Orpington Friday Folk
ORPINGTON FRIDAY FOLK IS A POPULAR VENUE WITH MANY PERFORMERS. 
C Wot U Mist next
October 6th 2006 Tom Lewis. As this was Tom's first gig of his U.K. tour we were expecting a far bigger turnout. Admittedly it was the first night of Tenterden, and Tom was booked there too, as well as several other local clubs. The twenty or so who did come enjoyed a more intimate evening with Tom giving a great show, as per usual. We had some good floor spots too!
October 13th Geoff Higginbottom. Another poorly attended night, but everyone was in fine voice, joining in the choruses, laughing at Geoff's jokes, and all the Richard Thompson songs, which he does so well. Trevor and I hosted the evening, pleased to say that Trevor's voice is coming back, though it was tested by his choice of "Washing Day" to start the second half.The chorusing was absolutely wonderful on that, even Geoff joined in.
October 20th Tigh An Truish (House Of Trousers)
A good attendance for this one. Not surprising as these ex locals still have a lot of friends at Eltham's Folkmob who came over to Orpington. We were treated to a wonderful evening of traditional and contemporary celtic music and song. The floor singers were something else, and mostly unaccompanied. We had songs from Jim, Linda, Anne, Andy Smythe, and ourselves.
October 27th John Conolly. Wow!!! One minute you have nobody and the next you have 25 people or so. It seemed that many of those wanted to sing, so Ralph, Host for the night, did a fine job fitting everyone in. The more floor singers, the less time for our guest, and what a guest!It was John's second visit to OFF, and, once more, he didn't dissapoint us. There was a good mixture of sea songs, funny songs, songs written by John, songs written by others, and, of course, Fiddler's Green.
November 3rd. Roy Clinging...We arrived at the Club to find tables and chairs already put out and an audience already in situ. If only all Fridays could be like this. There was a keyboard to the left, and a keyboard to the right. One was that of FF resident, Andy Smythe, the other's Maidstone's own, Clive Lever. The guest, Roy Clinging, followed T.D.L. on, after we had performed two Child Ballads. We had some wonderful traditional singing, accompanied by concertina, and guitar. The floor spots were only three, but took us neatly to raffle time. First came Andy, then Doug, both lulling us into a sense of security, before being amazed by Clive's highly amusing numbers. Firstly he gave us Johnny Cash sings The Wild Rover, then a Frank Sinatra sea Shanty, and then several vignettes. All highly amusing. We got Roy back on at exactly half past ten, for another terrific set. The audience wanted more, always a good sign. Doug Field is our guest next Friday. Don't miss him.!
November 10th Doug Field. Thanks to all who came from Ruskin House Folk and Blues Club to support Doug. Also to our mate Claudine from Fab. It was soon evident that Doug had been learning even more new songs for our delectation, and mixed with many old favourites, this produced an excellent evening for us. Chris hosted, and there were floor spots from T.D.L., Ralph, and Mo.
November 17th Children In Need Singers Night
The weather was truly atrocious, and kept many people tucked up at home in front of the telly. Those of us who did turn out had a really smashing night.
Several copies of Ron's c.d. were sold, both at OFF and to his many fans nationwide. A beautiful watercolour of a local beauty spot was donated and sold for £40.00.
Fifty pounds was raised from the raffle, and so far, I have collected over £200.00!!!! Thanks a lot!
November 24th Tony Winn
A small and almost perfect audience were treated to an excellent evening's entertainment by our old friend Tony Winn. When first I met Tony, he had a group called "Short Stories". They had previously been called "The Popular wobblies" and I had no idea where that name came from until Trevor discovered a song with the same title, which we now perform. Tony writes his own songs, some are poignant love songs, some are funny, some are just surreal. Great stuff. He also gave us Anne Lister's "Moth" with banjo accompaniment.....different!
December 1st Martin Young. Affectionately known as young Martin Long, Martin's forray into the world of equity cards meant changing his name from Long to Young several years back. This was the latest of many visits to OFF for this delightful performer. Martin treated us to several of his own well-written songs, all with a message. I spotted a couple of traditional numbers there, and one or two by some of his favourite writers. His encore was a request from a previous visit when time had curtailed it, John Conolly's Librarian Song. The evening was hosted most beautifully by Andy Smythe with floor spots from Andy, Peter Twydle, and Tone Deaf Leopard.
December 8th String Whistle Dave Rickard and Rob Mitchell are old friends of Orpington. They did their first paid gig at Orpington Folk Club around 27 years ago. Given their first class musicianship and the local connections... where were there supporters. Not a soul came from Dartford, where Rob is resident, and Dave used to be. The few that did come were treated to a superb evening which featured Celtic, 16th century, American, blues, soul, jazz, etc. etc. on guitar, piano, flute, whistles, and sax....
December 15th Another quiet night, but thanks to those who did attend... Suzi and Marie were tremendous... making them residents gave them the lift they needed, they get better, and better!
See you next week for Pat and Lynne
I hope that some people were able to access the website before coming out. Lynne and Pat were fogbound, so we had an impromptu singers night. It would have been a poor turnout for a guest and the saving grace was not to lose money again. thanks to those who did brave the weather.
December 29th A Song for Bob. A magnificent turnout as it should rightly have been for our charity night. There is a list of those who performed on the Bob Woollett page. We raised £245.00
Happy New Year to all. See you on January 5th
JANUARY 5TH SINGERS NIGHT ... We don't expect a crowd on the first Friday of the year, so this elite gathering of T.D.L., Chris, Mo, Peter, John, and Keith, got through 26 songs between them.
Thanks to the few who came just to listen.
January 12th Ron Trueman-Border . I am not exagerating when I say that this was the best crowd this year. It was certainly the biggest audience since the TDL gig last summer!There are always more floor singers than usual The task of marshalling the event was bravely carried out by Andy Smythe. Two excellent sets from Ron with a good mix of old and new songs,performed solo, and with the aid of Robin Black, and Les Elvin. Performances from Tone Deaf Leopard, Rosa's Daughters, Ralph Henning, Doug Field, Claudine Le Moal and Trevor Barham, and a surprise visit from Paul Pearson from Sheffield.Hope the trend continues!
January 19th Dave Ellis and Boo Howard... Another good turnout for this excellent duo. This was their first gig of 2007, and it was as enjoyable as always. One or two new songs crept into the repertoire,and seveal old favourites were requested. There's always a special atmosphere on a Dave and Boo Night. Tonight we had more than a few floor spots, all doing one song each. The evening was well run and went to time, so everyone went home happy.It makes such a difference when the room is full, both, to the atmosphere for the guest, and for the club's finances.
January 26th Not Jim Bainbridge but a singers night. I got a bit confused, as Jim's booking has been altered, but not my diary. We had a super night, but again a very small turnout. Singers were; Chris, Mo,TDL,Robin Slater, and a visitor from Canada, Darren Arsenault. Check out his website
February 2nd Another unscheduled Singers Night! With the rottenest of luck, our guest, Julian Longden had broken down at Crawley, and had to be towed away . ----
I rang around a few of our regulars and we had a full evening, everyone getting three songs. My fingers are crossed for next week when we have Fran and Mike.
February 9th.. No, we don't. This week, Fran lost her voice, so, once again, we had an impromptu singers night.I have now got an electronic list of regularsingers so, a text was sent, and they all turned up clutching their songs and guitars. We got through 28 songs.
fingers crossed for next week when the guests are Galliard.
Friday February 16th Galliard..... What a superb evening! Galliard gave us two excellent sets, as always, punctuated by more floor singers than I could shake a morris man on a stick at. Maisdtone sent an invasion force, including Clive, Don, and Norman.We had residents, Chris, Mo, Andy, and for the first time in yonks, Ron. We also had Les Elvin, and Robin Slater . If you've been paying due attention, you'll have noticed that all of the Perfect Strangers were in attendance, so they performed as one. For this your hosts were doubly greatful!
Friday February 23rd.. Andy Smythe.... Back to the small turnout tonight. Andy who wisely chose Les Elvin to accompany him on some of his songs treated those who were there to some great singing. They worked very well together, and we hope that they may do so again. Andy has come on so much since becoming a resident at Friday Folk. He is more relaxed, both with himself and with the audience. His jokes are becoming more frequent too. The Nutty French Woman from Fab Club did her first ever compering tonight, and was very good at it. Merci boucoup Claudine. Tonight's floor singers were: Claudine, with Andy and Les, Robin Slater, TDL, and Peter Twydle. See you next week for Simon Oliver, another annoyingly talented singer’ songwriter and honourary Leopard.
March 2nd Simon Oliver and the Three Esses
March came in like a lion, foul weather outside but a warm welcome for our guest from the few brave souls who had ventured out. Simon was suffering from a chesty cough, as were several others present - and Sue as well – at times the atmosphere was almost like a glee club at a T.B. Hospital! However, with the help of his trusty backing musicians (the other two Esses) we were treated to a cornucopia of Simons beautifully crafted songs, interspersed with a few cracking tunes on Mandolin and Tenor Banjo (We hadn’t realized that Banjo’s had to be tuned – you learn something every day!) .Simons voice lasted the evening (just) and we were sent out into the night with an amazingly fast version of “the Irish Washerwoman”. Not many floorsingers, not much audience, but an enjoyable night nonetheless! T.A. Leopard.
March 9th Singers Night. Tonight's all-comers session was possibly as well attended as the more recent guest nights. There were eleven performers all told, and we welcomed a young man, Karl Smith, moved here from Nottingham. He fitted in with us straight away, having the same sense of humopur as many of us, and not a bad singer, both with, and without a guitar.
March 16th John Conolly. This was a "return gig" for John after his "Fill up the diary" gig last September. Unfortunately, he clashed with Art Garfunkel, and Mo missed him a second time!
John gace us two excellent sets, and songs included, "Ernie, the fastest Mobile Library Driver in the West", "The Bucket and Shovel Brigade", requested by Chris, a song John would sooner forget, "Punch and Judy Man", and, of course, "Fiddlers Green." The MC was Marie, and floor singers were, Peter, Chris, Robin, T.D.L, Doug.
March 23rd Doug Hudson Who else but the Leps could MC this evening? Madness and mayhem guaranteed. Great songs from Douggie, permeated with many funny stories, some seem beyond belief they are so hilarious!
Some excellent floor singers tonight. Karl , Peter, Ralph, and Robin
Friday30th March J P Slidewell . Another excellent night. J.P.Slidewell is one of the north-wests best kept secrets. No-one who attended had ever heard of him before except Robin, who had won his cd in a raffle(and said he was a bit good), but all knew who he was and were singing his praises by the end of the night. A strong singer in the traditinal style, who sometimes accompanied himself on guitar in a variety of tunings, and sometimes sang unaccompanied. Floor singers were Andy, Robin, Myself (Sue was at home with the dread lurgy), and Theresa from Folkmob. 
Good Friday, April 6th. Good Friday is normally a poorly attended evening but we had a few in this year. It had been adverised as a singers night, and drew several. A later addition to the programme was Tone Deaf Leopard's CD Launch. The evening was hosted in the first half by Andy Smythe who introduced Peter, Robin, and himself before our half hour spot. After the break,Doug took over the hosting, playing one song, then introducing, Kevin, Tony, Paul, and Cam Tan, making her first appearance as a singer/songwriter. Time for one more song at the end, Doug sang ud out in style.
Phil Hare - April 13th .. Phil is one of the best guests we've had. For anyone who hasn't seen him, he's a phenomenal guitarist, good singer, has a sense of humour, and is very good at writing impromptu songs. He asked for some subjects and sang a marvelous number about two friends who go fishing behind the doctor's surgery, using a panza tank to attract the fish! The action takes place at Easter and many hot-cross buns were eaten. Check out Phil's website for more info. TDL were worn out from their day out in Essex so the Floor Singers were: Doug, Ralph, Robin, Peter, and Tony.
April 20th... Having arranged specially for a French compere, the French band Les Elvin failed to show. Such is life.... we had to listen to some bloke in a very loud shirt!!!!!
Claudine did a Powerpoint presentation on Les. We saw "Baby Les", same hairstyle, similar shirt, then a very dubious family snap that looked somewhat Edwardian, a graph showing how may baby Elvins had been born, and finally, a photo of Les with Pete Fyffe. Les soon relaxed into his set, enjoying the friendly fire from the audience. It was good to see some new faces in the audience, including a friend of Bob Woollett's, who says he'll be back. We had some really good floor singers tonight. Claud sang a song written for her by Tim Almond, beautifully accompanied on piano by Andy Smythe. Then it was Andy's turn for two of his own songs. Andy was followed by Romford's own Trevor Barham. In the second half were, Robin, Ralph, Tone Deaf Leopard, and Doug. 
April 27th - Appropriately - 27 paying customers tonight for Breezy. He brought again the lovely Christine from Herga who joined him in song. Rare visit too from fellow Mudcatters Richard Atkins and Hillary Ward. Hillary came a close second in the female singer category, and won best non-commercial album in the Mudcat Alternative Folk Awards. John did two great sets for us, the second foreshortened by the number of singers. Chris is normally very strict about only putting on residents on a guest n ight, but not everybody knows that do they? He coped very well, even giving Hillary a surprise spot. (so glad that he did). Singers were: TDL, Rosa's Daughters, Ralph, Karl, Hillary, Derek Moore,Christine. Thanks for dropping out- Robin, Mo, and Chris. A smashing night, let's have more like it please.
May 4th- Singers Night-reviewed by Robin Slater
Most unusually,the session was a "leopard-free", zone, with the duo off to Rochester. I recieved a request (i.e. order) from Miss Whiplash to produce a report.For quite a while we thought that everyone else had gone with TDL because the room wasn't exactly bursting at the seams with people. when the host, Ralph started off the proceedings at 9.00 , there was just him, Chris, Mo, Peter and me - and an audience of two. Anyway, Ralph did a couple of his trademark gentle songs, the second being a hauntingly beautiful rendition of "The Nightingale". this sparked off a protracted discussion of the merits of various birdsongs that Bill Oddie would have been proud of.! By 9.40 we had all done two songsand were about to launch on a second round- wondering just how we would fill the evening - when "the cavalry" arrived" in the form of Tony, and then Doug. Their expert contributions took us up to the interval (what, didn't they fet a chance to breathe - or at least drink a pint first? - Ed) , by which time Del and Keith had arrived.They started off the second sessionleaving precisely enough time for us to do one song each before 11 o'clock , when Ralph finished things off in fine style. Everyone agreed whole-heartedly with Ralph when he said that although the number of people present hadn't been large, he had really enjoyed the session and all the music that had been performed.We all left feeling very contented.
May 11th John Barden. Having just enjoyed John's company over large parts of the previous weekend this just seemed like a family affair. Most of the family had already arrived when we entered the hall. We started off with a rendition of "The Floor Singer", then sang "4x4"accompanied by " The Leopardettes", John and Jan Barden on BVs and hand jive. Andy then gave us two of his best songs before the main attraction. John gave us a grand first half, his voice is so gentle with songs to match. We were just dropping off to sleep when it was time for the break. Unfortunately we had few people at this juncture, but we still sold a fair few raffle tickets which helped considerably. To be fair it had been rotten weather all week so all praise to those who made the effort. Second half singers were Mo, Robin, and Chris. A quick raffle led to John's second set again a very smooth and professional performance. The man makes it look so easy doesn't he?
May 18th We started out a little late, as there were only a few of us. By the time Rick had got into his first set, the coach had arrived, and we ended up with about 12. Rick gave us a very varied selection of songs, including several Tom Paxton numbers. There was the usual heckling and gags, mostly from the Boss's chair. (We go back years) There were more songs from Rick's own songbook, and other faves in the second half, more singing from him than chat this time. He kept saying how his age is making his memory bad... join the club mate! Poor old Andy, youngest member, and host for the evening coped very well with us saga louts, though I had to repremand him for cheekiness. Other floor singers were TDL, Ralph, and Robin, who I have made a resident, rewarding his almost 100% attendance record this year, and giving him next week to look after.
Friday May 25th. I was very impressed with Robin's first night of hosting. He had prepared a singers list on a clipboard, where we all had to sign in. His introductions were amusing, although he succumbed to can'tgettimingrightis, leaving the break too late. This is a common disease with inexperienced MCs at OFF. I'm sure that he'll get better at it as he gains experience. He had a lot of singers to get on.They were, in no particular order: Norman , Tony, Chris, Mo, Ben, TDL, Dennis Holmes, Lepe Of Leopards, Frank,and himself. TDL will be at Pigs Ear on June 1st, so I have given him the review to write.
June 1st.. No report neccessary... only Chris, Mo, and Robin.. Club abandoned..... shame on you all.... is football that good?
bravenet.com