Christmas 2022

Last minute Christmas shopping (Photo: Simon Meeds)

Those who didn't make the Dragon Folk Club's Christmas session last Friday missed a good sing... and some mince pies. As might be expected, most of the songs were more or less Christmas themed.

Colin as MC kicked us off with The Kipper Family's Good King Whence the Last, which you will understand is a parody of Good King Wenceslas.

We had a great variety of songs. Songs about wars like Christmas 1914 (Mike Harding) and Stop the cavalry (Jona Lewie), carols such as Gaudete (From Piæ Cantiones - Finland, 1582) and I saw three ships (William Sandys), the standard The Christmas Song (Robert Wells, Mel Tormé), songs from around the world like The Huron Carol (Jean de Brébeuf) and Mon Beau Sapin (Ernst Anschütz, Laurent Delcasso), and more comedy pieces such as Merry Christmas you suckers (Paddy Roberts) and Sam Small's Christmas pudding (Marriott Edgar).

I think that will do for this report. Please remember we are having a two week Christmas break this year and the next Dragon session will be in the usual place at the usual time on 6 January 2023. See you there!

Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.

(Number of people present - 2 of whom 2 performed)

A Happy New Year

Colin (Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was a quiet start to the new year last Friday at the Dragon Folk Club, but we have high hopes for a return to better numbers in the near future as long as COVID doesn't stick its oar in too much. The unofficial theme that emerged was naturally New Year with a bit of a Christmas hangover.

Colin, MC as ever, started us off with Peggy Seeger's Come Fill Up Your Glasses.

Simon got his New Year offerings in quickly before the people who usually sing them arrived (they didn't). From Derek's repertoire he picked Kind Country Lovers (roud 3483) which is associated with Twelfth Night. From Mike's repertoire he took Dave Goulder's The January Man.

Colin gave us quite a selection of Christmas parodies from The Kipper Family. Sid Kipper (Chris Sugden) understandably keeps recordings off the web as far as possible, but those Colin sang were:

• Death or Glory Wassail
• Good King Whence the Last
• We Will Rob You

Simon gave us another parody, though an untypically subtle one for Les Barker: Lord Franklin.

Colin led and we sang together Worried Man Blues (roud 4753).

The evening was closed with Simon singing a suitably wintry Down Our Street ().

Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.

(Number of people present - 2 of whom 2 performed)