The start of our long-awaited festival weekend actually began by spending a bit of time making sure that all was in order for our next but one adventure for five days in Germany at the end of July.  Having checked ourselves and our instruments in to our flights to and from Nuremburg, we had a light lunch and started off up the A1 to perform at the Hull Folk and Maritime Festival. 

Crossing the magnificent Humber Bridge, we arrived in good time in the very nicely refurbished Maritime Quarter in Hull.  The festival organisers were already there ensuring things were all sorted to start the weekend. They gave us a great welcome and explained how the evening was going to work.

The Hull branch of the International Brigade Memorial Trust is currently very actively engaged in raising funds to properly remember the eight men that went from the city to fight fascism in Spain.  The current memorial is apparently modest in nature and located in a rather overlooked position.  As part of this initiative, percussionist with The Hut People and highly active member of the Hull IBMT group, Gary Hammond, invited us to perform a Spanish Civil War themed set at the festival and to return in late September (25th) to perform a further concert alongside renowned local songwriter, Joe Solo.

After a good meal and a stroll around the dramatic maritime area and marina, our concert took place in a room set aside in the (wonderful) harbour side pub, The Minerva.  Local musicians had gathered there for a session and the room took on the feel of a lively folk club.  The session was halted for our 45-minute performance, and it was very nice to have the room fill up, with everyone listening intently to our stories and songs. 

I'm pleased to report that the feedback after the concert was very positive and we'd especially like to thank Joe Grint, who will be known to many as a leading figure in folk music in the north of England, for his very positive comments about our performance on Facebook.

With needing to make tracks westward for the next day's appearance at Festival at the Edge in Shropshire, we were not able to stop and attend some of the other concerts. However, when we reached relatives later that evening, we certainly enjoyed a couple of well-earned beers!

Many thanks to Gary Hammond for the invitation to perform at the festival and to festival organisers Mark Pollard and Lloyd Dobbs for looking after us so well at the event. Thanks also to Marshall Mateer, whom we have known for many years through the IBMT, for filming and photographing our performance.

To the casual eye, modern day Croydon, with its mid-rise office blocks, its fancy shopping centres and its busy commuter station, feels like many towns in south-east England. It is interesting then to note its various links with the Spanish Civil War.

For example, it was from Croydon Airport, early on July 11^th 1936, Captain Cecil Bebb and his navigator Major Hugh Pollard took off in a biplane on what appeared to be a tourist jaunt with Pollard’s daughter and her friend as passengers. However, their true purpose was to collect fascist General Franco from the Canary Islands and fly him to Spanish Morocco to initiate a right-wing Nationalist military coup of Spain’s democratically elected government and begin the Spanish Civil War.

East Croydon also became the home of International Brigader, George Wheeler, whose book about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, ‘To Make them Smile Again’ provided the inspiration for our song tribute to the International Brigades, ‘The Bite’.

Croydon was also where Basque child refugees Jésus Caireles and José Mari Martínez attended Art School, earned their Diplomas, and went on to exhibit their work in the Archer Gallery in London in the mid 1940s.

So, on a warm July evening, in a busy private event in the bar of The Oval Tavern in Croydon, as part of the approaching 80^th anniversary of the inception of the war, Rob and I were invited to take part in an event entitled ¡No Pasaran! to recount a brief history of the Spanish Civil War, the role played in it by the International Brigades and to tell the story of the Basque Children, 4,000 of whom were evacuated from Bilbao in 1937. 

In ‘the ukulele and other machines’, Croydon possesses a lively musical club run by Carol Ann Whinnom, Neil Woodcock and others. So, Neil began the evening by recounting the subterfuge that surrounded the Bebb and Pollard flight to the Canaries to pick Franco up.  Carol, with colleagues from the music club, then played some songs from the Spanish Civil War period along with other songs referring to related issues.  She also showed a eries of photographs of her recent visit to the battlefields near Madrid and Zaragoza.

We then took to the stage to present in words and music on the war, the International Brigades and the Basque children. We did this in two 35-minute periods. The feedback from audience members at half time and at the end was all very positive.

Many thanks to Carol and Neil for the invitation to perform at this commemorative event, and to Gavin who worked wonders for us on the p.a.  We wish ‘the ukulele and other machines’ well for the future and hope our paths cross again in the not too distant future.

It was both an honour and a delight last night to participate in a moving evening of music and storytelling in the Trinity Fare Cafe in Dartford on the evening of Day 4 of the annual walk organised by the Refugee Tales organisation.

Taking Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as its inspiration, the Refugee Tales walk this year is from Canterbury through to Westminster, over a period of 6 days.  The walk is undertaken to show solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers and immigration detainees and each evening the walkers are addressed by leading writers with newly written tales that offer new insights into the ongoing plight of refugees and others.

As such, we were delighted to be invited to perform and we shared our musical duties with Mike ‘Dr John’ McKeon, a first-rate blues singer based in the Brighton area.

Expertly compered with wit and wisdom by the host for the evening, Sameena Zehra, we were treated to two new tales by leading writers.  The first was The Voluntary Returner’s Tale delivered by Caroline Bergvall and the second was The Barrister’s Tale presented by Rachel Holmes.

I am pleased to report that our own contribution to the evening was well received, and we were pleased to include within our brief set our new composition ‘The Poor Refugee’.

Many thanks to Anna Pincus for both the invitation to perform at one of the Refugee Tales’ events and for the hospitality shown to us on arrival. Thank you also for the excellent food and company. We wish Refugee Tales well with its ongoing work and hope to perform to its walkers again sometime in the future.

As it has been in years past, it was a great honour for us to be invited to perform at the Annual Commemoration event for the International Brigades, held by the IB Memorial Trust at Jubilee Gardens last Saturday lunchtime.

In addition to presentations from senior figures in the IBMT and the Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales, it was a delight to share the podium with Spanish rap artist Perro Lobo, with two members of the cast of Neil Gore’s new play (Dare Devil Rides to Jarama - about the amazing Speedway rider Clem Beckett who volunteered to fight in Spain), the respected historian and author Prof. Paul Preston, the leading Trade Unionist Rodney Bickerstaffe and internationally renowned actress Maxine Peake. 

We were asked to kick the event off with two songs and, in recognition of the bravery of both the soldiers and the medical staff who volunteered to travel to Spain and fight fascism, we sang our compositions, The Bite and The English Penny.  We were also asked to accompany those attending in a rendition of the marching song, The Valley of Jarama, after the laying of wreaths and a minute silence. 

Other accompanied music was provided from Dare Devil Rides to Jarama, which begins its lengthy tour of the country on 24^th September.  Details of what sounds like a great show can be found at http://www.townsendproductions.org.uk/feedback/test .

Perro Lobo gave a bravura performance in Spanish of one of his compositions which internationally recognised actress Maxine Peake then powerfully delivered a translation of.  Maxine later returned to the podium at the end of the event to read two very moving poems in honour of those who volunteered to fight fascism in Spain. 

At the end of the event, many of those attending the Commemoration retired to the Camel & Artichoke in nearby Lower Marsh Street.  Despite a few spots of rain, it had been hot out in the open in Jubilee Gardens and many were glad of some shade and a cool drink or two.  We were able to stay for a short while but, having another musical engagement that evening, we had to say our goodbyes and leave late afternoon. 

As always, many thanks to Jim Jump and Marlene Sidaway for the invitation to participate in this important and moving event

We both saw an enjoyable end to the month of June last night with our gig at the new home of the former Hove Folk Club.  Now called Railway Roots, the club is held in a spacious room at the back of the famous Railway Inn at Portslade, near Hove (picture attached).  Located almost adjacent to Portslade station, the pub’s beer garden contains an old railway carriage and much of garden furniture is made from railway sleepers.  If we hadn’t been performing, it looked a good place for a pint or two on a summer’s night. 

Despite the M25’s best efforts to stop us, the (three hour) trip to Hove allowed us to meet up with friends and family in nearby Shoreham for a cuppa and a catch up before heading off to the gig.

We knew in advance that well known club organiser Robb Johnson was going to be away gigging himself that evening, but we were very fortunate on arrival to be looked after by MC for the night, Roger Stevens and his partner Gill.  Together we all decided to go acoustic rather than use the club’s p.a. system.

Roger started the evening off very agreeably with a few of his own songs, accompanied by his friend Mike on cajon.  Roger is both a poet and an author and it is no surprise that his music is well written and infused with insight and humour.

Later in the evening, alongside a second set from Roger and Mike, local singer-songwriter and excellent guitarist, John London, performed a very interesting set touching on a range of contemporary issues.  Look out for John in the future.

For our part, we took the opportunity to try a few new things out in the set.  In particular, we played in public for the first time the new arrangement of our song about the plight of refugees, called simply The Poor Refugee.  We also played our new version of The English Penny, which recounts the experiences of nurse Penny Feiwel in the Spanish Civil War.

In contrast to our appalling journey to get to Hove, our return journey was plain sailing.   The journey flashed by as, like a medieval monk, I read out the latest BBC news live feeds about the political machinations taking place in Westminster to Rob as he drove. That story of political intrigue is going to take more than six verses of four lines to write, and heaven only knows what the chorus might be!

Thanks to Robb Johnson for the invitation, to Roger Stevens and Gill for looking after us so well and to Tom Cutler for only taking one raffle prize - even though, from memory, he won five out the eight.  We hope to see you all again, soon.

After a couple of hours working up some new materials for the heavy schedule of gigs in the weeks ahead, we set off early to get across the Dartford Bridge before the evening rush hour for our performance at Tonbridge Folk Club, known to many as 'Nellies'.

Arriving in the town early allowed us time to have a walk around the delightful castle and town centre.  The castle (picture attached) features in the logo of the Tonbridge Folk Club.

After a quick bite to eat we headed over to the folk club, newly relocated to a room upstairs at Ye Olde Chequers Inn in the centre of the town.

With club organiser Roger Resch performing elsewhere that evening, we were welcomed and looked after by John and Di Cullen, experienced club and session organisers in their own right and now running a folk evening every other Monday at the Boar’s head Inn at nearby Crowborough. Not long after we arrived, an old acquaintance from Watford Folk Club, Dave Auld arrived. Newly arrived in the area, Dave has quickly established himself as a well-known figure in the Kent folk scene.

With various people unable to attend, the evening ended up being quite intimate.  However, this allowed Dave, John and Di and other club regulars more time to perform and show the rich variety of talents existing in the club.

Our own sessions seemed to go well and, given the dismal goalless performance by the English football team at the European Championships, they remained undisturbed by any cheers or hurrahs emanating from the bar below.

Many thanks to Roger Resch for the invitation to perform again at Nellie's and many thanks to John, Di and other club members for sharing the evening with us.  We very much hope to see you all again soon, perhaps at the forthcoming Broadstairs Folk Week.

It was fun to be involved in a ‘hometown’ gig over the weekend.  With the Town Hall being redeveloped, the traditional venue for this year’s St Albans Folk Festival sessions was unavailable and the organisers had negotiated performance space with half a dozen of the town’s best pubs.

We performed a half hour concert down at the White Hart Tap.  We decided to keep the energy up with a high octane set and were rewarded with an attentive and appreciative audience. 

Before and after our performance we managed to catch some very different sets by Graham Swannell, Pete White and, all the way from Bournemouth, Polly Morris.  Master of Ceremonies, Julian Mount was on characteristically great form.  His ‘Multicoloured Blues’ was a standout. 

Many thanks to all our friends for popping along to see us.  Especial thanks go to local banjo expert and school chum of mine, Rick Payman, for breaking away from his music session to come along and see us play.

Finally, well done to all the organisers from both St Albans and from the very active and involved Watford Folk Club for making the day a success.  In particular, thanks go to both Alison Raymond and Alison MacFarlane for all their hard work, with others, over many months to make and shape this event. Let’s hope it has kindled a new interest in folk music amongst casual attendees at these pub sessions.

On a high from an excellent day at the Gate to Southwell Festival, Rob and I set off mid-afternoon to play live and be interviewed on Doug Welch’s Sunday evening Kent Folk programme on BBC Radio Kent.  We had jointly selected this date with Doug ahead of our gig at nearby Tonbridge Folk Club (Nellie’s) on 20^th June.

The BBC Radio Kent studio being situated in Tunbridge Wells allowed us to stop off on arrival in the town for a cuppa, a chinwag (and a Tunnocks!) with family friends ahead of meeting up with Doug.

Fully refreshed we arrived at the studio to be met by Doug and his producer Casey whose warm welcome put us at our ease immediately. With a minimum of fuss, we were set up to record some live tracks and to talk with Doug and we both feel the relaxed atmosphere helped us give of our best. 

Once finished, we packed up, said our goodbyes and set off home. Travelling back home through Essex we were met with the most ominous stormy sky either of us has ever seen.  Looming curtains of rain and multiple lighting strikes flashing ahead of us made us feel like participants in one of those ‘twister chasers’ documentaries that are shown endlessly on cable TV channels. However, although aquaplaning on the M25 alongside the juggernauts and the speed junkies was a bit too interesting for comfort, it did nothing to dispel the augmented high we were now feeling at the end of a very satisfying weekend.

Many thanks to Doug Welch both for the invitation to visit him at BBC Radio Kent and for his kind words on the show.  Thanks also to the show’s producer, Casey, who did a great job.  We very much look forward to performing more in and around Kent and, we hope, running into Doug again when we do so.

It was Crowded House who sang that you should 'always take the weather with you'.  So, we did our best yesterday to take some sunshine with us from sunny St. Albans.  We certainly had 'four seasons in one day' on the drive up the Gate to Southwell Festival on Saturday but, as we arrived, having driven through torrential rain and thickening mist, the rain eased, and the sky brightened beyond its Tupperware grey.  So, we didn't do too badly.

We arrived at the Gate to Southwell’s new festival site on Southwell Racecourse as early as we could to make the best of the day.  The Gate to Southwell is a great festival with a fantastic line up and this year was no exception, and we were keen to make the best of it.

We were booked for two performances, one mid-afternoon on the Folk Stage and one in the evening on the Barleycorn Stage.  The time in the middle was our own and we used it actively to see some other performers not to forget noshing a very fine Burrito from the Tex-Mex stand.

In terms of bands we hadn't seen before the stand outs, not surprising given our interests, were the multi-talented Vishtèn and Meaghan Blanchard.  Two of the members of Vishtèn and Meaghan Blanchard originate from Prince Edward Island and fiddler Pascal Miousse comes from the nearby Magdalen Islands on the Eastern coast of Canada.  What musical riches must exist in that area! Is there anything that the members of Vishtèn can’t play well?

In terms of bands we knew well, The Jackie Oates Trio was superb as always and, at the 75th birthday celebrations for Bob Dylan organise by Jim Moray, we saw many of the festival headliners doing tributes to the great man.  These included Show of Hands, Pete Morton, The Henry Girls, Paul Downs and Mick Ryan and The Ooks of Hazzard.  Quite a line up when they are all on stage together.

For our mid-afternoon performance, we had the honour of following The Jackie Oates Trio on to the Folk Stage. We had chosen an upbeat set that attracted and maintained a good audience throughout the session.  Feedback from audience members (and CD sales) after the set were very encouraging. It was also lovely to see friends from Carrington Triangle, Cambridge and Loughton Folk Clubs in the audience.  Many thanks to them for coming along to support us.

In the evening session, we followed the irrepressible Isambard's Wheel onto the Barleycorn Stage.  The Sheffield-based foursome was on fine form and really got the evening off to a great start.  Watch out for them in the future.

Our own set was again upbeat.  With the weather closing in again, the rain beginning to teem down and a lot of ambient bass and drum noise from the nearby main stage we felt our quieter material risked being compromised.  Again, the audience appeared to enjoy what we did and showed a wonderful ability to pick up choruses quickly.

As we packed up and made way for our friends, Two Coats Colder, the rain began to ease but had already done damage. We had had a 30 second power failure during our set and, on the way out of the Barleycorn Stage area we passed more festival stewards fighting to make parts of the Beer Tent marquee waterproof again.

Mercifully, the A1 was kind to us - not too many travellers were out on such a rainy night - and we were home before midnight for a well-earned beer and bed.

Many thanks to the festival organisers for the invitation to play the great Gate to Southwell Festival again and especial thanks to Martin and Marion Smalley for their continuing support for us. Thanks also to Ali, Jake, Doug and his young colleague for delivering such a great sound, under time pressure, in both the Folk and Barleycorn Stages respectively. We certainly hope to make a return to Gate to Southwell at some time in the future and, if and when we do, we will do our best to bring some more lasting good weather with us.

This particular Friday 13^th turned out to be a beautiful day for na-mara to visit the seaside and Seaford Folk Club.  Seaford is a pretty little coastal town sitting between Brighton and Eastbourne and held in an upstairs room above a large and well-appointed British Legion Club, the Folk Club must have one of the best views of any folk club in the land. It takes some concentration not to be distracted into watching what is happening out on the water, especially when it lies shimmering in glorious Spring sunshine.

Although we are very familiar with the general area, this was the first time we had had the honour of performing at the Seaford Folk Club.  With the usual Friday evening shenanigans on the Heathrow section of the M25 we opted to come the ‘wrong’ way round the M25; a choice that was vindicated with us arriving successfully in Seaford in very good time.

Our timely arrival afforded us the opportunity for a cuppa, some sarnies and a stroll along the promenade to take in the stunning views, inspect the impressive white cliffs at the edge of town and watch the Newhaven ferry leaving port on its way to Dieppe.  Fully rested, we made our way across town to a very busy British Legion Club.

The striking thing about the Seaford Folk Club is the depth of folk knowledge and talent it possesses amongst its membership.  Before each of our sets, club regulars Liz Randall, John Cave, Steve and Diane Nevill, Derek Seed, MC for the evening Roger Resch and others all delivered songs and tunes, all to a very high standard and many we had not heard before. Of course, Roger, Liz and Derek are well known collectively across the folk scene in the south east, playing as threesome Hard Pressed and Roger is also one of the club organisers at Nellie’s Folk Club in Tonbridge and a lead organiser of Travelling Folk,  a song and tune collective that takes folk music into selected pubs around West Kent and East Sussex.

In terms of the evening itself, both of our forty-minute sets seemed to be well received and the willingness of the Seaford audience to join us in chorus was obvious from the outset. This was an intimate gig with a friendly audience who were good listeners and good singers. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening at Seaford Folk Club and, following a rendition of The Maid of Culmore as an encore, we packed up our gear, said our goodbyes and turned for home – this time going the ‘right’ way round the M25.

Thankfully, there were no motorway surprises on the return journey, but we did discover a new party game for long journeys.  Serendipitously plugging in my tablet to recharge, the audio system began to play music tracks stored on it – in alphabetical order, beginning with ‘A’. Playing our own game of ‘guess the track’ made the long journey home feel much shorter and we heard everything from Richard Thompson to Tejedor to Mozart to Indian band, Vas.  I can see us picking a random letter for many of the long journeys that face us in our busy year ahead.

Many thanks to John Cave, Roger Resch and all at Seaford Folk Club for their very warm welcome and for all their expert accompaniment.  We had a splendid evening at what is a lovely folk club, and we hope one day to return to the club and to the town of Seaford itself.