It warms the cockles of your heart to turn up at a new venue and, before you have even gone inside, you see that it has the commitment to announce to the world the presence and details of the folk club it hosts. So, it was at the Hoy-at-Anchor Folk Club held on Tuesday nights at The Ship Hotel in Leigh on Sea.
Climbing the stairs to the room where the folk club is held, one is again impressed by the array of pictures of artists past, present and future who have played at the club or soon will be.
As part of our general drive to get ourselves better known across a wider array of clubs, Rob and I had decided some time ago that Hoy-at-Anchor was a club we very much wanted to go and visit. We had identified a singer’s night and were pleased that the M25 was benign enough to get to Leigh-on-Sea on a workday night, with plenty of time to park up and wander in to the club with 15 minutes to spare.
The welcome was warm from the outset with club organiser, Tony Prior, being very welcoming on our arrival. This welcome was to be extended throughout the evening from a very wide range of club members. Singer’s nights are free at the club. So, Rob and I were more than happy to contribute some income to the club and enlist as proud members of this excellent folk club.
The club is very much our type of club. It is a listening audience that is willing to give attention to all kinds of music. The quality of the floorsingers was excellent and covered a wide range of styles from traditional instrumentals, through to Neil Young, Bob Dylan and a great rendition of Loudon Wainwright’s ‘Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)’ by Mick Denny, who was kind enough to give us a copy of his very nicely produced CD – for which many thanks! There was also some moving poetry read out to what was now a very full room. I was able to have a very pleasant chat with Mick and poet, Frank, in the downstairs bar whilst buying a pint of excellent (and strong) ale – Rob was driving.
Rather unnervingly there is an informal vote for acts in the first round of the evening to be invited back for the second – and, I’m pleased to say we made the cut (phew!) and, indeed, we were honoured to then be invited to do a third song to finish off the second round. We performed Three Bonny Ships, Only For Three Months and Billy Don’t You Weep for Me and all seemed to go down well.
The third part of the evening was given over to a performance by local four-piece Legacy, who showed great musicality and arrangement in their 40 minute set and were kind enough, during a hiatus to sort out some technical issues, to mention that they had been moved by the story of the Basque children in Only For Three Months.
We very much hope to return to Hoy-at-Anchor in 2012 and would, again, like to thank Tony and all of his club members for extending such a warm welcome to two newcomers.