Not as it might seem

Thomas Kyll's pamphlet,
published 10 days after Turpin's execution,
provides an eye-witness account of the trial

We were slightly down on numbers last week but there was a good evening of song in store last Friday at The Dragon Folk Club.

There will be no theme this week (19 January) but next Friday (26 January) will be our Burn's Night session (only one day late). I'm afraid there will be no haggis and probably no pipes unless you bring your own (I know some would say that's a relief) but there will no doubt be some Scottish songs, some of which may have some connection to the man himself.

Back then to last Friday. Colin was MC and there was no theme. Colin started things off with Stanley Accrington's Sicknote: The Reply. I haven't found a recording or even the words but you may want to be reminded of Pat Cooksey's The Sicknote to which it is a reply.

Derek started off his evening with Clyde's Water (Roud 91, Child 216) and Simon followed that with Bruce Springsteen's Factory.

End of an era and start of another

Last night at The New Inn Westerleigh

This report has been a long time coming since Christmas and New Year and some other commitments got in the way. It is of a session held on 16 December 2016 at The New Inn, Westerleigh. And that is an important point to start on. Our next session, on Friday 6 January 2017 will be at our new venue, The Bridge Inn, Shortwood (BS16 9NG). If you haven't been there before you can find directions and a map here. It was actually our venue from 1995 to 2014, so it is familiar to many of our regulars and visitors, who will also be aware of the excellent acoustics, so we are hoping for lots of good singing and playing at future sessions This is now our new permanent home.

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.

Happy Birthday Mike H

Mike Harding

(any plug for Mike's folk show is purely incidental)

A slightly better-attended session last week heard the big news that had been rumbling all week. Maggie has decided to retire from running the club and after the next session (30 October 2015) and will be handing to baton to Colin. Mike reminds Colin that you are only ever lent the reins of the Dragon Folk Club.

In preparation for taking over, Colin suggested to Mike that the next session would have a theme of Halloween. Mike accepted the suggestion, adding that it might also involve Australia and New Zealand (a rugby reference), so that gives a bit of scope to everyone.

Marking the unveiling of the Welsh National Coal Mining Memorial

Jean Ritchie

Mike and Maggie were back from their holiday and after Richard's stint in charge he had forgotten to bring most of the club kit back, so we did without beer mats and Maggie improvised a poster and raffle tickets. The Dunkirk spirit evoked, we managed to make a good evening of it.

After receiving a donation from Betty, Maggie announced that the donations from harvest for BUST had reached an excellent £45.

On the 14 October 2013 a Welsh National Coal Mining Memorial was unveiled on the site of the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, South Wales. This date marked the 100th anniversary of the United Kingdom's worst ever coal mining disaster, where 440 men and boys lost their lives. The memorial pays tribute to the legacy of coal mining and remembers the 8,000 people who have died in Welsh mines and the countless others who have died as a result of coal-mining related illnesses.This led some people to take a mining theme for the evening.