Happy 21st Birthday to The Tump

 Now based in Coventry, The Tump name is derived from its original setting  at Brinklow. As  it relocated, it retained the name. Brinklow is  the site of a Motte and Bailey castle. The Tump in Brinklow was (and still is) an ancient monument visible for many miles around. It must have been quite a sight  when occupied by defenders, holding out against various invading hordes. 

I have always had an affection for this club. Its attendances vary wildly but it has always carried the Folk Club banner aloft. In various guises I think I have performed at each one of the venues. It moved from   Brinklow into Coventry, and settled at Coombe Social Club. I knew this venue well as I used to work nearby and lived in Coombe Park Road for 16 years when first married. I even had my retirement party there!  Finally settling at its current base at The Humber, it has soldiered on there since through the rough and the smooth supported by a committed bar staff, willing supporters, some loyal regulars and led by the iconic Karen Orgill. Karen is quietly efficient, a thoroughly likeable and decent person and notably one of the few long-serving female Folk Club  organisers in the Midlands. Cheerful, smiley, very astute and utterly committed to sustaining good live music, Karen's stoical support for all things Folk is universally admired and respected.

Nigel Ward and Pete Willow

I have always  loved playing The Tump at this particular site, however. This is because it holds many happy memories for me. In 1971 I was working as a Gardener for Coventry City Council Parks Department. Our bothy was sited just up the road in Gosford Green. Two days before my wedding, we all knocked off at lunchtime (with the blessing of The Gaffer) and had a bit of a session in The Humber. The pub looked very much as it does now although at that time it had a Bowling green with shelters out the back. I was ceremonially driven home afterwards in a three wheel Lister Truck with a 56lb of grass seed provided as a wedding present.

Also, I grew up in this part of Lower Stoke. As a kid I lived in nearby Northfield Road. At that time the Coventry-Nuneaton "relief line" bisected the area.  I fell asleep at nights to the lullaby of locos shunting the yards up at Gosford Green depot,  with the clanging of wagons and the whistles of engines warning  To access Humber Road from our street was an exciting trip across a huge and very long metal footbridge which vibrated as you crossed it. There is no archaeological evidence of this line having ever existed anywhere now except for an overbridge in Terry Road and an embankment near Gosford Park School. Here's a photo of it taken on a foggy day in the 1950's

I always though that The Tump would flourish in this area, being so close to the city centre and situated now in the heart of what has become  Student Land. But Folk and acoustic venues in my home town do not seem to thrive as much as in nearby Warwickshire Towns such as Rugby, Leamington ,Nuneaton, Bedworth and Atherstone. Nonetheless, it has kept going, has always attracted a fine selection of guests and maintained a healthy reputation for providing songwriters, local talent and newbies with a place to experiment and develop their skills. Here's Max Wright [below] holding forth at The Humber before an assortment of celebrities!

I have many happy memories of The Tump at The Humber. Probably the best of which is the Rod Felton Tribute night when I got to sing Roddie's wonderful "Curly song, accompanied by  musicians no longer with us such as Dave Parr and Arnie Chave. [ See picture below]. I also got to meet "Curly" herself later that evening. The Concert room was packed. The audience spilled out into the garden and the surrounding streets were full of parked cars. 

Arnie, Dave and Geoff sing "Curly" 

Karen was kind enough to offer bookings to all the bands I have been in. We were always well received at The Tump and the chorus singing was always energetic and lively. I cannot list all the artistes I saw there for the first time. Many of whom I would later invite out to Nuneaton Folk Club, or spin their songs on "Anker Folk." But of particular note, Cliff Hands, Wes Finch, Ian Bland, Adam Wilson and Urban Fox stick in the mind. It has always been a good place to network and to link up with like minded people. Whether in the Concert Room or in the cosier Snug at the front of the building, it is always friendly: always hospitable. Can you spot Ian and Cliff below?

It has also regularly been a calling place for legends. Kevin Dempsey. Rob Armstrong. Jan and Terry Wisdom, Sean Cannon, Keith Donnelly, Terry St Clair and John Richards for example. 

John Richards shining on at The Tump

Terry St Clair

Terry and Jan

But it has also been an oasis for the eccentric and the left field. People like me, or my good friend Aral Hancox. The ubiquitous and seemingly eternal Rob Oakey. Poets, singers, raconteurs, comedians and entertainers. They all find a welcome at The Tump where Karen will happily give them time and space to exercise their talents and perhaps to exorcise a few demons. 

John B. Smith with a "recitation"

Sir Robert Oakey

As I said, even though I have long been an Out of Towner now, I am still amazed that it hasn't been supported more. I recommended to The City of Culture Bods that they should make The Tump and CV Folk the centerpiece of Folk culture, representing all that was good and organic about Folk and acoustic music. Like pretty well all suggestions made to the C.o.C. mandarins, it was ignored however. Any music of that nature provided during the event  ( and God knows there wasn't much) was simply  imported. Probably at great cost when many of us locals would have performed for free. 

So Happy Birthday, Tumpers. Apologies if I haven't mentioned all of you by name-but you know I love you all. The photographs btw are a mixture of mine, some by JBS and a few others. I can't be there for personal reasons I have already shared with Jane and Kazz. But I thank you for all the fun and the memories you have provided, and I wish you all the best as I  raise my glass to another 21 years of Tumping. (My, but that sounds slightly rude, doesn't it? And why not?)