It's that time again.

Pete Hicks (Skinner's Rats, Slattery, ex the legendary Crayfolk, ex one of Lonnie Donegan's sidesmen, ex Dickie Bishop and the sidekicks) and Val Hicks are pubsitting again, so there will be a session and song.

It's on Sunday the 15th February at the Fenn Bell, which is a cracking pub old building large log fires etc, technically in a village called St Mary Hoo (officially designated "sleepy" by the government when it proposed to flatten it entirely for "Cliffe" Airport (which was not at Cliffe, and now will, hooray, not be anywhere)). It will (probably) start at about lunchtime (you may as well get there at noon and drink steadily, the beer is good) and end when the last people get bored, which might be about 4 or 5 pm or it might be about midnight!

I cannot give you the postcode, but it's 10 minutes by car from Rochester or Gravesend. Join the new Frindsbury bypass (A228) either from the A2, near the M2 junction, or from the Medway tunnel. Public transport - forget it unless you want to take hours by bus (if any) or at least a tenner by taxi, to achieve the equivalent of a ten minute drive from the nearest mainline railway stations (Rochester, Strood, Higham, Gravesend. No taxis or buses at Higham).

From the A228, Turn North onto the A289, heading for Thamesport and the Isle of Grain, at the big roundabout. Straight on at the first roundabout (about 4 miles). The second roundabout has three exits only. Do NOT go to High Halstow. In about 800 yards you will see more luminous chevrons than you have ever seen before. This is because the A289 turns right but quite often the trucks do not, but damage the scenery instead. You go (almost, do slow down first) straight on, onto Ratcliffe Highway or Fenn Street (different names, same road). In about 200 yards you will see the Fenn Bell on the right.

You are likely to find Pete, most of Skinner's Rats, and Slattery, our own Dave Bryant, your humble rapporteur, quite a slab of Bishop Gundulf Morris, possibly Don (Wysiwyg) Thompson, maybe if we are lucky (and Don can do his transport) our own Wild Rover, perhaps the Barden of England, maybe a very fine traditional-ish Scottish singer by name of John Matthews, and if I can tempt him an excellent ex-Edinburgh singer-songwriter, Richard Matthewman, etc etc.

Some of the previous such sessions have been pretty fine, with instruments from upright bass, the usual guitars and mandolins, whistles and drums, recorder(s) etc to 120 bass accordian used as a midi driver, and keyboards. Not to mention the 12-string player from hell, and a very pretty very old tenor banjo.

If experience teaches, performances will range from unaccompanied English trad with or without harmony, via tunes and contemporary acoustic (including American folk) to Fiffle (something somewhere between folk and skiffle). And maybe some traditional folk songs performed acoustically written by the Rolling Stones or Buddy Holly too.