New songs and old

St Nicholas' church,
King's Norton

I'll get the big news out of the way first. Last week's fund raiser for BUST raised a total of £52.65, including donations and the raffle.

I was also pleased this week to see Helen, who contacted me back in March about coming to the club. She is a singer/songwriter guitarist and was concerned that the club might be too traditional and not accepting of her style. I assured her that despite the jokes levelled at guitarists, she would be very welcome, and I hope she felt she was - she seemed to have had fun at least.

So, we were treated to three of Helen's own songs: Lost, Time is Ticking and I would stand. Derek joined in that strand in his own style with his song, Lament for the Fishing.

Steve G, usually solo, came along with Jo and they performed mainly together: The banks of the Nile, What will you do Love? and Gypsy Maid. They also performed separately with Jo doing Botany Bay (accompanied by Maggie and Mike doing actions, usually performed to a music hall version of the song) and Steve G doing Ray LaMontagne's Like Rock and Roll.

Richard did a monologue which apparently came from his mother's memory. He called it Scarborough. He also sang Norton New Bell Wake, for which he doesn't know the proper tune. He sings the song to the tune Wir Pflügen (We plough the fields and scatter) but he would very much like to know the proper tune. Maybe this is it - do you know? The song relates to church bell ringing in King's Norton in the 18th century.

Maggie requested two songs of Mike which initially he couldn't remember but he came good in the end with Liverpool Judies and The Mary Ellen Carter, which was the final song of the session.

Here's a selection of these songs plus some others sung during the session.