Dreamers newsletter 26th September 2024

I expect that many of us will already have heard the desperately sad news that Gaye Bryant passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday night and that you would want to join in sending our deepest sympathy to Roger and the family. There will be other occasions in the coming weeks to remember Gaye, her long life, infectious smile and sense of humour, as well as the courage with which she endured her long illness. We will all miss her and I am sure that everyone who can will want to come along to Dreamers this Sunday and to the Falmouth Voice Tour from 4^th to 6^th October to join together in love and memory.

The Voice Tour starts Friday 4^th October with a sing in the Ballroom of the Membly Hall Hotel (TR11 4NT) from about 8.00 p.m. On Saturday (5^th), there’s a Shanty session in the Waterfront Bar on Custom House Quay at 12.00 with the main session of chorus songs and music at the Hotel after dinner which is at 6.30. Finally, there’s another sing in the Hotel bar on Sunday 6^th at 12.00. You need to book for dinner (the Hotel number is 01326 312869) but otherwise just come along to remember Gaye who always loved these events as well as to hear some great performers.

We’ve had a couple of excellent nights at the Club since the last Newsletter. On 15^th September we welcomed the Red River Singers, all 25 of them which filled the room and let to some rousing choruses as they took us through the farming calendar of the year. And then, on 22^nd September, we had an excellent Singers night when it was lovely to welcome returning visitors in John Jeffries from Whitley Bay and Mark Dowding from Lancashire with their wives. Great performances too and we’ll hope to see them all again before too long. Another Singers night this coming Sunday, 29^th September, and again on the Sunday 6^th September, after the Voice Tour when we hope some of the visiting folk will join us.

Meanwhile, it’s time for the Cornish Zoom Folk Club again this Saturday 28^th September at 7.30. Despite the competing attractions of holidays and Festivals the numbers have held up really well over the summer so we can look forward to a good turn-out again and the opportunity to see and hear performers from the UK and much further afield who we don’t easily get to see. And all from your own fireside.

The Gigspanner Big Band were stars of the Cornwall Folk Festival back in 2022 and they are back in Cornwall on Friday 18^th October at Launceston Town Hall for those who don’t mind a longish drive. This is a joint venture between Cornwall Folk Festival and Launceston Folk Club. Tickets from cornwallfolkfestival.com

Online, tonight, 25^th September (7.30), Rosslyn Park features a solo gig with Phil Beer. Phil is, of course, the multi-instrumental half of the west country’s award-winning acoustic duo, Show of Hands. His solo appearances are an eclectic mix of traditional tunes, covers of Springsteen or The Hollies, together with his own compositions and songs from his contemporaries. This is a hybrid gig with the first hour livestreamed (donations encouraged) and the second half exclusively for the in-person audience.Its a so available to watch on demand afterwards.More info at Phil Beer – Rosslyn Court

And next week, Thursday 3^rd October at 7.30, the same venue has Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, at the forefront of his generation of English folk musicians as both a powerful and commanding singer and a masterful player of the Anglo concertina and melodeon. Traditional ballads, songs and tunes with a smattering of baroque, renaissance, ragtime, and music hall thrown in for good measure. A hybrid gig as above, details at Cohen Braithwaite Kilcoyne – Rosslyn Court

No more for now, hope to see you at the Zoom session on Satruday, at the Club on Sunday night as well as the Voice Tour the following weekend

All the best

Nigel