May it be Whitsun

Whitsun dove (Photo: Cornelia Kopp - Alice Popkorn)

Thanks to those who attended last week's session. This week will again have no set theme though you are welcome to come along with your own ideas for a theme and people may even join you in it. We're particularly keen for you to give us a try this week because we will be at least one regular down on the full compliment.

Last Friday Colin was MC and started us off with a mini theme of May given that it was our last session of the month. His first was The Bold Fisherman (Roud 291, Laws O24) and he followed that with The Spotted Cow (Roud 956).

Geoff's first song of the evening was The Humour Is On Me Now (Roud 29549) and in doing so, it seems, he latched on to Colin's May theme.

Derek chose for his topical theme Whitsun. He started his contribution with Dancing At Whitsun (Austin John Marshall) and continued on the same theme with the Whitsuntide Carol (Roud 305) from Whaddon, Cambridgeshire.

On the first round Simon sang Jones'Ale (Roud 139).

Mike said he would sing the most miserable shanty he knows; one he learnt from the late Robbie, who used to be an occasional visitor to the club with his friend "Flash". The song was Poor Tommy's Gone, Grey Goose Is Dead.

And so a good evening was started.

Later we were joined by Henry who gave us some of his own songs: The Siege Of Leningrad, inspired by his Russian grandmothers stories of that time; Will Another Drink Make A Difference, written following the death of a friend; They Called Me Little Black Sambo, which bears explanation but I'll ask you to refer to an earlier blog post for that; and finally a song about the Guinness share-trading fraud of the 1980s. The last song Henry saw as a gift, since the affair involved among others Patrick, 3rd Lord Spens, so it had to be a rewrite of Sir Patrick Spens!

It fell to Colin to close the session with John Tams' Rolling Home.

(Number of people present - 6, of whom 6 performed)