The Brian Finnegan Band at the Bath Folk Festival

Some number from the Brian Finnegan Band at the fundraiser for the Bath Folk Festival:

A surprise lesbian wedding

So we turned up for the annual Folk at the Oak Festival only to find that there had been a small change in plans, inasmuch as the afternoon session had been put back to 8:30 in the evening.

We decided to make the best of it, jaded though we were from last night's Bristol crawl, and danced regardless to a massive audience of somewhere in the region of eight people. Encouraged by their raucous response, we trundled off to the Park Tavern for a dance and some very welcome free beer, then on to the Hop Pole where we had the most amazing luck: it was host to a lesbian wedding! I mean, we'd danced at la lesbian wedding in the past, but this one was on a most lavish scale. Fortified by much in the way of Pimm's and free food, we danced our little socks off, much to the delight of one of the brides, who used to be a border morris dancer. Result!

Blood, sweat and beers in Bristol

Our little crawl of Bristol last night was a major success, even though the torrential rain limited it to a mere seven pubs. Highlights include the Golden Lion in which we had a standing ovation before we started,  the Prince of Wales (mainly for the huge German Shepherd called Thor who licked his lips thoughtfully as we danced), and of course the Pipe and Slippers in which Edwin managed to remove most of the skin from his forehead. However, he manfully managed to stick with the dance right to the end, only then pausing to wipe the blood from his face and allow a particularly lovely barmaid to tend to him. What a guy.

Video: some highlights of the Bath Folk Festival Fundraiser

Some edited highlights of the Bath Folk Festival Fundraiser

Bristol crawl this Friday

Yes, the multi-mile mega-march across much of Bristol is on this Friday, starting at 8pm in The Canteen in Stokes Croft and ending in the Inn on the Green. Expect much in the way of sword-related frivolity and sharp dancing.

This short amble will, of course, prepare us for our special guest appearance at the Royal Oak's Folk Festival the following day, where you can expect much in the way of sore heads and aspirin.

Folk festival fundraiser: Lady Bracknell says

"To lose one dancer, dear Northgate, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose a musician too looks like carelessness."

 

We knew in advance that we'd need to borrow a musician for this, but little did we know that one of our dancers was graduating the day before and would be so tired that he'd forget his kit! We recovered manfully, as you'd expect, using the old "random audience member" ploy. As a bonus, our musician was skilled in the arts of playing for rapper, being the brother of an ex-Kingsmen squire. Result!

As to the rest of the concert, it bodes very well for the Festival proper. We can't wait!