Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 08:36 AM

another stalwart of the club & fine Northumbrian fiddler & piper, Colin Ross, sadly passed away last week

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Nov 16 - 09:34 AM

And I forgot Tommy Gilfellon as well- it was a big table & they weren't often there all at the same time... I didn't forget Alistair Anderson, who was on the periphery as one of the younger generation.
o Alistair
I DO remember overhearing Louis Killen explaining to Alistair some of the intricacies of the key layout on the English concertina....

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 03 Nov 16 - 01:43 PM

Good to hear that! Jim Sharp did his first CD recently!
Re the 'Bridge' lineup- there was also Ron Duke, local lad with a guitar and a line in older English ballads.
Re the Marsden, Alex, there were four Jims, me, Sharpy, Jim Irvine & Jim Boyles (RIP a few years back)--were you at the Marsden for the 25th anniversary?
I recall Cyril Tawney (also the very first guest & often at the Bridge)   - Cyril's opening line was...
'It's good to be back in the Jimnasium'...

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,Alex S
Date: 03 Nov 16 - 09:38 AM

Had some great nights at the Marsden with you and Jim Sharp, Jim. Inspired me to start playing and I'm still doing it semi pro after nearly 50 years. So many thanks marra🎻

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 03 Nov 16 - 09:25 AM

As I recall, the top table (in the mid 60s) was occupied by Johnny Handle, Christine Hendry (now 'Mrs Handle'), Colin Ross, Laurie Charlton. Ray Fisher, John Brennan and Louis Killen.
It was formal in the sense that floor singers were invited to the table to do their thing.... I think there was a rule about material being from your own country or something -understandable in those early days maybe, but it was never po-faced....

I visited regularly then, but was more involved with the Marsden Inn in South Shields- started in 1963/4- ten miles downriver, and we shared many of the guest singers at he 'Bridge'.

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 03 Nov 16 - 03:40 AM

Ray Fisher passed away in 2011, one of Britains finest singers.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,Peter Jameson
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 05:05 PM

I first came across this club when it was at the Barrass Bridge Hotel
in 1961 when I was a student at Kings college(later to become Newcastle University) It moved to the Liberal Club in Pilgrim Street for a While before finally settling at The Bridge, managed by Paddy Foley with the help of his wife.
My favourite singer was Louis Killen; we loved to join the choruses, and my favourite song for this was the sea shanty Blood Red Roses. Other singers were John Handle, John Brennan, Laurie Charlton and later Tom Gilfellon. I was privileged to have heard many distinguished guests ; Ewan McColl,Peggy Seeger, Cyril Tawney, Ray Fisher, Bert Lloyd, Anne Lorne Gillies, and others I struggle to remember. I was an occasional floor singer and once let rip with The Cutty Wren, to such an extent that Charles Lubignac , a French assistant lecturer shouted, pointing at my pregnant wife " It's a boy'. My nickname became Fes after a character in the song. Alas I am in Yorkshire now but I have visited the Bridge since and it was not great.

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,Banjiman
Date: 23 May 11 - 06:43 AM

the Bridge Folk Club, also Newcastle upon tyne..... is still going strong on Monday nights! Why the past tense?

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: GUEST,Folk scene memories Newcastle 1970s
Date: 23 May 11 - 06:29 AM

Newcastle Libraries is putting together a book about Newcastle in the 1970s. We have a nice piece about the Bridge folk club by Johnny Handle. We'd love some memories from people who were in the audience too or came to play there. Just a couple of paragraphs would be great!
email [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne (club)
From: Little Robyn
Date: 28 Feb 04 - 03:11 PM

It was a wonderful scene Riggy. I was only there for a week in 1972 but I stayed with Ray and Colin Ross and I was taken to Ranter's gigs and met many lovely people.
Johnny Handle is still very busy gathering Northumbrian songs and recording them.
Jane, if you can make contact with Colin and Ray, I'm sure they'd help you. They still live in Monkseaton, or you could contact them through the Northumbrian Piper's Society.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne
From: RiGGy
Date: 28 Feb 04 - 12:59 PM

Correction : BRIDGE Folk Club. The CASTLE Folk Club was the one I was a resident of 20 years later, in San Francisco. Riggy

Subject: RE: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne
From: RiGGy
Date: 28 Feb 04 - 12:54 PM

Great idea for a project, Jane. I had the pleasure of finding myself in that wonderful scene for a period 1971-72. I had been working in a record store in Milwaukee going out of business and inherited all their Topic catalog, which included the High Level Ranter's NORTHUMBERLAND FOREVER. In a flash I made a beeline across the pond, after stopping in Queens NY to enlist my fiddling pardner John Specker to join me, and in 2 days we were in the Bridge Inn parking lot, waiting for the Castle Folk Club to open.
We were two crazy American hippies, and were made welcome by so many in that scene. Ray Fisher and Stefan Sobel got us gigs all over the Northeast, and drove us to them. The Bridge was such a hot spot every Thursday night. We stayed with Stefan & Liz across the street in the Black Gate of the castle of Newcastle, and many of the famous folk who played at the Bridge that year stayed there, too. Peter Bellamy, Andy Irvine, Cyril Tawney ++++. That made me who I am today ! Riggy

Subject: Folk song and Ballad- Newcastle on Tyne
From: GUEST,Jane
Date: 28 Feb 04 - 11:18 AM

I'm currently doing some research on folk clubs - specifically Folk song and ballad-Newcastle (upon tyne), and the Bridge Folk Club, also Newcastle upon tyne. I'm trying to find out more about the clubs generally. I want to know what the club was like in the past for performers or members of the audience. What kind of songs were sung and music played, who went, and why they went. Also, why people stopped going in later years (late 1970s, 80s)?