We have had a couple of brilliant days on a mini tour, part of this year’s Bungaroosh Album Tour. It didn’t start too well, with a long hold up on the M23 (hoping that those involved in the accident were all OK) and then just a huge amount of traffic on all the roads, which we were very aware that we were part of. But, sadly, there was no affordable or realistic option to use public transport for this trip.
We had planned to stop in Chester en route to do some busking to help us warm up for the evening gig, but in the end we went straight to Lymm, had time for a quick sandwich and a peaceful wind down sitting on the bank of the canal, then made our way to The Spread Eagle to load in for Lymm Folk Club. Bernard met us and we had a good chat with him and some of the other club regulars before the evening kicked off. They have floor spots from some of their regulars (the club alternates between Singers’ Nights and Guest Nights, which seems to be a well used and successful format for music clubs) then the guest act plays two sets with a break in the middle. The floor spots were all really good, lots of fun there and lots of singing along, so we knew we were in for a good night. Thanks to Bernard and his trusty helpers for hosting us. Our friends Johnny and Joanne AKA The Impromptunes came along to see us too so we had a nice catch up with them before heading off at the end of the evening to New Brighton where we were being put up by Ultan (The Folk Doctors) and Louise. Time for cuppa and a chat with Ultan before gratefully crashing for the night.
Friday morning we had a bit of work from the day job to do after a relaxed breakfast in the garden, then we headed off into the Derbyshire hills to visit old friends Melanie and Simon in their new home. It’s not a new house, it’s from the 1600s and is in the most beautiful spot imaginable. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them so we had a lot of talking to do which meant we didn’t leave ourselves time for the planned busking in Chester – we did try going to Buxton which was closer but once again we were part of a huge amount of traffic so we made the decision just to go straight to Thornton Hough (pronounce Huff). Just as well as we arrived just in time to load in to the Village Club. We were on the bill with The Remnants (hosts of the evening), Caitlin Gilligan and Old’scool and thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of them. This is an amazing venue, tucked away, and they get some big names performing there to a regular paying audience which is a brilliant achievement. Thanks to Karl for booking us, Neil for running the venue and the sound, Simon at the bar and all of the volunteers and audience who make these events happen. We had some effusive praise after our set and left feeling highly appreciated.
Another long chat into the evening with Ultan and Louise, a good night’s kip, then we were off home the next morning. It would be good to allow ourselves a few days extra next time we come up this way and go to a few of the other local open mic nights and make sure we get to do some busking!
