18/06/2025
POPPY SONGS AND MUSIC NIGHT: 15th JUNE 2025
Trying to find theme on which to hang this review of the June meeting of the Poppy Folk Club - and the obvious one was 'First Timers'. We had at least 5 singers who were new to the club (possibly 7 - the other two were new to me but I'd missed the last club night and may have missed their debut). It was one of the founding principles of Poppy that we would try to encourage some of the hidden local talents to give it a try, so it's really good to see this is still happening.
First timer Keith sang us two songs he had written himself; Barry Austin sang to accompaniment from his friend David Nicholson-Cole; and David's other friend at the club - a lady introduced to us as Selsa - overcame her nerves to give us two songs. First timer Tony sang and played guitar very nicely, particularly with his own interpretation of 'The Holmfirth Anthem'; Helen and Amanda exhibited excellent harmony singing with the Flying Pickets' 'Only You'; while Rowan - reluctant at first - sang The Dubliners song 'Dublin in the Rare Old Times'. He hadn't expected to be singing so had to read the words, but he had a great tone to his singing voice!
The last of the new (to me) faces was Mike (he normally goes to Carrington Folk Club where he is known as 'Mike Three' - they must be over-run with Mikes!). Mike sang one of those songs that, in my view, is not only excellent but also 'important' - Chris Wood's 'Hollow Point', which always brings a tear to my eye. Well sung, Mike!
That's it for the newcomers, but there were lots of regulars too. The Poppy Crew were represented of course, by AJAR, Ian Price and Dave Walters. There was no Stringummyjig tonight, but Phil Mountain came along solo and sang us his own song 'The Carpenter's Story'; and we had songs from Cheryl, David Nicholson-Cole, David Morris, Alan Price and Pete Nightingale. Adam Nightingale entertained us with one his excellent tales.
The next mentions go to the duos: Wil Walker and Jenny Bell performed songs from their newly-minted CD (and Will played a set of fiddle tunes as a solo treat); and John an Thea gave us some comedic moments with 'The Yorkshire Couple' and Fred Wedlock's 'The Vicar and the Frog'.
And that just leaves our very welcome returning favourites and much travelled musicians, Steve and Julie Wigley, who finished each half of the night with a couple of Julie's songs including the very relevant 'Midnight Road' and a new song dedicated to that sometimes anticipated Derby pub visitor 'The Cockle Man'.
An excellent evening all round, with a broad range of song styles, a few tunes, a story, and a lovely set of new faces to entertain us.
