Camborne Hill : Ca Sert A Quoi?

Wednesday 17th November, an ordinary singers' night at Havering folk club but they did have some special Cornish beer on tap which meant I had to sing in French. So here's "Ca Sert A Quoi?" written by Maxime le Forestier:



It was late in the evening, almost the end in fact, and then my guitar strap broke. So I put it away and sang unaccompannied or acapella as it's sometimes known. "Going up Camborne Hill Coming Down" is a good old Cornish sing song staple, more often heard in rugby clubs, late night drinking sessions or ex-pat reunions than at folk clubs but it does have a serious side, commemorating the historic first ever steam engine ride on Christmas Eve 1801 by Richard Trevithick, the Cornish engineer. I don;t get all the words exactly right, but the beauty of this is how quickly people who've never heard the song before can pick it up and join in.

Crail Folk Club

Singaround at Crail Folk Club

I've been away for two weeks in Scotland, more precisely the East Neuk of Fife, so that meant I missed two sessions at Havering but managed to make a visit to Crail Folk Club on the second Thursday.
Crail Folk Club meets at the Golf Hotel in Crail, Fife on the second and fourth Thursday in the month unless it's the mid summer season when they move to Crail town hall. I think there's also a session at the pub in Largo Ward on the other Thursdays but that may not be published. Ayway, Crail turned out to be another very friendly club with a large pool of talented regular singers out of whom different combinations are likely to turn up on any one given week. The specific venue is in one end of the restaurant section of the Golf Hotel, just opposite the small bar area. With the doors closed and about two dozen people present it soon became rather warm but we'd got kind of used to that. The format was that of a singaround, which is new to me but not uncommon. Seated around the room facing inwards, an imaginary baton is skillfully passed around clockwise by the MC, so everybody gets the chance to either sing or pass, as many times as it takes. In this case, four times by closing time. Many people sang acapella and there were also about seven guitars, and later one violin. Not a ukulele in sight.

There was a mixture of Scottish folk songs, old music hall songs, Irish and American songs and one or two I wouldn't presume to describe acurately.

Not having a guitar with me, I was dependent on somebody volunteering to lend me one which they did and I'm very grateful to John for letting me play his fine instrument. To start with, I really ydidn't know what to expect so I sang one song unaccompanied - "Going Up Camborne Hill Coming Down"

Then one of my own - "The Wreckers Prayer"

Followed by "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out"

and "Captain Coulston"

We enjoyed our evening at Crail folk club with new friends and felt like a home from home so if we end up in Fife again next year, which would be lovely, I'm sure we'll return to see what's going on in Crail or Largo.

Singalong Night at Havering Folk Club

We had a good singalong session last night at Havering Folk Club with a good attendance, in fact Linda and I had to shuffle round a bit to find two seats together.

I took along my 12 string guitar of unknown origin in the big black bag but didn't get a chance to make sure it was in tune and warm it up until the interval. Being a bit later than usual to arrive, I was orginally put on the performers list at number 12 and ended up being the last act at the end of the second half. I played Norwegian Wood with the guitar and then put it down and sang unaccompanied to get the audience joining in with an a capella version of the old Cornish song, Going up Camborne Hill Coming Down

not much like this version below, but I like the steam engines

Four songs

Back from my Dad's funeral in Cornwall.

With a few regulars absent at Havering Folk Club this week, we still had a fun evening. John had heard me practicing "Hesitation Blues" so I started with that as a sort of request, then decided to sing "Samson and the Warden", a Loudon Wainwright song.

Samson And The Warden




In the second half I did an unusual thing for me, I decided irt was time for a traditional singalong and introduced the Essex audience to "Going up Camborne Hill coming down" accompanied by a pint of beer. Then I picked up the guitar and played "See Emily Play" the Pink Floyd classic.

So no Andy Roberts songs this week then.