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from their tutors and when not perform- ing did not stay in the club but preferred to be outside on their phones. This sug- gests to me the fault does not lie exclusive- ly with the clubs.”
Are folk clubs still relevant to the cur- rent folk scene? “I’m not sure they are and I’m not sure I care. If the thousands who go to see folk at the Sage or the big folk festivals supported clubs the scene would be vibrant and we could pay performers the fees they deserve. Instead we cater to a niche market of elderly members who love the music and for whom it provides friendship and a social life. Equally we sup- port – I use the term loosely – many per- formers who do not make the cut at the Sage or large festivals but who are the backbone of the folk music scene.”
Back at the beginning: London’s 44 Club audience listen to John Hasted in 1956
politics and folk song and – with his wife Ivy – founded the Swindon Folksingers Club in 1960, giving a platform not just to the rising folk stars of the day, but tradi- tional singers such as Fred Jordan and Sheila Stewart, while making a point of nurturing local talent and resolutely main- taining the original spirit of the club for over 50 years without thought of personal reward or ego. Ted died earlier this year at the age of 93.
There aren’t too many Ted Pooles left,
sadly, with even fewer ready, willing or able to take up the reins and run with the baton. So does that mean that folk clubs – already heavily diminished – have had their time and will soon be extinct?
“I
t is a worry, but then we’ve been having these exact same conversations for the last fifteen years or so – probably more – and yet folk
clubs are still here,” says singer Bob Wood, who runs the successful Friday night Ram club in Thames Ditton with his wife Maggie, operating a broad policy of new and established acts, with floor singers, raffle, et al. “It’s difficult to pre- dict what will happen ten years down the road, but I think whatever happens the performers will still be there.”
Bob has been running clubs for over
35 years – suffering from many of the hor- rors organisers have had along the way with unsympathetic breweries, insensitive landlords, economics and change of own- ership, not to mention the fickle finger of fate – but has kept the faith. The Ram, which was named BBC Radio 2’s folk club of the year in 2007 – an award that was discontinued after 2010 – still seems to be in good health, albeit with a mostly retired audience, in its home at the Old Cran- leighan club house, sticking firmly to the old values. “Raffles actually make a valu- able contribution to the finances and while floor singers are a bit hit and miss I do still believe they are valuable.”
In 1958, Johnny Handle, a mining apprentice from Wallsend, got together with a mate from Gateshead with a pen- chant for Irish songs called Louis Killen to found a ‘Folksong & Ballad’ club in a pub
known locally in Newcastle as The Sink. Now meeting on Mondays at the Bridge Hotel, a Victorian pub close to the quay- side overlooking the Tyne, it proudly lays claim to being one of the oldest surviving folk clubs in the country, helping to foster a thriving North Eastern folk scene, notably producing one of the most popu- lar bands of those days, the High Level Ranters. Latterly it has given a platform to young musicians studying the traditional music degree course nearby, while cele- brating its 60th anniversary year in some style with the initiative of taking it out on tour in a series of ‘pop-up’ club nights at Whitby Folk Week and elsewhere.
Like most, it has had to overcome recessions, lack of funds, bad luck and occasional dramas (guest Sara Grey was interrupted one night by the abrupt arrival of the fire brigade attracted by the gathering of smokers in the foyer) but it marches valiantly on. As does one of its neighbours, the Sunday night South Shields Folk Club at the Customs House.
MC Ken Arkley reports the club to be in a “solid if modest financial position”. Ken’s involvement in folk clubs dates back to the 1960s. “That was a simpler time… the past is a foreign country without competition from the internet and social media. In those pre-YouTube days a folk club was the only way for a nascent guitarist to watch a per- former at close quarters to pick up tips. In the sixties it was tempting to look into folk clubs because the prevailing pop culture included Donovan, Peter Paul & Mary, Dylan, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell. Maybe the young don’t engage because their musical idols are boy/girl bands and twerking types…it’s a curious anomaly that folksy Ed Sheeran is so popular.”
He says that attempts to advertise the club have yielded few results and those who come are drawn predominantly from finding it on the internet. The average audience age remains 60-plus.
“We see very few youngsters save when we pay folk degree students – or recent folk degree graduates. I don’t know what to do to improve this. A report from the Bridge some years ago suggested the students only went there under duress
Not all those involved in running clubs are survivors from the sixties. Singer Ali Rose made her debut folk club visit to Haverfolk about four years ago and was instantly drawn to the diversity of music she heard. “The first time I sang there I was struck by how supportive and encour- aging everyone was.”
Dubbed the “feelgood folk club”, it meets every Wednesday at the Golden Lion in Romford, Essex. “It’s doing well financially, which is very rewarding consid- ering that we are only a small club with a maximum of thirty people in regular attendance. We normally only have four or five guest nights per year and about five showcases of local talent but we also try to keep door prices really low so that togeth- er with a weekly raffle we do fine.” Aaah the blessed raffle…
Apart from yourself, does anyone under sixty come? “Yes! We have a mem- ber who brings her two daughters, one is seventeen and the other – Molly – is just thirteen. She’s now learning guitar, which one of the other members presented to her following her first night MC-ing. She said it was something she’d always wanted to have a go at doing, so now we like to say we have the youngest MC in the coun- try. The other week Molly brought along her best mate who, in spite of chronic shy- ness, got up and sang with her.”
Any dramas at the club? “Well there was a drunken lady visitor who had to be evicted from the pub for lewd behaviour during a performance by Jeff Warner…”
As ever, the floor singer tradition remains a bone of contention. Years ago Elvis Costello told this magazine an amus- ing story of his brief foray into folk clubs as a floor singer and was rather disturbed – mid-song – to look up and see the evening’s main guest Ewan MacColl asleep…or at least pretending to be asleep.
There are so many horror stories of appalling floor singers eating up valuable time when people have paid money to see the main guest. “The curse of folk clubs!” is how Malc Gurnham, organiser of Bed- worth Folk Club, describes floor singers, insisting the secret of a successful club is “good residents, entertaining guests, good support, a friendly welcome and plenty of fun”.
Near Coventry, the club has run almost continuously since 1972 and – at a working
Photo: E.H. Greenwood
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