Thanks to all who came along to Dreamers on Sunday night, not only for their performances and for being such a good audience but also for contributions to the discussion about the future of the Club which followed.
For those who were not there, there was general agreement that there needed to be some changes to put the finances of the Club on a sound footing for the future. We have agreed a substantial reduction in the cost of the car park on Sunday nights and admission prices will be increasing (probably from April) to £3 on singers nights. Quite a few people expressed the view that they enjoy singers nights as much as guest nights so we’ll probably have somewhat fewer guests in future, maybe every 6 weeks rather than every month and the charge will be variable to reflect the cost of the guest. Several people have volunteered to offer accommodation to guests when they need to stay over. We also agreed to try to restore the exchange visits with Penzance Folk Club in addition to the exchanges with Bodmin which are already on this year’s programme.
This coming Sunday, 30th March is a singers night and that will be followed by the visit of Hunter Muskett. Unbelievably the group was formed in 1968 and their debut album dates from 1971 yet they are still going strong and attracting favourable reviews and plenty of bookings around the country. No other guests in April but don’t forget our visit to Bodmin Folk Club on Friday 18th April.
Meanwhile the Cornish Zoom Folk Club continues to attract excellent numbers and a wide range of performers. The last session on 22nd March had no less than 3 separate performers from different parts of Australia and one from New Zealand, all in addition to performers and audience from all round the UK. As we move towards summer time, it gets harder for our Australasian friends to join us as it involves such an early start on Sunday mornings for them. An opportunity to remind everyone that our clocks here spring forward by the usual one hour in the early hours of this coming Sunday.
Contributions for this Newsletter are always welcome so thanks to Ben Lang for telling us about a free, illustrated history of the harp (with six harps on display) at 2 p.m, this coming Saturday, 29th March at Kresen Kernow in Redruth. Organised by Mike O’Connor, this will also have the official launch of The Children of Arganteilin – a pioneering piece of scholarship. As a member of Rum and Shrub, Ben will also be involved the charity concert for Cancer Research on Friday April 4th at 7.30 in St Agnes Church . Tickets at £10 each are available at https://www.atlanticcoastcluster.org.uk/tickets/
That’s all for this week, not sure if I’ll be able to manage a Newsletter next week as we may be away. Hope to see you this Sunday.
All the best
Nigel