Friday 7^th December saw another trip to the Barnet Folk Club at The Arts Depot in Barnet. Club organiser J J Dunne always provides a great welcome and, through clever positioning of furniture, manages to create an intimate atmosphere for performances despite them essentially taking place in the atrium of this modern building.

Following an excellent set by JJ himself, we were treated to some protest songs focusing on local issues and some Northumbrian pipe playing.  We then went on to do a 40 minute set ably assisted by a new sound technician who had had greatness thrust upon him at the last minute as the regular sound guy succumbed to winter ailments.

This was an excellent chance for us to try out some new material and arrangements for songs and tunes, and I’m pleased to report that they were very well received.  Our version of ‘We May and Might Never’, taken from the singing of Vin Garbutt (from his King Gooden album) went well as did our new medley of Breton and French tunes.  The muñeiras were fast and furious and our revamped version of Compagnons de la Marjolaine proved a good starter.

The Barnet club wraps up pretty early, so we were home in good time for me to have a beer before bedtime.  All best wishes to the Barnet Folk Club and all at The Arts Depot for 2013!

As mentioned in previous editions of this blog, 2012 has seen the most northerly, westerly and southerly gigs for na-mara.  As our most easterly ever gig, our trip to play at the Coast Festival in Cromer, nicely completed the set.

With a three hour trip each way, this was logistically quite demanding, but it turned out to be well worth it.  Unusually for us, it was an early afternoon start – so, it was more a case of getting up in good time and getting going, rather than packing up late and getting home in the small hours.

It was a glorious day as we set off, cross-country, for East Anglia – stopping off for coffee just the other side of Norwich.  Crisp and cold conditions also greeted us in Cromer as we circled the venue looking for somewhere to park and unload.  Over and above the usual na-mara panoply of instruments, we were also travelling with our new p.a. kit, as the organisers in Cromer had quite a lot of demands on their kit, across a number of different venues.

Thankfully, we had the very substantial assistance both inside and outside the venue of sound technician, Paul, who was waiting for us when we arrived at the Community Hall in the centre of town.  He was on hand to help us unpack and find decent parking .

As we got onto the stage and started setting up the p.a., a steady stream of people wandered in and out, either buying tickets for the show or reviewing the art exhibition which was taking place in the same space.  I’m pleased to report that by the time we started, at 2.00pm, we have an audience of around 40-50, sitting in cafe style, with access to wines, beers and lighter refreshments.  I was pleasing to see a variety of our friends and relations living close had come along to give their support.

It is always nice to have the luxury of a two set, 40 minute per set, concert; it really gives you the chance to develop a fuller relationship with the audience.  I’m pleased to say that that was how it was at Cromer and by the end of the show, there was a real warmth in the hall.  At both the half time interval and the end of the concert we received a lot of very positive feedback.  This was only in small part a folk audience and, as we so often find, many of those there became fully absorbed in the stories we were telling. We hugely appreciated the words of sound engineer Paul, who thanked us at the end of the concert.  He started by admitting that ‘he wasn’t or hadn’t until now been a big fan of folk music, but he had thoroughly enjoyed watching two musicians working together so closely and well’.  We had similar things said to us from classical music fans in the audience. This was lovely feedback for us to receive.

We would like to thank Rosie and Paul and all of the organisers at the Cromer Coast Festival both for their invitation to play at the festival and the very kind welcome they gave to us whilst we were with them.

The dark and drear October night upon which we set out, in no way presaged the sparklingly entertaining night we were to subsequently experience at the Oxford Folk Club.  With the M25 gummed up with rain and Friday night traffic, it was hard driving for Rob as we went cross-country through the mini-roundabout capital of the world (Aylesbury) and on to the car parking desert that is Oxford.  In the end, such was our luck that the evening commuters of Aylesbury appeared only to be hurtling around their roundabouts at half their usual pace and a car parking space miraculously opened up for us just outside The Folly Bridge Inn on only our second circuit of the ‘residents only’ parking locale.  We should have bought our weekend lottery ticket then – our luck was clearly in.

This was our first time at the new venue for the Oxford Folk Club.  The club has access to a nice sized room above a busy local pub.  The atmosphere was warm and welcoming and, as we tuned up for our floor spot, we were conscious of more and more players arriving.  The organisers were clearly both surprised and delighted at the number of new faces visiting them for an Open Night – they were even more surprised and delighted as this peripatetic talent one by one came up to play. 

For example, sitting quietly in the audience was Stanley Accrington – who played two very funny pieces. However, like everyone else, such was the pressure that he (and we) and all the visitors only had time for two numbers. We had squeezebox/ bouzouki from Somerset, we had another guitar /mandolin duo from Newbury, we had a New York member of the Klezmatics  (!!! yes, the Klezmatics)  who just happened to be passing through Oxford before a concert in London the following night and who seamlessly knitted together a wonderful  suite of fiddle tunes from across a whole range of different musical cultures.  We even had a cowboy poet from Saskatchewan who was also passing through – who gave us insight into a night on the Prairies!  We played our couple of numbers well and received some nice feedback from a number of those there, at the interval.

Along with the visitors, there was an excellent array of local club regulars.  There were those who sang a cappella or were singer song-writers or sang classic traditional songs.  There was also one very fine guitarist who played the Scots ballad, Mary Hamilton, in a highly original jazz-based style.  Altogether, this made for a long and wonderfully rewarding evening of folk music.

Congratulations to the organisers of the Oxford Folk Club for orchestrating and managing a really fine evening of folk music. 

There was a need to be up early and gone on the Saturday morning of the Tenterden Folk Festival as we had a fair distance to travel and we needed to be ready and set up for a club-type session beginning at lunchtime. 

The M25 was pretty busy even at that hour, as we followed a receding rain front across the Thames and into Kent.  It must have been a wet night for the first-night campers at the festival, but Saturday promised (and turned out) to be a fine day of autumnal sunshine.

We made good time getting to Tenterden and were able to find an excellent parking spot at the town museum, not far from The Vine Inn where we were playing that night.   In fact, we had enough time to scout out our first venue for the day, have a good cup of coffee, and then look around the very attractive town centre before proceedings really began.  The town was already very busy and alive with a huge and colourful array of morris teams and other dancers and musicians – a truly exciting day was in prospect for the town.

We returned to the car, picked up the instruments and made our way across to The Saddlery at the back of The White Lion.  Here was a nice, club-like room, where we met up with Bob and Kathy Drage, who are such energetic figures in the Kent folk scene, and the MC for the session, Nick from band Rude Albert.  The club session could have been busier, but the atmosphere was good and there were excellent singers and musicians on throughout, including the Foxglove Trio and Chris Sarjeant.  Our own performance seemed well appreciated and we felt we played well. 

After a late lunch, we then made it down the high street to the festival marquee on parkland at the edge of the town centre, where we were in concert for a 30 minute session later that afternoon.  Earlier in the day we had scouted the marquee out and struck up a useful conversation with the very pleasant guys at Talking Elephant records, who kindly sold some CDs for us through the day.

The marquee concert went really well, and we had around 40-50 in the audience.  Again, we felt we played well and received got some excellent feedback from the audience after the show – some of whom promised to come along and watch our evening showcase event at The Vine Inn.

After the concert, we stopped on and watched the next act, a very fine young singer songwriter, Pierre Vincent, before making our way to The Vine Inn for some pub grub ahead of our concert there. 

We didn’t really know what sort of gig it was going to be at the Vine.  By and large, our music is for listening to - it isn’t natural pub music. However, we had picked a lively set and looked forward to getting on with playing.  Knowing that any pub gig is going to be noisy and that a couple of acoustic instruments tucked away in a corner are quickly going to be drowned out, we decided to make use of our brand-new p.a. system to give us the requisite boost. We are still getting into a rhythm of set up but such are the benefits of the system we have got (Yamaha PAS 500) it is incredibly transportable, neat and easy to set up.  

As with any pub, space is at a premium and we were tucked into a small pocket of space not far from the bar.  The audience was a mixture of ordinary pub-goers who were just out for a Saturday night, and folk followers who were listening to what we were doing.  It was also nice to meet up with some friends from a different part of our lives who happened to be in the pub as we struck up –quite a coincidence. 

Throughout the evening, we were well looked after by the staff at the Vine but would have to confess to getting a little disheartened that we weren’t really distracting too many people from discussing the day’s football scores, etc.

So, after the first 40 minute set, we had a break to regain our strength and then, as we struck up for our second set of the evening, a wonderful thing happened!  As we started to play our new set of Asturian jigs (muneiras) a table of boisterous young Slovaks immediately leapt up to perform some of their traditional dances on the little dance floor in front of us – and wow - could they dance, whizzing and birrelling round and round.  The gig was immediately transformed from quite hard work to being great fun.  These youngsters clearly loved to dance and of course, over and above our dance music many of our songs are in jig or reel format.  So, we encouraged them to keep dancing and they had a great laugh and we had a great time through the rest of the second set.  It was also nice that we were able to do this in the company of Alan Castle, the phenomenally hard working festival organiser at Tenterden.

With the smile restored to our faces, we then packed our new gear away - which had performed exceedingly well for us - rolled it round to the car and headed for home, arriving back in St Albans around 12.30am. 

Since I was driving that night and had kept myself dry in a pub all night, I was damn-well going to have a beer when I got home!  And, just as I sat in the kitchen savouring a nice bottle of Innes and Gunn, thinking I’d missed the family who must all be tucked up in bed, my son arrived home after a night out with his pals.  It was great catching up with him in the early hours and finding out about his first couple of weeks at University.  After that, I didn’t take much rocking to sleep!

Owing to the great generosity of organiser Dick Dixon and his team, Rob and I were allotted four hours of performance time over two days of the Warwick Folk Festival, on the Saturday and Sunday, 28^thand 29^th July.  This was a great event with a great line-up and we felt pleased and privileged to be involved. 

The four hours all proved to be very different in nature.  On the Saturday morning, Rob held a workshop teaching Asturian and Galician tunes, where I ‘played Johnny’ and helped out with guitar accompaniments. After lunch, we then made our way into the town centre to play an hour at the lovely Catalan Restaurant.  Family commitments then meant we needed to return to St Albans that evening.  However, we returned early Sunday morning for an hour on the Main Stage and then, on Sunday afternoon, we played an hour at the Living Tradition venue on the festival campus. 

The Saturday morning workshop went really well.  Rob has a lot of experience as a teacher and he quickly got a talented group of musicians rattling along with some tunes from our extended repertoire.  For helping us set up in advance of the workshop and then acting as our saviour in transporting us down to the Catalan Restaurant in the town centre, we should mention the assistance provided to us by Festival team member, Jack Shuttleworth  - who, at one point (as it coincided with the bus drivers lunch break)   had to unpack a variety of musical and other equipment from his car to ship us both down to the town centre!  Cheers Jack – we owe you a pint!

The gig in the restaurant went well.  It was a busy Saturday lunchtime dining crowd in there but, to their credit and our benefit, all the diners seemed up for listening to folk music – and we kept the session pretty upbeat and lively throughout.  We received warm applause throughout and, when we came off stage, the extremely friendly proprietor of the restaurant then kindly organised a table for us outside, where we could go and have some tapas and a drink to slake our thrist on a hot afternoon.  Whilst not an advertising agency, I should say that both Rob and I thought the tapas at the restaurant were fantastic – and, be assured, if there is one thing Rob knows a lot about, it is Spanish food!

The Main Stage on Sunday morning was both a great experience and great experience.  We were given a slot with no-one before us and no-one immediately behind us.  As such, we had the absolute luxury of a proper sound check with top flight sound engineers, well before the doors opened. 

The Main Stage tent at Warwick is a big place and we were very pleased to see a healthy crowd of around 80-90 people in the audience when we were called onto stage.  The mixed monitor sound back to us on stage was superbly done and we were right up for playing.  We played well and had some great feedback after the performance - particularly about it being ‘nice to hear folk with some content’. Our dash to the CD tent where post-performance CD signings could be done was temporarily halted by a massive downpour which began just as we finished.  While sheltering from the downpour, this gave us a chance for a nice chat backstage with the very friendly and encouraging Tim Edey and Brendan Power (whom I had seen on TV play a phenomenal set on the Sky Arts coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival the night before).  As we slipped out through the body of the (dry) Main Stage tent, a number of the sheltering audience came up, said ‘hello’ and expressed how much they’d enjoyed the set.  We then had similar very pleasing conversations in the CD tent when we got there.

The food at the festival was generally very good so, after another excellent lunch  we had chance to have a look around the festival site.  In doing so, it was wonderful to meet some old friends and to make some new ones.  It was lovely to see friends again from the Carrington Triangle Folk Club in Nottingham, the Cambridge Folk Club, and singers from shanty group Sharp as Razors who we had met at the Alcester Winter Festival earlier in the year.  We also saw Murray Grianger from Heritique who we have known for a while and, at long last, we also met the lovely Fiona Cuthill from the excellent Scots band Rallion.  Indeed, not only did we have the chance to chat with her but we also got the chance to see them play. 

Having heard their first album, we knew Rallion were going to be very good and so it turned out to be! Fiona is a wonderful composer.  As many will know, her tune Le Vent de Nord was taken up and named in honour of the French Canadian band of the same name and used in their song Les Larmes Aux Yeux, which we recorded a translated version of (also including her tune) on our CD, The Bite.  Indeed, Fiona was telling us that she has recently had chance to play the tune with Le Vent de Nord and it was great to hear Rallion play their version, embedded in a tune set.

The more I hear of Fiona’s compositions the more I want to talk about them.  For example, her tune ‘Waiting for Dawn’ is one of the most beautiful tunes I have heard.  As she has been for all the time we have known and communicated with her, Fiona was very generous and during the course of the Rallion performance, she even mentioned the links between our bands and noted our presence in the audience.  Many thanks Fiona.

Sadly, we couldn’t see all of Rallion’s performance as we had to be getting our skates on and travelling across the festival campus to the Living Tradition session - which had the nice feel of a cosy folk club but, by now, on a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon. It was an intimate venue, and the audience were very appreciative of our music– to the extent that we had the chance to meet a few more people at a second signing event at the CD tent.

Pretty tired and exhausted, we finally turned for home not long after we had finished our second round of signings.  There was Olympic action in Coventry and we didn’t want to get caught in traffic. All in all, we were very satisfied with what we had achieved over a pleasantly busy weekend in Warwick.  Our thanks go to all the organisers at the Warwick Folk Festival for the invitation to play and the welcome and support given to us throughout the weekend by all the members of the organisational team.  We sincerely hope that we are invited back again to the festival at some date in the future.

There are certain days when one prays for the sun to shine and the day of the International Brigade Memorial Trust Annual Commemoration ceremony is one of them. This is always a very moving, open air, event where old friends and comrades gather to remember the brave men and women who volunteered to go to Spain in the 1930s to fight fascism. This year was one when such prayers for clement weather were not quite answered. The weather forecast suggested that anything could happen and pretty much everything did. 

As the time for the start of the ceremony drew closer, the wind began to pick up and the cloudy skies turned ominously dark. As the opening addresses by leading figures in the IBMT were being delivered, spots of rain began to fall. By the time we went on, the rain was falling fast and, resourceful to the last, a shield of umbrellas was hoisted above us by IBMT members and an impromptu marquee was formed to allow us to play The Bite. The song was well received by the 200 or so attendees – even though they had to watch it through the rain, with Rob and I hunched over our guitars like mean rock guitarists - as we tried to keep the key parts of our instruments from getting wet. 

Then, I am pleased to report, the rain cleared off as quickly as it began (in fact, about 10 seconds after we came off) and the ceremony was able to proceed, uninterrupted other than by occasional spots of rain. Thankfully, it had just been us that had been unlucky.

The unveiling of a new plaque to commemorate the Brigaders was unveiled by Spanish Civil War veteran David Lomon was very moving as was the wreath laying. There was a powerful performance by Spanish singer-songwriter and committed Republican, Paco Marin, who had travelled from La Rioja to play at the event. The speech by Rodney Bickerstaffe was characteristically insightful and pugnacious. There was a tribute paid to the Brigaders and a special commemorative flag presented to David Lomon by the ‘Amigos’ organisation – the Spain-based organisation, Friends of the International Brigades.

As the ceremony proceeded, there was highly thought provoking poetry from performance poet, Francesca Beard, and there were wonderful renditions of both The Valley of Jarama and Jamie Foyers by the extremely talented and hugely personable rising Scottish folk star, Ewan McLennan. As is traditional, the event concluded with a hearty rendition of The Internationale.

Many of those attending then made their way to a local pub for lunch. In addition to good beer and ‘just-what-the doctor-ordered naughty hi-carb indulges’ for lunch, there was also a space laid out in the beer garden for more playing. Rob and I, with another commitment to go to in the evening, had the chance to go first and played Navajos and Pirates, Only for Three Months and we reprised The Bite. Sadly, I then had to go and rescue the car from a local car park before time ran out on it. Having been faced with taking out a second mortgage to pay for the four hours I had bought, I confess I had baulked at the cost for 6 hours – silly me. However, in the going and getting of the car and bringing it back to the pub so that we could pack up the gear and gobble down some food, I managed to miss further performances by both Ewan Mclennan and Paco Marin – doubly silly me. 

However, Rob and I were able to hear Geoff Lawes play some of his compositions relating to the Spanish Civil War. Geoff has been very good to us over recent times, especially in promoting our recent Radio 4 programme through Mudcat Cafe and elsewhere. He has also, through his emails, given us much encouragement and advice over recent years. So, it was great to meet him and wonderful to hear him play. 

By now in hazy high cloud, we packed up the van and set off back to Hertfordshire – where it later rained furiously – exactly as it had done when we had set off that morning. However, between the rain bursts, we had once again experienced a most moving occasion remembering real heroes and heroines. We had also met some great new people and experienced some great performances. I had also met some long lost relatives at the event; relatives I’d not seen for over 30 years. It was lovely to meet them again after so long. A great day.

It was motorway mayhem all evening!  Rob and I are a trustworthy pair and so, when the message came from our respective wives that the M25 was chocca both ways, we scrambled early for our long anticipated trip to Maidenhead Folk Club; we did not want to be late!  Maps were scrutinised with military precision and a back route found.  We met early, we got a move on, we drove at the maximum speed permitted, and we arrived about an hour before the organisers even got to the venue. So, we had lots of time for catching up and planning.

The evening went well. It was interesting to see the club in its new venue, a nice room in a suburban pub.  Gone was the luxury of a separate room at the old Seven Stars in Knowle Hill but the leakage of sound from the neighbouring bar didn’t detract from the evening.  Everyone seemed in good spirits and the banter was good.

Maidenhead Folk Club is very friendly and has some fine players in it.  At specific points in the evening an impromptu house band would start up and play some excellent tunes.  There were also some fine floorspots including some lovely harmony singing form the MC for the night and his partner. 

Our sets seemed to go down well and our new song, Navajos and Pirates, was commented on particularly by a number of those there – which was most gratifying.  IT is becoming a firm favourite in the repertoire.

So, for us it was another lovely evening on the road. Oops! I shouldn’t say that.  As it turned out our presumption that the constipation on the M25 might have cleared by the time we had finished at the club proved utterly unfounded.  Homeward bound, we made our way to the M4, only to be turned back, unable to join. So, we went cross country to the M40 only to be turned off that before reaching the M25 – which meant we had to retrace our steps along our back way.  I can tell you, as driver that night, enjoyed my glass of beer when I reached home – (sod the cocoa)!

After the great time of the weekend before, and a hectic week catching up at our regular places of work, it was good to have a new focus for the weekend.  We were off to play the Leigh Folk Festival, masterminded in large part by Tony Prior from the Hoy-at-Anchor Folk Club who had asked us to come along after our brief performance at the club earlier in the year. 

The festival, which is free, split into two sites in parkland in the middle of Leigh-on-Sea. We were on at the club tent, which sat in a natural amphitheatre, in the lower part of the park.  Despite variable weather, there was a good crowd passing through, sitting attentively and listening to the wide range of acts who were each doing 20 minutes of so.  Tony and a colleague were on the sound desk and had done a magnificent job pitching a stage that worked, given that there wasn’t an even space in that entire part of the park.

Despite being tired from our recent exertions, we played well and more than a few of the audience later congratulated us on our set and, yet again, we met someone with family links to the Spanish Civil War – this time through the Canadian Brigade, the ‘Mac-Paps’ as they were known.

We caught up again with Joe Whittaker from Ash Old Church and Dartford Folk Club who continues to be very supportive and helpful to us in all sorts of ways.  He was there with his singing colleagues in band ‘Swinging the Lead’ and they did some well know shanties which got the crowd singing and clapping along.  It was nice to get the chance to see Joe and his friends perform.

We saw our friends The Raven and heard about their new CD coming out – all the best to them with that, and we caught Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts’ set in the late afternoon. It was great to see them again – they certainly warmed up what was now a cold afternoon for Rob and I.  However, we were tired and turned for home soon after. It was time for me to have a beer, eat some of that French cheese and meats at home and have some family time - with my daughter, being scared witless watching The Woman in Black.

So, after a lot of organisational planning and music swapping through e-mails, the big day had arrived for our great adventure – we were travelling to France to meet and perform with two of our longstanding musical heroes, Gabriel Yacoub and Sylvie Berger. 

The sun shone kindly as I picked Rob up in the 'tour bus' and headed down the M20 for the EuroShuttle. We had a planned dinner with Gabriel, Sylvie and others in the village of Marçais, in the Cher Department of France’s Central Region and we were of a mind to catch an earlier EuroShuttle if we could, to ensure we made it there in good time. 

As we drove, we couldn't help but notice the number of sports cars that were passing us on the road and, when we enquired at the Terminal about the scope for an earlier crossing, the reason for this came clear - it was the weekend of the Le Mans 4 hour race and there was no chance of getting an earlier train. Testosterone was high in the Terminal buildings and we knew that the first part of our journey in France was going to be spent watching out for the next Porsche, Ferrari or such like, racing past us.

This was my first experience of the EuroShuttle and, I have to say, I thought it went incredibly smoothly. From there, even with the roads considerably busier than usual, the driving was relatively straightforward and easy, apart from a few hairy moments as we clipped the edge of Rouen.

We drove hard, stopping only for fuel and sandwiches in Evreux and, in the warmness of a late summer evening we made it to the pretty village of Marçais.  A quick phone call to Gabriel established that he and others were still en route from a commitment in Brittany, but he very kindly asked Sylvie Berger to come and meet us and take us to his house.

If we were somewhat in awe at meeting one of our most revered voices of French traditional music, Sylvie put us at ease immediately after she pulled up in the village square and proved the perfect hostess.  Within minutes we were sat in front of Gabriel's lovely house with a bottle of beer and nibbles - just what was needed after a very long drive.

Gabriel arrived not long after with the very lovely Marie Sauvet of Malicorne and (as we were to discover) the extremely talented squeezebox player, Romain Personnat. Despite being tired after their own long journey, dinner was quickly made ready and we were soon round the table with Morgan, the young teacher in the village school whose children we were to play some songs with.  We were also joined by the wonderful Christophe Goudot who, we were to discover, was not only a superb sound engineer but a very very fine musician in his own right. 

As Sylvie had done before, Gabriel and the others now put us at our ease and we had a very pleasant time over dinner becoming acquainted.  They showed great interest and courtesy in understanding us. And what we were interested in.  They all made us feel at home immediately.  I should say that not only is Gabriel a great musician, he is also a very fine cook!

After dinner was over, we got back in the car and followed Christophe to the gîte in which we were staying for the weekend.  By now it was very late and, as such, we were more than a wee bit worried about the fact that there were already some occupants in the gîte who had spent the day working on nearby roads and had been staying at the gîte.  One of the guys was actually asleep on the couch in the very room we were bringing all of our kit into!  I guess if you are working on the roads all day, you must sleep well. Despite the entire unloading of the car and the banging and crashing as we took the stuff up the creaky stairs, there was no break at all in his easy snoring, and we were installed in our rooms very quickly.  Time for rehearsal with Sylvie had been set for the following day - thank goodness it was so late and we were so fatigued from the drive, otherwise sleep might have been impossible.

We awoke in good time on the Friday morning and, in the same way that we had not woken the roadworkers when we arrived, they had not woken us when they left.  Definitely ships passing in the night; the house was quiet. We took a quick trip into the village to get some things for breakfast and visited the local cafe for a quick 'livener' of very good, strong, coffee provided by a very friendly proprietor and her two gorgeous little dogs..

As we were going to rehearse for the Saturday concert in the gîte, we got the instruments out and were tuned and ready for Sylvie's arrival.  Bang on time, she arrived armed with croissants - so, we started with a quick cup of coffee and some excellent further nourishment.

The plan, worked out through prior e-mail exchanges, was for Sylvie to sing on a few of our songs and for us to play and support her on some of her and La Bergère's songs.  Rob and I,  particularly Rob, had put a lot of time into listening and working out these beautiful songs which included Victor Hugo's' beautiful poem, Le Chanson de Spectre and the Gabriel Yacoub /Julien Bigot composition La Rivière.  There were also some fabulous traditional songs that Sylvie has been working on with her colleagues in La Bergère.  For our set, Sylvie was happy to perform on Les Larmes Aux Yeux, which we learned from Le Vent de Nord, Three Bonny Ships and Three Matelots.

So, there we were, in a beautiful gîte on the edge of a beautiful village in the very centre of France, playing music with the wonderful, friendly and generous Sylvie Berger - can it get any better than that?

Through the morning a number of key people arrived to say hello, and the schedule for the day took shape. The organiser for everything practical to do with the festival, the lovely Babette, arrived to introduce herself as did the very friendly local mayor and owner of the farm and gîte on which we were staying, Michelle.

Preparations were taking shape in the village that afternoon so the first step was lunch down at the Salle des Fetes in the village with Gabriel, Sylvie and some of the festival volunteers.  Later in the afternoon, all of the musicians were going to rehearse with the local schoolchildren who were going to sing a couple of songs with us on the main stage on Saturday.  Dinner was going to be with all the festival volunteers at the gîte.

It was great to begin meeting the people of Marçais.  Our French was improving noticeably by the hour as we happily engaged the villagers and musicians in conversation.  A happier, more welcoming group of people would be hard to imagine.  They were generous and funny.  The lunch was characteristically simple and excellent - good cheese, good vegetables, good meat and great bread.

After lunch, we returned to the gîte for more rehearsal and were joined by Romain Personnat, with Gabriel dropping in briefly.  We knew all about how good Gabriel was going to be but what a wonderful player Romain also is.  Prior to setting off, Romain had also sent us some mp3s of his band's (Bourre et Bal) music - which were all great tunes but one of which Rob and I had really fallen in love with.  So, we had a play through that tune and we were able also to introduce him to some of the jigs and reels that we were intending to play at the dance after the concert on Saturday evening.  Given the constraints of the diatonic accordion, this required some interesting juggling about with keys to facilitate joint playing – all good stuff for us to learn and appreciate.  The speed with which Romain picked up the tunes was very impressive.

All four of us then piled into our respective cars and headed off to meet the local schoolchildren we were to perform with.  It is a long time since I'd been inside a primary school - my children are adults now. So, it was lovely to be back in the classroom again.  The kids were really excited and had been talking for days about how they were going to be playing with real musicians on a real stage.  Sylvie had been helping Morgan to get the children prepared and they performed very well indeed!

After the rehearsal, we all went to have a look at the main stage for the following night's performance. It hadn't been there before  - because it was a mobile stage.  The regional authorities have a mobile stage which can travel from village to village to support festivals like this one. It has all the relevant p.a. kit on board and the side of the vehicle drops down to make the stage – and it has its own ‘green room’ in the middle of the van, etc...Very clever.. 

Everything was taking shape soundwise at the Salles des Fetes, courtesy of the labours of Christophe Goudot who had worked all day to get the p.a. set up just right. Christophe is a great sound engineer and he does things extremely professionally.  Meanwhile, the stalls and marquees were going up all around the festival site around the village square.  We were introduced to many more of the volunteers.  Again, to a man and woman, everyone was welcoming and kind, and excited about the following day's event.

In the early evening we all repaired back to the gîte for supper.  As the volunteers arrived, armed with yet more great food, Michelle was able to find time to give some of us a brief tour of her eco-farm, which I was very interested to join.

During my tour of the farm, the festival organisers had been gathering at the gîte and the table on the veranda was furnished with food and drink for around 25 people.  Everyone had brought something and there was wine and beer aplenty.  The atmosphere was fun and informal, with lots of laughing and joking.

As night drew on and the sun began to set, it was time to get some instruments out and play.  Our friend and sound engineer Damien, from Angel Air Squad was played some smooth music with a friend accompanying him on 'space drum' - a kind of portable steel drum.  Rob and I played some songs from our wider repertoire and Sylvie sang a couple of songs. Christophe played some amazing O'Carolan tunes on guitar – amongst many others, he had worked for a long time with Pierre Bensusan and it showed! Then I asked Gabriel if he would please play Le Garcon Jardinière, one of my all time favourite French traditional songs, which he does magnificently - and he was kind enough to oblige.  To hear a favourite song played by a favourite musician, within touching distance was absolutely wonderful.  It was a great rendition. 

Some villagers then kindly asked for some more Irish tunes and songs, and Rob and I and Christophe – who play in French Irish band Foxy Devil, were happy to oblige.  Later on, a poster for the festival was passed round and villagers kindly signed it for us.  That poster will soon have pride of place in my study - as both a memory of that lovely evening but also a demonstration of how good things can happen if one has a bit of luck and works hard enough to make things happen. 

The revels continued and slowly but surely as the night grew late, people drifted away home until there were just Rob, myself and Christophe left and we entertained each other, swapping tunes and songs until late into the evening.  Over and above being a great guy and wonderful guitarist, Christophe is indefatiguable.  He is a powerhouse of energy, and it was late late late by the time we got to bed – but I have no doubt Christophe could play forever.

By the time we arose on Saturday, helpful fairies had entered the gîte, finished off the tidying up we had done the night before and laid the veranda table for breakfast for the three of us.  So, it was on with the coffee, out with the bread and confiture and on to more rehearsals.

As on the day before, Sylvie arrived as planned and we were able to run through our material together before the other musicians arrived.  This time we could work more on phrasing and harmonies, with Sylvie as a great and kindly teacher.

We had an early lunch, this time with all of the volunteers, in the newly erected marquee at the Salle des Fetes in the village and it was there that we met the next former member of Malicorne, the immensely talented and very personable Laurent Vercambre, who was stepping in at late notice after an enforced pull out by one musician to complete our concert and dance band formats. 

Over lunch, the festival organisers gave Rob and me both a lovely present of local ceramic work – which now has pride of place in both our homes.

 We also had chance to have a look backstage at the Podium Car on which we would be performing later that evening.  There were preparatory celebratory drinks on offer but Rob and I opted for the water rather than the champagne or whisky.  This was a day to savour and neither of us fancied drinking too early.

Returning to the gîte after lunch to rehearse it became clear that all of the compliments Gabriel had given to Laurent prior to his arrival were entirely justified.  Play a jig or reel through once and he has got it; play it twice and he has got a harmony worked out for it, and he is playing it as a round or doing something else unusual with it.  Playing both fiddle and nyckelharpa, Laurent slotted into the songs and tunes quickly – some of which he was entirely familiar with from his Malicorne days.  With Gabriel there too, we were able to rehearse a conjoint version of L'Auberge Sanglante or The Bloody Inn as we have translated it on our album ,The Bite. With everyone being so welcoming, it only really struck me at the end of that song, that I had just played a song with Gabriel Yacoub - dreams can come true, they just had!

Two of Laurent's friends (from French band Trad'airactif)also arrived at the gîte to rehearsing some tunes for the bal later that evening.  These lads could also really play as well, and we had a great time running through some bourrées and branles from the old Malicorne repertoire, and some jigs, reels and polkas for the 'country dancing' which I and Sylvie were going to be organising later that evening.  Great fun, with great musicians.

Then, it was time for the sound check.  We had already met the guys from rock band Sir Kuss at lunch.  They were going on after us on the main podium that evening. The sound check was done swiftly and professionally with the sound engineer.  After this, we spent a bit of time chatting with various villagers and had the good fortune to be introduced by Sylvie to a young family with Spanish origins and hear about the harrowing experiences of their forebears, refugees of the Spanish Civil War, who ended up in France.

We then went to the food stall and got a little something to eat to sustain us through the evening - again, the volunteers worked incredibly hard to get great food served quickly to a lot of festival goers.

Now it was time to get ready for the show.

The weather was unpredictable.  There were showers around although, at the time, there was plenty of blue sky. A quick change of shirt, a few deep breaths and then it was back to the village for the show.  Local jugglers and acrobats were already there giving a performance, as we started to set up the instruments on the stage for the show. However, first of all there was to be a parade through the village by the musicians - a traditional way to start the festival.  Laurent and his friends, Romain, Gabriel, ourselves and others strolled the length of the village high street playing a couple of tunes, and we returned to the festival site by the church.

The show began with our version of Three Bonny Ships.  We then switched into playing the French traditional song l’amant de Nantes, which Sylvie sings so beautifully and then, with Gabriel there, we were able to perform L'Auberge Sanglante together, partly in English and partly in French, using the tune that he set the song to. Rob had his new electro-acoustic classical guitar on show for the first time – and very nice it was too!  Laurent did a solo on violin first, and Rob then followed on classical guitar.  The sound was pretty seamless for a new band put together in the previous 24 hours.

Then it was time for the performance with the local schoolchildren.  We stood aside to ensure they could all get on the stage and together, we all performed, Mon Bateau à voile and Petite Souris.  The children did really well, stepping up like real professionals to the microphone to do their bit.

After this we moved into the bulk of the performance with the harrowing song La fille qui parmi ces bois followed by the equally harrowing Child Mother from our The Bite album. Then we performed Tri Martolod, Le Chanson du Spectre, When I took my Horse to Water, The Verdant Braes of Screen, and Dedans la Ville de Plaisantement.

At one point as we performed, Sylvie attracted my attention by pointing out something off stage right. When I looked to see what she was pointing at, I saw a most magnificent double rainbow picked out in the low sunshine of the late evening - it seemed very fitting for the occasion.  We brought the performance to a conclusion with a rousing rendition of Les Larmes Aux Yeux.

The crowd of around 150-200 seemed very much to have enjoyed the performance and we left the stage to much applause.  We had performed together with past members of Malicorne, Sylvie Berger and others. It just couldn't get better than that!

Now it was time for the dance.

Christophe had done his work well and everything was set up wonderfully in the Salle des Fêtes.  Some volunteers pointed out that well known traditional dance enthusiasts were there and had come specifically for the dance. 

The plan was for a mix of local traditional dances and for me, with a lot of help from Sylvie, to make some attempt at explaining some Scots and English dances.  It was suggested by different parties that it would be (a) funny; and (b) ‘sexy’ for me to do this in French – I think, as with much in my life these days, it was more funny than sexy!  Sylvie and I had practiced the Gay Gordons earlier in the day and we were raring to go with that once the dancers had settled into a few of their known tunes and dances.  Naturally, given their interest, there was a lot of dancing talent on the floor and the bourrées and mazurkas were done beautifully and without instruction. Then it was time for the Gay Gordons.

In my stilted French and with Sylvie’s help, we were able to show off the dance and after a few rounds and the obligatory crashes and related hilarity that occur with that dance when it is just being learned, we got there. 

And so the night progressed with a mix of French and British dances.  Strip the Willow was just mayhem but the dancers enjoyed the confusion rather than getting upset at it – which was a relief.

Looking up from the floor at one point I spotted Laurent, who clearly hadn’t had his supper yet, playing his fiddle furiously with his bow between thumb and third and fourth fingers, with a piece of pizza in his first and second fingers, which he was taking an occasional munch from.   Amazing. Rob was leading on the British tunes and, with the benefit of his hard work, one or two of the French tunes too. Everyone was having great fun.  At one point Romain and Sylvie sang some dancing songs, call and repeat songs to which the dancers danced enthusiastically. Quite an education for us.

As midnight approached, some of the dancers began to drift away –and another treat was in store – an impromptu concert by the Malicorne members, with Romain and Sylvie as well. For years I had pondered how I would ever get to see Malicorne, and here they were before my very eyes, their wonderful close harmonies intact on songs like Le Prince d’Orange sending a thrill down our spines.  Just wonderful.

As Malicorne finished and the evening looked about ended, a number of the volunteers and some of the villagers asked for more music from Rob and me.  This gave me the chance to play the song Dedans La Ville de Plaisantement one last time with Sylvie, and then Rob and I did some of the faster Irish material we had and some of our Asturian and Galician tunes – all fantastically mixed and sound engineered by Christophe.  As the rain came on strongly outside, people danced along to our music and the night ended on yet another high for us.

At the end of the evening, we said our goodbyes to those we would not see on Sunday, including the very lovely and wonderful Marie Sauvet, Marie de Malicorne as she is known to many, who had been so kind and supportive to us throughout the weekend.  Gabriel very kindly gave us signed copies of his latest (excellent) CD and of an (excellent) DVD of the reformed Malicorne playing a reunion concert in La Rochelle.  We were also able to give him a copy of our new EP which he was kind emough to ask us to sign for him.  We also sought out a number of the volunteers to give them copies of The Bite to say thank you to them.

We helped the local volunteers as best we could tidy up the Salle des Fêtes and we made our way back to the gîte, elated and exhausted.  All of our wishes for the event had come to pass and everyone seemed happy that the evening had gone well.  Some were going on to carry the party on elsewhere, but Rob and I were keen for bed.  We had two long days travelling to come.

On Sunday morning we arose and went back to the Salles des Fêtes for some breakfast and to say our goodbyes.  The place was already a hive of activity with the volunteers hard at work tidying up, beginning to take the marquees down, etc..

After a half hour chatting we said our goodbyes to everyone.  Gabriel very kindly came down to see us and others off.  We had our final hugs and kisses with musicians and volunteers alike and we made our way across the car park to get in the car. What a lovely feeling it was to know that we had been to Marçais, met and played with some of France’s very top traditional players, and had done a fine job, leaving everyone happy.

Once in the car, we headed for St Eloi, near Nevers, where we were going to have lunch with Dominique and Annie Forges and their family who make up a large part of the BandaBèro group who we had supported in Redbourne back in November 2011 and through whose fiddler, Freddie Baudimant, the contact with Gabriel Yacoub had been made. 

After about 90 minutes drive on clear French roads we parked up, gave Dominique a call and he was able to come and pick us up and direct us to his lovely home.  There, over a lovely lunch,  we were able to catch up on all our respective news and plans, including a possible return to the UK by the excellent BandaBèro in the coming October/ November period.

After spending a very nice afternoon with our friends, we needed now to set off north, towards home. Our destination for the evening was a cheap and cheerful hotel on the edge of Chartres.  Again, apart from some of the motorways closer to Paris where weekenders were returning home, the roads were pretty clear, and we made good time. Exhausted, especially after emptying the kit out of the car, we resisted the temptation to go straight into Chartres that evening.  Rather we opted for a boozy celebratory meal at a nearby restaurant which, although in the middle of what looked like an industrial estate, seemed very busy for a Sunday night.  The toll of the past few days, and the effects of an excellent bottle of red wine plus a cognac with the meal, meant we hit our respective pillows hard when we got back to the hotel.

The following morning we eschewed breakfast in the hotel and headed into Chartres.  Of course, much of France is closed on a Monday, so we had to look pretty hard for a cafe – which we eventually found and had coffee and some bread and jam.  After a quick walk around the magnificent cathedral and the lower old town, we set off back for Calais.  It wasn’t too long before we met up with the various Speedy Gonzales-es returning from Le Mans.  The roads around Rouen had a few more tricky little surprises in store for us – but we were soon through and on our way through Normandy.

We were making good time but had concluded that given the return from Le Mans there was little chance of getting an earlier train across the Channel.  So, we decided that we would find a little town and have some lunch and then, if time permitted, we would call in somewhere and get some good beers, wines, meats and cheeses.  We lunched in Abbeville, which was also effectively closed, and we called in at the humungous Cite de l’Europe near the EuroShuttle Terminal for some tasty souvenirs to bring home.

After that, the focus was just to get ourselves home.  The M20 and M25 were better than we expected them to be and a little ahead of schedule, we arrived home.  In fact all of the administration for the trip had worked out as originally planned, with no hiccups at all.

The adventure had ended. We were tired but still elated and proud of what we had achieved.  We had shared our music and time with some very talented and lovely people, we have made lots of new friends and, with the help of Gabriel, Sylvie and the others, we had seen a dream come true.

Encouraged by the general interest shown in the story of the Basque Children, stimulated by contacts with Geoff Lawes who amongst other things has a specialist interest in songs about the Spanish Civil War and with direct encouragement from BBC radio producer Clive Brill, Rob has been working hard over the first half of 2012 to facilitate and participate in a specially commissioned radio programme about the experiences of the first generation Basque children and their own children.

On Monday 18^th June, as we were travelling back through France, the programme was broadcast. It is a beautiful and moving programme, with many enthralling personal and individual tales which, in the end, the producers asked Rob to narrate.  As writer of this blog, I can say this – Rob does a brilliant job as narrator of the programme!  His is a very natural and relaxed style and I wonder whether he has missed his vocation in life.  The producers have done a fantastic job and really used our music to take the listeners step by step through the narrative of those interviewed on the programme.

I’m pleased to report that the programme, produced by Amanda Bruckshaw and Clive Brill has touched a very wide range of people and, over and above scores and scores of congratulatory e-mails, Rob has received some very interesting approaches with respect to linked projects going forward.

It has been an extraordinary weekend for us where two facets of our music have featured in very different contexts and circumstances, and we hope to see many interesting further steps for us emerge from both as a result.