Bob Wood – 9th August

Tommy’s Funeral Service will be held in the Volunteer Rooms on Wednesday 8th October at 10.30am thereafter to Knadgerhill Cemetery.

It is with great sadness that I report the death of one of Irvine Folk Club’s most faithful members Tommy Jeffers. Tommy and Christine were in France with the Ramblers Group visiting the our French Twin Town of Voisins. On a sight-seeing tour of Paris Tommy suffered a massive heart attack and unfortunately he died.
Christine is being cared for by her French friends until arrangements can be made to bring Tommy home. I will post details of the funeral arrangements when I have them.

Ben Sands is the guest at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 1st October and that will make good reading to his many fans and admirers. He has been a regular and very welcome visitor to the Irvine Club over the years and it’s always good to hear him again.
From Newry in County Down where he still lives, Ben was born into a family where music, singing, storytelling and wit were a cornerstone that made life a bit more bearable and sometimes memorable against the hard grind of daily life on a small farm. As a youngster, Ben tried his hand on any instrument that came his way. He now concentrates on guitar, banjo, mandolin, whistles and fiddle although on occasion he has been known to wrestle a tune from the uillean pipes!
Ben is a singer, songwriter, musician, storyteller and arranger and has charmed his way round Europe and beyond since the 1970’s and throughout that time has continued to play with The Sands Family for special concerts. He sings and writes songs about life and love and the ways of the world and his humour is never very far away.
He has five solo albums to his name, the most recent being ‘Live in Berlin’ released last year. As well as that, as part of The Sands Family, time has been found to make 17 albums !
For an evening studded with good songs and gentle humour get along to Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 1st October at Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road for 8pm to hear Ben Sands.
Finally, weekly sessions at The Ship Inn in Irvine continue on Tuesdays. They start at 8pm and singers and musicians are welcome.

The debut appearance at Irvine Folk Club of Sunjay Brayne comes up on Wednesday 17th September and not only is Sunjay a new face, he has yet to reach his 21st birthday. New and young and talented forbye!
By all accounts, Midlands-based Sunjay is a rising star on the Folk and Acoustic circuit. Such are the guitar skills of Sunjay that some reviewers say he is reminiscent of Ralph McTell and John Martyn. Match that with an authoritative voice that belies his years and the reasons for the glowing reviews become apparent.
Sunjay picked up the guitar aged four and hasn’t put it down since. As a youngster he was introduced by his Dad to the sounds of Don McLean and Buddy Holly and now Sunjay’s guitar picking skills are said to be among the very best. The material played by Sunjay is heavily influenced by the Blues but also draws from Folk, Country and Rock.
Nominated for the BCC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2012, Sunjay has three albums to his name, the most recent having been released this month. To promote the album, Sunjay is on a 40 date UK tour, which happily takes in the Irvine Club.
For one so young, Sunjay has a confidence, maturity and ease on stage and is held in high regard by folk world luminaries such as Steeleye Span. Hear Sunjay Brayne at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 17th September in Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road. The Club starts at 8pm and it’s BYOB. Club info flyers giving details of who is appearing at the Irvine Club are now widely available and by visiting www.irvinefolkclub.org.uk

Regarded as one of the finest contemporary folk bands, Other Roads are the guests at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday September 3rd. Their excellent musicianship will make for an excellent first club night back after a particularly memorable Marymass Folk Festival.
Pete Abbott, Gregor Borland and Dave Walmisley are talented multi-instrumentalists. They play an impressive selection of instruments including fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin, guitars and harmonica. Expect to hear some fine harmony singing too.
The Other Roads repertoire reflects their diverse backgrounds in Scotland, England and Zimbabwe resulting in an eclectic mix of traditional, contemporary and original material that ranges from soft ballads to foot stomping Celtic fiddle tunes and choruses.
The friendship that is shared by Pete, Gregor and Dave shines through, as does the sheer enjoyment of what they do. Other Roads put the emphasis on firmly on entertainment and this they achieve very well.
As well as being multi-instrumentalists, their other musical talents include teaching Scottish fiddle all over the world, arranging music and song writing. Despite all of that, one of the band hankers to be a rock star playing bass.
The band played a two month tour in New Zealand at the beginning of the year and since then have been touring extensively in the UK. Following a September tour of the UK, which includes the Irvine date, they tour the Netherlands and Germany.
Other Roads will be at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday, September 3rd, in Vineburgh Community Centre. The club starts at 8pm and its BYOB,
The website for Irvine Folk Club is now available at www.irvinefolkclub.org.uk

Marymass Folk Festival

‘Absolutely good!’ was the unsolicited verdict of a beaming Primary 2 pupil at St Mark’s after hearing Canadian Roots band My Sweet Patootie play – and it neatly illustrates the response throughout the 47th Marymass Folk Festival.
The concert at St Mark’s was one of four Folk Music in Schools sessions which were part of the 20 Folk Festival events with an exceptionally high standard of music and entertainment throughout.
Over the five days, audiences repeatedly said how much they enjoyed the music – in terms of quality and entertainment – and of course the musicians responded and the whole Festival just kept getting better. ‘When all the planning comes together it’s very satisfying for everyone concerned – audiences, musicians as well as those who help support the Festival financially or in kind’ said Folk Festival Chair Anne Clarke. ‘And it would be remiss not to mention the valuable role of the main venues – Vineburgh Community Centre, The Ship Inn and the Volunteer Rooms. They all welcomed the Festival and that was a key factor in the overall success of this year’s event.’
On the final day of the Folk Festival, former Kilwinning man now resident in Wales Bobby Connell went away with two World Championships. Bobby was the comfortable winner of both the Whammy-Diddling and the Chuckie-Chucking trophies..….and then donated the accompanying bottles of whisky back to the Festival!
And to round off a fabulous Marymass Folk Festival, it can be reported that the Festival Treasurer Joyce Hodge slept soundly happy in the knowledge that the Festival cleared its feet!

Marymass Folk Festival and Irvine Folk Club now has a Facebook page. At the moment it only contains a photograph of the Battlefield Band and a link to the Folk Club website page where you can buy tickets for Battlefield’s Marymass Concert (and other Marymass Festival tickets). How the page develops is up to you. Can I encourage all club members to ‘share’ this page on your own Facebook wall and to do something positive to encourage friends to come along to the Volunteer Rooms on Marymass Saturday night. This is an ideal opportunity to introduce people to a great folk music concert.

Visit the Marymass Folk Festival Facebook page: www.facebook.com/marymassfolkfestival

The 47th Marymass Folk Festival: Concerts, community events and sessions are the key elements of Marymass Folk Festival and this successful formula is why 2014 is the 47th anniversary of this Irvine event – thought to be the longest running Folk Festival in the country.

The five day Festival kicks off on Wednesday 20th August and runs through until Sunday 24th August. Twenty events make up the packed programme of which only six have an admission charge – yes, that means the rest are free! The valued support of sponsors like Irvine Probus who put their name against the Senior Citizens Concert on Thursday 15th in the Volunteer Rooms and also the Schools programme is very much appreciated.

Undoubtedly, it’s the world-renowned Battlefield Band topping the bill at the Marymass Saturday Night Concert in the Volunteer Rooms on the 23rd that will catch the eye of most people. The four-piece band – two Scotsmen, an Irishman and an American – play raucous instrumentals, plaintive ballads with the intuitive understanding of the world class musicians that they are. Battlefield, they take their name from the area in Glasgow, has undergone many line-up evolutions in their long history, and although having played in Irvine a number of times, this will be the first time for this particular line-up.

Leading up to the Battlefield, there are two concerts in Vineburgh Communuity Centre – a really good and intimate setting enjoyed by musicians and audiences alike. A Scots Chorus with Muldoon’s Picnic & Mick West top the bill on Thursday 21st. Inspired by the singing of acapella group Muldoon’s Picnic, A Scots Chorus was formed in 2012. Essentially it’s a group of people singing the most interesting and representative Scots chorus songs so that more people can join in singing a good Scots chorus. Simples! The marvellous and distinctive voice of Glaswegian Mick West is of course another attraction.

Infectious, feel-good music is guaranteed on Friday 22nd when Canadian roots band My Sweet Patootie headlines at Vineburgh. Three world class musicians, super vocal harmonies and great entertainers – that’s what makes MSP so very good. Terry Young & Sandra Swannell were members of the mighty Tanglefoot and they have been joined by Percussionist Bradford Novak. They play an invigorating blend of music culled from Country, Blues, Folk, Vaudeville, Swing and Hot Club Jazz. For information, a term of endearment is one of the explanations of the name My Sweet Patootie!

Three great concerts at Marymass Folk Festival are on the cards. Tickets for them are available now from Joyce on 01294 551047 or email JoyceIFC@aol.com. All Folk Festival info can be had from Joyce as before or visit www.irvinefolkclub.trad.org.uk or pick up a leaflet.

For more information on the Marymass Town Festival. The Marymass Festival goes back many many years, the Marymass Folk Festival is a relative youngster but has now been part of Marymass for almost 50 years. www.marymass.com

At last, and not for the want of trying, Dr Mango and The Chickpeas top the bill at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 6th August and it should be just the very thing to set up Irvine audiences for Marymass Folk Festival which starts on 20th August. Dr Mango and The Chickpeas are a young, Glasgow based, five- piece band who play whatever they play with great passion. Expect to hear self-penned and traditional material as well as Scots music and Scots and French song. This varied repertoire reflects the range of backgrounds of the band. Jen Austin from Orkney plays piano; Ayrshire’s Robyn Gray plays fiddle and does vocals; Kirsten MacLeod plays accordion and she’s from Ardnamurchan; on bodhran & French song is Marissa Vachon from Vancouver and finally on guitar is Borders man Chris Waite.

The five band members met playing on the rich and vibrant Glasgow folk scene. Their upbeat contemporary sound and their wide ranging musical influences create what has been described as ‘a musical marmalade’! But who’s Dr Mango? One explanation is that trad musicians, particularly of the Celtic variety, would give their contemporary, instrumental tunes silly names…..and so, Dr Mango and The Chickpeas. Perhaps, a better explanation will be given by the band at the Irvine Club. In any case, Dr Mango and The Chickpeas are high quality musicians and yet another example of the high musical standard to be found across Scotland.

Hear them at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 6th August at Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road. The Club starts at 8pm and it’s BYOB. It’s also where you can buy tickets for the forthcoming Marymass Folk Festival and find out all Folk Festival information.

New to Irvine Folk Club is the duo called JINSKI – two very individual guitarists/musicians with strong distinctive voices and they are the guests on Wednesday 23rd July.

JINSKI are Liverpool born Steve Wegrzynski and Geordie boy Dave Kennedy. Steve has been around the music scene for a while, playing tirelessly in the 80’s as a solo performer and going under the name of JINSKI. The same name JINSKI now applies to the duo he formed with Dave Kennedy. Steve does vocal and plays guitar and harmonica while Dave is on guitar and vocals. Steve is also a much respected songwriter. He writes songs from the heart inspired by the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

The musical roots of Steve and Dave lie folk and country. At the Irvine Club, expect to hear foot-stomping, sing-along and raucous songs as well as much gentler and subtly sophisticated material. As well as original numbers, a set list might include Neil Young’s Heart of Gold. Live performances by JINSKI are known for their warmth, passion and humour.

A casual glance at the JINSKI Gig List shows that they fairly clock up the miles and are in much demand. They travel the length and breadth of the UK on a regular basis.

So, to hear the two men who are being tipped to take over the Lindisfarne mantle, get along to Irvine Folk Club at Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road on Wednesday 23rd July for 8pm – and remember it’s BYOB.

Finally, make sure that you have a programme for the forthcoming Marymass Folk Festival. It starts Wednesday 20th and goes on until Sunday 24th August. If you can’t find a programme then just phone Joyce on 01294 551047 for all information.