Thursday 13 August 2015

The Pits at Bedworth

    I won't slag anyone off. But all was not as it seamed last night, as we sipped our coke and dug lots of  lyrics about Collieries. But no-one seamed to mined. And that's enough puns on a popular theme for now. I'll have no truck with that. 
     Last night saw a second entertaining night at Newdigate Club , at Bedworth Folk Club's new venue. More welcoming, more spacious, and much more friendly than the Black Bank, It was a broad cross section of people who turned up to support the Summer Big Sing there. All proceeds went towards the Bedworth Folk Festival. Eleven different acts worked through an eclectic mix of material. Malc Gurnham and Gill Gilsenan, Dave Webb, Alan Stocks, Brian Phillips, Dave Parr, Katherine Fear, Dave Fry, John Kearney, Des Patalong, Terry and Jan Wisdom and Geoff Veasey.
    John Kearney continues  to pull fresh tricks out of the hat, like a  conjurer producing a rabbit. I'd heard his Bob Marley/Traditional Irish medley before but some audience members hadn't and they took to it immediately, singing along and  chuckling in   alternate measures. This despite some  weirdly timed  hand clapping    from the irascible and very vocal Joe Roberts. Des sang the magnificent and haunting Shallow Brown which remains the saddest song about Slavery I know. Dave Parr did an instrumental and one of his racier songs. Jan Wisdom treated us to one of her own compositions,ably demonstrating that her songwriting is every bit as good as her lovely, flawless vocals. Dave Fry had me gritting my teeth over the Strawb's  “Part Of The Union.”  The audience loved it and  bayed out the chorus  lines robustly. Dave delivered it expertly and professionally. I just loathe the song and everything it stands for. Sorry, Dave!
     Katherine Fear gave us three of her songs and gave me a gratis copy of Daisybell's new eponymous CD. (  Fair enough-I coined their name!)  Katherine Included a song about Miners. There was a heavy emphasis on Mining songs throughout the evening and although this remains apt (because the Newdigate Club used to have Newdigate Colliery opposite), Coal mining is not the only industry Beduff is (or was) renowned for. Iron, Manganese, Copper and clay  were also mined, and there were stone, sand and gravel quarries in abundance. There were also several brickworks, including one next to Newdigate Colliery. Silverware, clothing  and regalia, needles, Hats and Gloves,hooters and whistles were also made in factories in the town. My Dad worked in Bayton Road, and one of his jobs was to inspect batches of components fabricated there for Harrier Jump Jets. But no-one sings songs about them. Yet...........
    I sang an old favourite from the past, The BPS version of “ Beside The Seaside.” This was all set to be on our 2008 album until “ The Bold Pirate ” knocked it down in the running order. It took longer than intended, partly because I started it at a funereal pace, partly to accommodate the lengthy choruses, and partly to field some good-natured heckling. It is a slightly amended version to the original, this, and as our version is nearly forty years old, it has also had to have modifications made over that period of time. “ The line “Rolf Harris in a Show” for example, always scanned well he but had to be edited out a few years ago. I replaced him with Orville-but then he died. It's Les Dennis at the moment.....
    Following a Summery theme, I added “ Down Our Street.” It was well received, with the choruses well sung. Although, I heard one of the older regulars muttering, “ He's missed the Bread Man out.” And that's true. I have. If I were to include all the house to house tradespeople in a song essentially about a time when business came to our homes,it would be a very long song. And where I grew up was evidently tougher than downtown Beduff. Because where I lived, only the posh people could afford a daily bread delivery-though I admit such things existed. The rest of us just went to the local corner shop. Or the Bakery!