12/5/2026

It was our last night at the Nissen Hut before moving on to the Greyhound and Stuart was our MC on another busy night. Richard got us underway with The Leaving Of Liverpool and Pick A Bale Of Cotton, Carrie & Stuart did Follow The Heron and I Wandered By A Brookside and John sang Jake Thackray's Lah di Dah and Mike Scott's Marmite. Dominic gave us Geraldine's Thinking Of Galway and Starry Night, Paul read his own Amy's Song and Death Be Not Proud (John Donne) and Sue also did a poem, I Sat Belonely (John Lennon) and sang a companions song in the Beatles' Nowhere Man. Keith did a couple of his old favourites, If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day and Cousin Jack, Christine sang Sunrise, Sunset and we had a rare performance from Heather, who read Leonard Cohen's Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye as a poem. Martin did Fare Thee Well and I Drew My Ship Across The Harbour, then a new duo, Rosie & Ian sang Row On and Boys Of Summer (inspired by Steve Knightly's version) and Stuart & Pete did We'll Hunt Him Down and Proud Mary. Geoff was in a maritime mood with All For Me Grog and Goodbye Fare Thee Well, Harry sang I Belong To Glasgow and Valerie read a piece by Pam Ayres, Baffled In The Bike Shop. Sue sang Meet Me On The Corner and Top Of The World, Bob did I Remember The Year That Clayton Delaney Died and Crystal Chandeliers, Sean sang Rosemary Lane and Lough Sheelin Side and Colin rounded things off with She Moves Through The Fair and Essequibo River. We had a few words from Andy at the end, as we thanked him for our time at the Nissen. He was sad to see us go but he said that we had rekindled his love of folk music!

 

28/4/2026

We were back at the Greyhound with Pete as MC on a busy night. Richard began the evening with This Land Is Your Land and Down By The Riverside and ended it with We Shall Not Be Moved. In between we had Martin with a lovely version of Caledonia and The Harvest Gypsies, Roger sang Bird On A Wire and Ghost Riders In The Sky and Dominic did Wild Mountain Thyme and Follow The Heron. Paul read two classic poems, Fern Hill (Dylan Thomas) and When You Are Old (WB Yeats), Sue sang Stand By Me and Southern Man and Steve did Pill Pill I Love Thee Still and some west country punk in North Petherton Bingo Fiasco. John was next with some Chas & Dave, There Ain't No Pleasing You plus Mike Scott's Graduate, Helen & John sang Here We Go 1,2,3 (Heidi Talbot) and The Circle (Ocean Colour Scene) and Chris did a beatiful version of Scarborough Fair with some lovely singing in the room. Stuart & Pete marked the recent London Marathon with Fred Wedlock's Jogging Song and St George's Day with Half English, Steve G had a couple of Incredible String Band songs, Good As Gone and First Girl I Loved and Sandie played Liberty Bodice and Robin's Waltz/Rosbif Waltz. Harry recited Kipling's Mandalay, Sean sang A Miner's Life and Beeswing, Suzanne read some Roger McGough, Valerie Sea Fever (John Masefield) and it was great to see Mick, who sang his own Changeover Day (from his new CD with Rob Winder) and The World Turned Upside Down, a song about St George.

 

14/4/2026

FAF was back at the Nissen with Stuart as MC on Cuckoo Day (how delightful!), and Richard starting us with This Train and Meeting In Building, Terry & Sarah harmonised on Follow The Heron (Karine Polwart), The Blue Cockade, On The Bus To St Cloud (Emmylou Harris) and Someone To Love Me and Stuart & Louise sang The Ashgrove, Meet Me On The Corner and another version of The Blue Cockade. Sue was next with Neil Young's Out On The Weekend, the Ringo Starr hit Photograph and Down At The Furniture Warehouse (Pam Ayres), Chris sang She's Like A Swallow, some more Pam Ayres, Late Night Knitter and Misty and Harry gave us The Road Not Taken, and a Robert Frost poem, followed by an excerpt of Beatles' Nowhere Man (which he felt illustrated Frost's poem). Sandie played Polka de L' Aveyron, Auvergne Polka, Rues des Près, Le Canal en Octobre, Mrs Saggs (Chris Wood) and St George's Day and Sean did City Of Chicago (by Barry Moore, sung by brother Christy), The Cuckoo, The Night Visiting Song and Shimmy Like My Sister Kate. Martin's selections included My Blood (Jez Lowe) and The Long And Winding Road and Colin sang The Manchester Rambler, I'm Bound Away, a very un-PC song about the linguistic changes to our 'Mother Tongue' and New York Girls.

 

24/3/2026

Stuart was our MC for our first visit to the upstairs room at the Greyhound, what could turn out to be our permanent venue. Richard has played at every FAF venue, being a founder member and he brought an impressive collection of percussion which he used on Sloop John B and Drink Up Thy Cider. Stuart & Pete followed with Man Gave Names To All The Animals and Rolling Home and Carrie & Stuart did Ride On, Crazy Man Michael and Watch Me (Labi Siffre). It was great to see Steve return and along with Jo, they sang The Garden, The Blade (kingfishr) and Oldsmobile, then we welcomed a new duo to the club, Helen & John, doing Irish Eyes (Rose Betts), What's So Funny About Peace, Love And Understanding? and King Cotton (Secret Sisters) and Sean went trad for Blackwaterside and Once I Had A Sweetheart. Sandie also made a welcome return and played William Taylor's Table Top Polka and The Origins Of The World, Martin did The King's Shilling and Boots Of Spanish Leather and Dominic sang Maloney Wants A Drink and The Island. Suzanne cleverly adapted Tell It To The Dog as Tell It To The Greyhound and Valerie read A Mattress Up The Stairs. Terry sang his own Called On The Wrong Number and John Connolly's The Widowmaker and Geoff, with his concertina, went nautical for Santiana and Leave Her Johnny.

 

10/3/2026

Martin took MC duties, and as we neared St Patrick's Day, there were a few Irish songs on offer. Richard began with Wild Rover and You Are My Sunshine, Stuart & Pete did This Ole House, The Urban Spacemen and Sunday Afternoon and Gav sang Don't Play With Fire, Hannah More and Brown Eyed Girl. Our first Sue sang Back To Black (Amy Winehouse) and Birds (Neil Young), Paul read his own Embers and did Billy Joel's And So It Goes, first as a poem and then a song before we had a new visitor to FAF, Matt, who played two banjo tunes Cripple Creek and Wildwood Flower. Other Sue sang The Bare Necessities and City Of New Orleans, Bob did The Year That Clayton Delaney Died and Back To Tennessee and Christine sang the Irish song The Lark In The Clear Air. Harry read Roald Dahl's alternative version of Cinderella, Martin sang Copperline (James Taylor) and Solsbury Hill and Sean went to his Irish roots for Liberty's Sweet Shore and Spancil Hill. Roger was next with 50s Child and Proud Mary, Dominic sang Dylan's Lay Down Your Weary Tune, recited Yeats' Song Of The Wandering Aengus and sang My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose, Suzanne read Uncle Leo The Lion Tamer (Roger McGough) and Valerie read The Months. We had a second new visitor, Wendy, singing a lovely version of Follow The Heron and Colin did Galway Farmer and The Harp Without The Crown.

 

24/2/2026

A good turnout tonight and a nice variety of material, all hosted by Pete. Richard was back in his usual audience warm up role with When The Saints Go Marching In, Folsom Prison Blues and Worried Man Blues, Roger's songs included Four Coloured Horses and Paul marked upcoming St David's Day with some Dylan Thomas, When All My Five And Country Senses See and his own The Prayer Of The Mamosa. Sue sang a song with lyrics by Paul to her melody, Amy's Song before doing Amy Winehouse's Valerie, Pondlife were in slightly sarcastic mood (given the recent wet weather) with I Can See Clearly Now plus Dirty Old Town and Sean did Matty Groves and Davey Graham's Anji. It was nice to see David, who sang Banks Of The Roses, Martin Simpson's A Love Letter (David had just spent the weekend at a Martin S workshop) and Bonnie Bessie Logan, Harry recited Walter Scott's Lochinvar and Christine sang a lovely traditional song. Sue did Making Love Ukulele Style and Top Of The World, Bob gave us Living With The Blues and Tina Louise and Dominic sang Dainty Davie (Burns), recited Innisfree (Yeats) and sang The Isle Of Innisfree. Keith was next with Poor Wayfairing Stranger and Lady Madonna, Carrie & Stuart sported dual ukuleles for Love Me Do and I Almost Lost My Mind (songs written in their respective birth years) and Geoff brought his concertina and sang Windy Old Weather and It's All Part Of Being A Pirate.

 

10/2/2026

We were a small number this evening and with Stuart as MC, we performed in the round. There were a fair number of love songs to be heard as we neared St Valentin's Day. Stuart & Pete got us under way with Texas Love Song, The Napoli, Mairie's Wedding, I Wanna Be Like You and Shame And Scandal In The Family, then Martin sang The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, Green Grows The Laurel, The Parting Glass, The Midnight Feast (Lal Waterson) and Father And Son (Cat Stevens). Paul read a few poems, starting with Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 and then his own The Tender Horizon, Romance, His Flower (about Venice), L'Oiseau De Feu (inspired by Stravinsky), Lullaby For Grace, The Empire Of The Moon, A Clattering Of Jackdaws, Ascension and Burns' My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose then Sue sang two Neil Young songs, My Heart and Look Out For My Love. Christine was next with Black Is The Colour and September Song and we welcomed Jo, joining hubby Gavin in a new duo and singing Side By Side, Little Talks, A Little Time (Beautiful South), Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and All We Do. Harry recited The Green Eye Of The Little Yellow God and Colin sang The Lark In The Morning, The Foggy Dew, Come Along Mary, The Story Of My Life and Drunken Sailor.

 

27/1/2026

Martin took MC duties as we returned to a regular singer's night. We began with Stuart & Pete with The Cat Came Back, Ukulele Man and Cigarettes And Whisky And Wild Wild Women, then our other Stuart sang The Lakes Of Pontchartrain, Blues Run The Game and Worried Man Blues followed by Carrie with Sunshine On Leith, Wild Mountain Thyme and Who'll Sing Me Lullabies? Our first Sue sang Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, Killing Me Softly and Yesterday, Paul marked Holocaust Memorial Day with two of his poems, I Am The Firemen and Validation plus The Aga Khan then we welcomed a new face, John, who played some lovely fiddle tunes, a medley called When Matilda Waltzed To Shetland, his own The Lockdown Reels and another set featuring a lament, a Strathspey and a reel. Martin did With God On Our Side, Go To Work On Monday and Jackie Wilson Said, our second Sue sang Dream A Little Dream, Ukulele (to the tune of Hallelujah) and House Of The Rising Sun (this one about a pub!), then Bob gave us Bear Creek, Tina Louise and Call Me The Breeze. Jennie made a welcome return and sang a wassail, Cam Ye O'er Frae France and read her own poem The Cold Moon, we had more poems, both by Pam Ayres from Suzanne with Cling To Me Nigel and Valerie with Walk With Me For A Perch And A Rood and David moved from the audience to performer with Paul Simon's Duncan and Donovan's Colours.

 

13/1/2026

We started the New Year with a singaround, with Pete as MC. There was the usual mixture of songs, including a couple of wassails, and a few performances and poems.