Happy Christmas and into the New Year

Photo by open-arms

For various reasons it's unlikely that the report on last week's session (16 December) will be published before Christmas so I wanted to make an interim announcement to restate some important notices and announce formally for the first time one very important one.

• Friday 23 December 2016 - there will be no session
• Friday 30 December 2016 - there will be no session
• Friday 6 January 2017 - will be the first session of the New Year and will herald a change of venue!!!

Our new venue for 2017 will in fact be an old friend. Between 1995 and 2014 we met at The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol BS16 9NG and that is where we will return from 6 January 2017. The room provides excellent acoustics. The pub's car park is small but it is also possible to park along Bridge Road, which is the dead end road passing in front of the pub.

If you haven't been to The Bridge before and you will be arriving along the Bristol ring road (A4174) you will need to leave the dual carriageway onto the B4465 for Pucklechurch. Carry on up the hill for about 0.6 mile and take the first right onto Shortwood Hill, signposted "Shortwood". Continue down the hill for about 0.6 mile and take the first left, just before the bridge back over the ring road, into Bridge Road. The Bridge Inn is immediately on your left. Approaches from Mangotsfield and Pucklechurch are probably more obvious but let us know if you foresee any difficulties. There is a map below which may also help.

Finally, I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year from everyone at The Dragon Folk Club. We hope to see you at a session soon whether you sing, play an instrument, tell a story or simply come along to enjoy the fun. Any type of music is always accepted as long as it's acoustic (i.e. unplugged).

Happy Christmas!

Christmas 2016

Photo: Nick Webb

Our Christmas session didn't get off to a good start. When I arrived we were based on the cold, dark patio and definitely not singing. One person had already given up and gone home and Colin was threatening not to have a session the next week (this week, 16 December).

The reason for this turmoil was that a wake was taking place in our usual bar and a children's party in the main bar. Eventually the wake finished and we were allowed in. We actually got started before 9 o'clock and despite competing with the children's disco for the first few songs things soon quietened down, so despite possible rumours, there will be a session this Friday at The New Inn. Remember though that we will not meet on 23 and 30 December, so the next Dragon Folk Club session after 16/12 will be on 6 January. More details of that will come out later this week, so please be sure to be at this week's session, or failing that read the blog or any announcements that may appear on our Facebook page in the next couple of weeks.

Scottish left-overs?

Corncrake

Parish notices first. After a week at old venue of The Bridge, we are back at The New Inn, Westerleigh this week (9 December) for a low-key Christmas session. Songs might be Christmas, bah humbug, or anywhere in between. There may even be some seasonal nibbles but I won't promise anything at this stage.

Next week (16 December) there should also be a session at The New Inn - see next week's blog report for more details. However there will be no sessions on 23 or 30 December. The first session of 2017 will be on 6 January but you'll have to wait for more details of that one as well. Sorry to be mysterious but there really is some uncertainty around at the moment, so please bear with me.