford on Simmonds traditional renaissance music and song, & Paul instruments, with 21stC looping technology.

Monday, 16th November Alden, Patterson Monday 16 July: Triage & Dashwood Welcome of this popular local Monday, 7threturn December Helenband North who made a good impact last time. Expect Monday, 18th January Alan Reid lively renderings of tunes and songs with various instruments.

Tel: 01892 822945

info@tonbridgefolkclub.org www.tonbridgefolkclub.org www.tonbridgefolkclub.org

ELSIE’S

OCTOBER: The Queen’s Arms, on the B2026

1st

Brian Miller

midway between Edenbridge 8th, 22nd, Singers and the 29th A264, Tunbridge Wells - East&

Musicians Night Grinstead Road

8 - 11pmHunter Muskett

15th NOVEMBER:

Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer 9th June Roy Clinging Singers & 12th, 19th, 26th 5th

Another welcomeMusicians return Night

Orpington Folk Music and Song Club exists to promote folk music and song. It is a non profit making organisation 14 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 see the website or contact the telephone numbers for details

th July Martin Wyndham-Read

Thursdays @ 8.15pm 01959 532 754 020 8325 6513

www.elsiesband.com

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

ORPINGTON FOLK CLUB

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Until & then, we’re running weekly th Reg Meuross 26 one of the premier singer/ online Sunday night song and tune sessions songwriter’s on the folk scene. Described as "a warm from 7.30live to entertainer 9.30pm, focused asofusual on the engaging with songs love, longing trad, thelife oldstories" fashioned and the entertaining. and true To to Singdanceandplay.net and join us, go Thursdays @ 8.15pm 532754 020 8325 6513 up 01959 sign to receive our emails. www.orpingtonfolkclub.org.uk E-mail: orpingtonfolkclub@hotmail.com

How I forgot all our troubles and made an album

by Gavin Atkin Covid-19 and the continuing arguments over politics have meant this has been a year like no other, and like many of us I have found concentrating on music has been one of the best ways of relieving the stress. I’m also a great fan of singers and musicians recording themselves and editing the result for public consumption, or just their own – it teaches a performer so much about what sounds good and what does not. Outside of a professional studio, the mic does not lie! So when three weeks of furlough came my way during the lockdown, making an album of the material I’ve been playing and singing with my melodeon at local sessions and clubs over the past couple of years seemed like an obvious project. The resulting recording is a pretty wide-ranging collection including ballads and silly songs, some collected either in Kent or from singers from the county, a few ‘different’ versions of a few well-known chorussy classics, and a few tunes providing contrast and variety. Thinking of material to play was fairly easy as there was lots to choose from. But turning the idea into reality was going to be more of a challenge. The first task was to work out where to do the recording. We live near a corner between two lanes, but with the lockdown there was little traffic anywhere near the house and this meant I could use our attic bedroom. Room resonances and reverberations can be one of the great problems in sound recording at home, but our attic has sloping ceilings that reduce the resonances you get between flat surfaces facing each other, such as walls. It also has a large foam bed and something else – a large wardrobe built-in wardrobe full of clothes covering one end wall.

Love your ward With the wardrobe door open the clothes help soak up unwanted reverberations but also extraneous noises passing traffic, household sounds such as washing machines. The trick then is to place the singer or musician with their back up against the wardrobe’s contents.

Reducing unwanted sounds also helps with mic positioning. Less unwanted sound means the mic can be set slightly further away from the singer or musician, which means it will pick up a more rounded sample of the performance. Positioning is hugely important, and definitely worth spending some time experimenting with. Singing close to a mic may work in a live setting (though I’m no fan), but in recording a singer getting too close picks up nasal sounds, random clicky mouth noises and fiercely sibilant ‘Ss’ and ‘Cs’. Set too close to an instrument a mic may pick up unwanted plectrum sounds, button sounds and squeaks from strings. For vocals, I’ve found pointing my mic either at the corner of my mouth or level with my eye at my eye or slightly downwards and keeping it at a distance of seven inches or so works well. Either approach gives a natural sounding result, cuts out unwanted sounds and prevents big puffs of ‘Bs’ and ‘Ps’ hitting the mic and causing trouble.

Equipment If I’d been recording with a guitar I’d have used two mics, one for voice as described and one in the time-honoured guitar-recording position, i.e. pointed at the fingerboard just where the neck meets the body. This gives a good balance and avoids too much ‘fingers on

strings’. (Pointing the mic at the sound hole creates a boomy effect.) With two inputs, I’d have been able to use an inexpensive mic-USB interface. But as I was singing and playing a squeezebox, I needed three channels, one for the voice and two for my instrument, which obviously has different sounds at each end. This meant I had to use a small multi track recorder and fitted with mic inputs and a slot for an SD card. For micing the melodeon I used two favourite inexpensive large diaphragm condensers set up in a stereo recording setup up known as ORTF (best look that up, but it’s easy) and for voice a single really very inexpensive dynamic microphone with not one but two foam windshields, one small and one large. It may sound odd, but the combination of stage dynamic mic and lots of foam tamed the mic’s 2kHz+ ‘presence peak’ to produce a natural, slightly dark sound that we decided was flattering. It sounded like something one might use for reading a novel online or even for a music radio podcast. Generally, it is my experience that stage mics set up this way – even cheap ones – often can sound good with male voices. I practised hard before recording to ensure I got my recordings as near to mistake-free as I could, and repeated any verses or ‘musics’ I fumbled so I could just cut out any bad bits, taking care to keep the spaces between lines and verses short and even.

In comes I, the editor I did all the editing using the free Audacity software. It’s not a full digital audio workstation, but given this was just me and a melodeon, and I didn’t need to do anything complicated.

From the frequency response curves of the condensers I noticed a wide-ish presence peak centred on about 5kHz, and cut that by a couple of dB - I wanted a natural sound but didn’t want anything too bright from the box distracting from the voice, which was obviously going to be telling stories. I also cut most frequencies below 70Hz, once again to cut out vibrations from passing traffic and the washing machine.

On the voice mic I didn’t need to cut low frequencies (most stage dynamic mics have that built in), but I did add 2dB of air at 6kHz and 3dB at 10kHz. These are both important frequencies for singers and lend a certain shine.

Stereo brings a few challenges. With the voice and melodeon tracks I left the vocals in mono, as there was plenty of stereo interest in the instrument track - but for the unaccompanied tracks I duplicated the vocal track to make a stereo track and then applied reverb.

Full hard right-hard left stereo can sound a bit extreme on headphones and earphones, so I then divided the stereo to left and right mono and moved each about 50% towards the centre.

Finally, on to reverb. I used a small to medium sized room setting and tried to be fairly careful not to let it ring on and sound Albert Hall-like. I set the reverb to come in immediately on the box except when I was playing a tune, but for clarity’s sake on the vocals I applied a little delay of 40ms before the reverb came in. You’ll appreciate that I did a lot of experimenting to reach this fairly simple recording recipe – but having found it I thought others might find it useful! All in all, it was an interesting and absorbing process, a huge lesson in singing and playing, as it always is. This time the biggest thing I noticed was the benefit of practising so much over the space of three weeks’ furlough. We should all try to sing more at home before we go out… It makes such a difference!

If you’re interested to hear a sample, go to https://youtu.be/-WojMx7BCFc – or, even better, https://gavinatkin.bandcamp.com/album/rest-you-here If you would like to ask for any details, email me at gmatkin@gmail.com.

Photo by Phillip Hinton

Lewes Saturday Folk Club Traditional music every Saturday night

Elephant & Castle, White Hill, Lewes BN7 2DJ 8.00 – 11.00 www.lewessaturdayfolkclub.org valmaigoodyear@aol.com 01273 476757 Loyalty card: 6 evening visits = £5 off an evening All events suspended & dependent on public health guidelines at the time Oct 3 Oct 10 Oct 17 Oct 24 Oct 31

Songs of the Sea with Don Morgan Les Barker Jackie Daly & Matt Cranitch Bryony Griffith Halloween by firelight & candlelight, with soul cakes

Nov 7 Nov 14 Nov 21 Nov 28

Askew Sisters Come All Ye Jody Kruskal The Road to Peterloo (Pete Coe, Brian Peters, Laura Smyth)

WORKSHOPS (10.45 am – 4.45 pm) The tutor performs at the club in the evening. Booking forms from club website. Half-price places for 2 under-25 year-olds.

17 Oct JACKIE DALY & MATT CRANITCH £35 MUSIC OF SLIABH LUACHRA, ANY INSTRUMENT 18 Oct JACKIE DALY £35 IRISH MELODEON 18 Oct MATT CRANITCH £35 IRISH FIDDLE 24 Oct BRYONY GRIFFITH £35 VOCAL HARMONY with WINTER & CHRISTMAS SONGS 21 Nov JODY KRUSKAL £35 US OLD-TIME FOR CONCERTINAS & OTHER INSTRUMENTS

CD Reviews

Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer - Twelve Months & A Day The word Quality has become synonymous with Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, both in terms of performance and recordings, and this CD is no exception. Each of the 12 tracks is beautifully arranged and there is a variety of material, as they call it a smorgasbord of music, including both traditional and self-penned songs and dance tunes.

It is always glorious to hear Vicki playing the swedish nyckelharpa, such a distinctive sound of the instrument that she has single-handedly made famous throughout England. Always beautifully complemented by Jonny on his guitar and the many other instruments he has made his own. Vocals and harmonies are always spot on. Opening with some breathtakingly beautiful tunes, continuing with the spooky “Gallows Tree”, then melodic waltz tunes of “Dance All Night” it moves from Americana “John Lover” and toe-tapping “Grandpa Joe” through medieval and classical styles of “Elegy” to Christmassy “Mary Free” and romantic ballad “Two Red Roses”. The lyrics of their “Folk Club Song” always ring so true, reflecting the camaraderie of the folk world that we all love. In summary a lovely CD that I will be glad to have in my collection.

We were looking forward to seeing Vicki & Jonny at Deal Folk Club in November, but they kindly came along to one of our online Zoom meetings and did a 30-minute set for us which was wonderful and really cheered us all up! Obviously like all musicians they are missing live gigs, which are their main source of income, but during lockdown Vicki & Jonny have been busy doing online workshops and concerts, so check out their website for news of future events on www.swan-dyer.co.uk.

Sue Watson

Harwich International Shanty Festival 11th - 13th October 2020

CA

D E L NCEL

Skinners Rats As last issue

EGERTON EGERTON FOLK FOLKAND AND BLUES CLUB BLUES CLUB

Meets every last Tuesday of the Meets every last Tuesday of the month, at The Barrow House, month, at The Barrow House, Egerton, TN27 9DJ, from 8pm.

Egerton, TN27 9DJ, from 8pm. beyond.

Folk. Blues and Folk, Blues beyond.

No guests, just and residents and No guests, just residents itinerants. All welcome.and itinerants.

All welcome.

Hat collection.

Hat collection.

OnceContact normality returns Jerry Hatrick

(01233) 756357.

Contact Jerry Hatrick (07387) 382050.

Foots Cray Social Club Waring Road Entrance, DA14 5BY

Open Music and Song Session in the Bar

every Monday 8.00pm11.00 p.m. times every Monday 8.00 11.00 in normal www.crayside-folk-club for more information All genres- – Mainly Acoustic, but quiet electric guitars with battery amp allowed- must be compatible sound level.

Beginners Encouraged. Experience is gained through jamming along.

Occasional Open Mic Evenings and Guest Nights.

Players, poets, storytellers, and listeners welcome.

Free Entry – Please support our raffle, which pays our running costs.

Rosslyn Court

Live acoustic music in the heart of Cliftonville

Well!...A lot has happened recently.

We have started to live stream at YouTube/Rosslyn Court.

You can see a number of concerts there…JAKL, Sally Ironmonger and Brian Carter, Helen North, Fran and Flora, Nigel Feist and Dave Ferra, Josh Flowers, Jon Beetham , Bob Kenward and Steve Moreham, John and Di Cullen.…

We are open for socially distanced concerts with a very limited number of tickets.

The first hour is also live streamed and all donations from this go to the performers.

We have a Perspex screen between performers and the audience.

There is an on-stage air extraction system.

There’s a quirky one way system and bar table service.

We sterilise the studio between events.

We have fitted air conditioning to the studio…about time, I hear you say?

We are supporting live music by guaranteeing performers an income.

Please support Rosslyn Court!

-Come to concerts. Buy £12 tickets www.WeGotTickets/RosslynCourt Or call 07902140248 -Watch the live stream at YouTube/Rosslyn Court -Donate to the performers via www.RosslynCourt.com/donate -Contribute to the live chat. We like to hear feedback and general daftness.

If you do any of the above then you are entered into the house raffle. Woohoo.

I have re-scheduled most of the artists who could not perform here.

-please support them. This is our Oct/Nov programme.

Concerts doors 18:45. ends 21:00

£12

Oct 10 Ravens Wedding...glorious foot tapping folk Oct 31 Chris Cleverley…a fine guitarist, great singer/songwriter.

Nov 7 Mel Zebra & the Buffalos folk, blues and more Nov 14 Alden Patterson and Dashwood -accomplished performers Nov 21 Winter Wilson- fabulous songs, a great evening Nov 28 Phoebe Rees, a great voice, well recommended

www.RosslynCourt.comor Facebook/Rosslyn Court for the latest list. book: www.WeGotTickets/RosslynCourt or 07902140248 Licenced bar, hot and cold soft drinks + cake! Table service No workshops at present…boooo

in normal times

NEW MOORINGS Dedication to John Masefield (1878-1967) Long and lanky tanker with her bridgeworks aft’ards, Cutting through the ocean like a lean sharp dart, With a cargo of crude oil, won from a shale bed -Lifeblood for the beating of the new, hungry heart.

Giant steel container, travelling as a unit, Moving from a lorry, to a train, to a ship, With but scarcely the need for a man’s hand to touch it, Right from the start to the end of the trip.

Heavy duty crane hook, swinging from a gantry, Long and snaking hoseline from the ship to the shore; The cargoes of new times have need of new havens -They can’t use the moorings of old any more.

Havens of yesteryear turning to marinas, Or filled up with rubble when they’re drained and they’re dry: Just a turn on the wheel in the voyage of progress, The new growing old in the wink of an eye.

Aluminium cutter with her man-made mains’l, Warping from the basin on the floodtide’s flow; As the venturers’ children clear their new moorings, The ghosts of the tall ships watch as they go.

Handsome Tudor galleon, raised up from the seabed, Looking down the Solent to the Channel, to the sea; And the last British coaster with her spring-cleaned smokestack Nuzzles at her fenders by a timeworn quay.

Long and lanky tanker from the Quinquirime waters, Homeward bound to haven by the Estuary shore, Blows a toot on her hooter to scatter the small ships That sail where the tall ships went sailing before.

Bob Watson 9 Compton Close Earley RG6 7EA watson.bob@tiscali.co.uk

Faversham

Every Wednesday 8.00pm Doors open 7.30 www.favershamfolkclub.net

Folk Club

The Limes

Preston Steet, Faversham ME13 8PG

Oct - Nov

There’s still music at Faversham Folk Club every Wednesday! It’s just temporarily online...

We meet on Zoom at 8pm for a session of traditional and contemporary songs and the occasional tune.. the indomitable Ernie Warner is our initial host, with help from t’commitee... if you’d like to join us please contact Pat or Bob below, and we will forward your request to the Keeper Of The List. We all wish Ernie a swift recovery from his recent contretemps.

We can also share hints and optimum settings for Zoom, especially if you are accompanying yourself... default settings often result in free phaser in a fishtank moments... the latency issue means at present that we all sing along in muted isolation... doubtless something better will emerge... we’ll keep looking... better than nowt... at least we sing...

Like everyone else, we had a full guest list planned and shall be hoping to reinstate it asap: we shall be following the science... modelling the format of what we shall be allowed to do is engaging everyone at the moment. Meanwhile many of our guests are online with their own concerts, so please do support them through these tough times.

All other Wednesdays Singers Nights, all welcome to perform or listen and only £2! Under 18/ students free Unless otherwise stated, admission to guest nights is £6 members, £7 non-members Chairman/ Bookings: Pat on 01795 423674 or rjpmailbox pat@yahoo.co.uk Press/ Radio Publicity:Bob on 07885 642763 / bobkenward21c@gmail.com

Tenterden Folk song and music sessions IN NORMAL TIMES AT The William Caxton West Cross, Tenterden TN30 6JR The second Tuesday of every month 8.00 for 8.30 p.m.

Free, sing-a-round style folk club Floor singers, musicians storytellers, step dancers, etc. always welcome Information: E: info@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk W: www.tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk T: 01233 626805 Tenterden Folk Club has been running consistently since 1993 Tenterden Folk Club is part of Tenterden Folk Festival (Charity No 1038663) Promoting folk song, music and dance

Collections or Best prices paid 354 135 Ring Collin 07860

WANTED

LPs, EPs, 45s, CDs

Folk, Blues, reggae, jazz and WANTED rock LPs, EP

s, 45s, CDs Folk, blues, reggae , jazz and rock Collections or small er items

Collections or smaller items, best Best prices paid prices paid Ring Collin 07860 354 135

Ring Collin 07860 354 135

TENTERDEN

olk festival 2021

folk festival

f

Tenterden

“Tenterden the Jewel of the Weald�

Thu 30th Sept to Sun 3rd October Folk song, music, dance, crafts and traditions

The 28th Tenterden Folk Festival is postponed until 2021

Check for details www.tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk info@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk

Most guests held over to 2021: Some still to be confirmed Bill Jones, Bob & Gill Berry, Brian Peters, Broomdasher, Dick Miles, Graeme & Heather Knights, Jeff Warner, Morrigan, Pete Castle, Peter & Barbara Snape, Scolds Bridle, Tom Patterson, The Tonic with Fee Lock, The Wilson Family More still to be confirmed Plus up to 50 Morris sides and dance display teams

Local and regular guests Bob Kenward, Chris Roche, Gavin & Julie Atkin, Jerry Crossley, John & Di Cullen, Malcolm Ward, Peter Collins, Roger Resch, Spare Parts, Sue Watson, Travelling Folk, Vic & Tina Smith, Vic Ellis one man band Free music stage & showcase guests (TBC) Ashford Folk Band, Broomdasher, The Kukes, New Frontier, Nunhead Folk Circle, Open Water, Direction Corsairs, Yardarm Folk Orchestra. More still to confirm...

CONTACT INFORMATION: Festival director: Alan Castle, 15 Repton Manor Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 3HA E: alan@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk Crafts & stalls: Margaret White, E: info@tenterdencraftfair.org.uk Chief steward: Sally Williamson E: chiefsteward@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk Dance co-ordinator: Spud Jones E: dance@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk

Tenterden Folk Festival Registered charity No. 1038663

Tenterden Folk Festival 2021 Thursday 30th September to Sunday 3rd October

Ordered by: Information may be stored for the use of Tenterden Folk Festival only Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Name Address

Town Postcode Telephone

FULL WEEKEND TICKETS: Admits holder to all Festival events except Thursday evening concert and camping, which must be booked separately.

EARLY BIRD OFFERS: Buy before 31st December 2020: Full Weekend Adult £47.00 Youth 10 -16's £23.00 or Under 10’s £2.00 when bought with an adult ticket Caravan / Campervan £20.00 Tent £18.00 THURSDAY EVENING CONCERT: All tickets £10.00 before 31st December 2020

Email Date

Subsequent prices to be announced

Terms and conditions apply Where did you first hear about Tenterden Folk Festival Details of ticket holders (use extra sheet if insufficient room) First name Surname Adult / Under 16

Prices £

Total £

Total £ CAMPING Up to 4 nights from Vehicle No. Prices Total Thursday afternoon to Registration(s) £ £ Monday morning Caravan/Campervan Tents TOTAL PAYABLE £ HOW TO PAY (also available online from www.musicglue.com/tenterdenfolkfestival/tickets/ Make cheques payable to "Tenterden Folk Day Trust". Send cheque and details of the tickets you require, together with 2 x A5 stamped and addressed envelopes (for tickets and free programme) and a list of the full names of all ticket holders and age if 16 or under, to Tenterden Folk Festival, 15 Repton Manor Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 3HA

Adventures of an Old Folkie Well, here we are on the 101st edition of the magazine and I doubt if, this time last year, any of us would have believed that we haven’t been able to take part in live music for about six months now, thanks to the pandemic. Okay, many clubs and open mics have continued in a virtual way, through Zoom or equivalent digital platforms, but I , for one, have really missed both playing and listening to live music.

Therefore, it was with much joy and, indeed, some trepidation, that I was able to hold a real open mic (though without the mic, for health and safety reasons!) last Thursday evening outside The Dog House in the Evegate Centre, near Ashford. Both Duncan, the owner, and I agreed that it would be great to get open mics going again at the pub, as the Govt has relaxed its guidelines on singing and playing outside. A lot of regulars and some newbies turned up, both as performers and audience, and a wonderful night was had by all. Indeed, it was so good that Duncan and I are considering making it a fortnightly event, as opposed to monthly. We played completely acoustically, and the audience sat at tables underneath the covered area just outside the pub.

I’ve heard that other open mic sessions have also started up locally, such as the weekly Wednesday one at Blake’s in Dover; I must try to get there soon.

Regular readers will know that I have been attending the weekly Thursday Folk-at-TheDrum sessions, run through Zoom, more or less since they started. This week, I have decided to also log in to Deal Folk Club, again run through Zoom and by Sue Watson, who has kindly provided me with the log-in details. These virtual sessions have allowed me to vastly expand my repertoire, as I’ve tried to perform a different set of songs for each session; I’ve rediscovered my “Budget Book of Folk Songs” and have plundered it and the “News Chronicle Songbook”, found when my wife and I cleared her 98-yearold aunt’s house after she had passed away. Many of these songs I remember from my childhood, when the teacher would switch on the box radio on the wall for the class to listen to “Singing Together”; such chestnuts as “Greensleeves”, “Cockles and Mussels” and “The Drunken Sailor”. This week, I have prepared “Little Brown Jug”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, “Comin’ Thro’ The Rye” and “Blow The Man Down”. I toyed with the idea of doing “The Yellow Rose of Texas” but, on perusing the lyrics, discovered that they were profoundly racist; how times change, eh?!

I’ve also been able to hone my arranging skills, as the “News Chronicle Songbook” contains the lyrics and musical notation to the songs, but no accompanying chords. So, messing around with various chord structures, I’ve been able to sort out guitar arrangements to them; thankfully, most folk songs are pretty simple structurally, so it wasn’t that difficult.

Ironically, I also found that many of the chord arrangements in the “Budget Book” were unnecessarily complex, and I was able to pare them down to the “bare necessities”!

Anyway, I’ll let you know my experience of how things develop on the live open mic and folk club scene in the next issue; hopefully, it’ll be good news!

Jeff (JR) Hartley Upload Shows Following the demise of Kent Folk my friend and former colleague at BBC Radio Kent, Leo Ulph, has kindly offered to feature a couple of “folkie” uploads on his Wednesday/Thursday Upload shows which start at 9pm. Leo is looking to me to recommend artists and record the introductions for broadcast.

Doug Welch

www.tombthumbtheatre.co.uk www.wegottickets.com or phone 01843 221791

Deal Friday Folk Club meets 8pm every Friday at RMA Club (upstairs) 37 The Strand, Walmer CT14 7DX October Attic we - 3 incredibly talented Deal Folk 26th Club- Granny's is sorry that have had to young men who have taken the folk world by storm in close recent our yearsdoors at present and we hope to re-arrange acts who should have appeared in November 9th -to Singer's with Remembrance June/July 2020 nextNight year.

We are currently theme (Armistice Day Centenary) holding weekly Singers Nights online. See November - Quicksilver - Grant Baynham & website for 16th up-to-date information.

We look Hilary Spencer entertain and delight with virtuoso forward to seeing you all again in person as guitar and amazing voice soon as we can!

REVIEW Proper English

Guest nights - £5.

Guest Nights £5, Singers Nights £2 Singers Nights - £1.50 Singers, £2 Non-singers www.dealfoIkcIub.org.uk or ring ring Sue Sue on on 01-304-360877 01304-360877 www.dealfolkclub.org.uk or

Moore OR Less Folk Club Oast Community Centre, Granary Close, Rainham, Kent, ME8 7SG (next to Rainham railway station)

Second Friday of each month The club always welcomes new performers, of any ability, and audience who just wish to listen.

We are hoping to arrange a weekly on-line sing-a-round via the Zoom software. duringby August Participants will be invitedCLOSED to join the sessions e-mail. Would anyone interested in being invited please send your name and e-mail address to Chris Wilkin 14th September at cwilkin6@sky.com.

Singers night - Entrance £3.00 (including raffle)

We are looking forward to resuming normal club nights once the lockdown eases and thenights venue are is open.

In members the meantime safenon-members and well.

All singers £2.00 andkeep £3.00

Guest nights as advised but generally £4.00 / £5.00

All Club Nights 8.30 - 11.00pm Doors/bar open 7 for 7.30

Doors/bar open 7 for 7.30 Enquiries Chris Wilkin 01634 366155

This issue of Around Kent Folk was produced by Alan Castle and Andy Wood on behalf of Tenterden Folk Festival. Promoting folk song, music, dance, crafts and traditions.

Registered Charity No 1038663 Issue No. 102 December/January COPY DATE: 18th October Then …

18th October 2020 - December / January 18th April 2021 – June / July 18th December 2020 – February / March 18th June 2021 – August / September 18th February 2021 – April / May 18th August 2021 – October / November

ADVERTISING RATES: With both printing and postage costs continuing to rise we

have reluctantly decided to increase some of our advertising rates with effect from issue 91.

The new rates are as follows: Full colour: Back cover: £85 Inside front or back cover: £75 Full page run of issue: £65 Half page (run of issue): £40 **NEW**

Grayscale: Full page (run of issue): £39 Half page (run of issue): £28 Quarter page (run of issue): £18

Series discount: 15% if you pay in advance for a series of six adverts. You can still submit new artwork for each issue.

Artwork: Copy for new advertisements should be supplied as camera ready artwork by email as a high-resolution PDF, JPEG, or TIFF. Existing, regular advertisers need only send in new copy to update existing adverts.

A minimum extra charge of £10 will be made if you cannot submit your artwork in the correct format or sizes. Adverts and listings should be sent to akf@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk with a copy to anmarprintingservices@gmail.com Payment: Cheques payable to Tenterden Folk Day Trust (not Tenterden Folk Festival or Around Kent Folk). Send cheque and hard copy of adverts to: Alan Castle, 15 Repton Manor Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 3HA You can also pay by BACS or internet banking. Ask for details.

REVIEWS AND NEWS ITEMS: AKF also includes CD and book reviews. Please send items for review to the address above. AKF also welcomes reviews of live gigs and festivals that you have attended and other folk news which you can email to us at akf@tenterdernfolkfestival.org.uk WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA: www.aroundkentfolk.org.uk twitter.com/AroundKentFolk ● facebook.com/AroundKentFolk Around Kent Folk Subscription Form Name........................................................................................................................................

Address ................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................

Telephone:.......................................................... Email:...........................................................

SUBSCRIPTION £9 for 1 year (6 issues) Cheques payable to “Tenterden Folk Day Trust” Send to: Alan Castle, 15 Repton Manor Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 3HA