13/5/2025

As we entered the merry, merry month of May, Stuart took charge and we began with Richard doing Folsom Prison Blues and The Leaving Of Liverpool then Roger sang Just A Little Rain, Island Of Dreams and There But For Fortune. Stuart & Pete marked the upcoming Eurovision song contest with Fred Wedlock's Song For Europe and a medley of all five UK winners, plus King Of The Road, our other Stuart sang the beautiful From Sandwood To Kyle and The Cuckoo and Carrie gave us Daylight Katy (Gordon Lightfoot) and Fleetwood Mac's Dreams. Bob was next with Luxury Liner and Lost Highway, then two Sues, the first singing Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Whistling Gypsy and our second Sue doing Love Song and Both Sides Now. Paul read his poems On The Steps and Partita (about a painting by Sue) and the George Harrison lyric from Isn't It A Pity?, Martin sang The Palace Of Versailles and The Harvest Gypsies and we had poems from Suzanne, Ode To The Mini Metro (Roger McGough) and Valerie, Do You Think Bruce Springsteen Would Fancy Me? (Pam Ayres). Sandie played us May Reel, Zodiac and Coquelet and Sean sang Dimming Of The Day and Night Ferry for the recent passing of Wiz Jones.

 

22/4/2025

Pete was our MC and on the day before St George's Day, we had a few English themed songs. Richard was first on his banjolele with Worried Man Blues and Sloop John B (with a chorus of harmonicas from the audience), our first John sang I Wish I Was Back On The Farm (George Formby) and Mike Scott's Men Bugger Off and Alan did a couple of songs helped by Steve including Songbird On My Shoulder. Steve had Jesse, his 89 year old guitar and sang Never Wrote A Letter To My Home, Blackwaterside and Buckets Of Rain. Carrie & Stuart did Hills Of Shiloh and Who Knows Where The Time Goes? and Roger was aided by John for May To December, John McLean's 1967 and a rousing Jerusalem! Stuart & Pete were next with Half English and Country Life, Bob was in romantic mood with Sweet Little Lisa and Tina Louise and Sue gave us Messing About On The River and Ukulele (to the tune of Hallelujah). Martin sang Ralph McTell's England and London Town Suzanne read Roger Mcgough's Ten Milk Bottles and Valerie did the classic Kipling poem If. Sean sang Rosemary Lane and Wake Up America (his own words to the tune of City Of New Orleans) and our other John did I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Belfast Child.

 

8/4/2025

Martin took MC duties and we began with Stuart doing The Cat Came Back, Durham Jail (Jez Lowe) and How Come. Sue sang Don't Worry, Be Happy, Making Love Ukulele Style and Fields of Gold (Sting), Bob did Empty Bed Blues and John Prine's New Train and Carrie & Stuart gave us Oak And Ash And Thorn, Norwegian Wood (on uke and banjolele) and Golden Brown. Our other Sue was next with a couple of Lennon songs, Saltwater (Julian) and Love (John), Paul read his poems Love Song, The Lighthouse and The Diver and there were more poems from Suzanne, Uncle Noah (Roger McGough) and Valerie, Jubilee and Baffled In The Bike Shop (Pam Ayres). We had a couple of songs from Terry then John sang May The Circle Be Unbroken and Freedom Town (Delia Paz). Martin was next with Lord Franklin and The Bright Side Of The Road (Van Morrison), Dominic sang Dublin In The Rare Old Times and The Curlew and Roger's songs included Ukrainian Lament (a self-penned song about the war in Ukraine). Colin sang Little Johnnie England and  Sweet Jenny Jones and was joined by Sue for Heart Of Gold.

 

25/3/2025

Stuart was our MC tonight and we began with Keith, doing I Heard The Angels Singing and Return To Sender followed by our first Sue with Puff The Magic Dragon and Blackpool Belle then our second Sue, singing John Lennon's Oh My Love and I've Just Seen A Face. Paul was next with his own poem The Sound Of Om and one from Oscar Wilde Madonna Mia then our first John sang Spider In The Bath and Mike Scott's Nostalgia and Mike gave us Wayfairing Stranger and You Ain't Going Nowhere. Dominic sang McAlpine's Fusiliers and Curlew, Stuart & Carrie did Wildwood Flower and Dink's Tale and Martin sang Liberty's Sweet Shore and May You Never. We had David next, making his singing debut with Plainsong's In Search Of Amelia Earhart, Alan (assisted by Steve) sang I Couldn't Take My Eyes Off Her plus a short instrumental then Steve sang Springsteen's The Ghost Of Tom Joad and Al Stewart's Gethsemane, Again. Sean was next with his own Kindred Spirits and Blackwaterside and Sandie was in great form with some tunes including Josephine's Waltz. It was back to poetry with Valerie reading Spring and The Animal Shelter At Gardners Lane, Valerie revived the poem about mistakes then our second John sang Belfast Child and enlisted Sue with backing vocals on When Love Comes To Town.

 

11/3/2025

We were nearing St. Patrick's Day, so there were a few Irish songs to be heard as Martin took on MC duties. We began with our first Roger, who sang Five Hundred Miles and Morning Train, and read the lyrics to his own unfinished song They Say Tomorrow We're Gonna Break Through. Dominic was next with All I Remember (Christy Moore), The Lakes Of Pontchartrain and Fields Of Athenry, Sue sang two Neil Young songs, After The Goldrush and Only Love Can Break Your Heart and Paul read his poems I Sprang Blind From The Rock, It Tasted Of Happy and The Serenity Horizon plus Yeats' The Lake Isle Of Innisfree. Mike C sang Phil Coulter's The Town I Love So Well, From Clare To Here and Drag Queen Blues (Richard Digance), Valerie read The Owl And The Pussycat and From A Railway Carriage (RL Stevenson) and Suzanne did Deep In Our Refrigerator. Martin had The False Lady, Hard Up and Factory Girl, Nina was joined by Stuart & Pete for The Galtee Farmer and The Cuckoo and Terry sang Danny Boy, When You Were Sweet Sixteen and Trouble In Mind. Christine sang The Three Ravens and Our second Roger gave us Vitai Lampada and I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen. Stuart & Pete did Texas Love Song then Stu sang Shame And Scandal In The Family, our second Mike did Working Man, Sundown (Gordon Lightfoot) and If You Could Read My Mind Love and Colin sang The Galway Farmer, The Ancient Irish French Letter and The Old Turf Fire. We ended with Andy remembering Gordon Perrett and singing Tom Petty's Wildflowers, accompanying himself on Gordon's guitar - beautiful and poignant.

 

25/2/2005

Pete was our MC, and being close to St. David's Day, there were a few Welsh themed songs. Richard got us underway, with a Welsh flag and a daffodil hat (it could only be Richard!) and singing Swansea Farewell and Drink Up Thee Cider, then our first John had a brace of Jake Thackray songs My Roly Poly Girl and Jumble Sale. Our first Sue was next with two very different versions of It's Not Unusual, our resident Welsh poet Paul read two Dylan Thomas poems Fern Hill and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night plus his own Caerau about his home town and Mike sang Suze Rotolo and Patsy. Roger was next, joined by Christine for a dance as they sang Tea For Two, then Christine sang Idle Days In Summer Time and was joined by John for Cheek To Cheek. More poems next from Suzanne, The Lion Tamer (Roger Mcgough) and from Valerie, The Trinket Box and The Golfer the Bob did John D Loudermilk's Angela Jones and Orange Blossom Special and our second Sue sang Killing Me Softly (for Roberta Flack) and El Condor Pasa. Geoff sang Don't Think Twice, It's All Right and Elusive Butterfly and Martin did I Never Let You Know and Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Sean played the old right-of-passage tune Anji, then was joined by Sandie (on mandola!) for The Night Visiting Song and Sandie return to her normal squeeze box for The Walled Garden/The Bay Tree. Stuart & Pete gave us Cigarettes And Whisky And Wild Wild Women the Stuart sang Catherine Shaw, Alan (with Steve) did Songbird On My Shoulder and A Fragment Of Your Time and  Steve sang Pancho and Lefty and Joanna (John Smith). Our second John did Lord Protect My Child and (with Mick on guitar) and Blind Willie McTell before Mick himself sang an unaccompanied version of Patience Kershaw.

 

11/2/2025

It was time for a bit of romance with Valentine's Day just around the corner. Martin was our MC this evening and we began with our first Sue, doing Tickle My Heart, Dream A Little Dream and Something. Richard gave us Tom Dooley and I Saw Her Standing There, our second Sue sang Love Song (The Cure) and Isn't It A Pity? (George Harrison) and Paul was the first of our poets, reading The Gates Of Purgatory (inspired by Dante), Piazza Veccia, An Unfathomable Love, She Whispered and L'oisseau de Feu. Dominic sang The Coast Of Malabar, In The Town Of Ballybay and The Night Visiting Song, Roger did a song about a fateful Tinder experience, Leaving On A Jet Plane and Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Stuart sang KC Moan (KC being Kansas City), You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley and Willie Moore. Our other Stuart was with Pete for The Snake (to mark the Chinese New Year) and Marie's Wedding and Stuart went solo for Poor Jenny (Everly Brothers) then Martin sang Nellie o' Bob's o't' Crowtrees, High Part Of The Town and Banks Of Sweet Primroses. It was great to see Jo after a long absence and she sang Farewell Angelina, Band Of Brothers and The Edge Of The World, Suzanne read Crazy Fool and Valerie Don't Ask Me To The Wedding. John did Freedom Town, Shelter From The Storm and House Of The Rising Sun, Colin sang Pete Seeger's Martian Love Song and Andy gave us a lovely version of Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie.

 

28/1/2025

To get ourselves through and dark winter and the recent Blue Monday, we had an evening with a good selection of humorous songs, also raising £200 for mental health charity Mind. Stuart was our MC and we kicked off with Richard in usual jocular mood and a blow up saxophone doing Football Crazy and My Last Cigarette (Sidney Carter). Martin was next with Jez Lowe's The Wrong Bus and the old FAF favourite Brighouse On A Saturday Night, Gary sang It's Going To Be One Of Those Days and You Can't Eat Bang (about a cheap Suffolk cheese given to sailors) and the first of two Sues sang Ugly Bug Ball and Only 73 (her take on Only 16). Our next Sue sang a lovely version of Vincent, Roger did You Are My Sunshine and his own Is This The Start Of Global Meltdown? (about the LA fires) and Dominic gave us a witty little story, a poem by Yeates The Song Of The Wandering Aengus and sang Burns' Ae Fond Kiss. Pondlife came with props for The Ballad Of Barry And Freda and These Boots Were Made For Walking, Sandie played The Black Joak/The White Joak (a joak being an 18th century dance) and The Moon And Seven Stars and Sean sang Hugh Laurie's Mystery and his own I've Got A Whatnot. John was next with a little known Dylan song Lord Protect My Child and was joined by Mick for It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, Suzanne read Cling To Me Nigel and Valerie read pieces from The Wit And Wisdom Of Gardening. Alan (assisted by Steve) sang Lay Your Head Upon My Pillow and Hold On To Me Babe, Steve himself did The Hedgehog's Song (ISB) and Tangled Up In Blue and Mick sang his own Someone Tell Me Is It Really Folk? and She Loved A Portuguese. Rob was next with The Crafty Maid's Policy and The Ballad Of Robert de Middlecote, Monk and Bob finished with Rhubarb Pie (a sad tale of addiction!) and We Love To Boogie.

 

14/1/2025

We welcomed the New Year with Pete as our MC and an evening dedicated to Gordon Perret, who was an occasional visitor to FAF (he sang at our Christmas special) and who we recently lost. Richard got the year going with The Bristol Song and This Land Is Your Land, Roger sang Drink Up Thee Cider and If I Loved You and Christine was accompanied by John for It Had To Be You. John himself sang The Twelve Days After Christmas, Jake Thackray's The Brigadier and Joyce The Librarian, Paul read his poems Deity and Piazza Vecchio and Sue sang the Cure song Pictures Of You. Stuart & Pete were next with The Foggy Dew and The Napoli, then more poetry from Suzanne with Swans and Ode To Robbie Burns and Valerie reading Barking (Pam Ayres). Bob did Empty Bed Blues, Tina Louise and Mystery Train, Sue sang Dream Little Dream, Islands In The Stream and City Of New Orleans and Carrie & Stuart did delightful versions of The Urge For Going, Nowhere Man and Why Worry? (Dire Straits). Our second Roger sang his own Expectations and Dylan's It Hurts Me Too, Dominic gave us The Ferryman and another Dylan song Lay Down Your Weary Tune and Martin sang Drink Old England Dry and Al Stewart's Palace Of Versaille. Stuart sang Alcohol (Ray Davies), Sandie & Sean did Liberty's Sweet Shore, Sandie played a German tune and Sean sang Once I Had A Sweetheart.

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