Spring 2018 Volume 23.1

The Cutty WrenNewsletter

www.cuttywrenfolkclub.talktalk.netHi, all! We’ve a lively season coming up, so let’s go to it:

First, there’s a change. April3rd will now be a ThemeNight of “Songs for April”,which should get us thinking! (We’d hoped to have ourregular Gordon Mallory’s HotSpot, but that is now plannedfor May 22nd.)

We’ll have the season’s first “Singers and Musicians” night on April 10th. These are fun nights, when our regulars and any visitors can getup and do a couple of songs and tunes. We neverquite know exactly who’ll be there and what they’lldo. We do know, though that there’ll be some great songs and music as well as laughs and good humour. What more could we want? (And any other dates I don’t specifically mention will also be “Singers and Musicians”.

We welcome as guests Paul Walker and Karen Pfieffer on April 17th. They are well thought of in both their countries of Britain and Germany, and now have three CD’s out. They use guitar, whistles and recorders, inventive percussion and, naturally, vocals, Karen’s voice being especially praised. They have a wide repertoire, and they include some of the best contemporary material. I know – I’ve checked the track listings on their CD’s, and it all sounds good to me. A night to lookforward to.

On April 24th we’ll have a Charity Night in aid of the battle against leukaemia, and the Theme will naturally be “Remembering Mike”. We still missMike (Gardiner) as he meant so much to the Club.This is a way to remember him and do something positive, as he would have wished.

“Bandersnatch” are our guests on May 8th. This is quite a big band with a big reputation. Currentlythey consist of Rebecca Raw, Dennis Dodds, Ed McGurk, Norman Raw and Ian Kell.

Besides vocals Rebecca plays fiddle and viola, while the rest play more types of strings than you can shake a stick at. They draw their material from many sources, and have written some songsthemselves. They’re a lively lot and I reckon we’re going to have a very entertaining evening.

And now for our first HotSpot of the season, with Gordon Mallory on May22nd. For the newcomer,these nights are when aperformer gets thechance to do a set of halfan hour or so instead ofthe usual two songs. Gordon likes powerful songs, with a traditional edge, but preferably onesthat stir you. So come along and see!

We welcome “Sunjay” on May 29th. He’s a young (24) and strikingly unusual performer, his earliest influence being a TV documentary of Buddy Holly atthe age of four! He does blues and plenty of other material; many will remember his stunning performance at

Saltburn Folk Festival. He’s definitely not someone to miss.

Tony Morris from Whitby is also unusual - if not unique! You’ll see that in his Hot Spot on June 12th. His songs and poems get their inspiration in part from local history and legend, but also from other people’s quirks and foibles.

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As to the eclectic range ofinstruments he uses toaccompany both... well, comeand see! He’s by turnsinventive, moving, very funnyand always entertaining.

June 26th sees the welcome return of the lively group “Broadband”. Consisting of Angie Archer, her brother Martin Bradburn and Phil Summers, they’re the hosts at the Pot and Glass club in Egglesclife and are well-known as energetic performers of great songs, a good number of which they wrote. Angie has a lovely voice, just right for her traditional material, while Phil has a very effective one for his self-penned, very funny, but also thought provoking compositions. You’ll have a good time tonight!

We’re celebrating American Independence Day a day early on July 3rd. Our guest for the occasion will be RayFreeman, whom we don’tsee as much these days,but he’s a very goodguitarist and exponent ofmodern U.S. folk music,so we’ll have a greatnight.

July 10th brings “Fifty Three Years at the Cutty Wren”, which will be a good opportunity for great songs along with happy memories and a bit of nostalgia. But it’s also a chance to celebrate new songs, too!

Well-known local singer and song writer Bob Fortune has a Hot Spot on July 17th. Bob likes the traditional songs, but he’s no mean song smith, with his songs performed by Vin Garbutt and Marie Little. He’s also a bloke

with a genial approach on stage. So, old song or new, you’ll have a very enjoyable night.

Our guests on July 24th will be the Brothers Gillespie. We have James and Sam on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and shruti box. They’re very much influenced by their Northumberland home and its many traditions, legends and influences – not just local, but Scottish, Irish, traveller and many more. As with some of our other guests this season, it will be good to hear what these youngsters do with the old music. It sounds like a good night to me!

We’re going to celebrate Yorkshire Day, but a week late, on August 7th. We’ll have a Theme of “Songs for Yorkshire”, andthere are plenty to choosefrom, old and new.

Saltburn Folk Festival takes place the next weekend, so Thursday, August 9th, will bring our Famous Pre-Festival Night, and it will be held upstairs in the Marine Hotel on Saltburn’s upper promenade. It’s a special time to meet the old friends we know from the festival and hear a wide variety of different songs and music. We start the singing not long after 7 p.m., so get in early for the best seats! (Don’t forget you Festival tickets, will you!)

Looking BackOur Saturday Charity Evening in November for Prostate Cancer was a very enjoyable evening and it was good to hear a few folks we don’t often see. Appropriately, the guess the weight of the cake competition was one by the evening’s organiser, Ian Tyzack!

J.I.B. – Jim Mageean with Barry and Ingrid Temple – were on top form with their usual great mix of traditional, self-penned and contemporary material. They’re full of energy and humour, and never less than entertaining. It was good to have Jim Bainbridge along, too.

Our friends Tony andTommy were full ofvim when they gaveus a greatlyappreciated Hot Spoton the 28th with lots ofsongs we could alljoin in. Good stuff!

3 The Cutty Wren NewsletterThe “Remembering Vin” night was obviously a poignant occasion, but it was a chance to reflect on how Vin Garbutt inspired as well as entertained so many of us.

Vin’s songs got sung, of course; it was very appropriate for Paul and Alan to end with Vin’s “On the Road Again”.

Our Christmas Party was at least as good as ever with fine food, good humour and great songs. The prize for cleverest and funniest song must go to Karen,normally happy as partof the audience, whotook Leonard Cohen’s“Hallelujah” andproduced a hilariousditty on learning theukulele!

Marie Little gave us a fine start to the New Year with most of our old favourites, whether rousing, funny or sad. There are few better winter tonics than Marie!

At the next week’s Singers’ night, Katie from Daisy Chain, which helps those with autism, thanked those who’d attended Trevor and Joan Taylor’s Golden Wedding celebration at Skelton; it raised some £530! The Theme of “Drive the Cold Winter Away” did just that a week later – well for one evening anyway! - while on the 23rd Vince remade “Jingle Bells” to produce...well, youhad to be there!

No surprise that Tich Frier gave us the usual first-class Burns’ Night at the end of January. Burns himself could express so many different human emotions, and Tich is a past master at interpretingthem to us. And, of course, he’s one of the folk scene’s greatest entertainers. The haggis was good, too!

We all thoroughly enjoyed John Drakes’ Hot Spot in mid-February. John has a gentle approach, but his songs get to you. “The Last Remaining Tree” isn’t comfortable, nor was “The Gibbous Moon” about unhappy childhood memories, but John does hope as well, with “Dance between the Raindrops”. And we all weremoved when he proposed to his lady Janice and was accepted!

I had to miss the first part ofthe Theme of “Songs ofGraeme Miles” but lovedwhat I did hear in the secondhalf. It was good to have Graeme’s wife Annie, whosang a little song in French,as well as two mostsignificant interpreters ofGraeme’s songs, namely Robin Dale and Alex Angel.

It’s not often the weather beats us, but we had to abandon the 27th of February. A few of us did turn up, but by then it was blowing a blizzard, and we sensibly went home.

But we reassembled the next week when the Scottish group “North Sea Gas” brought many oftheir fans from across the north and gave a blistering performance of compelling songs and high-octane tunes. There were plenty of rollicking numbers to sing along to, and plenty to think about too.

It was good to have a former regular, Tony Baylis, back with us for the evening as well.

4 The Cutty Wren NewsletterAs ever, there have been so many fine musical moments that I’d love to re-live, and performers topraise, especially the regulars, but we can alwaysget along and hear new ones at the Wren.

Sadly, as is often the case these days, we have toreport a loss: Helen Thatcher, who many of you will know as the sister of our Alison Barnes. Helenlived in the south, but got to the Wren when she could, and we offer our condolences to Alison, Gordon and all the family.

But we keep going as those who have passed on would wish. We meet every Tuesday at the Redcar Borough Park Bowling Club, Thwaites Lane, off Redcar Lane, Redcar TS10 2FD. Go up or down Redcar Lane, turn in at the big red racecourse sign, and we’re down at the bottom of Thwaites Lane to the left, with plenty of parking space.

Doors open at 7-30 p.m., singing starts about 8 p.m., and we finish about 11 p.m. There’s fine bar, presided over by the ever efficient Gemma. You can get more information from our resourceful organiser John Taylor on 01287 622623, and we have a website at www.cuttywrenfolkclub.com

Who is the luckywinner thistime?????

Thanks as ever to John, to Marj on the door, to Elaine, Nigel and their deputies for the raffle, to Alison for the serious stuff on the newsletter, to Denis for so many photos, and, as ever, to Gemma and our kind hosts at the Bowling Club.

See you soon!

George