February -
First of all, the band would like to wish everyone a happy new year, including those who have booked us in the past, those who have booked us for the future, and those who are still thinking about it! Lets hope its a great year for music and dance.
After a quiet January, we started February with our annual visit to Priest Hutton where we were invited by Keith Brady and his team for their Burns night. The highlight is always the playing-in of the haggis and the recitation of Burns' Ode to a Haggis by Eric. A great evening with a great bunch of people - well recommended!
Hughie then had his twice yearly fix of playing music in the Radway pub in Sidmouth. Another good weekend, but a long way to go to play music.
We then went over to Scales in Low Furness to play for Wendy's 40th Birthday party. A very enjoyable evening with some enthusiastic dancing.
Quote - Thank you once again for putting on a great do on Saturday. You had lots of complements! I hope our efforts at dancing didn't cause you too much amusement! Wendy Prentice
Archived news
2007
March & April -
Two weddings, a retirement party, and a 60th birthday party saw the band playing at typical bookings over the past 2 months.
Both weddings were at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal, which has the advantage of two different rooms available depending on the size of the function. Jenny's wedding was in the larger room downstairs, with David's wedding upstairs in the Kendal suite.
In 2003, we played for a doctors retirement at Bentham Golf Club. The doctor belonged to the local GP practice, and we were booked to play by a lovely lady called Jane Burnett. In March this year, it was the turn of Jane herself to retire, and she booked us to play at Hornby Institute. A great evening and a joy to help Jane celebrate the end of her working life.
For the past few years we have played at the Glaramara Centre in Borrowdale for the Innominata MC Christmas dinner and ceilidh. The person who books us, Dave Checkley, was 60 this year, and he decided to book us for his party at the Dalesbridge Centre near Clapham. a great evening in a cosy establishment. Great for caving, climbing, or walking in the day and partying at night.
We rounded off the month with our, by now, annual music and walking weekend at High House in Borrowdale. This must surely be the best bunkhouse in the Lakes, and an ideal venue for walking in the day ( and getting wet!) and playing and singing in the evening.
May -
May started off with a wedding in a new venue for us, Cartmel Racecourse. The function room looks newly refurbished and is situated to the rear of the grandstand on the first floor. The beautiful evening meant that Kirsty and Matt with their friends and family could take the evening air and look at the view in between dances. An excellent evening in a good venue.
This was followed by a corporate event at Brathay Hall near Ambleside. CRAC are a company that specialise in creating innovative career development programmes (they say) and this event was part of a week long session for post doctoral students. Tumbling Tom had Joe Fairclough standing in for Fiona as caller as she had a prior engagement. The combination of Joe and an enthusiastic crowd created a great evenings dancing.
We finished the month with a fund raiser for Heversham church, held in a barn at Park House Farm in Heversham. Normally we are not very keen on playing in barns as the dust can cause problems with our instruments and equipment, and this barn was no exception, but the compensating factor was the fact that the barn is one of the best examples of a cruck barn in the area. All in all a good evening, and our thanks go to Annie Robinson and her team for making us welcome.
June & July -
A return visit to Brathy Hall started off June with another ceilidh for CRAC - see May. Lovely weather outside and great dancing inside made for a memorable evening.
The first of three gigs in June was a ceilidh in Kendal for the LibDems. The local MP Tim Farron was in attendance, and it was great to see lots of younger people throwing themselves into the dance. A song spot rounded off the evening.
A return visit to The Coot in Urswick near Ulverston followed this for a teachers retirement evening. We managed to cope with the sound limiter all right, but people booking this venue need to be aware that live music should cease at 2300 to avoid sound disturbance to locals, and they should discuss this issue with the excellent manager at The Coot.
We rounded off the first half of the year by playing at the Saturday evening ceilidh at the Furness Tradition Festival in the Ulverston Coronation Hall. A great place to play and dance, we shared the evening with some of the Festival artists. A memorable evening in many ways!
We now take a well earned break until the end of August. Steve will be visiting WOMAD and hoping to avoid the mud of last year. Les will travel to Solfest, and Tony will be involved in organising the Lake District Summer Music Festival. Fiona will travel down south to the Sidmouth Festival and north east to the Whitby festival: lots of session playing there then! Hugh will be lucky to hear any music whilst trekking in the Indian Himalaya with Angie.
