2026

 It's not every musician who can hold an audience for an entire concert with just one guitar and one voice, but I can now add Blair Dunlop to that short list. Granted, he did invite his mum - the wonderful singer Judy Dunlop - onto the stage to sing three songs (an unexpected and very much appreciated surprise guest), but the rest of the night was his. Blair is an excellent guitarist, and his songwriting is exceptional with some very clever and often very sharp and witty lyrics, particularly on political and environmental topics. 

Top songs for me were 'Let's Get Out of the City' with it's driving rhythm, and 'Feng Shui', about the feeling of being trapped in a room after a relationship breakup. A bit of a  claustrophobia theme there I guess? Another rocking song, 'Sweet on You', cemented Blair's style as firmly at the folk-rock end of the spectrum, while a new composition, 'Trilobite', was full of clever and funny deliberately forced rhymes.

Although almost all of the music was written by Blair, we were treated to a lovely instrumental version of Robert Burns' 'Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon'; and the concert began with Dylan's 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go', which Blair had previously sung with Ashley Hutchings (his dad) at the folk-rock legend's 80th birthday bash. 

On stage, Blair has a relaxed and confident manner, with some lovely anecdotes between songs and a wry sense of humour. His music is obviously influenced by his folk family roots, but he has taken the theme in a different direction. Is it still folk? What is folk anyway? A thoroughly good evening of quality music was enjoyed by all the folk present!

Many thanks to Dave Walters and to Ally and Ruby Turner for their songs from the floor to start each half; and to Ally, Juliet, Del and Dave for their 'warm-up' music as the audience arrived.

Our Folk Day - an annual tradition since we started the club in 2011 - tries to bring you something a little different each year. 

This year the day began with an instrument workshop on Old Time music, with OLD SPOT (Joe Danks and Rowan Piggott). The brilliant turnout of instrumentalists, and a few who just wanted to listen, learned about everything from "What on Earth is Old Time Music" to some very technical nuances for playing this music.

The Afternoon Concert followed, opening with the multi-talented friend of the club DAN KITTMER. We could only give Dan a short spot but he made the most of it with a brisk set of tunes and two songs, including a version of Chris Wood's marathon 'One In a Million'. We must give Dan a longer spot next time!

Next up we had a great variety of songs and tunes from the RAKESTONE TRIO with each member of the band taking turns to lead. Andy Martin (melodeon), Nick Morland (guitar), and Deborah Short (wind and percussion) brought us the songs of Nick Drake, Johnny Flynn, Si Khan and Wyndreth Berginsdottir, and the tunes of John Kirkpatrick and the late Dave Shepherd. 

Headlining the afternoon, we welcomed OLD SPOT back to the stage for a delightful exhibition of musicianship, with banjo, fiddle, and some really nice harmony vocals. Starting with their signature tune 'Old Spot', Rowan and Joe performed a spooky version of 'Tom Dooley'; a song ('Don't Mind It') written by Rowan; and a lovely acapella interpretation of an old ballad recorded by Dellie Norton - 'The Silk Merchant's Daughter'. By way of contrast, a set of Appalachian tunes was accompanied by their guest, the flatfoot dance wizz Sara Marshall. An excellent set, full of variety.

While we got the venue ready for the evening concert we had organised a space in the downstairs bar for a music session, open to all-comers and led by Jim Hellewell. A dozen or more musicians, and the occasional brave singer, had fun and provided a great musical backdrop to the pub's diners and drinkers.

And so to our special guests for the Evening Concert - the incredibly talented Irish band GATEHOUSE. We were lucky to reel them in on a short tour of the UK, sponsored by Culture Ireland. The evening was a grand mix of tunes and songs from this very polished line-up. John McEvoy (fiddle and mandola), Jacinta McEvoy (guitar and exceptionally good concertina) and John Wynne (flute and whistles) led us through jigs, reels, slides and flings galore, ranging from breathless pace to beautiful airs. Tunes were interspersed with some wonderful songs, the lovely voice of Deirdre Scanlan singing every solo. A particular highlight was 'Dobbyn's Flowery Vale' with Deidre's singing beautifully accompanied by Jacinta's guitar before being being joined by fiddle and whistle. Lovely!

For those with energy remaining, the night closed with an excellent once-round-the-room singaround and music session.

And so ended a very successful and enjoyable 2026 Folk Day. A huge thank you goes to Dave and Marion Downs who looked after the sound for the whole 12 hours (!) And thanks to Allistair Bloomfield and to Dave and Dorothy Martin for their 'one from the floor' performances starting each half of the Gatehouse concert.