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I thought that I would start at the end of the year
and fulfil my New Year’s Resolution, made three hundred and sixty one
days ago, to write up a review of the year. With just five days to go it
is cutting the deadline a bit fine but here we go. But in my defence I
did think it better to write this up at the end of the year rather than
right at the start when there would not be all that much to write about.
So here we go.
Over the past few years Danni and I have seen the New Year in with
friends gathered together in France, but this year we decided to stay
here in Farnham and watch the time tick over to midnight, also Jess and
Johnny had asked us to babysit. Going off at a bit of a tangent here but
stay with me as all will be revealed…
I have only ever written one song in its entirety and that was The
Ballad of Harris and Willis and this was written many years ago for our
two daughters Lucy and Jess. Harris and Willis were two cats that we had
while living at Marelands Cottage between Rusper and Newdigate. Harris
named after Geoff and Pennie Harris who presented us with these two, we
could have called them Geoff and Pennie but as they had both been male
cats once it seemed cruel to call Willis Pennie. Willis was named after
the cobbler in Charlwood called Mr Willis whom I had known for many
years.
So back off the tangent
and into songwriting.
Susquehanna was originally a poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson
about the river in America and I have always thought what a great name
it was, so much so that I was thinking of changing my name from Martyn
to Susquehanna but it is difficult to spell so I decided to drop that,
but going back to RLS's poem I changed a few words around and put some
other words that I knew in and then wrote a tune for this, strangely
enough called Susquehanna as by now I had learnt how to spell it.
Are you still with me?
I am coming to my point...
Just before the end of 2009 I had this line in my head:“For no good reason other than” and a song that I would really have
liked to have written would be one about
The Swagmen of Australia as
they were generally such great characters and embodied such a great part
of the Australian Outback which I so love. The great song writer Stan
Graham (www.stangraham.co.uk) who lives up in sunny York always told me
once I had a line, to then expand on it and this is what I did and the
whole song The Dusty Dry Outback
emerged literally as the old year fell away and the New Year rose up.
As I said Dan and I were babysitting and I just started to write between
2009 and 2010, I might just try it again this New Years Eve if I can get
a line going. One other thing happened that night. I went outside to
welcome the New Year in a few minutes after midnight and I looked up to
the clear starry sky and I saw the most amazing sight. I know that those
of you who are reading this, or if you yourself are reading this, you
will laugh at me as indeed I did after this experience. Over in the
distance heading up from the south there were a whole host of lights in
the sky coming in our direction. There was not a sound to be heard, just
silence. Living where we do we do have the occasional influence of
aircraft noise but there was no aircraft noise coming from these lights.
My immediate thoughts were that there was some sort of invasion
happening, I know that this is ridiculous but in the cold quiet light of
night it all seemed very real. The lights were, by my judgement, several
hundreds of feet high and were getting closer and closer and still no
sound at all really very eerie. Of course they turned out to be these
Chinese lanterns that someone had sent off but they did start the New
Year off in a strange light.
This was just the start to the year.
So off we went into January and all the things that the New Year brings,
the hopes, the joys, the worries, the achievements and all the happiness
that life brings us. Dan and I had made the decision to sell our place
in France, La Jeusseliniere, and the buyers we had were due to complete
on March 22nd 2010
Dan and I had been there
for close on to fifteen wonderful years and over the last seven or so of
these we had been running the La Jeusseliniere Experience Music courses.
These had just been fantastic and we met so many many great people who
have become firm friends of ours and indeed formed friendships amongst
themselves which is just so wonderful to witness. We have had some great
La Jeuss, as La Jeusseliniere has now become known, reunions which I
will talk about later.
So back to where I was
Dan and I headed off to France on January 2nd and had a belated New Year
celebration with our many friends there, another great evening spent in
great company. Of course over the years we have amassed a fair amount of
clutter and bits and pieces these all had to be cleared in readiness for
the new owners to take over in March. This involved many trips to the
tip and I found that the only way to dispose of the many items was to go
to the tip with my eyes closed and to keep them that way till the car
was empty. There were also many trips to the Emmaus which is a truly
worthwhile charitable organisation in France and they accept almost
anything, with the exception of crocodiles and used toothpicks.
We came back to England at the end of January as I had places to be and
to join up with Iris Bishop and Gary Holder to play at some folk clubs
and what a joy it is to have them alongside me with their particular
expertise with music.
Back to France then for more clearing packing and sorting out. Luckily
our very good friends Harold and Marion Gould have a place with a large
barn that they had said we could use to store pieces that were destined
for Farnham. So, most of that time was taken up with these jobs.
Back to England for the early part of March and the race to clear
everything was hotting up. I did the bookings in the beginning of March
then back for the final push on March 11th.
Somehow or other we completed the clearing in time for completing the
sale of La Jeuss. There is no doubt about it both of us were somewhat
subdued on this day but were reinvigorated by the many, many memories
and friends that we have and their communications on that difficult day.
It is just that chapter which has closed and there will be many other
chapters opening up in all sorts of directions.
We went back to England on the next day, turned round once then off to
America for a tour that had been organised by our good friends Isobel
and Elly Ableson. This was a short tour up and down the North East
coast. First port of call was a concert in Camden Maine and this was
with no other than the great Gordon Bok. I have been an admirer of
Gordon Bok ever since someone played me him singing his song
The Hills of Isle Au Haut
which utterly mesmerised me, his singing, playing and construction of
the songs is just magical.
Dan and I had a few days off up and around Camden and Gordon and his
lovely wife Carol very generously accommodated us. To be able to spend
time with them both in their happy home environment, to meet and hear
his shanty group 'The January Men And Some' and Carol's wonderful harp
playing and her contagious positive outlook on things goes into the
memory bank.
From there we drove off down, staying with Isobel and Elly with their
fantastic hospitality, I am eternally grateful to Elly for introducing
me to the radio stars Bob and Ray, if you ever get the chance to hear
these maestros of the spoken word in the 60's grab it. The beauty of
these tours is that you get a chance to hear so many different people
singing playing music or story telling and to this extent we met up with
Jackie and Kendall Morse.
Jonathon Parsons put on a great concert in South Stonnington, in the
home of Lise and Tom not to forget to mention her varied collection of
rabbits. We had the great pleasure of meeting up with Jeff and Lisa
Davis and Jeff joined me in a few songs which was most enjoyable because
Jeff is well able to put up with my musical eccentricities.
Other ports of call were Boston, New York, Princeton, Washington,
Portland, Damerascotta and places in between. We were with Kathy Westra
in sunny Washington and met up with a good load of old friends while we
were there.
One thing I would like to mention is about New York. Many years ago when
I was living in Australia I had an LP of Scottish songs sung by Lori
Holland and I always remember this as there were some good versions of
songs on this LP. Whenever I have been in New York I have always asked
people if they knew of Lori Holland and sadly I always drew a blank, but
not this time. When asking our hosts they said, “Yes, we will ring her
up,” which they did straight away and within a minute of asking the
question, there
I was holding the telephone receiver and talking to none other than Lori
Holland! Amazing. We had a great conversation but sadly we would not be
able to meet up with her in the evening where I was singing as she and
her husband were already committed to another engagement. But just to
have spoken with her was enough to make a happy man old. Imagine my
sheer delight when Lori Holland and her husband turned up at the venue
having made a detour to visit us on their way to New Jersey. So I can
say with great pride that I held Lori Holland in my arms for a brief
second or two, I so appreciated the trouble that they had both gone to
and I treasure the CD that she gave me, something else for the already
overcrowded memory bank, but I will always make room for memories.
There were so many people that we were able to spend precious time with;
Caroline Paton being one up in sunny Sharon CT and I know that there are
many others that I have omitted to mention both old and new but rest
assured that each and everyone is as important to Dan and me as each and
everyone mentioned is. We eventually made our way back for a couple of
days with Isobel and Elly in New Hampshire before driving down to Boston
for the flight back to England.
This was on Tuesday April
27th and this coincided with the Icelandic volcano which decided to blow
it's top at this time. So we were grounded at Logan Airport. Luckily we
had a very sympathetic receptionist at the hotel named Shirley who was
indeed very good to us.
Undaunted by the volcano, we headed off to foreign
climes again in mid May. Harriet our eldest grandaughter had expressed a
wish to fly so to cut a long story short, she, Jess, Dan and I headed
off for a few days in sunny Menorca which was great and another slot for
the memory bank.
Back from that and off to France for a couple of days after our return
to pick up some bits and pieces from Harold and Marion. End of May saw
us up at the Ryedale Festival and a quick visit to our very good and
long standing friends Wendy and Gordon Simm.
May and June are my favourite months of the year and once again many
places to visit.
One of the bookings in the early part of the month was at Postlip Hall
near to sunny Cheltenham and the home of John and Hilary Shorter. John
is the organiser of the excellent Cheltenham Folk Festival and he was
putting on a concert on this fifth day of June in the special concert
hall within Postlip Hall. Danny Spooner, or as I call him, Captain
Spoon, is an old friend from my days back in Australia in the 1960's and
whenever the chance arises we will sing together and this chance arose
at Postlip Hall.
Iris Bishop had driven up especially from Sussex to be there and had
brought Dan along with her as I was on a tour at that time. They both
drove off into the darkness and towards Sussex leaving me to head off
north the next day. It was great to be and sing with Captain Spoon and
once again some friends turned up in the shape and form of Gerald and
Belinda Ricketts. In the middle of June, Iris and I had been invited to
be part of the celebratory concert for Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher
having been singing and playing together for forty years, it must have
been a very long song or tune. It was a terrific concert and a great
honour for Iris and I to be on stage with the Threlfalls along with Bill
and Dave and such a great atmosphere from the fantastic audience. The
night before this Iris, Dan and I had been at the Norwich Folk Club and
were enthralled by the singing of a young lady by the name of Marrianne
Neary. A pure and crystal clear voice which I am sure will take her to
many places. At this point I must also mention Anna Shannon who hails
from up and around the Scarborough region. She has been writing some
truly wonderful songs and sings them sublimely -
well worth catching up with her.
We heard of Anna through Stan Graham and indeed Anna came along to one
of our La Jeuss reunions up in Dunnon Scotland. Anna and husband Roy had
not visited La Jeuss when it was up and running but had heard about it
and came along to Dunoon and were immediately welcomed by all the La
Jeussers. The end of June was taken up by recording the next CD. This was to be at Jim Ward's studio The Country Branch in sunny Crawley, Sussex. Jim is well experienced with producing CDs and was even ready for the challenge to record myself and No Man's Band which comprises Iris Bishop, concertina and accordion, Gary Holder double bass he has upgraded to a double bass from his single bass, and Jon Wigg on violin, banjo, mandolin and anything else that doesn't move. Jim has an ever growing back catalogue of CDs all well worth a listen and even buying, Gordon Hall, Elsie's Band, Will Duke and Dan Quinn just to mention a few, he also recorded The Maypoles to Mistletoe Christmas production we put on each Christmas time, but more of that later. The recording sessions went well and it is always such a joy to work with these outstanding musicians. One of the tracks on this CD, which incidentally is called Back to You and is available at all good fish and chip shops or failing that through my website www.martynwyndhamread.com is Thousands or More from the superb Copper Family and there is a bit of a story attached to this.
A couple of years ago a very good and close friend of Dan and mine, Ian
Mason Hill, sadly died which was a great loss to us all and very sad.
Towards the end of 2009 Delysia, Ian's wife decided to put on a memorial
concert for Ian and the money raised would go to the Leukaemia research
fund, an extremely worthy cause. Ian was one of the founding members and
a dancer himself of the local Morris side The Broadwood Men and his
other passions were Folk Song and Brass band music. Iris and I were
invited to be part of this concert as were the Broadwood Morris Men and
the St Giles Brass. The MC and continuity lady was to be the actress Sue
Holderness, she of Marlene Boyce in Only Fools and Horses and her part
in The Green Green Grass, who just brilliant. Dan, Iris and I got
together to see how we could combine Ian's musical tastes, and as
neither Iris nor I are any good at playing a brass instrument while
Morris dancing to a song, we hit on the idea of singing
Thousands or More and for the Brass Band ensemble to play the
tune through as the song finished. Iris being the true magical musician
that she is, wrote out the different parts for the fifteen piece brass
band and they did such a good job, I have goose pimples in my ears as I
think about it while writing this now. We have reproduced this to a
lesser extent on the CD with just a four piece quartet playing through
the tune at the end. For me it still has the same effect. So the plan
was to get the CD out in time for The Whitby Folk Week which is towards
the end of August. All stops were pulled out and Iris did a terrific job
in the art work and designing the cover for Back to You. There is an
assortment of songs on it both old and new, as I always say the old
songs keep the new songs alive and the new songs keep the old songs
alive. There are two of Eric Bogle's songs Always Back to You
and Shelter, I admire Eric so very much he is in my
opinion one of the greatest song writers and has done so much to put
Australia on the cultural map of the world. Wherever you go to in an
English speaking part of the world you will hear an Eric Bogle song.
July saw us doing a concert in the nearby village hall of Hale with our
very good friends over from sunny San Francisco on tour Larry and
Deborah Hanks both such great singers of equally great songs from
America. This was on Sunday July 4th and on in the afternoon.
We had great help, being novices in the “putting on of folk concerts”
from Lawrence Heath a stalwart of the folk music song and dance in this
area. It was a great success and we are not daunted by repeating another
in a similar vein on a Sunday afternoon, watch this space.
A few days after this Jim, Iris
and I all went up to sunny Maidenhead to record the Brass quartet for
the Thousands or More track on Back To You.
Most of the Spring and Summer have been spent in erecting what has
become known in the family as The Pavilion. Our builder neighbour friend
Robbie has been instrumental in this as my DIY skills are virtually nil,
as I was told in Australia once 'You couldn't knock a nail in
crookedly.' This has been built to accommodate pieces returning from
France. Dan will have one end of this thirty three foot long building
for her painting and easels, while we have a so called reception area in
the middle and I have my part at t'other end. I must say that it works
well but a mite chilly at the moment what with all of the snow.
We were off up to Whitby, and with eternal gratitude to Graham of
Cyclone Music in Rochester Kent for getting the Back to You CDs ready
for the Folk Week. We stayed in total luxury with Stan and Julie on our
way in York. Along with the joy of being in sunny Whitby and staying
with the ever young and enthusiastic Mollie Grove we had two events
apart from the concerts that are such a part of the Folk Week. The first
was a themed concert called “On the Wallaby” and this was to be done
with Ken Prato a retired shearer friend of ours who lives over in
Australia but comes to England when Whitby is on. I first met Ken when I
was last over on tour in Australia at The National Folk Festival 2009
held in Canberra over Easter time. Ken had written a book on his sheep
shearing days spanning several years with stories and anecdotes of his
time “on the wallaby and on the boards.” His book is entitled, and
please excuse my French, there is really no other way of saying “Sheep
shit on the Brain”. He very kindly gave me a copy of this, and is
available through him and I would be happy to put you in touch with him
it is well worth a read.
At the 2009 Whitby Folk Week Sue Houston had asked me to come up with a
themed concert and I decided to devise one on shearing and call it
I Don't Go Shearing Now,
which is the title of a song that we do and is about an old retired
Australian shearer talking to a young lad who is about to set off for a
life “on the wallaby and on the boards”. Ken had never been out of
Australia and had spent his time travelling in and around the outback of
Australia. So imagine this scene, it is as clear to me now as to when it
happened.
It was August 11th, Dan and I were in France getting ready to come back
for the Whitby Folk Week in August 2009. I was sitting reading through
Ken's book to fill up some of the parts for the I Don't Go shearing Now
concert and slightly wishing that I could have gleaned some more
information from Ken about the shearing when the mobile phone rang. I
answered it and this Australian voice said, “Good'ay”. “Who 's that?” I
said and the voice came back to me saying that it was none other than
Ken Prato.” Where are you?” I asked and his reply was London. “What are
you doing there?” I retaliated. “On
holiday,” he said. “Where are you going on holiday?” “ Yorkshire” was
the only word he said. So it came to pass that Ken came to Whitby and we
were able to jointly perform the shearing concert together along with
Iris. Ken was able to supply all the translations for the shearing
jargon used in the sheds and indeed even shore and imaginary sheep for
the rapt audience. At that particular time of year accommodation in
Whitby is hard to find, not many shearing sheds there with quarters for
the men, but some very good friends of ours Ken and Marion Hall who live
in sunny Sleights were pleased to look after this retired shearer Ken
Prato.
Ken was over again this August and so we all did On The Wallaby
together. Another one of our projects is Down The Lawson Track which we
have performed with Shirley Collins and Pip Barnes along with No Man's
Band. Once again I suggested that we could perform this up in Whitby but
sadly without Shirley Collins, Pip Barnes or Gary Holder as they were
all unavailable. Down The Lawson Track uses the stories and poem / songs
of the great Australian poet and story writer Henry Lawson 1863 – 1922.
Shirley and Pip read the stories while we weave in and out with relevant
poem / songs of Lawson's. Over the years many of Lawson's poems have
been put to music and made into songs. His descriptions of the outback
and characters who lived there are so vivid it makes for a great
concert. As I said Shirley and Pip were unable to be there so Sue
Houston nobly stepped into Shirley' shoes while Ken Prato put Pip's
shoes on. Sadly we had to go without Gary's wonderful and sympathetic
bass playing. But it went well; Sue and Ken did a sterling job. Back
from Whitby and into September with the year racing ever ahead.
When Dan and I ran the La Jeusseliniere Experience Weeks in France we
would always hold a concert on the Friday night for the students to
perform, along with the tutor. We would invite our French neighbours and
friends from far and near for this evening, all of these evenings are
stored in the memory bank, some very moving moments and some hilarious
moments as well. Alison Benn and her young daughter Harriet would always
attend and be of great help to Dan. When we sold up Alison asked us if
she could take the courses on at which we were delighted. She has
finished a year of successful weeks in 2010 and is now preparing for
2011. Have a look at her website
www.lagrandegennerie.com for information as to which
week you may be interested in. Last September Iris and I did a week for
Alison at La Grande Gennerie, and a fabulous week it was each student
had so much input into the week and a great day each day. Before the
week started on the Sunday September 19th Iris and I had been booked to
do a concert at the festival held in the small village of Bille south of
Fougeres, Brittany.
This is run by our very good friend Fro Fro, at least that's what we
call him and he always seems to answer to this but with a wry smile on
his face. We have done this a few times before and always enjoyed
ourselves. It has been held over the last couple of years in a show
ground that is devoted to keeping alive the old buildings and traditions
of this area. Many of these traditions in the way of cooking harvesting
and making cider are freely demonstrated and there is music flowing
freely all day. There is a grand lunch where they feed everyone in
shifts of 400 at a time and during this there are bands parading through
the eating areas playing traditional tunes with wine and the cider in
equal flow, just terrific.
We came back from Allison's ready to take on October for more touring
and bookings up and down the country. The end of October saw Dan and I
up in sunny Lancashire to do an Interview with Mike Harding at the
Smooth Operators studio in Delph for the BBC Folk on Two programme. We
have both known Mike since the early 1970's and although we keep bumping
into him on occasions it was good to sit down and just catch up with
things and spend some time talking. We have had the most amazing
response from people who heard the interview, people we have not heard
from for a long time and great to be back in touch. I did my annual
October 31st phone
call through to my brother-in-law, Ian Agnew and one to Ian Holder when
I could just ring them up on that day and simply say Hallow Ian, try it
yourself on that day next year but don't blame me for the result.
Rehearsals always start at the end of October for our Christmas show
Maypoles to Mistletoe. Sadly Denise Savage who has been one of the
singers over the last few years is not well and she had to pull out. We
wish her all the very best and a speedy recovery. Ann Sartin was her
able replacement.
The beginning of November saw Dan, Lucy, Jess and I off for a couple of
days to Pisa in Italy to visit our very good friends Luciano and
Giuseppina Piccioli. They actually live in Pescia about an hours drive
north east of Pisa. We have know Luciano and Giuseppina since the early
1970's and indeed Luciano is God Father to our daughters Lucy and Jess.
Not a bad thing having an Italian God Father!! They are both very
special people and we spent a great day together with true Italian
hospitality coming out of our ears. November 6th saw
me in Hereford for a special concert put on by Richard Wilson, not the
actor but another long standing and good friend of ours and it was a
particular birthday for him and I was indeed honoured and flattered to
be asked to sing for him and his gathered friends. This was in the
Bishops Great Hall in Hereford, the memory bank is getting pretty full
now. Up and down and around the country for the rest of November, with a
quick dash over to France in the middle of this mainly to see people as
we may not be able to be over before Christmas apart from the Mistletoe
run, more on that later.
We were in France on remembrance Sunday this year on November 14th
and whenever Dan and I went over to France we would always try and visit
my Father’s grave. He was killed in France on August 2nd 1944
and is buried in a military cemetery, along with 800
other young men at St Charles de Percy north of Vire in Normandy.
When we visited on this Sunday at around noon time there was one other
car in the car park and I noticed that it had Belgian number plates. As
we walked in there were two couples walking around looking at the
headstones. We waved a greeting to which they waved back. We went to the
grave and placed our poppies there and spent a few minutes before
heading back to the car. The two couples were by now at the gate so we
chatted to them, they speaking perfect English, and formed an immediate
friendship with them. The conversation went on and they asked us for our
connection with St Charles de Percy and we told them and they told us
their connection. Chatting away it came out that I had something to do
with music to which the two men replied that they were musicians as well
and played the bagpipes. They said that they had their pipes in the car
and would we like them to play them over my father's grave to which of
course we said yes. We stood there listening and weeping freely, a most
moving experience and into the memory bank. When I told my sister this
on our return she pointed out that if we had been a few minutes late in
getting to St Charles de Percy we would have missed those wonderful
pipers. I have since been in touch with them and sent them a CD of mine
Jackeroo which has a photo of me as a baby with my mother sister and
father, the only photo I have of our whole family. The Belgian bagpipers
website is
www.redhackle.be
So we plunge into December. A couple of years ago, after many years of
thinking about it we went ahead with producing a book on Maypoles to
Mistletoe. We enlisted the help of our good friends Chris and Helen
Brown. They are both clever people and can spell words with more than
three letters and I must add that they were very willing to help in the
production of this. Through Chris we approached Educational Printing
Services Limited and they were happy to go ahead and publish the book of
the show. The idea behind this is for anyone to put Maypoles to
Mistletoe on using the book as a guide. All the directions and suggested
songs are displayed with some wonderful illustrations drawn by Dan W-R,
with Helen providing Morris Men and Morris Ladies. The front cover has
the four seasons that Dan painted and that we use as screens during the
performance. Maggie and Stan Bloor, from up round the Suffolk area, had
bought the book and were to present Maypoles using their local talented
singers, dancers and narrator. This was put on at The Regal Theatre in
Stowmarket on Sunday December 5th.
Chris, Helen, Dan and I booked our seats on hearing about this and drove
up to be there. In all the years I have been doing Maypoles to Mistletoe
I have never seen it as I have always been one of the performers and I
must say how much we all enjoyed it. A full house with people being
turned away and the rapturous applause at the end spoke volumes of the
way in which they had presented Maypoles to Mistletoe and to the
enthusiasm that shone through.
Most of the time in December is taken up with preparing for Maypoles to
Mistletoe. This is our annual show, first performed at the Lakeside
Restaurant, Tilgate Park, Crawley Sussex in 1972. The show tracks the
year through Folk Song, Morris dancing and the spoken word detailing
customs and traditions throughout the year. It is in two halves starting
with Spring and Summer, interval, then Autumn and finishing with Winter
and us all singing Good King Wenceslas while the Broadwood Morris men
dance as do The Magog ladies a great ending.
One of the integral
ingredients for Maypoles to Mistletoe is a large ball of mistletoe
suspended from the ceiling and lit throughout the show. At the end the
mistletoe is lowered down and the audience are invited to take a sprig
of mistletoe back with them for a small donation. This donation ends up
by being, collectively from the three shows that we do at the Hawth in
Crawley and the one show we do at The Electric Theatre in Guildford, a
hugely generous donation which goes to St Catherine's Hospice in
Crawley. In the past years when Dan and I had La Jeuss we could supply
the mistletoe from our orchard. But of course this year, having sold up,
we had no supply. Luckily Alison Benn has a great nearby French farmer
who was willing to cut some four large balls of mistletoe for us which
we so appreciated. Johnny, our son-in-law, and I set off at the crack of
dawn on Friday December 10th to collect this mistletoe for our first
performance on Monday December 13th. We went via the Channel Tunnel and
completed almost exactly to the yard as we measured the distance, 850
miles from Farnham to Carelles and back to Farnham on the Saturday night
weary but satisfied. Johnny drove every inch of the way and so well done
to him. Rehearsals for the show on the next day Sunday and then the show
on Monday. We had been lucky with all the snow that was about but it
certainly did affect each show with the attendance. Saying that, the
enthusiasm and support from those who made it was just phenomenal. Each
night had such terrific audiences and as always we so enjoyed performing
it to these wonderful audiences, and their generosity for the mistletoe
was fantastic. Our Granddaughter Harriet first performed in Maypoles to
Mistletoe when she was four years old and Jess had dressed her up as a
small fairy she sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas and had to stand on a
chair to reach the microphone but she was great. Now seven years on from
her début performance she sang The Rose of Sharon and received ecstatic
applause and many compliments after the show. She has a great voice and
an obvious love of the music.
So we come to the end of this year and as we close the door on this year
we will open the door for next year and all that it holds in store. I am already looking forward to 2011. First booking is at Lewes in The Royal Oak and this is on January 6th. Traditionally, Vic and Tina Smith who run this wonderful folk club always had The Copper Family on for that night as this was Bob Copper's birthday and we would always try to be there for that night as it was just the most fantastic atmosphere with all The Coppers there both young and old. Sadly Bob is no longer with us but the night still goes on and this year I have been greatly honoured to be booked there on that night along with Iris Bishop.
I am off to Australia in February, and more on that later. During The
National Festival in Canberra over Easter they are putting on a special
concert in honour of The Copper Family and I have been asked to be part
of that concert. I was thinking that it would be great to have something
written by The Coppers and by Shirley Collins herself such an important
part of Sussex folk Music. But then I thought more about this and
expanded on it somewhat. My young nephew, Joss Agnew, is a film director
and works for the BBC and others, www.imdb.com/name/nm0013140. So I
contacted him to see about availability and for him to come down to
sunny Lewes and film The Coppers and then Shirley Collins and then the
Folk Club on the night of January 6th. This could then be used as a
power point display when we do the actual concert at The National and
the Australian audience can then get a “shim” old Sussex dialect word
for glimpse of The Great Copper Family and the wonderful Shirley Collins
along with the terrific Lewes Folk Club.
Following that on January 16th we are going to go to the CD launch of
Nigel Waites's great debut CD 'Once in a While'. Nigel has been to La
Jeuss a few times and has been inspired to write a great selection of
songs for this CD. It has been produced by Johnny Coppin, himself a
tutor at Alison Benn's courses at La Grand Gennerie in 2010 and is again
this coming year April 11th – 15th. Iris Bishop has also lent her
magical concertina and accordion skills to accompany some of the songs.
Many people are going along to this as are Julie and Stan Graham so a
good night in store. It is to be held in the Bournemouth Folk Club
premises. January 26th is of
course Australia Day and to celebrate this we are doing Down The Lawson
Track with the full complement of Shirley Collins, Pip Barnes and No
Man's Band. This will be in Cecil Sharp House and we are so looking
forward to this. I shall head off to Australia on and around February
20th the first booking is at The Cobargo Festival in NSW. Sandy Merrigan
of MerriGoround Music is acting as my agent for this tour and has lined
up some great places to be along with a few concerts with my great
friends Eric Bogle and John Munro, the dates and venues can be seen on
my website. Iris Bishop will be joining me as will Dan about March 10th.
We return from Australia in
the early part of May and will then be off across to France for a weeks
course that Iris and I are doing at La Grand Gennerie May 23rd- May
27th. Whitby again in August
and hopefully Ken Prato will be over again and we will do another themed
concert. Then before we know it it will be Christmas again and I shall
write up another review of the year.
As we say at the end of Maypoles to Mistletoe;
Now good people we are done
We hope we've pleased you
everyone So by
the pint pot and by the dish We
wishes you the old old wish
To
you and all that you holds dear Good
luck Good health throughout the year.
Another great piece of news to finish this 2010th year
is that Stan Graham's song The Olive and the Vine has been nominated by
the prestigious Danny Watson radio programme in NSW Australia as one of
the best songs written in this last decade. Congratulations Stan.
Well as we reach this last day
of 2010 I reflect on our year and as a family we have times of great
sadness and loss, others of joy and happiness, a large portion of pride
in all the members of the family and the thankfulness of having a loving
and close family.
One
last bit of news that has literally just come in as the old year fades
away, we are going to repeat the Art Exhibition we held with 5 other
artist friends a few years ago, which will include some of Dan's
Paintings.this will be in the Autumn so watch this space.
Martyn and Danni |
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