Redhill Beer Festival

Which was actually at Merstham Village Hall. The hall was never packed, having at most 120 punters at a time, the festival having been limited to 150 punters at a time by the Hall committee. The food on offer consisted of huge baguettes, sausage rools, Scotch eggs or crisps, with free food for workers.
Things were very quiet on the Membership and Products side (of which myself and Claire were in charge) – probably due to the bad location of the tables on the stage, which some punters thought was out-of-bounds. However we did manage to sell 10 CAMRA memberships, the baby’s bibs, a teddy, and quite a few East and Mid Surrey Pub Guides (these are excellent, despite what Bruning-skimreader says!). I was restricting myself to a half a day, so had to choose well and sip it very slowly. The B&T Edwin Taylor Stout was the beer of the festival for me. We sold out of beer by 7pm on the last day, but still had plenty of cider left over. I don’t think Surrey folk are big cider-drinkers. In the end we gave away the cider in takeaway containers, before returning the empties.
It was good to catch up with all the gossip from the Welsh contingency (Claire, Kathy, Daigy and Keith) as well as to see the East and Mid Surrey crowd again. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves – apart from the kind of people that always pick holes. Thanks to Sally Gingell in particular for doing most of the work to make the festival such a success!

Show of Hands at Norden Farm

Steve and Phil gave yet another superb performance at Norden Farm, and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Someone called Bill heckled them for being late on stage, but they seemed to know the guy so they took it in good spirit. Apparently they have played more at Norden Farm than anywhere else! It is a good venue though.
They played old favourites like Cousin Jack, Santiago, Widdecombe Fair (they seem to have given up on Phil sneaking up on the audience with his fiddle!) and my favourite at the moment, The Setting/Mary of Dungloe. Steve also tried out a few new tunes, he didn’t mention titles so I’m guessing Dreamers and Lost. He has changed Dreamers so that it makes less sense to me – I thought the boyfriend steals a car and gets beaten up, forcing the couple to stay in Axmouth – but he has changed it so that it was a friend. Why stay then? Lost was about Steve visiting an attic where he finds everything he’s ever lost. Bill liked this – he’s such a hoarder! Roots was played as the encore, it’s a great protest song, a rallying-cry for all us folkies to defend our English culture. Was pretty tired by the time we got back home though, had to go to work early the next day as well...

Oysterband at the Brook

Last night was Other Val’s birthday so she’d decided on a girlie night out in Southampton, with myself and Julie. Bill Badger would normally be an honorary girl, but he is away at the moment at a conference in Birmingham (he made do with a boy’s night out with Patrick).
The Brook had changed a little since I last went there to see Martyn Joseph. The place looked a lot less dingy, all in greens and stained wood, with the downstairs bar moved over to the far side and the upstairs bar refurbished with lots more seating. I wasn’t tempted by the lone real ale (Courage Best) but Other Val had no complaints.
Other Val and I headed down to the mosh pit whilst Julie stayed upstairs on the fag! There wasn’t a lot of dancing though, perhaps because of the lack of space. The sound was excellent though, and the Oysterband as energetic and skillful as ever (not turning up pissed like a band I’ve seen recently (Atishdrunkinpublichoo) although JJ did forget the words to ‘The Raven’ We met some nice people (as often happens with Other Val around) and had a bloody good time. Favourite song of the evening – ‘Northern Light’ (Other Val voted for ‘Milford Haven’ and Julie for the instrumentals)
Thanks to Other Val for driving on her birthday!

Spiers and Boden, Good Old Way Folk Club

My 100th Post!It was my, Bill’s, Other Val’s and Matt’s first time at our very own folk club of which we are members. People seemed friendly without being too OTT. The room, in the Guildford Institute building of the University of Surrey, was rather small but decorated with interesting pictures, and retaining quite a lot of original ‘Art Nouveau’ features. A grand piano stood at the ‘stage’ end, leaving not a lot of room for any big bands! There were bottles of Hogs Back TEA available, but the catch was, there were no beer glasses! Drinking a bottle-conditioned beer from the neck without drinking any of the sediment proved to be a bit of a challenge.
The first floor-spot was a very traditional singer, so I hoped that wasn’t going to be the tone of the folk club. Next came Spiers and Boden, who were fabulous, with many new songs from their album appropriately entitled ‘Songs’ (we bought a copy which Jon and John signed for us). They too are a very ‘traditional’ act, but they don’t perform the songs 100% ‘straight’, adding a certain something to them which makes them catchy and enjoyable. They are usually quite gory as well. Was whistling the song about chopping up the
wild woman for ages afterwards!
The next floor spot, to my delight, was Anna Tabbush, who helps run the club. I have a CD of her in ‘Meridian’, called ‘Prime’ – her vocals are amazing. She also teaches R & B – bit different from folk music!
More Spiers and Boden, had a bit of a sing, especially ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the other folkies who had travelled a long way to see the lads. Only a matter of time before they need a fan club!
Didn’t win anything on the raffle, but there’s plenty of time. Now we are regulars, we are sure to win more ;-)

Plymouth and Gunnislake Weekend

The Magnificent Seven (Ian, Brian, Social Bob, Magnus, June, Bill and me) met up for an attempt on the Tamar Valley Rail Ale Passport, 19 pubs accessible by rail on the Plumouth to Gunnislake line. Was in a foul mood most of the weekend due to sinusitis and inner ear infection – but after a few beers I cheered up a bit and the constant boat-motion seemed less noticeable! On the Friday we had a four-hour train journey to Plymouth in a nice comfy South West Train. There were some great views of the sea around Dawlish but fog closed in as we approached the Tamar valley. Spent the evening visiting a few pubs in Devonport and Plymouth, the most memorable ones being the Dolphin (‘accepts all comers and frequently gets them’) and the Minerva (good vibes, good live saxophonist). Next day six of us went on a walk around Gunnislake to see the historic mineworkings, lock, lime kiln etc, then in to the Tavistock for some delicious local cider. Next stop was the Rising Sun for some stonking Betty Stoggs, but was miffed that they weren’t serving food. Half an hours’ walk to the Rifle Volunteer, where Bill, Brian and I sampled the (very good) food – well earned after climbing uphill quite a lot!
Then it was all the way back down the hill to the Cornishman and another pub before the inevitable climb back to the station.
Next stop on the train was Calstock where we found the lovely Tamar Inn, enjoying some good beer there. Unfortunately the Riverside Restaurant wasn’t serving beer, but we had an excellent cream tea there, homemade scones with lashings of jam and cream :-p The other pub in town, the Boat, was very nice too, they serve a lovely bag of Burts crisps!
I was pretty tired by the time we got back to Plymouth and moaned about the 10-minute uphill walk to the ‘nearby’ Fortescue, which did not have a good range of beers. Ian, Bill and I attempted to find the ‘nearby’ Sutton Brewery tap, but were scuppered by an early-closing bridge.
Sunday Bill and I visited the National Aquarium whilst the more dedicated CAMRA members continued the ale trail. All those cod, scampi etc. made me hungry so we had traditional pasties and fudge in the Hoe park.
Nice weekend, beer wasn’t up to much in some of the pubs but it was good to have a change of scenery.