It is always a pleasure to play at the Watford Folk Club. It was doubly wonderful to find out that our appearance coincided with the fifth anniversary of the relaunch of the club. The committee at Watford Folk Club have done a really terrific job in growing membership and, through their popular singarounds and guest nights, have brought a lot of pleasure to people in the surrounding area through their hard work. They are also now beginning their second annual song competition which is a wonderful way to develop and attract new music.
Being not far from home, even the inner road circuits of Watford couldn’t contrive to delay us reaching the club and we arrived in good time to set up and chat with club organisers. The wonderful Helen Chinn was in fine form and buoyed enormously by having just that week taken ownership of a lovely, hand-crafted, parlour guitar.
Watford has some excellent floor singers and, after some very funny songs about what Superman does in retirement and the lost lumberjack loves of a Canadian waitress, Helen did me the honour of playing her version of a song called A Young Girl Confined, which I had translated from the singing of French chanteuse Anne Sylvestre very much with Helen’s haunting vocal capabilities in mind.
We played two full sets and had some warm feedback from this most welcoming of clubs to material both new and old. At the end of the evening, committee member Alison Raymond very kindly invited us to consider entering ‘The Garden of England’ for the club’s impending song competition. Sadly, neither Rob nor I were available for the night of the song competition and, as such, we were unable to get involved.
Many thanks to Helen, Alison, Peter, Julian and all our friends at Watford for their warm welcome. Many congratulations to the club on its fifth anniversary and here’s to a great song competition night and an equally successful next five years.