Paul,

Thanks for your kind words but as I only did 2 of my "standard" set (the ones I can manage now wivout the words in front of me) I think that the real honours easily lie elsewhere.

It was a great evening, as someone said - it felt like a mini-festival!. Main honours go to Paul for actually organising and promoting the event in the first place!. Equally high in the rankings though are the 3 acts - Kim and Ian were new to me and are now on the "to see again" list. It must also be said that having three acts of "a singer and a guitar" COULD have been a bit samey - not a bit of it. All three were very individual in style and the informal partnerships worked a treat. Excellent sets from them all and rousing "joining in" from the audience.

What was also a great thing about the evening was the mix of audience. Yes, some of us had travelled considerable distances and many of us had never crossed paths before but found we had a connection in some way. I suspect we had all made the trip because we'd met Wendy and Paul somewhere along the line this year but it was nice to find other connections too - Oombanjo knowing lots of people from my home town through his old-timey music, Peregrina and I both having an interest in Lindisfarne and medieval history (not to mention Tom McConville and Pauline Cato!).

So, new club, new venue, new friends - a bit of Christmas shopping in Durham too - what a great weekend!.

I'll be back!

Deirdre