Monthly Archives: July 2022

Cambridge Folk Festival the Sunday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

31st July 2022

The tolilets and showers were holding up at the campsite. The new generator, and waste water pumps were working well. Today we headed in early because R wanted to do a craft course and weave some willow into a shape. When she arrived she was disappointed in that most of the work had been done already. There did not seem to be much opportunity to tailor the course to your own needs. We moved on to the arena, stopping by the wild flower gardens.

Sunday Performances

We sat again in a similar place to before, but a little further back. There appeared to be rules depending on where you were located. In the tent/marquee area you could only stand or sit on the ground. Outside the tent you could or were expected to sit on chairs. These had be aligned in rows. If you created a round circle group, you were reprimanded and had to align your chairs in a row. Further back, behind a line, you could group your chairs in circles. There was one such group near us. We heard about the rules only when this group was told to line up their chairs. They refused and reminded the usher that they were behind said line at which she apologised and moved on.

I am not sure if this group actually saw or heard music, they spent their time chatting and drinking.

Programme

We watched and listened to all the bands on this stage. Enjoyed listening to Billy Bragg and N’famady Kouyaté. The Gypsy Kings were definitely very popular. I did not make any attempt to get near the front. They performed a good rendition of the Leaonard Cohen classic of Hallelujah. After they left, the crowds significantly thinned for the finale of St. Paul and the Broken Bones. I managed to get to front of the stage to watch them.

Main Stage 1

St. Paul and the Broken Bones – Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes – Billy Bragg – Legend Slot: Clannad – N’famady Kouyaté – The Spooky Men’s Chorale – Billie Marten Katherine Priddy

Main Stage 2

Orchestra Baobab – Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram – Sam Lee – O’Hooley And Tidow -Lilith Ai – The Mary Wallopers – The Honest Poet – Mishra – Kids Show: Jason Maverick

The Club Tent

The Mary Wallopers – Trials Of Cato – Nick Hart – Flo Perlin

The Den

Fuzzy Lights – The Drystones – The Ocelots – Siv Jakobsen – Angeline Morrison – Judy Blank – Tape Runs Out – Daisy Chute – June Road

N’famady Kouyaté

St. Paul and the Broken Bones

Gallery

Cambridge Folk Festival the Saturday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

30th July 2022

Another fine day for the festival. Today we were meeting up with Andrea and Richard again, but this time at the festival. So, we plonked ourselves outside the arena where we could place our chairs and listen to the bands in peace. Drinking, eating and several jugs of Pimms.

Saturday Performances

You can see a number of bands from the previous day performing on various stages tonight. We spent the day on the main stage, making excursions to the food stalls, the bar and the loos.

Programme

Main Stage 1

Chico Trujillo – Passenger – Afro Celt Sound System – Spell Songs – This Is The Kit – The Young’uns – VRï – The Magpie Arc

Main Stage 2

Dustbowl Revival – Elephant Sessions – Flook – Admiral Fallow – Elles Bailey – The Spooky Men’s Chorale – Julie Fowlis – Festival Session with Brian McNeill – Urban Folk Theory’s Silent Live Ceilidh Band

The Club Tent

Gasper Nali – Lady Nade – Maddie Morris – Feis Rois – Gwenifer Raymond – Eve Goodman

The Den

Bandits On The Run – Becoming Branches – Limerance – Katie Spencer – Memorial – Moore & Moss – Burd Ellen – Jodie Nicholson – The People Versus – Zoe Bestel

The Magpie Arc

VRï

This is the Kit

Afro Celt Sound System

Gallery

Cambridge Folk Festival the Friday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

29th July 2022

The toilet failure had progressed, the showers were flooded, I managed to get a shower, but as Rosemary entered the shower, the electric pumps made one last spluttering sound and fell into silence. There was a small additional toilet block in operation, but it soon failed. Lots of complaining is going on.

I watched the small caravan next to us with a degree of envy – they had a toilet & a shower, and, better still, a bacon & eggs cooked breakfast.

Today, we caught the festival bus to Cherry Hinton Park, and then waited for a bus to take us into Cambridge city. We met up with Richard and Andrea for a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum for the Hockney’s Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction. We were overly impressed with the images and the understanding of their perspectives. We had tea and lunch before Rosemary, and I headed back to Cherry Hinton and the Folk Festival.

After the main act we headed back to the campsite. New equipment, generators, had been installed and the showers and toilets were back in action.

Friday Performances

It was another warm, sunny, dry day. We spent much of the afternoon sheltering from the sun under a tree, with brief sorties to the stage to take some pictures. We saw all the bands from Findlay to Seasick Steve on the main stage. No pictures of Findlay. I did make some sorties to buy Rosemary refreshing Pimms.

Programme

Main Stage 1

Seasick Steve – Suzanne Vega – Dustbowl Revival – Spiers and Boden – Findlay – Show Of Hands – Tapestri – The Copper Family

Main Stage 2

Show Of Hands – The Magpie Arc – The Breath – Ballet Folk: The Tears of Jenny Greenteeth – Simon Care Trio ceilidh – The Young’uns – VRï – Stumpy Oak – Maynard Flip Flop

The Club Tent

Trousdale – Ferris & Sylvester – Brian McNeil – Jinda Biant – Conchur White – Songlines Interview with Spiers and Boden

The Den

Bess Atwell – Nati Dreddd – Bird In The Belly – Pearl Fish – Rachel Croft – Cynefin – Guise John Dhali – Ceitidh Mac – Loris and The Lion

Findlay

Spiers and Boden

Dustbowl Revival

As the evening progressed, the music became better, Dustbowl Revival were definitely worth watching.

Suzanne Vega

I said the music was getting better, seems the Cambridge Folk Festival put the headliner on as the one before the finale. So here was Susan Vega, the headliner. It was very crowded, and I couldn’t get to the front. But I didn’t like her. I really don’t like this type of music. After Suzanne, there was Seasick Steve, much better. I saw him a couple of times before. Why no videos of him. Not at all sure. Maybe I was enjoying myself too much.

Gallery

Cambridge Folk Festival the Thursday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

28th July 2022

Rosemary and I attended the Cambridge Folk Festival at Cherry Hinton Hall. This runs from Thursday through Sunday. We arrived at Coldham Common in Morrison the campervan and set up camp, parking near the boundary hedge. I had parked along this border three years before. Coldham Common is where the vans and the majority of the camping takes place. Some camping is available at Cherry Hinton. There is a free bus which takes you from Coldham Common to Cherry Hinton and back. It is a regular and fast service. Even when the evening ends and everyone is leaving, there is only a short wait for the bus.

At Coldham Common there are toilets and showers, some catering and a bar.

Once we had parked and finished unpacking, we headed to Cherry Hinton to see some performances. Thursday is not a major day, and the Main Stage 1 is not running with the technicians still completing its construction. The bars are open, food is available, and the small club stage is open. We sat in the sun, drunk a beer and watched the Morris Dancers.

After watching the bands, we headed back to the campsite. Here at the campsite, not all was well. There was a problem with the toilets. They were blocked. As a man I could take a wee, the women had loos full of poo.

Thursday Performances

On Thursday there were no big performers playing, some players were also playing on other days as well. Thursday is a low-key day, and not everyone will come to see the evening’s performances. I did want to see Beans on Toast, but other than that we dipped in an out of performances.

Programme

Main Stage 2

Spiers and Boden – Davina & The Vagabonds – Samantha Crain – Janice Burns & Jon Doran

The Club Tent

Steve Adams – Tapestri – Beans On Toast – Joshua Burnell – The English Fiddle Ensemble

The Den

Flint Moore – Hannah Lou Clark – Old Man Boom – The Mardlers – Mahogany Tales

Morris Dancers

The Morris Dancers performed outside the main bar. They actually performed throughout the whole weekend, occupying various locations on the festival site. I have not been able to identify who they were.

Janice Burns & Jon Doran

We watched Janice Burns & Jon Doran at the club tent, an Anglo Scottish duo who play traditional music. The music was nice folk music.

Beans On Toast

A must see was the musician going by the name Beans on Toast. It is rumoured he has played Glastonbury more times than Coldplay or any other band. I first saw him this year at Glastonbury where he was playing the Truth Stage. He was accompanied by a couple of guitarists.

Tapestri

Tapestri are a bilingual Folk group from Wales.

Gallery

Akeman Inn and its Kitchen Garden

Blasdale Home Posted on by

21st July 2022

The second of our two local pubs, the Akeman (formerly the Crooked Billet), the one we don’t often visit, has a vegetable garden. Planning permission was granted several years ago, but COVID came along and delayed the opening of the vegetable patch. This year all changed, and the garden was planted with veg, while plastic poly tunnels were erected to grow heritage tomatoes. The intention is to supply fresh vegetables to several of the Oakman inns. We went with neighbours to an open day with the gardeners and management on hand to explain their vision. It looked impressive, but would it be able to supply much veg? Who knows? Let us see what happens next year.

Of course, it would have been rude not to have had a glass of beer in the bar.

St Neots Camping

Blasdale Home Posted on by

7th July 2022

We took the van to St Neots for five days of camping. The weather promised to be fine and did not disappoint. We managed to get a pitch on the river’s edge, with a tree for shade. There was a public footpath between us and the river and the fisher persons. It was just grand sitting there in the sun watching the world go by while sipping on our Negronis, Ricards.

Interesting to find other campers had not come far often for only a couple of nights. When we connected the electricity, we did think the point quite high off the ground. Turns out the campsite can flood. We met a Dutch chap who said it was his favourite campsite in England.

We managed to struggle into town on most days, stopping in the market square to consume coffees. We found an excellent pub; if I lived in St Neots this pub, the Pig n Falcon would have been my regular evening haunt, good selection of beers, and live music. What more could one want? We sat there on a quiet afternoon drinking our beers. There is the backside of a pig diving into the outside wall, and the head of the pig emerging in the bar. Very quaint.

On Sunday to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary we had lunch at The River Mill, on the Eaton Socon side of the river. The pub is in a converted mill which was/is owned by Jordans who make the eponymous breakfast cereal. Interestingly the mill was converted to a pub and flats when we lived in Eaton Socon in the early 1980s.

On another day we took a river trip from All Aboard Boating. We hired a small motorboat and headed downstream towards Huntington. Some good water lillies both yellow and white ones. Despite the recent lack of rain, there was still plenty of water flowing down the river to allow the locks to operate. We managed to operate a couple of locks before turning around at Great Paxton and heading back.

On other little walks we did, we visited our old home on the Great North Road. Nobody was in, so we could not look around. The hedge I planted was still there. I think now that it was a mistake planting a Leylandii hedge, especially as it was not maintained properly.