Poppy Folk Club

20/01/2025

20/01/2025

Poppy Songs and Tunes night: January 12th 2025

The first meeting of the new year has a habit of bringing out a good crowd, and this songs and tunes evening was no exception. We had an excellent turnout, with a few new faces, a few people we hadn't seen for quite a while, and a good selection of bands and collaborations.

There was a distinct New Year theme, with a wintery flavour and a bit of Burns Night thrown into the mix. From the Poppy organising team, resident band AJAR sang 'The Snows They Melt The Soonest' (mixing Burns and Winter) and Richard Thompson's 'We'll Sing Hallelujah', while Mary gave us the late Steve Thomason's 'Midwinter Song', Dave sang a version of the 'Derwent Wassail' and Ian sang Burns' 'Parcel Of Rogues'.

Outside of the Poppy Crew, but still 'on-theme', Bill sang 'A Winter's Night With You' accompanied by ukulele; Malcolm Goodall sang Burns' 'Ae Fond Kiss', and Hugh Miller gave us a lovely rendering of the ancient carol 'Lulee Lulay' as well as a story about greedy farmers and talking animals on Christmas Eve. Storytelling had further outings tonight with Steve Cartwright telling a modern urban retelling of Romeo & Juliet; and Robin and friend recounted Burns' 'Address to the Haggis' with a humorous two-Ronnies inspired translation.

We were treated to a few interesting and unusual set pieces: Guitarist Mark played a blues selection and a short jazz tune, and his friend Peter performed a piece he called 'Poppy Waltz' (but which wasn't a waltz!) on a home-made percussion kit which he had kept hidden under a cloth all evening for a big 'reveal'. Another rare treat of a performance came from a collaboration of Wilma, Dave, Chris Morris and Yvonne Dreyer (The Band With No Name?) with a medley of tunes including a short dance from Wilma and Dave.

Of course, there was plenty of beautiful 'non-wintery' music too. We were treated to the delightful voice of first time visitor Bernie who sang first in her native Irish language, then gave us a lovely 'She Moves Through The Fair' - come back and sing for us again please! While we were in a thoughtful mood, Samir sang Leonard Cohen's 'Famous Blue Raincoat', and Stringummyjig played 'The Briar And The Rose' (Tom Waits) and a lovely Bach tune.

With a couple of songs from Phil and Hazel, a couple more from John and Thea and a jolly set of tunes from Jim Hellewell, that just leaves us with the very welcome return of two acts we love to see at the club. First up was Higgs Bo'sun, who always put on a lively show and on this visit showcased their multi-instrumentalist Dave Martin who played bowed psaltery and bass ukulele as well as his usual fiddle! And finally, it was lovely to have Steve and Julie Wigley back for a few of Julie's very many compositions. This time they sang a brand new song about (back on the wintery theme again) the battle between The Oak King and the Holly King, as well as a topical and humorous tribute to Jakemans cough sweets: "Suck One and See". Very apt, as several of tonight's singers were recovering from coughs and croaky throats!

All in all, it was a very entertaining start to the year with some excellent music on show.

18/01/2025

First weekend in July: the UK's best small folk and roots festival, according to our 2023 audience

18/01/2025

Do support this important charity, and get a preview of Tim Garland who will be playing at our Folk Day on 16th March, with his band Looma.

18/01/2025

If you come along to our songs and tunes nights, just a reminder NOT to turn up at the pub tomorrow (Sunday 19th). The January meeting was last Sunday, and we had a great turn out. But just in case anyone missed our communication in the chaos of Christmas, we're repeating it here. Hope to see lots of you next month for The Time Bandits on 16th February.

09/01/2025

Poppy folks may be interested in this - not far away!

08/01/2025

We're delighted to be working with our neighbouring clubs, TARAF and Bingham Folk Club, to put on an evening of Irish music and fun in Radcliffe on Trent on Saturday March 15th. It's never too soon to plan your St Patrick's weekend, so get your tickets soon!

01/01/2025

And a Happy New Year to James and the team at the pub, from the Folk Club Crew! Looking forward to another year of good music, ale and food in 2025.

Happy New Year from all of us at the Poppy & Pint!

Thanks for an amazing 2024 here’s to 2025! 🎉🍻🍾🥳

19/12/2024

Magpie Lane - December 15th 2024.

I can't imagine there are many bands around who could have brought us such a joyful and glorious concert for our Christmas meeting at the Poppy. From beginning to end the quality of musicianship of Magpie Lane excelled but, more than that, they sang and played with energy and an infectious enjoyment. The sell-out audience loved it, sang along to pretty much everything and went home full of the Christmas spirit (and mince pies).

Sharing the singing duties between them (they all sing very well) they gave us a selection of seasonal songs ancient and modern. Starting with a lively acapella While Shepherds Watched (to the tune 'Foster' I think) there were many well-known folk carols to sing along to (Nowell and Nowell, Holly and Ivy, a couple of Wassails, among others) and a few tune sets for good measure. 'The Wren Boys' song was a favourite - a cracking good rollocking song with a great easy join-in chorus.

But some of my favourite moments were among the more thoughtful showpiece songs. Sophie Thurman gave us a lovely version of The Castleton Carol (Down in Yon Forest) with beautiful guitar accompaniment from Jon Fletcher; and Jon also sang a solo 'In Winter Time' - a song written by his father! Andy Turner contributed his voice to several songs too - 'While Shepherds Watched Their Fleecy Care' proving he's not just a great concertina player! The fiddle playing of Mat Green, alongside with Andy's concertina, was a hallmark of the Magpie Lane sound, particularly in the dance tunes.

Ian Giles, in place in centre stage as the percussionist and main vocalist, needs little introduction. His singing of 'The Sheep are Neath the Snow' was lovely, as was the more recent song 'I am Christmas Time' (written by Pete Joshua), described as a folky answer to Cliff Richard's 'Mistletoe and Wine' with a very earwormy chorus.

Closing the night with the Copper Family song 'The Trees are All Bare' (Andy again) and a lively set of tunes based around 'On Christmas Night All Christians Sing' the band brought to a close a truly memorable and thoroughly enjoyable festive feast of music. Brilliant!

A word about the excellent warm-up act for this night - the one and only Poppy Folk Carol Singers who did a fine job squeezing 25 singers between the stage and the front row and singing two carols at the start of each half. If you fancy joining the carollers next year, have a word with Juliet some time and get yourself on her carols mailing list.

A big thank you should also go to Dave and Marion Downs who took care of the sound desk for us for this concert.

And that's it for 2024. What a great finish to a great year of fabulous music!
Look after yourselves and have a lovely Christmas - see you in the New Year!

18/12/2024

12/12/2024

Our Christmas Folk Night with Supper is coming up on Friday night. What do you need to know?

1. Please 🙏🏻 purchase your tickets 🎫 by NOON on Thursday 12/12, so that we know how many to cook for!

2. We’ll have a bar of soft drinks 🥤 for sale, but please bring your own alcoholic drinks 🍷 if you wish to have them with dinner.

3. Most importantly, get ready to get jolly with the Poppy Folk Club and friends! 🎶

03/12/2024

Come and hear us at any of these venues. Ticket needed for St John's Carrington - see church website. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/pccofstjohnscarrington/1471917

23/11/2024

As you begin to plan your Christmas festivities, make sure you diary in this event down at one of our local churches, St Giles's in West Bridgford. The music has been arranged by Jenny Bell, one of our Poppy stalwarts. The Poppy Folk Carol Singers will be performing a selection of Village and Folk Carols on Friday 6th at 11am, followed at 12 by a set from our very own AJAR! And many of the other people you see at the club are performing at some time over the weekend, plus lots more excellent musicians of various styles and genres.