No pattern that I can see

Hilaire Belloc

It was another good showing this week although I must admit that I was one of several who left after the interval. I am grateful to someone, Richard I believe, for noting down the songs and tunes from the second half; so, many of them can be found on the "a selection" link at the bottom of this report.

With Colin in charge, Derek started off the evening by announcing the death of Brian Colley and proceeded to sing one from his repertoire: The Old Pubs (Johnny Handle). Sorry if I misheard but I believe Mike said that Brian had picked up one of his (Mike's) songs when he visited a folk club in the North East. On Mike's next visit to the club the organiser begged him to sing the song again because they had heard it too many times sung badly in the intervening months. The song, which Mike sang, was Following The Southern Star.

Richard pointed out that we rarely see John Shaw at the club, so he would sing one of his songs. No, he wasn't going to sing The Christmas Tree in the middle of the year but Hilaire Belloc's The Winged Horse. Lesley followed up with The Saucy Sailor (Roud 531, Laws K38).

The first session of Christmas

John Conolly

This was the first of two Christmas sessions. The maybe spurious reason was that some people couldn't make 13 December and others couldn't make 20th. So, if you're reading this before 11pm on 20th there's still time to join us for some Christmas cheer (or bah humbug depending on your inclination), make it a bit earlier and you can even join in with the grub, just bring an edible contribution, please.

We would like to thank Maggie 2 (who I now know as Maggie L!) for decorating the room. I guess she probably provided some of the food as well but she had been and gone before I arrived so I don't know for sure. Thank you, Maggie L! Henceforth, if I remember, our two Maggies will be Maggie S and Maggie L.