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.