Aylesbury folk music scene

There is a good folk music scene in the Aylesbury area. 

We are members of Chesham Folk Club, which meets every Monday in a community centre.  On some dates there is a guest artist, and floor spots are limited to a few songs from one or two people.  On the other dates they hold a singers night, when people sit round in a large circle, and everyone performs a song in turn.  There are usually 15 to 20 performers, so each person only sings two or three songs in an evening.  This winter we have sung twenty songs altogether, and we haven’t repeated anything.

On alternate Tuesdays there is a session in the Queen’s Head at Wing. The pub chef has the night off, and we use the dining room, where most people sit round a few lined up tables in the centre of the room, and others perch at the bar or occupy comfy lounge furniture.  There is a mix of music, and everyone is invited to join in each others songs. Again each performer leads a song in turn.  Some sing songs, and others play tunes. It is a good atmosphere.

On the third Sunday of the month, there is a very informal event at the Half Moon in Wilstone.  If there are only a few people we cram into the back room, but if there are more than, say, eight, we need to move out from there into the main part of the pub.  We sing a song each in turn, and it is a good place to air some recently learned songs. We’ll be there again on 20^th March, a week before we set off once more.

 

A session at Wilstone

Staying in one place has been good discipline for us as we have had to learn new songs.

We gave a concert in the Aylesbury Canal Society function room, with some of the boaters, and some church people also.  Boating songs featured prominently in our song list, and we sang for ninety minutes.

We also have a good theatre in Aylesbury. Last year we went to a 60’s concert with people like the Swinging Blue Jeans. This year we had Fairport Convention, and we had a very entertaining evening.

 

Fairport tickets

Fairport Convention in concert

Recently we all said goodbye to David Bowie, and, as he had connections with Aylesbury, there was a memorial to him where people could lay flowers.

David Bowie memorial

There is a weekly Aylesbury Folk Club on Fridays, but we haven’t managed to visit so far, as it usually clashes with a weekly social event with the boaters in the canal basin.

We are planning to visit more folk clubs and sessions as we travel. The first is likely to be on Sun 3^rd April in the Vaults Bar at Stony Stratford, then possibly Thu 14^th at the Black Horse in Leicester, or Sun 17^th in the afternoon at the Kings Lock Tea Rooms.