Decisions. Decisions. Broadly the same amount of time. Tolls either way. One route is far longer but more relaxing, the other (for me at least) nail biting but much shorter. In the end, we opted to pay the congestion charge and take the car through central London to the Dulwich Folk club rather than around the M25 and into London on the A2.
I am not the most comfortable of London drivers. So, a trip down the A5, Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Vauxhall Bridge and, then, onto Dulwich, weaving through the buses, bikes, electric scooters and death wish roadrunner pedestrians, doesn't come easy. However, with the aid of more experienced London drivers, we made it through.
We had set off in the early afternoon to visit two close friends who live in Dulwich Village before moving on in the early evening to make our first visit to Dulwich Folk.
Late summer sunshine having (eventually) arrived, we spent a glorious late afternoon sitting chatting in our friend's garden with a cuppa and a light tea.
As the bells of Dulwich College rang 6:00pm, we said our adieus and arranged to meet our friends again a little later at the club. Being just a ten-minute drive away, we arrived at The Castle pub in Crystal Palace Road just as club hosts Jackie and Peter had finished setting the room up for the evening’s entertainment. Peter had seen Na-Mara perform at Croydon Folk Club in 2022 and did us the honour of inviting us to then come along to play at Dulwich Folk.
The club is held in a medium sized upstairs room over the main bar. Everyone we met over the course of the entire evening was extremely friendly and the club had a really lovely feel to it.
So, without the need for any form of PA system, we were able to set up quickly and had time to speak with a number of club members as they arrived. Then, our friends and family members began to arrive, and the club room began to fill nicely.
Both halves of the evening at Dulwich Folk start with a round of floor singers, with the main act completing both sessions. The range and talent of Dulwich Folk regulars is very striking. We had an accomplished duets with clever harmonies, well delivered songs in both French and Spanish and soulful deliveries of beautiful English and American folk classics. Sadly, the house choir, usually seven strong, had been severely depleted by COVID. That said, the remaining trio performed very well as did a duo visiting London from the Shropshire/Welsh borders deploying Hungarian zither and guitar to accompany heartfelt songs about nature and the landscape.
I'm pleased to report, especially after rehearsing diligently in preceding weeks, that both of our sets went well and were well received by the Dulwich folk audience. It was a hot sultry night, but the instruments stayed in tune with our concentration held.
We finished with an encore of Companion de la Marjolaine and had a pleasingly long round of applause at the end of the evening. Feedback was excellent as we said our goodbyes to family and friends old and new, and then it was back on the road retracing our path through central London. There was now mercifully less traffic, but all of it now moving noticeably faster.
Still, we made it through and were unpacking the gear at home by 12:15am. It had been a really enjoyable concert and day. Many thanks to Peter and Jackie for the invitation to perform at Dulwich Folk and to all the members of the Dulwich Folk club for their warmest of welcomes.