Guests in 2001

In January we were pleased to welcome Bob Fox; people who travelled a good way to see him weren't disappointed. We look forward to seeing him again - even if he did call us b*****ds!

In February the Cock & Bull Band paid us a visit. This was a rare concert appearance for them, and we were one of the first venues to experience their new line-up.  Despite this not being a dance, their driving music and energy sent us all home exhausted!!

Steáfán Hannigan & Saskia Tomkins were our guests in March. They got a bit lost - we think we missed out a roundabout in our directions - but got to us finally & were great. They really are superb musicians, & had us all green with envy.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jez Lowe was unable to be with us on April 27th. We look forward to seeing him at Folk in The Park, Hitchin, on June 30th.  We were lucky to be able to book Ola at very short notice, to replace him.

Helen, Sarah & Michael are Ola

Ola is a York (UK) based folk trio, formed in early 2000. They were BBC 2 Young Folk Award finalists in 2000. They play traditional and original tunes and songs from the British Isles, America, & Europe. and also recently appeared as part of BBC Music Live in York. They regularly appear at local folk clubs and are likely to be found at various locations all over the UK playing at festivals and folk clubs. 

They were warmly received and proved to be a terrific success; they played both original & traditional material superbly and we look forward to seeing them at the club again. Those of you who were unable to attend can catch them at one of a number of festivals in the summer, & we confidently predict that they will be booked for many more next year.

In May, we had a welcome return visit from Dave Swarbrick & Alistair Hulett: they were, however as disappointed as us at a poor turnout. The manager of The Place had inserted a notice in the local papers several days before telling people of its closure & telephone enquirers found the line was only manned by an answerphone, with a corresponding notice on the door to say it was now closed. We offer our sincere apologies to those of you who missed Dave & Ali through these circumstances; unfortunately we weren't aware of them until it was too late to contact people. They will be back!

June saw a seafaring crowd taking the virtual trip around the Horn to Valparaiso, in the safe hands of Joe Stead, long established & well-regarded traditional singer, & a leading shantyman. 

Our first guests at the new venue were Siansa, a mainly London-based Irish band whose members include a number of All-Ireland Champions! We weren't disappointed, they were superb & we look forward to seeing them again at this year's Folk in the Park.

The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that this picture wasn't in fact taken at the club - it was taken at a wedding reception at the Hermit of Redcoats a couple of months later!

We had one last gig at Letchworth in September, when we welcomed Bruce MacGregor of Blazin' Fiddles & Cliar, & his wife, Lisa Mulholland. Bruce is a fiddle player of the first order, and was accompanied by Lisa on piano and piano accordion. 

On Saturday we were lucky enough to have a fiddle workshop hosted by Bruce.

In October we were lucky to have Cath Munday & Jay Turner as our guests, newly back from Australia. Cath's vibrant personality & the duo's terrific musicianship quickly drew our audience in. We look forward to them making a return visit.

Our long-awaited guests, at the beginning of November, were Shave The Monkey. They played to a packed house, and were certainly worth the wait.  On this occasion they had an extended line-up - Steve was leaving the band and they were welcoming Fran Broady, on fiddle, and both were there. We are pleased to report that the new Shave is well worth going to see! We hope they'll come & play for us again soon.

Unfortunately, we forgot to take the camera with us - so here is a pic of Shave at the Boat Race in Cambridge.

In December we had our 3rd Christmas Barn Dance, and the first at our new venue in Baldock. It went off very well, ably assisted by Barry Goodman as usual. Unfortunately we were too busy playing to take any photos! 

Thursday does, however, seem to be a favourite day for the office Xmas party, we had many apologies for absence - so suggestions for a different night for this year (2002) would be warmly welcomed! Friday is out, unfortunately, as the Goldcrest hosts a regular disco that night.