Orpington Friday Folk
Sue's Scribbles 
This will be an on line version to complement my published scribbles in "Around Kent Folk"
The printed word is often "old news" by publication date... read it here first...
Our base. as usual, was The Gordon, and Friday night saw us at the open mic. in Nigel's Bar. We got two spots. On Saturday we saw Norcsalordie, then got a spot on the Pigs Ear Stage before going along to The Folk Factor. There were less bands competing this year, and the standard was lower, but I saw the winners walk in towards the end. As soon as I saw a young fiddler called Dougan Mehmet arrive with a band called Rocas in fact. The winner of the solo section was an old friend, Pam Tilling, nee Paterson. She had been persuaded to enter by Barry Laing. The evening was spent at the Good Intent which hosted a tremendous singaround inside, and a large, and loud playaround in the garden.
On Sunday we listened to The Pigs, then thought we'd do a couple of songs in Bob and Kathy's singaround, then go and see Triality. We found out that Kathy had had an injury to her arm and hand, and ended up running the afternoon at Derek Moore's request. It was a very busy session too!
Time to dash down the road for our curry, then back to The Gordon which was heaving.Monday was spent listening to Hot Rats before crossing the bridge to catch the second half of the Perfect Strangers gig. Then homeward to recover. Roll on next year !
Pigs Ear Folk Ale 30th May to 1stJune
Occasional rain didn't dampen our spirits, and, though the campsite resembled Glastonbury it rained only at non-performing times. A concert in the marquee and pub singaround kicked off the weekend. T.D.L. were first spot on Saturday. It was a bit early for us, but we enjoyed it. This is such a cosy festival with mostly local performers. The excellent sound system means that you can enjoy the performance from the comfort of your own camp without it being intrusive. Saturday passed in a flash, but Sunday brought a few surprises. Lots of our friends turned up, including Norcsalordie. They greatly impressed everyone. The boys have been on vacation from uni, so had been getting out to local clubs.
We were chuffed that they came back to the evening singaround on Sunday, and returned to the Fox and Hounds on Monday night.
Cheers
Sue Tuckey
bravenet.com