I first met Lyn Geddes when I was teaching in Leicester in the mid-60's when she was singing with her sister, Candy. We lost touch not long after that as we both moved away from Leicester (in different directions) but after I'd retired and started to play properly again, we met up  at a club in Ripon. It was lovely to see her after a lot of years. I've always admired her playing and singing and her guitar style is very individual, a cross between frailing and picking. Its always a pleasure to work with her and so when our Danish friend, Boye Beenfeldt suggested the we do a joint concert in Denmark, I jumped at the chance. However, it got better than that as Boye wanted to include another good friend, Duncan McFarlane, on the same bill. What a great player/songwriter Duncan is and so it was with a great sense of anticipation that Mo and I left for Copenhagen last November for the concert at Ballerup with them both.

We had a very pleasant journey north, the car being packed with instruments and pictures. Pictures? Mo and I were also mounting an exhibition of my photos and her textiles work at the Training College in Ballerup near Copenhagen and we were looking forward to that. During the journey north, we stayed in Mulhouse where happily we discovered that the French Nation Railway Museum was situated. We had to visit, of course and if you have any interest in railways and are ever near Mulhouse, do make time for a visit.

We arrived in Ballerup and having put up the expo, began to get ready for the concert. The venue was a 300 seat theatre in a Cultural Complex with a great sound and light system. No setting up PA here, then! Lyn and Duncan flew in and after settling in to their hotel, made their way to the venue. We had rapid rehearsals of some stuff that we decided that we could play altogether towards the end of the concert and then waited for the arrival of the audience.

It all went very well - I opened, with Lyn following me and then Duncan after the interval. We all sold CDs which was nice and after the concert we adjourned back to Boye's for post-concert refreshment (and this was after a very well-stocked Green Room!). The following day, Lyn and Duncan caught their flights back to the UK and Mo and I headed for Esbjerg and the ferry.

Our stay in the UK was great fun. The first gig was a second chance to play with Lyn and Duncan at a benefit concert for the Wensleydale Railway in Leeming. It was another great evening and we raised over £500 which should buy a few feet of track!  The Topic in Bradford was next and it was lovely to see old friends including a teacher colleague whom I hadn't seen in 30 years. Jon Harvison was also there and obviously enjoyed playing the guitar that he'd just bought from Chris. The last gig in the series was at the Plantation Lakes Acoustic club and I can really recommend visiting if ever you're in the Clevedon area. Great people and a great set-up for playing.

The Cahors Folk Club

We didn't have a meeting in December and so we were all looking forward to the first event of 2009. We had decided that we would move the date of each meeting from the forth Wednesday of each month to the last Friday and were a little concerned that people might forget. We needn't have worried and on January 30, we had over 100 in our audience. Our guest was Frédéric Daubié a well-known local singer and his two sets were well-received. February will see RAG MAMA RAG guesting. RMG play a great mix of old-timey, blues and country material and a good night is guaranteed.

Anyway, do please remember that if you are anywhere near Cahors on the last Friday in every month, you would be more than welcome to come and sing, play or just listen. Find out more here...

updated 18 February 2009