TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Despite heavy advertising in all the local papers, the apathetic burghers of Hereford failed to respond in droves to the first ever appearance in their locale of the near legendary David Hughes. Those that did attend however, were treated to a superb concert of outstanding musicianship,  laconic humour  and there was even time for a World Premiere of an original Hughes song re-written by three girls from Year 5 at the school; who put new words to Fifty Yards.This served as a delightful encore and made at least one of the girls (Emily my daughter) beam with delight ;D
 
How many nine year olds have poster of David Hughes on their bedroom wall [;-)

A post gig meal at a local Chinese restaurant saw a goodly proportion of the audience in attendance and top marks to Anji who travelled the length of country to appear.David confessed to having taken a detour to visit the sacred shrine that is Edgar Street (home of Hereford United) and football became the topic for conversation on the day that Liverpool were admitted into the Champions League.

All said and done a lovely way to spend an evening  :D

Cheers Nigel

When Jill and I promoted at the Bonington Theatre on the outskirts of Nottingham we had an awful job getting people to turn out. The apathy was, in fact, overwhelming. Now we're doing Farnsfield, a village about 12 miles to the north of Nottingham, we're finding average audiences are double what they were. It's hard to understand.

I really sympathise, Nigel, because it's an awful lot of work whether anyone turns up or not. At least you got to see the incomparable (and, no doubt, ubiquitous) Mr Hughes.

Congratulations Nigel.. can we see the rewritten words to 50 yards please??

Well done to all concerned :)

AmyJen

Probably goes to show that those willing to turn out for this kind of music in your area live outside the big toiwns & prefer to drive to a village, rather than into the big town / city.

I know Malvern is similar.....so the gigs were taken to Colwall village Hall & the attendance rocketed.

Here's the re-write,enjoy [;-)


My Old School                   by Emily Twigg, Naomi Scott and Voirrey Jones  (Year 5)

My old school has got no teachers
My old school has got no chairs
My old school has got no tables
My old school has broken stairs

My old school was built on open ground
So people used to say
It was built so very high
It was big in every way

My old school has got some carpets
That will sink beneath your feet
My old school is so untidy
There is nowhere nice to eat

And the classroom’s not the kind of place
The children like to go
Unless they really had to
Maybe once a week or so

My old school has got no playground
Except for parking space
And the school is getting older
And it’s cracking up the place

And worst of all about it
It’s so difficult to clean
And we haven’t seen the caretaker
Since 1970

My old school has got no whiteboards
And the windows are all smashed
The floor has got no colour
And our dinners are all mashed

The repairs were essential
And the windows they were too
The walls were painted blue and white
But what about the loo?

My old school the shape is wrong
It drives me round the bend
The way that things are going
Looks like this could be the end

I could be moving out to a new school
Nice new and clean
But my old school – I love it
It’s the best school I have seen

My old school – it’s
50 yards from Tupsley shop
50 yards from St Paul’s School
50 yards from Bishop’s Bluecoat
50 yards from any fool
50 yards down to the river
50 yards up to the town
50 yards is all I need
50 yards of solid ground

Nigel - the new revamped 50 yards is truly wonderful. Well done your Emily! ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D

And well done to you for organising and running the gig. It sounds like you all had a terrific time, and I only wish I could have been there.

Having said that, hoping for a Talkawhile Live moment myself in the not too distant future...... ;)

Cheers

Gower Flower  O0

Brilliant rewrite Nigel.. congrats to the authors!

Amy :)