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All profits to St Michael’s Hospice.

Tickets £10 including a buffet supper. Tickets direct from Falcon hotel on 01885 483034 or call in to reception. More here.

Three Bromyard lads playing red hot Gypsy Jazz on the main stage as part of the big Sunday evening concert.They went down a storm and showed what talent Bromyard has all year round, not just at Folk Festival time.

Since then Remi Harris, one of TJ’s two guitarists, has built a major following as one of the UK’s top young jazz guitarists. Whilst technically very accomplished his playing is very entertaining and appeals to both jazz lovers and the not so keen.

He is playing, along with the rest of the Remi Harris Trio, at Bromyard’s Crown and Sceptre this coming Saturday, 21st January 2012, from 7.30pm. Tickets are £12 each and include a hot buffet. The function room at the Crown and Sceptre has recently been refurbished to a very high standard and will present an ideal venue for an evening of music and good food.

Tickets can be bought at Dots Gallery on Broad Street or by calling Ros – 01885 410318 or 07812 041179.

This Pagan blessing of the trees is said to ensure a good crop of cider apples for the following year’s harvest. The best or oldest tree in the orchard is chosen as a guardian to represent them all. Pieces of toast soaked in cider are placed in the tree and cider is poured around the base of it. Shot guns are fired into the top most branches and buckets are beaten, the aim being to scare away evil spirits and wake the sleeping trees. Some believe that if the trees aren’t wassailed there will be no harvest.

This year there are more Morris sides attending than ever before and the introduction of Civil War re-enactors is set to make the torch-lit procession to the nominated apple tree a real spectacle.

Nigel Smith the Landlord of the Fleece says ‘The Wassail is the perfect antidote to the winter blues and a great event for families and friends of all ages. It’s great that we’re able to host such a traditional yet vibrant event to bring a bit of cheer to the cold winter nights. Wassail!’

Mulled cider and delicious food will be available to ‘warm the cockles’ and the folk singers that frequent the pub will be adding to the traditional fun. Join in and help make the Fleece’s homemade cider in 2012 the best yet!

For more information please contact Nigel or Sadie at the Fleece Inn on 01386 831173 or 07940731137 or email us at info@thefleeceinn.co.uk

Details are as follows:

The Ancient Legacy

Journey through the seasons in music, song, poetry and sketches
with some of Worcestershire’s most respected folk musicians and actors.

To be seen at:

WHITBOURNE VILLAGE HALL (WR6 5RN)
Saturday 14th January 2012     7.30pm
Tickets Adults £5 Children £3
From – Rob Slater 01886 821684 or The Village Shop, Whitbourne

and also enjoy the music of :

Mamatrak and Dampier’s Round
as performed at :

Cheltenham Folk Festival
Bromyard Folk Festival
Black Diamond Folk Club, B’ham
Alcester Folk Club
Fold Folk Club Bransford
Worcester Arts Workshop

Sat 7^TH January 2012 Wassail in Much Marcle

Saturday 14^th January, 2012 – Wassail at The Fleece, Bretforton, nr. Evesham WR11 7JE. Starts at 6-30pm. Free entry. More Morris sides than ever before alongside Civil War Re-enactors, and of course the traditional singing and mulled cider. Follow the torch lit procession through the apple orchard and enjoy a really festive evening with a folk session to follow and lots of yummy warming food. No parking on site, so be prepared to park in Main Street and walk to the pub.

It would be great if you could come and if you could give me an idea if you can make it that would help ensure the Falcon only do twice as much food as required.

And if you can’t make it and I don’t bump into you in the next week then let me wish you a real good ‘un for the coming festivities.

The good news is they are playing at the Lion Ballroom in Leominster from 8.00pm on Saturday 17th December 2011. They are supported by Miriam Backhouse and tickets are jsut £10 on the door or inadvance from Gill’s Gifts, Buttercross Arcade, Leominster, 01568 611588.

I’ll be going and this is really a night not to be missed! For those who don’t know Loxley here’s a brief bio:

Loxley are Sally Stamford, Arthur Hyde and John Eyre.

Loxley have had a very busy year entertaining at folk clubs and festivals all over the country, from Devon to Derbyshire, West Wales to Leicestershire and places in between. December is the month for them to stay at home in Herefordshire and concentrate on finishing their much requested CD. The Lion Ballroom on 17th December is a rare opportunity to see them locally.

“Loxley are a harmonic, contemporary, progressive folk trio who have a collection of songs and music that is beguiling, intriguing. If Loxley were a book, we understand, it would be one far from easy to put down. The material sweeps and sways – most gently – from traditional influence to contemporary folk, from the 16th century to 21st century. ” Folk on the Lawn Music Festival

“Loxley – the Robin Hoods of folk music, robbing from their amazing skills and repertoire to give us their music and songs – delivered with such wonderful harmonies and infectious joy, we never want them to stop.” Miriam Backhouse

Also, from South Africa, including in her 2011 four month tour of Britain, is Miriam Backhouse. Folk song fans in Herefordshire will remember Miriam, who played a significant role in the folk revival, appearing at most of the Folk Clubs and Festivals of the in the 70s, including Edinburgh and Cambridge, with acclaim from all the leading critics of the day. Miriam’s interpretation of traditional and modern folk songs are unique, and her ability to lead a Folk audience into chorus singing, particularly, ‘Keys of Canterbury’ at Cambridge Folk Festival 1976, is the stuff of legends.

So it’s great to see them getting a really prestigious gig just before Christmas supporting the legendary John Kirkpatrick in Worcester. Details below (thanks to JT for these):

Wednesday 21^st. December at 8-00pm : John Kirkpatrick’s Carolling and Crumpets Show at The Huntingdon Hall WR1 3LD. Guest support act – Granny’s Attic.

Tickets – £12.00. Additional info at : www.worcesterlive.co.uk
Box office telephone : 01905 611 427

Granny’s Attic is a local folk trio from Worcester with band members Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, George Sansome and Lewis Wood. Full details at : www.grannysattic.org.uk