Whatever Happened to Dunedain?

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Aug 21 - 04:01 AM

Aye Jack, you're never one to let the chance of being critical or nasty, and dare I say, pompous ?

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Aug 21 - 02:46 PM

My first visit to a Folk Club was The Fighting Cocks in1962 still got my Membership card number42, had some great nights there, and heard Dunedain singing the Shanties which gave me a lifelong interest in Shanties and Trad Folk I still have some recordings I made on a cheap little tape Recorder. I also remember a trip we made to Padstow for May Day which ended in a big brawl and a trip to the hospital for me and my mate Charlie. I was with John Dawe and we stopped in Tintagel on the way down, great but painful memories of that trip.

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST,Strider
Date: 27 Sep 20 - 06:02 PM

They were all SW Londoners

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 19 - 08:51 AM

well were they?

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 20 Oct 19 - 12:17 PM

being much more deeply involved in science fiction/fantasy fandom, I didn't need telling who the Dunedain were

I'd have assumed they were from Edinburgh with more-authentic-than-thou ideas about Gaelic spelling.

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 20 Oct 19 - 09:11 AM

Never came across Denedain- my FC time was about early 1966 & again 68-70... had my wedding reception in the clubroom 1970- in July- it was b. freezing in winter.
Enjoyed the club & also Roy Bennett's home brews- the Black Sleep & the Black Death. am still in touch with Doug Dwyer, another regular
Anyone recall the lovely Saturday nights in the bar around the player piano- Terry Vosper (later of the MT club near Euston) his pal Jim & Joe Locker were frequent contributors- main downside for me was the disgusting Courage bitter- they did screwtop quart bottles with bland but acceptable contents, thank heaven!

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Oct 19 - 08:27 AM

I was a latecomer to the Fighting Cocks, having been a regular at Surbiton Assemnbly rooms. At that time it was mainly John Dawes running things, with help from others, and among the regulars there were Alan and Carol Prior. That's actually where I met them for the first time.
When the management of the Fighting Cocks decided they wanted the club out, and a wine bar instead, my self and others tried to keep it going, but it rapidly faded away. Such a sad ending for what was at that time the longest running Folk Club in London (I believe)

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST,Splott Man
Date: 20 Oct 19 - 05:59 AM

Hi Strider,

Has the wiki expired? It links to something else now.

Splott Man

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST,Strider
Date: 19 Oct 19 - 04:53 PM

It was Bert, not a notorious brewer or boozer, he used to put on theatrical shows with folk themes. One of the other regulars was Dick Swettenham and his wife Cynthia and he recorded us in his home studio. We knew he had contacts in the recording industry but only realised much later what a significant industry figure he was.

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 19 - 12:16 PM

Was it not ROY Bennett, notorious home brewer of that time?

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: Strider
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 07:54 AM

The Cocks will always play a big part in my folk memories, being such a great singing club producing a lot of dedicated performers, Rod Stradling (Oak), Arthur Knevett, Pete Wood, Paddy Marchant, and indeed our own John Rodd.
John Dawes and Bert Bennet who took over the club when the Stradlings moved away. They were from an earlier part of the folk revival, with stronger links to the socialist traditions, but just as dedicated, putting on folk theatre productions from time to time.
We were thinking of doing a memorial reunion gig for Mike, and John visited the Cocks to see if it would be a suitable venue. It still does live stuff, but you are more likely to find standup, rap, or thrash in a garish environment, not quite the venue it was, so the idea was dropped.
I do remember seeing Martin down there.

Subject: RE: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: Santa
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 11:12 AM

That was me, I suspect. I recall the group from my time in Kingston 1971-74, although I was only very marginally involved in folk music then. However, being much more deeply involved in science fiction/fantasy fandom, I didn't need telling who the Dunedain were. Probably why the name has stuck in my mind.

My daughter has adopted Edain as her logon id, here and elsewhere, but I can't trace that to the group's influence.

I was talking to Martin Wyndham Read at the Clarence on Wednesday, telling him I'd first seen him at Kingston in the early 70s. He remembered the Fighting Cocks, and Arthur Knivett, so that will be where I saw the group. I only paid a few visits, and a couple more to Surbiton, which rather lacked atmosphere and welcome.

Subject: Whatever Happened to Dunedain?
From: Strider
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 06:01 PM

"Whatever happened to the Dundedain?" was a question raised in another thread. Formed as an ad hoc group in '66, it didn't become a serious activity until early '69 and we went our various ways on 7th October 1972, our final farewell performance at the Fighting Cocks.
John Rodd, Mike Huxley and his to be wife Hermionne formed Antic Hey, doing far more "music" and John went on to scale new heights with the Albion Dance Band, and various albums.
Nigel Hall and myself performed sporadically as Toad, but in '76 I moved to Belgium, which pretty much put an end to any serious folk music on my side. We reformed for a one off gig in 1996 to mark 25 years (more or less), which we did in Whitby.
Mike Huxley died last year, and as part of the grieving process we decided to put together an archive of the group. It is in place in the form of a wiki, to which anyone can contribute, and later I hope to put it up as full site. We were
I occasionally meet up with Nigel, and John, but not as threesome. The last couple of times we sang a few songs, it didn't sound bad, but our hearing is going too!
Link to wiki - http://dunedain.wik.is/
Cheers
Ian Culpin