Welcome to the first Dreamers Newsletter of 2026 and a very Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays however they spent them.
It was good to enjoy the seasonal songs on 21st December, our last session at the Club before the break. Into 2026, our first guests of the year, this Sunday 4th January, are the great local a capella harmony group Baldricks Plan bringing us songs, ancient and modern, from different backgrounds and traditions including sea songs, shanties, songs telling the story of industries now gone, and songs with a strong social commentary. Steve, Jinks and Helen are the current line-up of Baldricks and they are, as always, very welcome to Dreamers to start the year off in fine style.
After that we have a couple of singers nights followed by Alistair Brown on 25th January for a Burns Night session which should be another great evening.
Over the holidays we had a great session at the Cornish Zoom Folk Club on 27th December – one never knows how many folk will come along so soon after Christmas but in the event we had over 20 performers, some folk happy to just listen and (I think) a record number of offerings for one of these sessions, all managed by Malcolm and Hilary so thanks to them and to all who joined us.
It was particularly nice at the Zoom session to welcome and to hear Sam and Eleanor from Folklife magazine. The latest online edition is now available at www.folklife.uk, well worth a look. By coincidence the latest print version of Folklife West was waiting for us when we arrived home from Christmas travels with a front page announcing that Steve Knightley and the Winter Yards Band will be headlining the Cornwall Folk Festival in 2026 – at Wadebridge from 27th to 31st August. Early Bird tickets are now available at Festival Tickets – Cornwall Folk Festival
There’s more a capella singing on Live to Your Living Room next Saturday, 10th January with a new name to me in Oaken, a quartet consisting of Emily Barden, Anna Tabbush, Camilo Menjura, and Dominic Stichbury. This promises an exciting repertoire of traditional folk favourites, as well as self-penned songs and arrangements, stunning vocals and four-part harmonies. Buy tickets – Oaken – Zoom
That’s all for this week, hope to see you at Dreamers on Sunday to join Baldricks Plan and, no doubt, some of our own regulars in support.
All the best
Nigel