– The end of the month mixed songs and tunes session at The Castle, Brenchley is on Sunday night from 8pm – our official guest is the excellent whistle, flute, bagpipe and saxophone player Chris Walshaw but I believe wonderful dancer Kerry Fletcher is coming too, so I think we can hope for some stepping as well as songs and music. This is a free event but really rather cool and like few other evenings anywhere – so please come if you can, whether you’re a regular or someone new… We’re very friendly! (Btw, the November end of the month sesh will feature Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison!)
– The first Sunday tunes session at at The Gun is on the 5th November from 8pm – so let’s make it go with a whoosh and a bang! Everyone is welcome, the tunes are mainly English and if you don’t want to start one yourself it’s quite normal to ask for a tune you can join in.
– The first tunes workshop this month is on Tuesday 7th November from 8pm – we’ll be running through the list of tunes on the tunes workshop page of the Singdanceandplay.net website ahead of playing them at the autumn barndance at Brenchley Memorial Hall on the 25th November.
– As many of you know the barndance on the 25th is always a very family friendly occasion, with dancing, favourite games and jolly songs, so please bring family and friends. This time we’ll have caller Rachel Roberts (up from Hastings) and our good friends Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison (down from West Yorkshire) to help us! Tickets are £8 and £5 (concs). For tickets, please call or message Julie on 07813 359642
– It will soon be time for the carols – look out for further Mailchimp mailings about an opportunity to come and learn some of our favourite old local carols (and hopefully one or two new ones!)
‘On Saturday last I once again had the privilege of sitting in with the band formed from Gav’s Horsmonden (Kent) workshops to play at a ceilidh. For a group of pretty inexperienced musicians, they did a really good job of providing perfectly danceable music for Fee Lock’s calling. I cannot speak too highly of Gav’s instructional skill on melodeon, fiddle, Jeffries Duet concertina, and mandolin, to make no mention of his generosity and commitment in providing his classes and associated videos entirely free of charge.’ Steve Harrison
Here are a few photos from a memorable weekend, and probably the best dance we’ve had thanks to so many friends, including the workshoppers, Fee Lock for calling, Zubeida Roberts for decorating the hall, Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison for entertainment and support, and for performing on Sunday at the Unicorn, and of course everyone who came to the events!
We’ve got just one more Horsmonden tunes workshop before we play for the dance on the 29th November – so we’re hoping to see folks on the 26th at Horsmonden from 8pm
Please encourage folks to come to the barn dance, as it’s a lovely night out!
Carols – some of us have been learning some largely forgotten local carols (and also a couple of old favourites). If you’re interested, please join us: there are workshop/practices on the 1st and 2nd of December
There’s a revised tunes list on the workshops page
Don’t forget our session with the mighty Jerry O’Reilly at the Bell & Jorrocks, Frittenden on Sunday the 30th November
On the carols, there are two practices planned, one in Marden on the 1st at Geoff Burr’s house (if you don’t know where that is, details will be in a future email, or just email me at gmatkin@gmail.com), and the other is the usual Horsmonden songs workshop at The Gun, Horsmonden on the 2nd December.
There are two practices only so that as many folks as possible can get to one or the other – there’s no need to attend both unless you feel like it! The carols themselves are on the song workshops page (see the tabs above), and are presented in printable pdf and abc formats (and some quick’n’dirty mp3s).
The plan is to sing three of the carols at the Bell & Jorrocks session on the 28th December (after which we’ll return the usual traditional folk songs and old fashioned stuff). We’re working on some other appearances and outings…
Finally – why not make plans to bring family and friends to the dance on the 29th November – they’re really popular family friendly occasions, with games and songs (with our great friends Annie Dearman and Steve Harrison) as well as dancing. Tickets are £6 and £4 (concs). There’s no pressure to play all the tunes if you don’t know them – but do please come and play the ones you do know.
Sing, dance and play – English traditional and old fashioned music, dance and song in the heart of Kent
