BBC Young Folk Awards 2007

Made a mad dash from Redhill at 5.15pm to Islington via the Thameslink train and then bus, just getting to the Union Church for 6.45pm which was when the doors were due to open. Darren was there already, keeping a place for us in the queue bless him. This was the start of this rather surreal experience, queueing outside a forbidding-looking Congregational church watching young musicians and BBC staff to-ing and fro-ing.
When we got inside there were no tables but ordinary church pews, which I'd been told to expect but they still seemed rather bizarre. The church was tall-roofed but had relatively small floor area, so we were somewhat crammed in. The tickets are usually over-subscribed, and people at the back of the queue were apparently turned away. The stage was in front of an enormous font and a beautiful rose window with stained-glass angels.
Immediately after finding a pew for 6, Darren and Mr Badger headed for the bar whilst Ben and I guarded the seats. But it was no go - only soft drinks were allowed into the church as it was a real church, and anyway the bar was not open yet!! Bet you don't get THAT at any other BBC music awards!
Mike Harding was the host, and was very down-to-earth (much as I'd expected), introducing each act enthusiastically, clearly enjoying every minute. First on stage were brother and sister Ewen & Megan Henderson, who had come all the way from Fort William to play us traditional Scottish music on the piano and fiddle. Both looked and sounded immaculate, Megan's voice was pure and faultless - perhaps the only mistake she made was assuming that the predominantly Southern English audience were going to join in with a rather long chorus in Gallic. However the Scottish contingent were clearly enjoying the song and joining in. Second came David Delarre of the already well-respected young band 'Mawkin', a relative local boy, hailing from Essex. His clever finger-jumping guitar technique provoked some jealous coments from Mike Harding! Next Ryan Young, living up to his name as the youngest candidate for the award, stepped shyly up to the mike and announced his fiddle tunes - including 'Catharsis' whis is of course the theme for Mike Harding's Radio 2 folk programme! If deliberate, that was good thinking!! 'Last Orders', not to be confused with 'Last Night's Fun' were on next - a guitar/melodeon/2 fiddles band with lovely stripy shirts, who met through membership of Kathryn Tickell's 'Folkestra' project. The first act I felt like dancing to, they quite obviously went down well with the crowd. Next came Ruth Notman and Bryony Bainbridge, who apparently met whilst working down t'pit - orchestra pit, that is! They showed superb musicianship; I especilly loved Ruth's sensitive, powerful vocals and Bryony's fiddle playing- they were my favourites to win, till they made a mistake with a song attribution and Mike Harding corrected them. Lastly came guitarist Wilber, sharing some great jazz/blues/folk guitar tunes with us - but he had a habit of saying 'yeah' every now and them as he was playing, which I found annoying after a while. Nice hair though!
Last year's winners 'Bodega' then returned to wow us with their multi-instrumental talents and launch their new album, available to the general public soon. If only chief judge John Tams had had the opportunity to sing a few songs and show the youngsters how 'tis done.
Who were the winners? Well, it was the only time a group of folkies has voted for 'Last Orders', ha ha. Worthy winners, I'm sure they'll make the best of their prizes which included a year's membership of the Musician's Union, 3 festival gigs including Cropredy, a spot on Mike Harding's show and of course the little sculpture of two Morph-like figures playing folk instruments. The rather stunned looking lads returned to the stage to play a few more tunes, then it was off to the 'backstage party' in a little church hall!
The setting might have been a bit unusual but it was a really good night. I hope to be alble to go again someday!