Keith’s Kolumn autumn/winter 08/09

Howdy Potato Diggers. We’ve had a busy and varied programme during the cold season…

A wedding dance in the Essex triangle (west of Chelmsford… in the middle of nowhere for us townies) 

Dave’s party at Southend’s Ekco Club featuring an Elvis impersonator. The dance was featured as part of the Big National Ceilidh night (http://www.bignationalceilidh.co.uk/site/) with the band making a donation to Water Aid

Angela’s party in North Stifford village hall featured many cowchildren and pots and pots of delicious home made food

Works staff party in Dunmow featuring a fancy dress contest, a bucking bronco and Paddy Beadle’s debut on melodeon for the Potatoes. One of the punters likened my microphone style to that of Tony Blair

Couple of bar appearances in the Smack at Old Leigh

Hoy at Anchor folk club and Hornchurch Queens theatre shows where enthusiastic and responsive audiences listen to our numbers

Jan 09 – party for birthdays and anniversary – young Dolly Parton fans (and lookalikes), a morris dancer and an MP were among the dancing guests

Most recently there were at least five sets dancing on the tiny Ceilidh club dancefloor at Southend Rugby Club… a booking we’ve now done for 30 years!   http://www.grandceilidhclub.org.uk/

Hope to see you at the next dance!

Keith

We're based in Leigh-on-Sea, four miles west of Southend-on-Sea, Essex - 40 miles (65 km) east of London, England.

"One of Britain's best barn dance bands" - Andy Kershaw

Forthcoming Events

If you arrive here and get an out-of-date forthcoming events list, please visit our MySpace site.

We're playing for a charity barn dance in Rayleigh, Essex, on Saturday 9 May - contact Andy on 07889 421012 for tickets.

And we'll be playing in the Peter Boat car park on the Sunday afternoon of the Leigh Folk Festival, Saturday-Sunday 27-28 June.

We're busy most weeks, but almost all our events are for private functions - weddings, engagement parties, anniversaries, birthdays, private clubs etc. We're sorry if you would like to come and see us and find that there aren't any events you can make, but this is just how the bookings go!

We play about once a quarter for the Grand Ceilidh Club at Southend Rugby Club - phone John on 01702 203695 for details. This is a club that meets every Wednesday with a live band, and is very deserving of your support. Please note that the club is for members and guests only, so contact them first for an invitation to a free visit. We're next playing there on Wednesday 29 April.

See our new section featuring Keith's own barn dance instructions! There are now two dances for you to try...