The night before holidays for both of us, Rob and I had the pleasure of supporting Les Ray and Deirdre Murphy in their wonderful 24 hour music marathon charity event, held at the home of the Cambridge Folk Club at the Golden Hind on Milton Road in aid of the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity.
Because we both had to be up and moving with our respective partners early the next morning, Les and Deirdre kindly let us perform on the evening of the 14th February at an hour sufficiently early to let us both get home and have a decent night’s sleep.
The place was already getting busy when we arrived at 7.30pm and it was good to see lots of old friends there from the Cambridge Folk Club as well as other friends from other folk clubs around the region, supporting the event.
Everyone was penned to do a 30 minute set and, following some short and moving speeches to get the event underway, Red Velvet, comprising Les and Deirdre with others joining them, made a great start to the evening, getting everyone warmed up nicely. We went on a couple of acts after Red Velvet and did an upbeat 30 minutes of material which seemed to go down well.
As we turned for home, already flagging a bit, our hearts went out to the poor souls who we knew would be playing into the early hours of the next morning. However, we left in the knowledge that even at that relatively early stage in proceedings the Red Velvet’s Valentine Musical Marathon was already homing in on its fund-raising target.
We are pleased to report that the marathon went the full 24 hours and completed successfully the following evening. Recent news tells us that the even has now raised over £3,000 for a very worthwhile cause. Well done to Les, Deirdre and all those involved with another great night in Cambridge.