I just saw Richard Wastling on TV - He has run the White Horse Folk Club upstairs on Monday nights for more than half his life... and having phoned him he's said there'll still be a singers night on 24 Jan and the booking for 31 Jan will still go ahead. The club will not run on the first Monday in Feb (7th) and by then Anna, the landlady, will have returned and will be able to speak to Richard about the 'future'. The jazz club who meet on Wednesdays have been told they have to close.....What a sorry state of affairs for all concerned.
HOW CAN WE GET THROUGH to 'Mr Smith'? HAS HE EVER ATTENDED AND NOTICED THE ATMOSPHERE, ENJOYED THE PERFORMANCES, WITNESSED THE PLEASURE PEOPLE GET and TAKE WITHIN SUCH A WONDERFUL VENUE. It's surely insulting to Nellies to be 'on an even playing field with other S. S's Pubs. I'm SORRY - I don't know the other pubs and I'm sure all their regulars are as upset. Grrrrr.
The clubs have brought good trade to 'Nellies' for so many years and when the folk festival is on how many people will rightly expect to hear music within those walls? I think the whole business is ill thought out - and every effort should be made to persuade this man to realise he's made a monumental mistake. I have friends in Scotland and America who remember 'the singing' in Nellies...and I know it's known of even further afield.
Sorry. I'm about to get really angry. Better go. H.