Whitby, the last bit

Thursday morning I went to see John Connolly, a wonderful songwriter, with such classics as Mr Punch and Judy Man and Fiddlers Green. He did a great hour of his own songs which are a mixture of very serious, to very funny. Very enjoyable way to pass the time!


Then met friends for lunch in the Rifle Club where I had a very nice ham and pease pudding sandwich, not something you get every day! An important task then lay ahead, shopping for tea. We bought an assortment of seafood, dressed crab, dressed lobster ( a snip at £4 each!), smoked salmon, prawns, smoked mackerel..... Back to the flat to drop it off and prepare some salads, as well as a bit of what we like to call chef's privilege, aka white wine, and up to the Met to join everyone else for The Sultans of Squeeze - Chris Parkinson


And John Kirkpatrick


Two mighty squeezebox players.
Then back for the famous Whitby Seafood Salad extravaganza, washed down with fizz of course.


The fancy dress ceilidh theme was Harry Potter, and so it was time for some dressing up:


And then a walk through the streets, much to the amusement of the residents.
The ceilidh was great, and there were some studding costumes. The band, 422 came as Slytherins


Martyn Harvey and the band looked pretty good

But the best had to be Earlsden Morris who came as a variety of characters, most of them travelling in the Hogwarts Express!
 There's a video of them arriving here

Friday morning was spent walking round Whitby, and trying to get the death eater tattoo off my arm from the night before. Tried everything but ended up leaving it on.

Went to check on the Penny Hedge which had survived its three tides


And then walked up to the Church and the Abbey where you get some stunning views



And down the 199 steps, then a walk to the kipper smokery


And lunch in the Duke of York.
In the afternoon we walk out along the west pier, and even the donkeys looked tired at the end of folk week


Watched Thrales Rapper do an interesting variant on a tumble, which had Star and Shadow as well as members of the audience running underneath it


And then went to The Elsinore to watch the final parade, complete with piper and the heather covered garland being carried by Goathland Plough Stots



After pie and mash from the pie and mash shop (where else) it was off to the final ceilidh, with some fabulous dancing to Peeping Tom.
The dance spot was Star and Shadow doing a combined clog and rapper routine which began with them dancing with hankies instead of swords!



Eventually the garland was carried in


We all sang Wild Mountain Thyme,


 
got our heather, and that was it for another year.

We saw the only rain of the week on the way home, and got absolutely drenched, but we were happy!


Next morning up too early, out by 10am, and off for coffee in town and a bit of shopping. Saw the Frumptarn Guggenband from Barnsley which was a bit of a surprise. Love their new steampunk outfits!



On the way back did a short detour back to Thornton Le Dale to see the scarecrow festival. This is just a couple




Crooked Billet at Towton for lunch as usual, and home.

What a great week!


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Whitby, the middle section

Tuesday began with a folky version of QI, very funny and a pleasant, easy start to the day. JK look a bit stumped here!



Then I strolled up to the Met to see one of my favourite singers, Steve Tilston, who was not even supposed to be appearing, but standing in for someone else. He was great, as always, and here's a very short clip of him singing  The Fisher Lad of Whitby



I was also lucky to catch The Foxglove Trio who were on before him. One of the good things about Whitby is seeing lots of artists, most of whom you've never heard of before and you get to see some really good ones, Foxglove Trio definitely fell into that category.

There's so much real ale in Whitby, but I've not had any, sticking to lager and cider, whats wrong with me!

Then it was back down to see Family Folk Tunes, a brilliant take off of Family Fortunes, where 100 folkies are asked the questions, and this year we were all included, so knew the questions, and could make some intelligent guesses at the answers. One of the teams were friends from Sheffield, and it was hosted as always by Stanley Accrington



The famous question, what instrument would you throw off a cliff, gets the same top two answers every year....



Tea was fish and chips on the go, as we were dashing up to the Met for a concert, interesting to see a cruise liner off shore, never seen one here before.

Great view of the Church and the Abbey as well

Massive queue for the concert, which was entitled Together in Harmony, and was 6 acts harmony singing with little or no accompaniment. Fab concert, really enjoyed it, and eventually got a seat. Started off with the Wilsons, and then the Young Uns, who were great, amazing voices.


I was also impressed with another young band, Teracups, who did some great mouth music



After that, off to the Spa for the late night extra with 422 and more dancing. A tiring day, but great fun.

Wednesday started with some shopping and making a bolognese for tea, and then off to the Spa for a concert, 422 and friends. You never know who's going to be on, and they always bring lots of Young People, this year being no exception.

Then another quick dash to the storytelling, which was interrupted by the swing bridge being open!



The storyteller was Ursula Holden-Gill, and she was excellent, certainly not a shrinking violet!



Back home for tea, and then we got a taxi, normally we walk everywhere, but we were going to the Rugby Club and its a bit far out. Another great concert, starting with our great friend, Pete Morton



Followed by a stream of great entertainers, including Chris Parkinson, another friend, and Alistair Russell



And finishing off with Dave Burland, a wonderful Yorkshire singer.

After it we walked to the Spa for a special late night event with Sheelanagig, a band plating Balkan, gypsy, folky, sort of music. Very loudly.





Lots of bopping from the audience and some dancing and acrobatics form the band. Excellent, but by about 1am we'd had enough and wended our weary way home!



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D I S C O

Sunday, bit of a lazy morning. Late up, breakfast, and wander down the hill to catch some dance displays, including our local team Pecsaetan from Sheffield.


Also got my first glimpse of Aefleda Terrace, or rather whats left of it after the landslide at the end of last year. Very sad. We stayed in one of the cottages for many years during folk week.



In the afternoon we went to a concert and caught The Hut People, and accordionist and a percussionist playing a very eclectic mix of tunes. The percussionist, ( who used to play with the Beautiful South) was amazing, and even managed a tune on a rain stick!


Sam, the accordionist is also brilliant


But I'm annoyed that I didn't get a picture of him doing Appalachian dancing, I was transfixed watching!

Then we saw The Wilsons, or rather, we heard them! Five brothers from the North East who definitely don't need microphones for their harmony singing.




Given that they usually have about 3 pints each lined up in front of them, I was wondering how they were going to get through this gig in a dry venue, but they came prepared, carrying cans of Guinness and bottles of beer!

Back to the house for tea, and then out in the evening to the Spa for the ceilidh, where we danced until the end, and watched a great performance from the Witchmen and their big, loud band




Monday with a lecture-some serious research! It was on Percy Grainger, a folk song collector who collected many songs from Lincolnshire around 1906. He recorded on a phonograph such fine singers as Joseph Taylor, who's version of Brigg Fair went on to be adapted in a set of orchestral variations by Delius.

Then to The Shambles for lunch with various friends and family, where we were treated a performance from the infamous Scratch Morris



and whilst they went to the storytelling, I went for a wander up to the back of Aefleda Terrace, one the remaining terraces has been left without a gable end.


Also caught up with more dancing, including Clogarythym



And met a huge Pirate!


Then it was Dance Adversity Challenge, two Morris teams in a University Challenge type quiz, one from Yorkshire, one from Lancashire, so a good deal of rivalry in the audience





All ably chaired by Stanley Accrington, but unfortunately Lancashire won!

Tea was an enormous curry takeaway, with enough to feed the 500, and we had a special performance from Jacob and Felix, who had played in public earlier at a session for the first time. Remember you saw them here first!


Then we saw Alistair Anderson in concert, and went for a bop at the Disco ceilidh. Here's an example of what it's like dancing at a disco ceilidh....


Madness! Great music, a great caller, and Sam Pirt makes a grand DJ!

We were treated to two excellent nice spots, Earlsden Morris, who are one of the most energetic dance teams I've seen, and this short clip doesn't do them justice as I stopped recording just before they went into double time!



But, the highlight of the evening was Star and Shadow Rapper who performed to Waterloo, video doesn't pick up enough of the sound of their shoes, but they were perfectly in time to the music. Quite a feat, or quite some feet...



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Start of Whitby folk week

It's that time of year again, Whitby Folk Week! As usual, set off a couple of days early, just to make sure we get there on time. This year we stayed in Thornton Le Dale, a beautiful little village just outside Pickering. But, on the way, we stopped off at Shepherds Purse Cheeses, just north of Thirsk. A family run business making great artisan cheeses, one of the family is a former colleague who offered to show us round. Fascinating stuff, never seen cheese being made before. We had to get kitted up in the latest fashion first



And then we saw the various different stages of the process




Until the final product is ready for wrapping and storing





Really interesting, and it is very good cheese. You can buy it on-line from the website, or from all good delis and supermarkets.

Then we went to one of my favourite towns, Helmsley for lunch. Very pretty, and everywhere adorned by amazing hanging baskets and flowers.




From there is was a quick drive to Thornton Le Dale which is also very pretty, with streams, ducks, a lake and chocolate box cottages.








The local hotel also does very good Pimms!
Dinner in the pub we were staying at, and the next morning we set off to walk to Pickering. Not a long walk, mainly across fields, and we were lucky that the sun was shining. We had a look round Pickering Castle


And also the church, which had some great murals on the walls which had been covered up for hundreds of years by white paint, but have now been restored.

Lunch in a pub, washed down by a pint of Yorkshire Lager, brewed by the Great Yorkshire Brewery, which was excellent. Then we walked back, and tried to talk a short cut down a track, but a rather officious farmer on a tractor told us we couldn't do it!

Next morning we paid a last visit to this rather wonderful shop


And set off for Whitby. It was a bit dull and misty, but I do love the view you get when you come over the moors and see the sea and Abbey in the distance. This was taken through the windscreen on my phone so not brilliant


Then we followed our usual routine, coffee, pick up festival tickets, look round craft fair, and lunch in the Duke of York. I know the week has started when I have my crab sandwich!



In the afternoon we watched the procession of dance teams, and luckily the drizzle had stopped. The following are Earlsden Morris, Rose and Castle, Rivington and Persephone.









Then back for a fish and chip tea, of course.
In the evening we went to the Spa for the ceilidh, but me and Stu went into the theatre to see the Pitmen Poets first. It was packed, and I only stayed to the interval, then went into the ceilidh. We were lucky to see our local Sheffield team, Pecsaeton dance



And also Rivington



Did a lot of dances, mainly with our young granddaughters and their friends who hadn't danced before, but took to it really well. Was exhausted, they have more energy then me!


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