All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan

Subject: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 04:45 AM

SUSSEX All-day SINGAROUND
Saturday 15th. January 2011
11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m.
The Royal Oak, High Street, Barcombe (near Lewes)
East Sussex BN8 5BA
The pub's website is down as it's just changed hands.

Free admission – good pub food on sale all day.

First an hour of informal tunes led by Bryan Creer while people arrive. Then the singing starts, finishing with a good hour of glorious choruses. Ballads & the occasional instrumental party piece will be very welcome too. There will be a break from 6.00 - 7.00 p.m.

MCs include Dave Earl, Elizabeth Rimmington, Sandra Goddard, Diane & Steve Nevill, Liz Randall, Peter Collins and Valmai Goodyear.

ENGLISH TUNES SESSION
Sunday 16th. January 2011
noon - 3.00 p.m.
Elephant & Castle, White Hill, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2DJ

Free admission – good pub food on sale.

Lewes Saturday Folk Club

[phone] e-mail: valmaigoodyear[at]aol.com

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: My guru always said
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 05:21 AM

That last post will be from Valmai who appears to have lost her cookie!

Looking forward to this excellent event, not long now!

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 03 Jan 11 - 05:35 AM

Thanks, Hils, I hadn't noticed the disappearance of the cookie. It will be great to have you with us.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 02:54 AM

The pub will have changed hands just before the day but we're in touch with the new landlords, who are as keen as we are that everything should go as smoothly as usual.

Full MC timetable:

The day begins as usual with an hour of join-in tunes while people arrive. Singing starts at noon; ballads and the occasional instrumental party piece will be very welcome. There's a break from 6.00 - 7.00 p.m. After the break we'll continue the singaround, and after completing the circuit of the room we'll try to put on anyone who hasn't yet sung.

Rota

11.00 - 12.00                 Tunes session led by Bryan Creer
12.00 - 1.30 p.m.         Dave Earl and Elizabeth Rimmington
1.30 - 3.00 p.m.         Sandra Goddard & Valmai Goodyear
3.00 - 4.30 p.m.        Liz Randall & Steff King
4.30 - 6.00 p.m.         Diane and Steve Nevill

6.00 - 7.00                 BREAK

7.00 - 8.30 p.m.         Diane Nevill & Valmai Goodyear (will encourage                                         anyone who hasn't sung to come                                         forward)
8.30 - 11.00 p.m.         Peter Collins (to arrange generous                                         final hour of choruses)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 07:51 AM

Yes indeed.

Always a great day of songs (and music).

I shall be there for the opening (I can't not really - I'm joint MC for the first spasm) and ,pints of Harvey's permitting, will be there at there at the end.

Dave

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 11:44 AM

Excellent. I've warned the new landlord that traditionally we get through a very respectable quantity of Harveys Best and Old. It's still a Harveys pub, of course.

Valmai

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 05:22 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 08 Jan 11 - 07:33 PM

re-refresh

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: My guru always said
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 04:49 AM

Really looking forward to this!!!

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 06:34 PM

I've been speaking to the new landlords again today; they are very enthusiastic. As well as Harveys Best and Old there will be the excellent Hadlow Down, a lighter and very hoppy pint, and probably a fourth beer from the same stable.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: GUEST,OLDNICKILBY
Date: 10 Jan 11 - 05:01 AM

BandB booked so see you Saturday,always worth the 150 mile each way trip. A cracking days singing

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: My guru always said
Date: 11 Jan 11 - 02:20 AM

Hadlow Down eh, that sounds worth a try *grin*

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 11 Jan 11 - 03:21 AM

I had some Hadlow in the Poets Corner last Friday -. Pretty good stuff it was too.

I'll be on Best on Saturday though cos I know I can drink that all day without getting into trouble.

Dave

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:21 AM

My policy too, Dave.

We have two new MCs this year who have been coming to the day for years, so know the ropes well - it's excellent to be able to welcome Liz Randall and Steff King to the troupe.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 03:07 AM

Bryan and I went to say hello to the new landlords last night. They are very pleasant and it turns out that they are old friends of ours from Lewes. The pub will be selling four Harveys beers: Best, Old, Hadlow Down and Dark Mild. The Best was in excellent nick last night.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: My guru always said
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 03:37 AM

Can you get into trouble with Hadlow Down then?

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 04:26 AM

It's more of a session beer, with an o.g. of about 3.8. The hops are grown in a hop garden at Hadlow Down, hence the name; it must be very near the hop garden mentioned in the travellers' song 'Hartlake Bridge' about hop-pickers being swept away in a flood. Will Duke and Dan Quinn sing it.

One of the splendid things about this day of song is the way it brings out the best in singers. There's something about the concentration and attention of singing for hours at a time which coaxes very good performances out of people; it may also have something to do with the physical exercise of joining in a lot of choruses and getting the voices throughly warmed up.

I also like the 'wild flower' effect of the singaround which means you never know quite what's coming next because the singers haven't been hand-picked. It also means that people get plenty of notice of when they are on and can regulate personal hydraulics, feeding and so on without the nagging fear that they will be overlooked if they slip out for a couple of moments.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 04:29 AM

Hils, you can get into trouble on Hadlow Down - so I'm told...

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: My guru always said
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 07:31 AM

LOL!!!! Mike, are you at Seaford tomorrow?

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 08:37 AM

Indeed I am - with that there Alan Day...

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 08:40 AM

That sounds like a splendid weekend's entertainment. Seaford Folk Club on Friday night with Mike Ainscough and Alan Day (they did a fine night for us in Lewes last November)the singaround on the Saturday, and the mid-day tunes session on the Sunday in Lewes.

I omitted to say that the Elephant does a damn good roast lunch on Sundays, too.

Valmai

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 09:50 AM

Here's the song Hartlake Bridge and background information, thanks to the Musical Traditions website:

12 - Hartlake Bridge (Roud 1729, MS 120)
Sung by Jasper Smith, Epsom, Surrey.

Now, seven and thirty strangers,
Oh, a-hopping they had been.
They were plied by Mr. Cox's,
Oh, near old Golder's Green
It were in the parish of Hadlow,
That's near old Tonbridge town.
But they heard the screams from those poor souls
When they were going down.

Now some were men and women,
And the others gals and boys.
They kept in contract [contact] with the bridge
'Til the horses they took shy.
They kept in contract with the bridge,
'Til the horses they took shy.
But they heard the screams from those poor souls
As they were going down.

Now, some were men and women,
The others gals and boys.
They was 'plied by Mr Cox's,
Oh, near old Golder's Green.
It was in the parish of Hadlow,
That's near old Tonbridge town.
That they heard the screams from those poor souls
When they were going down.

In October, 1858, during a violent thunderstorm, the river Medway burst its banks just south of the village of Hadlow in Kent. During the storm a wooden bridge was washed away at a time when thirty Gypsies and Irish hop-pickers were being driven across the bridge in a horse-drawn cart. The victims were later washed up at a spot called Golden Green and they are buried together in Hadlow Parish churchyard. It would seem likely that this song was composed shortly after the event. Although I had been told by older Gypsies that other verses exist, I was never able to find a complete version of the song. MacColl and Seeger recorded a two verse example from Nelson Ridley which has all the same detail, but correctly cites Golden Green, and names the bridge as Larklake Bridge. Joe Jones also knew a fragment and, like Jasper, used a tune that is also used by Gypsies for another song, Dear Old Erin's Isle. The Irish singer Tom Lenihan used the same tune for his song Farewell to Miltown Malbay and the notes to The Mount Callan Garland - Songs from the repertoire of Tom Lenihan (Dublin, 1994. pp. 17-19) mention that the tune was formerly used for the song The Felons of the Land.

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 11:43 AM

Interesting. The Hadlow Down I know is a hamlet near Uckfield in East Sussex and is the venue for the annual steam rally - the ralliers meet in the New Inn, a Harveys pub which has remained virtually unchanged for 50 years. Whether 'tis the same landlord as I remember, I don't know but, some years, all the Volvos he had ever owned were standing rusting in the garden at the side of the pub. An oily Volvo cylinder block graced the lounge bar, and the seating in the public front bar was benches all round the room - like a bus shelter.

There's certainly a Hadlow in Kent - and obviously the Hadlow in the song above - but I think Hadlow Down has no obvious connection with it.

More research - and Harveys - needed...

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: TheSnail
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 01:27 PM

You are quite right, Mr Fly. I think Mrs Goodyear is getting a little confused. We have been to a few tune sessions at the New Inn fuelled by the landlord's cheese and onion sandwiches which are ... intersting. The Volvo's have gone but I doubt if much else has changed.

Jasper Smith sounds a little confused as well. I like the idea of Golder's Green being in the parish of Hadlow.

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 01:54 PM

Oh,yes - the New Inn at Hadlow Down is very special.

I've just looked at the Harveys website: I'm responsible for the confusion by thinking that the beer is called Hadlow Down. In fact it's called Hadlow Bitter: my apologies for misnaming it. This is what Harveys website has to say about it:

'Hadlow Bitter ABV 3.5%
This hoppy pale ale is a recent evolution from the successful bitters of the last century and is an ideal lunchtime pint. The Kent village of Hadlow, in the fertile Medway valley, is in one of England's last hop growing areas and has a great brewing tradition. Harveys acquired a pub in Hadlow and to celebrate this event we brewed an ale using only these local hops and it has been produced by popular demand ever since.'

The head brewer and joint MD, the saintly Miles Jenner, likes the idea that you can have a pint of the beer while looking out over the gardens where its hops were grown.

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 06:30 PM

I might just put in an appearance at Seaford too.

Depends how the working day turns out.

Quick drive along the coast road, limited drink intake, saving myself for Saturday,haven't had a sing since Sunday, all that sort of thing.

Just maybe eh !

Dave

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 10:00 AM

Dare I do a carol or two? What with all the cancellations caused by the snow, I've not got many off my chest this year despite having them primed and ready to go.

Valmai

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 15 Jan 11 - 03:30 AM

Today's the day!

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 09:52 AM

It was good wasn't it

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: bubblyrat
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 11:26 AM

I would,being a Sussex man,LOVED to have gone to that !! How typical of Karen to wait until we have split up before going !!

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 12:06 PM

It was a damn good day, and the new landlords were very helpful and friendly. We plan to be back next year.

Today's tunes session in the Elephant was very pleasant, too.

Valmai

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 01:15 PM

I/we hope to get there next year!

Kitty (and Derek)

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Dave Earl
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 02:03 PM

And very welcome you would be Kitty & Derek.

Bit unfortunate that a number of those we know and love were gigging and couldn't get to Barcombe this year but we hope to see them soon anyway.

Dave

ps Book soon for the TTF weekend at Upper Dicker in July - it gets fully booked very quickly.

Subject: RE: All-Day Sussex Singaround, Sat 15 Jan
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 02:33 AM

This email has just arrived from a satisfied customer. It sounds as if our organising team are getting something right:

'THANK YOU again for Barcombe, and for all you do, in your lovely and amazing way, to encourage and keep creating a lovely and tradition-friendly folk singing community. Also for bringing in those seasonal songs which were among the highlights of the day for me.'

Valmai