We're Back!

It is now confirmed that after an enforced break of about two months the Dragon Folk Club will be back on Friday 28th February. We are back to our accustomed venue of The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG and our usual start time of 8:15pm.

As always you are welcome to join us whether to sing a song, play a tune, tell a story, recite a monologue, tell a joke, perform in any other way or indeed none but just be our audience, and as usual anything goes as long as it's acoustic. Yes, we have our feet firmly in the folk tradition "of these isles" as my old "friend" Mike Harding would say, but we are perfectly open to songs from other sources and even from your own pen.

The pub is under new management, so while I can guarantee the usual FREE ENTRY, warm welcome and excellent acoustics, we can only hope for the usual reasonably priced bar. There is a suggestion that a new boiler may result in a greater ambient temperature, but we shall see.

Please be there, for your own enjoyment certainly, but also to help us show the new management that we are a tradition worth hanging onto. The club has been in existence for almost fifty six years, and has been at The Bridge Inn for almost all of the last thirty!

With a bit of luck we will continue to be at The Bridge Inn every Friday (with very rare exceptions) for the foreseeable future.

Good news!!

The Dragon is beginning to breathe fire again. Our regular venue of The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG is open again with new permanent management and they are happy to see us return. They've still got some tidying up to do before the barn is ready to welcome us back, but we have pencilled in the 28th February as the reopening night for The Dragon Folk Club.

So, put it in your diary: 8:15pm on Friday 28th February at The Bridge Inn. Anything goes as long as it's acoustic: sing, play, recite, tell a joke, anything. There will be no theme and everyone is welcome whether to perform or as an audience. You will always find a warm welcome, FREE ENTRY, great acoustics. I assume there will be the usual reasonably priced bar, and there is a whisper that the heating might be working better, but I can't promise those two until I've seen how it goes on the night

Make it a date! See you there!

Dragon Awayday

The Dragon Folk Club is still, hopefully temporarily, without a lair, so the dragon and a small entourage had an outing this Friday to the Pucklechurch Open Mic, run by Chris Lambert who some of us know. It was a little out of the comfort zone for some of us, who rarely perform on a stage and have never before sung to a microphone, but it was nevertheless a pleasant and fun evening at the Pucklechurch Village Sports and Social Club.

Our regulars Bob and Sue were there, but apparently they are also regulars at the open mic. First timers there were Colin (who decided not to sing but regretted it later), Simon, Paul and Denny. Among the Pucklechurch regulars, apart from Chris, we knew Steve G and Alan K.

Paul, Denny and Simon introduced some of the locals to the concept of unaccompanied singing, to not a little appreciation, and Simon ventured to get his guitar out for one song. We each got three songs, and apparently if it hadn't been for a new sound man, still finding his feet, we would usually have got four.

I didn't formally note down the songs people sang, but here's a partial attempt:

•  Paul: Galway shawl; Wee pot stove; Love farewell
• Denny: She moves through the fair; I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls (the gypsy girl's dream); I can hew boys
• Sue and Bob's songs included: Something; Blackpool Belle; Rhubarb pie
• Simon: King of Rome; Tom Paine's bones; When all men sing

The Dragon is certainly looking for a new lair, or a swift return to its old one. In the meantime if you have any ideas of places that might have a suitable room for a sing-around, available on Fridays, preferably free or for a small fee, and in the area of BS15, BS16 or BS37 (Bristol UK), then please contact us to let us know about it.

We are already investigating some possibilities and still interested in returning to the Bridge Inn, Shortwood, when a new landlord or lady is appointed and if they will have us.

If we are still homeless on 28th February you may find us again at the Pucklechurch Open Mic.

Whatever happens... keep singing.