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In April last year
Maghull Folk Club celebrated its 25th birthday.
The origins of the club emanate from the old St George's Folk Club, organised in the 1970's by Dave Day and The White House Folk Club who used to meet at our present location the Maghull Community Association. Dave was working for Tetley's Brewery and he saw the chance to acquire a room upstairs at The Hare and Hounds. With the help of a few people he got the club up and running - the opening night being the 28th April 1982. Among the first residents were Clover (still going strong!), Len Nolan, Harry Hayes, The Sisters, and Dave himself. Others came on board - myself after 3 weeks so I can't claim to be an original resident!! From the very first night the word spread and attendances of 70 to 80 people was the norm. More and more people were co-opted to become residents until at one point we had 52 resident performers split into groups, who then took turns to run a month at a time. Dave cheekily advertised us in Folk North West as The People's Republic of Maghull Folk Club!! In truth, if you came along and performed 2 weeks on the run Dave made you a resident. The club went from strength to strength, involving itself in the local community by visiting and playing at local nursing home and sheltered accommodation. We also started a beginners workshop, hosted by Steve Higham, which took place before he club started each Tuesday. As if this wasn't enough we went en masse to various local and far flung festivals. Contrary to claims by other local clubs who were the first to get involved in club swaps and club holidays. We spent many happy weeks on holiday in Ireland, Scotland, Amsterdam, Prague etc. The club prospered so much that if you weren't there by 8.30pm on a Tuesday night you didn't get a seat. It was about two years before we booked our first 'guest'. We acquired a small p.a. system - to be used or not to be used depending on people's preference. In 1993 Dave Day came up with the idea of a Maghull Day of Music. The first one was a roaring success. Technically in those days it was more like a week-long festival of music, with various events being held in both the Town Hall and other venues. As the years went by this was whittled down to just the Day of Music with a concert on the Friday night. Dave secured funding from both Maghull and Sefton Councils and to this day their support has been invaluable. This year sees our 15th Day of Music and I think anyone who has ever attended one will agree its one of the highlights of the year. A small committee of seven drawn from the Folk Club, organise this every year. |
We can't
begin to thank enough all those from the local clubs and further afield
who
come and support us each year. In 1996 we suffered the tragic loss of
our leader and mentor, Dave Day. I can't put into words how much we -
and the wider Folk community - owe to his enthusiasm, ideas and general
determination.
What do you do in such sad circumstances -
carry on or give up? It would have been an insult to the man to even consider giving up. With the full support of his wife - Jane - we carried on with a new vigour. The club continued with the same hard core of residents and even more coming on board. As we approached the millenium it was obvious that things were not all sugar and spice in our venue - the brewery had plans for one pub which didn't include us. We carried on there until early 2001 when - with a touch of irony - we found there was a room available upstairs at the Maghull Community Association (the MCA.). From the minute we opened up there in February of that year we have enjoyed it and prospered. Even newer residents and audience have become part of us and it shows no signs of stopping. Looking back over those 25 years some of the highlights for me - and I suspect for many others - were the night half of the cast of Emmerdale turned up with Maxi and Mitch (and nobody had a camera!); the night I brought along the actor Geoff Hughes to surprise Vin Garbutt; the night we had Mary Black, making her last appearance in an English Folk Club, etc. etc. The range of us guests we've had on - Martin Simpson, Andy Irvine, Charlie Landsborough, Niamh Parsons, Jule Felix, Kate Rusby I could go on and on. For
me though the strength of the club has always been it's
family' feel. We've always tried to make people welcome and will continue to do so. I should take this opportunity to pay tribute to Joe Ryan, our treasurer for every day of those 25 years. He has been one of the main reasons for our success. I'm proud to have been associated with this club for 25 years and even prouder to be Chairman. The friends I've made and the people that I've met through the existence of this club mean more to me than all the money in the world. I dedicate this article to those who have helped build us and who are no longer with us - Dave Day, Phil Boardman, George Gallimore, Len Nolan, Nicky Nolan, and Harry Forsyth. Tony
Gibbons
-Chairman, Maghull Folk Club
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