rhythm and boozePassionate About Proper Pubs - Issue 19 - May/June 2013
Performance poet Attila the
Stockbroker visited Castor
Ales (castorales.co.uk) during
a trip to Peterborough. The
poet was in the area to watch
his team, Brighton & Hove
Albion, play at London Road.
Due to preparations for a
late booking in Durham the
following day, Attila was
unable to visit as many of
Peterborough’s pubs as he
hoped. Following the match,
in which Posh drew 0-0, Attila
recorded a guest spot for the
Standing on the Glebe podcast
at the Swiss Cottage, before
turning in for a 6am start.
nAttila returns to the area on 23 August for the
Blythe Power Ashes
(blythpower.co.uk/ashes)
music festival at The Plough,
Farcet Fen.
N o Tim e To Be Hun-over
Attila the Stockbroker with Castor Ales’ Duncan Vessey during the poet’s visit to the brewery.
Photograph courtesy of the Castor & Ailsworth Community Page.
BUY ONLINE or as a DOWNLOADBY MAIL ORDER FROM www.destructors.co.ukOR AS A DOWNLOAD FROM iTUNES/7DIGITAL
Out Now
PMT / The DestructorsSous Les Paves La Plage
The ‘Noisy punk birdsfrom Norwich’ join forceswith The Destructors forthis eight-track split EP.Alongside a reworking ofPMT’s Drama Queen isThe Destructor’s long-lostPenguin War Blues.
“The insanely prolific Destructors
punk-as-fuck Crass meets Stiff
Little Fingers meets Motorhead
inspired efforts here will cause you
to fling yourselves across the room!
A great record!”
- Big Takeover Magazine
Battle of the Sexes
There can’t be many of
us who didn’t as a child
empty the barrel of a ball-
point pen and then proceed
to blow some ammunition
or other through it. Now’s
the time to restart practicing
those skills as the Pea
Shooting Championship is
coming up at Witcham,
between Chatteris and Ely on
the A142.
The Championships started
in 1971 and over the years
have attracted international
entrants (thanks to the
American service personnel
at nearby RAF bases). The
event is held on the second
Saturday in July, so this year
it is on 13 July.
The target (12 feet
away for adults,
closer in the junior
categories)
consists of three rings of
putty or some similar
material, hitting the outer
ring with your pea scores
one point, the middle ring
three points and the inner
most circle scores five points.
The top 16 scoring
competitors (eight in the
ladies and junior categories,
top four in the team
competition) then move on to
the knockout rounds. You can
use your own peashooter as
long as it is no more than 12
inches in length (sights are
allowed, but no laser pointers
in the junior categories).
However, you can only use
the five peas
supplied by
the
organisers. Entry to the
competition costs £2 for
adults, £6 for teams of
four participants.
Registration starts at 12
noon on the village green
and the competition starts
about 1pm, so perhaps some
of you might like to think
about entering. Full details
can be found on the village
website at witcham.org.uk or
by sending an email to
Last year I mentioned a
Gaming Weekend (focusing
on the Pathfinder RPG) at
The Plough in Farcet Fen,
well, it’s back again and
this year to be held over the
weekend of 7-9 June. For
full details go to
www.crispycon.co.uk
Also last summer I mentioned
the annual kite-flying day at
Ferry Meadows organised by
the Ouse Valley Kite Flyers.
This year’s is also on
Sunday 9 June and for
details go to
www.gokf.co.uk
The Surrealist Sportsman’s Club
In this issue, David ‘Dai’Roll takes the peas.
749 Lincoln Rd, New England PE1 3HD
www.thecrownonline.co.uk
Tel: 0843 523 5181
4 Real Ales and Cider~
Log Fire Every Evening~
Great Music Every Day~
Pool Table & Dart Board~
Whisky Rack~
Lagers - Bitters - Ciders~
Bottled Real Ales~
Choice of 9 Wines~
Covered Heated Smoking Patio~
Free Parking~
Hot Drinks – Costa Coffee& Twinings Tea
~Big Screens - Live Sports
~Bar Food & Snacks
~Free Function Room
OPENING TIMESMonday - Thursday 12 - 3pm & 5 - 11pm
Friday - Sunday 12 - 11pm
FA CUP FINALJoin us on 11 May forFootball, Food and
Fosters for £1
WeeklyMondays – Free Pool
Tuesdays – Food NightThursdays – Twisted Tunes
Fridays – LIVE NIGHTSaturdays – Party Night
Sundays – Free Pub Games8pm Free Pub Quiz
Check page 10 for live music
Pub ScrawlCongratulations to Leanne
Moden who won the post of
Fenland Poet Laureate at the
final held in Wisbech on 1
March. The standard of the
finalists was all very high,
making it the best one of
these events I’ve seen in a
long time. I’m glad I hadn’t
been asked to be a judge. You
might have seen Leanne at
the Verbal Remedies gig at
the We Love Words festival
last September.
The subject of this year’s
John Clare Cottage poetry
competition is ‘Landscape’.
Poems can be up to 20 lines
long, the deadline is
Wednesday 31 July and the
entry fee (for the adult
competition, younger age
groups are free) is £4.
For full details go to
www.clarecottage.org
On Saturday 11 May
Peterborough Central Library
is hosting afternoon tea with
three top authors from
publisher Faber. Marcel
Theroux, Susie Steiner and
Nadeem Aslam will be
presenting this panel event, so
come along and hear a group
of writers talking about their
novels, and be inspired to try
something different. The talk
is from 2pm in the John Clare
Theatre at Peterborough
Central Library and tickets
are only £3 (£2 concessions)
available from any
Peterborough Library
or Waterstones.
It’s not often in this column
that I get to mention a talk at
the Peterborough Theological
Society but on Wednesday 29
May their guest speaker will
be the Rev Dr Malcolm Guite,
Chaplain of Girton College in
Cambridge and a darn fine
poet in his own right. He will
be speaking on Poetry and
Incarnation at The Friends’
Meeting House, Thorpe Road
(just over the Crescent
Bridge) and the talk starts at
7.30pm. Admission is £3
and for further details either
ring (01733) 355300 or email
jonathan.baker@peterborough-
cathedral.org.uk
Welney Wetland Trust at
Hundred Foot Bank, Welney
near Wisbech PE14 9TN
will be hosting a launch for
a poetry collection of work
inspired by the fens in June.
For full details go to the
Trust’s website at wwt.org.uk
I was recently in the
Palmerston Arms on Oundle
Road and I saw that they had
a reading group meet there.
For details I advise you pop
in and see what’s on the
blackboard (and have a drink).
If people want to let me know
about other book groups that
meet in pubs, I think the
Coalheaver’s Arms, the
Fenman and the Ostrich host
such evenings, email me at
This column marks three
years of writing for Rhythm
and Booze and I wondered if
there were anything you folks
wanted me to change about it.
Email your suggestions to
A track by Cardinal Cox’s
band from the late-80s/
early-90s, the Sonic Energy
Authority, is included on This
is Peterborough Goes Forth
from Rowdy Farrago records.
by C
ard
ina
l C
ox
The Cardinal’s Calendar 8 May/12 June – Pint of Poetry, Dash of Drama @ Charter’s
The evening now starts at 8pm, be early if you want to read.
7 May/4 June – Poets United meet at the PCVS building on
Lincoln Road (roughly opposite Geneva Bar) For full details
ring Viv on 01733 340560.
29 May/26 June – Stamford’s Pint of Poetry takes place from
8pm at the cellar bar at the Arts Centre on St Mary’s Street.
6-7 July – The 8th T.S. Eliot Festival at Little Gidding. For
details go to eliotsociety.org.uk
12-14 July – John Clare Festival, Helpston, Peterborough.
For full details go to the website of the John Clare Society at
johnclaresociety.blogspot.co.uk
Leanne Moden, the new
Fenland Poet Laureate.
The extended weekend that
accompanies the May Day
bank holiday sees two small
but perfectly formed beer
festivals in the east of the
City. ‘Fortress Fengate’,
home of Peterborough
RUFC (www.prufc.com),
hosts its 8th Annual Beer
Festival from 3-5 May.
Billed as three days of
food, fun and games,
there’s live music on
Friday and Saturday night
and a veterans’ rugby match
on Saturday.
Over the river in
Stanground, The Woolpack
enjoys its Spring Beer
Festival between 3 and 6
May. Following on from
last year, when the pub
celebrated beers from
breweries in the south-west,
this year’s event features a
distinctly Yorkshire flavour.
On top of the pub’s home
cooked menu, there will be
a barbecue with live music –
provided by Ian Graham
and Kat Moore at 9pm on
Saturday 4 May, and Joe
Solo from 4pm on Sunday
5 May.
Knobworth – in aid of
Prostate Cancer UK –
returns to the Angel Inn
(angelinnyarwell.com),
Yarwell on 4 and 5 May.
Located on the border
between Cambridgeshire
and Northamptonshire, the
village even has it’s own
railway station. Operated by
the Nene Valley Railway
(www.nvr.org.uk), it’s
perfect for visitors during
the daytime (the last train
back is at 16.05) and will be
one of the last times Thomas
is in steam before his ten-
year overhaul.
The following Wednesday
(8 May) is the 7th Annual
Castor & Ailsworth Beer
Festival. Held at the
Prince of Wales Feathers
(princeofwalesfeathers.co.uk),
it runs until 13 May and on
top of the 30 Real Ales
(some of which come from
the village’s own brewery),
ciders and perries, is a
Rhythm, Booze and Barbecues
programme of live music
from New Generation Crash
and Burn (9 May), the
Definitely Maybes (10 May)
and Dead Rabbits (11 May).
The Crown, Lincoln Road
(thecrownonline.co.uk) is
running two events with a
difference on both Bank
Holiday weekends. Its Super
Cider Weekend takes place
between 4 and 6 May,
offering at least 12 different
ciders, while 25 to 27 May
is the Bonkers Bottled Beer
Weekend, which offers at
least 40 different bottled
beers. Both weekends will
feature live music (check
the listings page for more),
food and Beat The Landlord,
your chance to win a drink.
The Dragon at Werrington
is holding a Charity Beer
Festival – raising funds for
the Respiratory Sleep Study
Unit at Papworth Hospital –
during the late May Bank
Holiday Weekend. Running
from Friday 24 until
Monday 27 May, 18 real
ales will be on offer,
along with hot food and
live music.
The Welland Valley
Beer Festival, which runs
between 7 and 9 June, is a
celebration of pubs as much
as it is beer. Taking place at
10 of the region’s pubs, an
estimated 250 beers will be
available over the weekend,
along with food and live
entertainment. On Saturday
8 June vintage buses will be
operating a shuttle service
between the pubs. A two-
way route runs from
Market Harborough to
Rockingham Crossroads,
while a circular route goes
between Gretton Seaton
and Lyddington. For further
information, including
bands, menus and bus
timetables, visit
wellandvalleybeerfestival.co.uk
nIf you’ve got a beer festival at your pub in
July and August, send
all details by email to
by Friday 7 June.
Rhythm, Booze and Barbecues
From left to right: At last year’s festival, drinkers at The Woolpack
in Stanground were able to enjoy beers from the southwest. Pogues’
tribute band The Dead Rabbits are appearing at The Prince of Wales
Feathers, Castor. More than £1,600 was raised at last year’s Knobworth
at The Angel Inn, Yarwell.
Hand & Heart12 Highbury Street. Peterborough PE1 3BE
01733 564653
A traditional back-street pub withup to six real ales at any time
nBeer garden and stage for live music
nTraditional pub games
nTraditional cider and perry available
nCAMRA Cambridgeshire Pub of the Year 2010
nCAMRA Gold Award Winner 2010
nLocAle Accredited
nListed in the CAMRA 2012 Good Beer Guide
nCheck our Facebook page ‘Friends of the Hand & Heart’for updates on beer festivals and live music
Prince of Wales FeathersPeterborough Road, Castor
Peterborough PE5 7ALwww.princeofwalesfeathers.co.uk
01733 380222
7th ANNUALCASTOR &
AILSWORTHBEER FESTIVAL
8th-13th May
The Brewery Tap for Castor Ales
30 Real AlesCiders and Perries
'Live Music with Pogues& Oasis Tribute Bands'
New England
By Chris Porsz
* Available locally and from
www.chrisporsz.com
In the late-70s and early-80s,
when the most ambitious
plans to turn Peterborough
into a new town were taking
shape, amateur photographer
Chris Porsz would tramp the
city’s streets. Armed with –
at first – a Kodak Instamatic,
he used his film sparingly to
capture all aspects of human
life at work, rest and play.
As fatherhood took hold, his
hobby was sidelined until
almost 30 years later when
he decided to send a couple of
photos to the editor of the ET.
These visual time capsules
gathered so much interest that
he was given a weekly column
– The Paramedic Paparazzo,
a nod to his day job – and
now the owner of a digital
camera, and no longer
encumbered by the expense
of roll film, returned to the
streets both at home and
abroad. This book collects
almost 150 of those early
photographs capturing a city
in transition, not to mention
an assortment of hairstyles
and fashion choices.
Pennyless
Tales From the Tulgey Wood
www.pennyless-music.co.uk
Opening with a cover of
Donovan’s Jabberwocky,
the Lewis Carroll poem that
gives the CD its name, this
ten-track album of new
material and rearrangements
of traditional pieces offers a
new slant on folk music.
Despite the jigs and reels
(Matterhornpipe), occasional
tweeness (Tell It To The Bees)
and a plethora of instruments
such as a melodica, cajon and
djembe, the Neil Young-esque
Way Over Yonder and the
electric guitar threaded
Winter Is Gone and The
Caretaker make this an album
far removed from big beards
and knitting your own cider
as possible.
Much of this is down to the
varied origins of the three
band members; guitarist
Les Woods has form in a
collection of blues bands,
violinist Penny Stevens is
classically trained and,
despite a synthpop past,
Graham Dale is responsible
for many of the more unusual
instruments. Wood’s
world-weary voice contrasts
nicely with Stevens’ ethereal
vocals and given the variety
of influences, this is one of
the few times that an album
can be described as ‘a mixed
bag’ in a nice way.
Chas & Dave
@ Stamford Corn Exchange,
7 March 2013
When Dave Peacock
announced his retirement in
2009, many thought that it
was game over for Chas &
Dave. But like many retirees,
Dave decided to do something
to stave off the boredom.
Instead of going part-time at
B&Q, he reunited with Chas
Hodges for some – if the gig
schedule’s anything to go by –
almost full-time R&B.
Sadly poor-visibility on the
A1 meant that I missed the
first half, their old pub set
which closed with 1979’s
Gertcha but was in time for
hour-long second half. All
the favourites were there
including Margate, Rabbit,
The Sideboard Song and
Snooker Loopy, which was
followed by last year’s Got
My Tickets for the Darts.
Written, like Snooker
Loopy, was written at the
behest of sports promoter
Barry Hearn, its easy to pick
up chorus, this new track
fitted in nicely with the rest
of the set, which closed with
Ain’t No Pleasing You. A
reprise of The Sideboard
Song for the encore
persuaded much of the
crowd to prise themselves
from their seats and regain
their circulation with a bit of
a dance at the front.
R E V I E W S
LISTINGSThe Crown
749 Lincoln Road
Peterborough
PE1 3HD
0843 523 5181
May
03 - Psych O Bombs (9pm)
04 - Party Night (7pm)
05 - Willow Festival Acoustic
Showcase (3pm)
10 - The Blues Volcano (9pm)
11 - FA Cup Final Party
17 - Zeb Rootz (9pm)
19 - Willow Festival Acoustic
Showcase (3pm)
24 - Uncertain Midnight (9pm)
25 - Uncertain Midnight (9pm)
26 - Crown Comedy Club (8pm)
27 - Quick Pub Quiz (8pm)
31 - Biggsy (9pm)
June
02 - Willow Festival Acoustic
Showcase (3pm)
07 - Open Mic Night (3pm)
14 - Tom Wright (9pm)
16 - Willow Festival Acoustic
Showcase (3pm)
21 - James Edmonds (9pm)
28 - Rockers (9pm)
30 - Willow Festival Acoustic
Showcase (3pm)
The Hand & Heart
12 Highbury Street
Peterborough
PE1 3BE
01733 564653
May
02 - Open Mic Night
16 - Captain Backwash &
the Barley Boys and
Girl Rafter Raisers
30 - Cheese Club
June
06 - Open Mic Night
20 - Captain Backwash &
the Barley Boys and
Girl Rafter Raisers
27 - Cheese Club
The Ostrich Inn
17 North Street
Peterborough
PE1 2RA
01733 746370
May
03 - Little Dave
04 - The Wash
10 - Al Chapman
11 - The Limit
18 - Grumpy Old Men
24 - Faster Mutley
25 - Pennyless
26 - Charity Day (Bands TBC)
June
01 - The Vintage Stuff
08 - The Influence
14 - Psych O bombs
15 - The Mistreated
22 - Frankly My Dear
28 - The Kurmújun
29 - Skulduggery
The Palmerston Arms
82 Oundle Road
Peterborough
PE2 9PA
01733 565865
June
09 – Joe Solo (3pm)
15 – Be Bop A Lulas
20 – The Ash Mandrake Act
The Prince of Wales Feathers
38 Peterborough Road
Castor
Peterborough
PE5 7AL
01733 380222
May
04 - The Overdubs
09 - New Generation Crash
and Burn
10 - Definitely Maybes
11 - The Dead Rabbits
The Woolpack
29 North Street
Stanground
Peterborough
PE2 8HR
01733 753544
May
04 - Ian Graham & Kat Moore
05 - Joe Solo (4pm)
All listings given in good faith,
Rhythm & Booze cannot be held
responsible for any discrepancy.
All events are listed free of
charge, to ensure inclusion in
the July/August issue, or have
any other news included in the
magazine, please email
[email protected] before
7 June 2013.
Entry cannot be
guaranteed for late submissions.
Rhythm & Booze, Issue 19 - May/June 2013. All written material, unless otherwise stated, © Simon Stabler
The Palmerston Arms82 Oundle Road, Peterborough
PE2 9PA Tel: 01733 565865
Vinyl Night(24th May, 21st June)
Bring your favourite record along.
Philosophy Night(Date TBC via Facebook)
Share ideas about life's big questions ina friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
Lazy SundaysEnjoy Peterborough’s finest acoustic
acts, every Sunday from 3pm.
Every Sunday QuizFree Buffet. Cash Prizes. Win a
weekend in Norfolk. Starts at 7.30pm.
For more live music and events,please see our Facebook page
O p e n i n g T i m e s : Monday - Thursday 15.00 - 23.00
Friday and Saturday 12.00 - 00.00 Sunday 12.00 - 23.30
n Open all day, every day
n Up to four real ales available
n Food served Tuesday to Sunday lunchtimesand Monday to Saturday evenings
n Quiz on Sunday evenings with cash prizes
The WoolpackNorth Street, Stanground,
Peterborough PE2 8JF (01733) 753544
Stanground's Best Kept Secret- A 15 minute walk from the centre of town
Spring Beer Festival3-6 May
Real ales from Yorkshire,
barbecue and live music from:
Saturday 4 May - Ian Graham &
Kat Moore (9pm)
Sunday 5 May - Joe Solo (4pm)
Top Related