The start of our long-awaited festival weekend actually began by spending a bit of time making sure that all was in order for our next but one adventure for five days in Germany at the end of July. Having checked ourselves and our instruments in to our flights to and from Nuremburg, we had a light lunch and started off up the A1 to perform at the Hull Folk and Maritime Festival.
Crossing the magnificent Humber Bridge, we arrived in good time in the very nicely refurbished Maritime Quarter in Hull. The festival organisers were already there ensuring things were all sorted to start the weekend. They gave us a great welcome and explained how the evening was going to work.
The Hull branch of the International Brigade Memorial Trust is currently very actively engaged in raising funds to properly remember the eight men that went from the city to fight fascism in Spain. The current memorial is apparently modest in nature and located in a rather overlooked position. As part of this initiative, percussionist with The Hut People and highly active member of the Hull IBMT group, Gary Hammond, invited us to perform a Spanish Civil War themed set at the festival and to return in late September (25th) to perform a further concert alongside renowned local songwriter, Joe Solo.
After a good meal and a stroll around the dramatic maritime area and marina, our concert took place in a room set aside in the (wonderful) harbour side pub, The Minerva. Local musicians had gathered there for a session and the room took on the feel of a lively folk club. The session was halted for our 45-minute performance, and it was very nice to have the room fill up, with everyone listening intently to our stories and songs.
I'm pleased to report that the feedback after the concert was very positive and we'd especially like to thank Joe Grint, who will be known to many as a leading figure in folk music in the north of England, for his very positive comments about our performance on Facebook.
With needing to make tracks westward for the next day's appearance at Festival at the Edge in Shropshire, we were not able to stop and attend some of the other concerts. However, when we reached relatives later that evening, we certainly enjoyed a couple of well-earned beers!
Many thanks to Gary Hammond for the invitation to perform at the festival and to festival organisers Mark Pollard and Lloyd Dobbs for looking after us so well at the event. Thanks also to Marshall Mateer, whom we have known for many years through the IBMT, for filming and photographing our performance.