Tinkers, Bosses and Black Cloth

The Koh-i-Noor diamond before it was re-cut in 1852

It was another great session last week with visitors and irregulars joining us for the evening. Before I go any further I must remember to say, there will be no Dragon Folk Club this Friday (26 August 2016) but we will be back on the following Friday (2 September 2016), so I hope you can come and join in the fun.

Our recent stream of visitors or hopefully first-timers continued with Rod who sang some fine traditional songs. Steve G made his first appearance for a little while, and was later joined by Jo and her husband, Mel. Mel told me they only planned to stay for an hour but enjoyed it so much they stayed for the rest of the evening. We were also joined by Henry, who hasn't been to a Dragon session for quite some time, and he was joined by first-timer Mary.

Manchester or Essex?

Manchester Town Hall

We've been doing really well for visitors recently and last week wasn't an exception being joined by Linda and Dave, who live in Essex but are originally from Manchester and these two locations were taken by some people as a theme for the evening. They visit the area quite frequently so we hope to see them again. Dave, who sings in a barbershop choir as well as at folk clubs, sang us some songs. Linda on the other hand saved herself for a return visit, choosing instead to just weigh us up on this occasion - I don't blame her.

Colin, back from his recent trip, was MC and Derek started off the session with Jamie Douglas (Roud 87, Child 204). He almost gave up singing this song, realising it isn't too long since we had it from him but when Chris said how much she liked it he relented and carried on.

Follow the caravan to Rio

Last weeks session was again well attended and this time everyone was a performer.

We were pleased to welcome newcomers Chris and John, on a weekend away from their West Midlands home with their caravan. Rose and Jonjo also returned this week.

In Colin's absence, Richard had the MCs book for the evening and he put himself on first with The Constant Lovers (Roud 993, Laws O41).

Groundhog Day?

Photo by Gary Yankech

I was pleased to see some people at The New Inn last week who seemed to have turned up intentionally for the session even though they had no intention of performing. Don't get me wrong, it would have been great if they had been prepared to perform but the fact they were there and said they had enjoyed themselves was excellent.

Colin was MC and Derek, who was first to sing, immediately set a challenge for me, the scribe. He started what because a theme - singing songs which were sung the previous week but in different versions.