It was very nice to be making a return to St Neots Folk Club. From the very beginning of na-mara the club, led by Roger and Patti, has always been very supportive of what we do.
This was our first trip back to St Neots since featuring in the folk festival there two summers previous. We arrived early and had just finished setting up when Patti, Roger and other club regulars arrived. The room proceeded to fill quickly and it was very nice to renew acquaintances with a number of the club members we had met on previous visits. It was also very heartening to see friends of ours from Cambridge and Baldock and Letchworth Folk Clubs travelling some distance to come along and see us.
With songs very much reflecting his dry wit, Roger kicked the evening off with three songs of May. The audience - always a great singing audience - was clearly in fine voice.
We then did our first set and it was lovely to hear the choruses coming back to us, hearty and strong. Our song The Black Widows certainly went down well and it was extremely interesting to talk later on with a former resident of Seaham Harbour where the most heinous of all the Black Widow murderers, Mary Ann Cotton, was the subject of schoolyard rhymes well into the 20th Century.
Singer-songwriter Bob Hines, runner up in last year’s Watford Folk Club song competition, kicked off the second half of the evening with three self-penned numbers. With a lovely voice, great guitar work and a beautiful Martin guitar, his set was very well delivered indeed.
We started our second set with some muineiras and finished it with a series of songs with one line and longer choruses that the audience quickly mastered. For an encore we played our DADGAD-refashioned version of The Maid of Culmore which seemed to meet with favour
As people dispersed, both Rob and I had lively conversations with audience members about our instruments, song and all manner of folk-related topics. It was particularly nice to catch up again with fellow performer and top quality guitarist Paul Cherrington who had popped along.
We eventually took our leave of Roger, Patti and Bob and turned for home. The A1 has been surprisingly benign to us in recent times .(...”its quiet...too damn quiet”....) and we were back before midnight.
Many thanks to Roger and Patti for again extending an invitation for us to play at the splendid St Neots Folk Club. We wish them every success as they move beyond their 50th(!) birthday. We also hope they have a great folk festival this summer – great acts and a wonderful ceilidh are amongst the many things planned.