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shewhomustOn Friday, the Sage held a celebration of 60 years of the Bridge Folk Club. I've been poking around the internet looking for some historical background (not because I disbelieve the claim, but because I am interested) and there's disappointingly little out there. Wikipedia isn't interested in the history of the folk revival. However, the biographical material on Johnny Handle's website. This says that "[i]n 1958 Johnny met folksinger Louis Killen and enthused by the revival of folk music, they started the Folksong & Ballad Club in Newcastle". Which is a pretty good excuse for a party. The Club moved to the Bridge Hotel later, but not much later - after various other events dated to 1961. Hence its claim to be the club running longest in the same place. I would have told you that I had never actually been to the Club - the Bridge Hotel, yes, many times, and knew the Club by reputation - but someone commented that in its years at the Hotel, the Club had met in many different rooms, and even in the basement, and my mind said "Oh, I thought the basement was its regular location, that's where..." So we must have been at least once: to see Martin Carthy (who else?).
The highlights of my evening were sets from the Wilsons and the High Level Ranters (in what I think of as the classic line-up: Alistair Anderson, Colin Ross, Johnny Handle and Tom Gilfellon) and a montage of short film clips from Doc Rowe's archive.
Ed Pickford sang a song he had written for the occasion, from which I have taken the title of this post. There was a raffle; well, there had to be a raffle. Martin simpson defined folk music as 'music that takes place in the vicinity of a raffle', according to the man conducting said raffle at inordinate length (this, too, is traditional). Di Henderson sang songs she associated with Ray Fisher, and we all sang Pleasant and delightful, and remembered Louis(a) Killen...
There was, in other words, everything there ought to be, but there wasn't quite enough of any of them (except the raffle).
The highlights of my evening were sets from the Wilsons and the High Level Ranters (in what I think of as the classic line-up: Alistair Anderson, Colin Ross, Johnny Handle and Tom Gilfellon) and a montage of short film clips from Doc Rowe's archive.
Ed Pickford sang a song he had written for the occasion, from which I have taken the title of this post. There was a raffle; well, there had to be a raffle. Martin simpson defined folk music as 'music that takes place in the vicinity of a raffle', according to the man conducting said raffle at inordinate length (this, too, is traditional). Di Henderson sang songs she associated with Ray Fisher, and we all sang Pleasant and delightful, and remembered Louis(a) Killen...
There was, in other words, everything there ought to be, but there wasn't quite enough of any of them (except the raffle).
