Thursday night’s tunes and carols at Kilndown’s Quarry Centre is rescheduled to Thursday the 5th January

We hope you’ve been having a lovely Christmas break!

We’ve had to re-schedule the tunes and carols night once again – this time because we’re both suffering from bad colds. 

It doesn’t sound like much, but this is a cold nobody would want. Julie can barely speak today and we also know some other folks who had intended to attend have bugs that sound similar. 

So the event is now to be held on Thursday the 5th January – which is Twelfth Night! 

The venue is the same (The Quarry Centre, Kilndown) and we’ll still set up at 7.30pm and begin playing and singing at 8.00pm. As before, entry is still free, but expect a hat to come round. The programme is unchanged. 

And of course Twelfth Night is still Christmas, so there will still be mince pies and silly, colourful jumpers are definitely encouraged!

Gavin

South-East country dance and traditional song band The Tonic has released a CD of its direct and uncluttered musical performances.

The Essex and Kent couples who make up the band are well known on the traditional music, morris and song scenes, and came together in 2012 through a shared love of English traditional song and dance music.

‘With our long-standing involvement in the traditional song, music and dance scene we have each developed a large and rich repertoire of tunes and songs, some of which can be heard on this CD.

‘We like tunes to be driving, crisp and lifting, and prefer songs that tell human stories without distractions. If they have refrains or choruses so much the better,’ says melodeonist Malcolm Woods.

The album comprises a selection of six tune sets and four songs from a wide variety of sources.

Copies of the CD, price £10 plus £1.50 p+p, can be obtained from Julie Atkin at elizatwells@yahoo.co.uk .

Downloads are available from Bandcamp at https://thetonic.bandcamp.com/album/feeling-better

Track listing:

• Kelso Accordion and Fiddle Club; One More Dance and Then
• Raking the Hay
• The Cumberland Reel; The Squirrel in the Tree
• Tom Tolley’s Hornpipe
• Frankie and Johnny
• Seven Stars; Up the Sides and Down the Middle
• The (Little) Blue Flame
• Bellingham Boat; The Glakey Hornpipe
• William Brown
• Joe Hutton’s; Barren Rocks of Aden

I’m playing a half hour support spot at Folkestone’s Quarterhouse venue; the headline act is The Longest Johns, who are tremendous harmony singers and well worth hearing. Here’s a sample of what they do.

And here’s a link to learn more about the event.