Christmas Newsletter … Hello all,
Just a reminder that, as this is Christmas Eve-Eve, we are not meeting, either in person or on Zoom. We’ll start again NEXT Tuesday (30th December) and I’ll email in advance of that,
Meantime – I hope you all have a Happy Christmas, Cool Yule, belated Hanukkah or early Shab-e-Meraj.
Let’s all hope (and pray as appropriate) that 2026 is not as bonkers as 2025. The idea that problems are only properly solved by CCC … Compassion, Co-operation and Compromise … has been Blowin’ in the Wind for too long.
Peace and Love,
Alan
Then the January Man comes round again in woollen coat and boots of leather
To take another turn and walk along the icy road he knows so well.
The January man is here for starting each and every year
Along the way for ever.
Peace and Love to all,
Alan
We meet every Tuesday, from 8pm ’til 10, to sing, play and chat (Chairman Alan Murray speaking). Our view of folk music is the same as Louis Armstrong’s … all music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song. So – in a typical Penicuik Folk Club evening, you’ll get traditional Scots/English songs, guitars, Scottish small pipes, concertinas, self-penned songs, poems, a smidgin of Gaelic and an occasional burst of Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton or Richard Thompson (we are not worthy!). A rumour has spread that one of us is even going to attempt a Led Zeppelin song. I can’t possibly comment.
News – lottery funding more folk to more folk
We applied for a grant to make our activities more attractive, accessible and popular.
WE GOT THE MONEY!!!
So – thank you National Lottery Awards for all Scotland.
We plan to acquire a new, better-and-lighter PA system, enhance our Zoom capability and install an induction loop system in our venue. The Lottery funded this on the basis that it was:-
- Getting musical culture to more people locally
- Enhancing opportunities for budding folk performers
- Spread the mental-health benefits of listenting to and making live music.
So – we’ll be offering occasional “open mike” nights and encouraging local performers to offer up short sets of tunes/songs in a “concert” setting. You can, of course, come and join in a session any Tuesday and expect to be listened to, but the Open-Mike sessions will be more organised affairs with an MC and a running order.
More about us …
We welcome performers and listeners equally. It’s a good, safe place to try out your “performing” skills. Yoiu can expect to be listened to appreciatively … this isn’t a pub session where the performers are simply human juke boxes! We’re not precious about it but we insist that, if we’re not all joining in (‘cos that’s what the performer wants) , listeners keep quiet and listen. We all started somewhere and we like to encourage tentative singers, players and readers to have a go, make mistakes (like the rest of us do!) and get gradually more confident.
We run our sessions in parallel on Zoom, to include those who can’t make it to the club’s venue and those we picked up during lockdown as distant Zoom-buddies. So – there’s a screen at the end of the table where the Zoomers get a chance to perform. You’d be surprised how quickly you feel like they’re in the room with you!
We meet in the Miners’ Club‘s lounge bar – a large, comfortable (but also cheery and COSY!) room that is large enough for most of our concerts and all of our singers’ nights. We will also be able to use the club’s large function room for any larger concerts, apart from the occasional collaboration with our pals in Penicuik Community Arts Association.
If you want to know more, or to be added tio our email list, please message us via our Facebook page.