Discovering a flat tyre on the car a couple of days before the first of eight gigs in June wasn't the most auspicious start for Na-Mara’s summer tour. Thankfully, we managed to get someone to come out and change the tyres at home on the morning of our gig at Hoy at Anchor Folk Club and we were set.
There comes a time after days of rehearsal, that you are bursting to get out and play to real people (instead of to cardboard boxes in a loft room). This is particularly so when the real people concerned are the really nice people at Hoy at Anchor Folk Club.
Supported in our travels once again by our good friend Dave B, Rob and I set off for Leigh-on-Sea at a time early enough to anticipate the slew of road works eastbound on the M25. Our early departure meant we arrived in decent time at Hoy at Anchor Folk Club’s new venue, the Estuary Club on London Road. The club is now held in a pleasant and intimate modern function room festooned with the traditional club banner. Indeed, there are two such banners, one behind the performers and one covering a large mirror opposite the performers (so they don't have to watch themselves perform).
With us playing acoustically, we had ample time to set up and talk to various club members and organisers. It was great to find out that the club is in good health with audience numbers up. The availability of a car park behind the club is a boon for both club members and performers.
Hoy at Anchor Folk Club is endowed with a substantial number of fine singers and six of them individually give us a song each and then many of the same singers combined to perform as a shanty crew, singing an adaptation of a well-known shanty - “We're bound for Transylvania”. In addition, we were treated to some poetry reading, both profound and funny, and a beautifully performed jazz classic.
Rob and I then took to the stage and performed two 40-minute sets with a short break in between for ‘parish notices’ and the raffle. We gave a first ‘run out’ for our translation of Malicorne's wonderful song, Le Garçon Jardinier. I'm pleased to report that we performed it well and it seemed much appreciated by the audience. Time constraints were against us introducing our new song Father, Oh Father! but we have promised ourselves we will fit it in at a forthcoming gig.
For our first gig of the year, we were pleased with both how we’d performed and to receive so many supportive and warm comments from audience members once we'd finished our encore and were packing up.
Many thanks to the organisers at Hoy at Anchor Folk Club for the invitation to visit the club again. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and believe the audience did so too.
Of course, late night travelling on the M25 can suck the joy out of any evening and a complete closure of the motorway two-thirds the way home spun us off on a rural diversion which meant that we arrived home just before midnight, tired but still buoyed by a lovely evening.