What a great time we all had at St Edith Folk last Friday.
As evidenced by the terrific programme of artists visiting, St Edith Folk is a first class folk venue and Rob and I were extremely pleased to be invited to perform there. Built in the late 19th century and situated on Kemsing village High Street in Kent, the venue for the folk club, St Edith Hall, had been used as a field hospital in World War 1. It now forms the centrepiece of a collection of community facilities and resources and the hall itself, with its good sized stage, excellent acoustics and lighting and with a real ambience to it, makes an excellent place to play and hear folk music. Indeed, with a bar next door selling a full range of beverages including locally brewed real ales, it has everything a good folk club needs.
Rob and I spent the morning of the concert just checking everything was OK with the p.a. system and having a rehearsal. Then, after a quick lunch, we set off around the M25 for Kemsing, near Sevenoaks. We were keen to be there and to have plenty of time to get everything set up and have a decent sound check – and for once, the roads were kind and we arrived in good time.
Throughout the afternoon and evening we were wonderfully looked after by the St Edith Folk team. Mary, Mark, Ed and Keith could not have been more welcoming and that kindness began with the offer of a much needed cuppa while setting up. The set and sound check went well and we retired to the green room for another cuppa and something to eat.
Support act Simon Stanley-Ward arrived around 6.00pm and we quickly carried out a sound check for him. Simon is an excellent young Americana performer who plays a great range of his own songs plus very occasional covers. He has a great voice, plays guitar really well and is an excellent communicator with the audience. We couldn’t have wished for better support to get the audience warmed up. His is definitely a name to look out for.
At 7.30pm the doors opened and a sizeable audience began to take their seats. It was very nice to see some local friends in the audience, including Joe Whittaker from the increasingly well-known shanty crew, Swinging the Lead.
Simon went on at 8.00pm and got the evening off to a great start. Simon has a wonderful energy to him and the audience was infectiously enthused by it. It was no surprise that he came off to deserved mighty applause at the end of his set.
After a quick break and rearrangement of the stage, we then went on for our first set and, from the start it was encouraging to see feet tapping and heads nodding across the audience. As well as being a great listening club, club members were also very willing to join in choruses and the first set went well and flew by. Pleasingly our new song Black Widows is really settling into the set now.
Having gone out to say hello to our friends in the audience, it was nice to receive both kind words and encouragement from other audience members.
The second set seemed to go just as well and, after ending the evening with our song Navajos & Pirates, we left the stage to rousing calls for an encore. This was something we were very pleased to provide and, in response, we played our revamped DADGAD-based version of The Maid of Culmore.
Again, we went into the hall to say our goodbyes to friends and audience members, and it was very gratifying to receive such supportive and positive comments.
As the hall emptied, we drifted back to the stage to pack away our gear for the trip home. How wonderful then, to be offered a livening and extremely welcoming cup of coffee for the road while doing so. The St Edith Folk team’s kindness didn’t stop there. They helped us get the gear back to the car and then guided us through the country roads to show us the best way back to the M25.
Many thanks to club organiser Keith Stockman, his enthusiastic and hard-working team and the audience at St Edith Folk for welcoming us so heartily to your club. We had a great evening with you and we sincerely hope to make a return to the club again at some time in the future.