Around the World with Havering Folk Club

Last night at Havering Folk Club we were treated to songs and tunes from many different countries, which is not unusual by any means. In the past we've had songs from Russia, New Zealand, Argentina and Scandinavia to name but a few places I can recall.

So having finished the evening the week before, I got to kick off proceedings this week and decided to play one intrumental - Andy Roberts Narrow Boats followed by a song in French by Maxime le Forestier from the 1970s which I've played once before:

San Francisco



The theme of foreign language and world tunes continued with Peter Waters singing some opera songs in Italian, some Spanish guitar tunes from Smolowik gigs and reels from the Orkneys and something from Sweden.

Havering Folk Club Temporary Venue

Havering Folk Club Venue

Due to the sudden closure of the Golden Lion pub in Romford, the Havering Folk club met in a new venue last night. The little stables building at the back of the White Horse in Chadwell Heath was most acceptable as a means of keeping the continuity of this group going, though about half the size of the function room in the old place, and with nowhere for larger groups of musicians to put their instruments down or tune up. It was easy enough to make the journey, just 5 minutes walk from Chadwell Heath station and with a large car park for drivers. The hope remains that the town centre Golden Lion pub will reopen under new ownership soon and that the function room will remain available so the Havering Folk Club will be able to return to the most popular venue and able to accommodate larger audiences as are more likely to turn up regularly.

Last night we were treated to a performance by Gemma Salter and friend from the cast of Come Dancing who sang a lovely song that she wrote during the early days of the show.

Havering Folk Club Songs

I played an instrumental for the first time, a very old tune of mine called Narrowboats which was actually composed on the roof of a narrowboat during a Kea Youth Club expedition to the Midlands and river Severn a long time ago. Then I sang my version of Wonderwall , the traditional Mancunian folk song by Oasis, dedicated to Frankie whose birthday it was yesterday.

In the second set I managed to get a request for The Cormorants Song aka London Bridge

Listen to Cormorants on Last.fm - free download

Havering Folk Club News

update:

Havering Folk Club is now back at the Golden Lion as usual on Wednesdays at eight o'clock sharp.