Another message from the Substitutes' Bench

SS Orsova (1954)

In the absence of the Head Blogger, may I take the opportunity to thank Simon for all the effort he expends on this blog. The research he puts into linking songs to sites throws up lots of valuable information – some deliberate, some serendipitous. Last week he put up a link to a YouTube performance of the somewhat obscure song Charlie Cassidy's Courtship. I wasn't, in truth, greatly impressed by the performance, but when it finished I was exposed to YouTube's usual selection of 'If you enjoyed that, why not try these'. One of those selections was of a Joe Doherty singing Glenswilly. On a whim (oh all right: I was confusing him with the late great Irish fiddle player John, brother of Michael!) I clicked on it and was rewarded with one of the best performances of that fine ballad I have ever heard. If you do nothing else this week, give it a click!

Maggie's 70th Birthday Bash

This week's session marked the occasion of Maggie S's 70th birthday. You don't usually tell a lady's age but she hasn't exactly been making a secret of it. This event fell on the same day as another big event for regulars at the club. Keith H and Pat got married in the afternoon - congratulations Keith and Pat. That meant that quite a few people had to fit in the wedding, reception or both before coming over to The Bridge. That didn't however stop us having a near capacity crowd of 28. I'm sure we could have fitted in a few more but the hot, humid weather made it rather sweaty until the big carriage door was opened to let in some fresh air - I hope we didn't disturb the neighbours.

Miners' Gala, Bastille Day, and much more

Glamorgan: Derek's cricket team

A better turn-out this week, thanks in large part to the entourages brought by new regular, Joe and old friend, Jan. An encounter with a globe artichoke caused me to be slightly later than I like to be, but not so late as to miss Mike's opening song, Derby Ram.

Derek was the first to find a date-appropriate song, pointing out that if she were present, Pat would no doubt be the first to shout out that 12 July is the day of the Durham Miners' Gala (correctly pronounced "gay-lah"). In recognition of the date he, Derek, sang Jock Purdon's The Cotia banner.

We were pleased to see Paul and Carl for the third time in four weeks - keep it up lads. Paul entertained us with his own guitar compositions, as usual most without title, although "OFG - Old, fat and grey - self portrait" made a reappearance.

4th July - Independence Day

We've made it to the 100th post on the Dragon Folk Club blog. Granted not all of the posts are session reports but the vast majority are. The session this week took on a largely sateside theme, it being 4th July, American Independence Day.

Opening discussions were wide ranging and not a little seedy. Derek was interested to hear the progress of the Glamorgan versus Somerset cricket match, which was abandoned without a ball being bowled - at least it didn't make Derek quite as depressed as a defeat for Glamorgan but he said his team needed a win, so it wasn't all good news either. It seemed that most other discussions led to 69 and we nearly found out too much information about someone's daughter! I asked Colin what was the obscure song he sang last week about the Potteries. He answered that it was The jolly machine but Kevin misheard and thought he was talking about a contraceptive dispenser.