TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Went for a bit of a ramble at Broughton Castle on Sunday.  I know FC did a fest here in the early 80s (81? 82?).  I'd be interested to hear more about this...were any future Talkawhilers in attendance?  Why was the fest moved from Cropredy for one year...what was the attendance etc....?

Ah! "Moat on the Ledge" 8)

Err, no Slippy, I wasn't there. Sorry.

Someone will be along in a minute........... ::)

Me. I was there..... ;D

14th - 15th August 1981, no I wasn't and dunno...........flooding at Cropredy perhaps? Rental negotiations for fields broke down?

That was the move from the farm field (Peewit) in 1980 to the current site in '82, via Broughton Castle. My guess was that Lord & Lady were happy to host, and someone otyher than the band organised.

Maybe Simon will come in & fill us in?

Cloudy memories this far on: but you must remember that the numbers involved back then were relatively small and Health and Safety were words yet to meet in the same sentence. Peggy may have had difficulties with changes of land ownership (farms were changing hands thick and fast then) but whatever, he got one of the Voluntary Charity groups somehow involved that year. Lions, Rotary, Buffalos - if I knew which I forget now. Anyway it was a joint promotion and it was through the good offices of the Banburyshire business mafia that the Castle became our home for 1981. As a horse designed by committee resembles a camel, it was soon clear that things would run more smoothly if controlled in-house. So we moved back to our natural home.

I was there - I still have my commemorative tankard.  GPs topped Friday and Fairport Saturday with the Full House line-up in blistering form.  Great festival.

I've got the video...  ;D

I was there too and I think I had a good time. I seem to remember Theakstons doing the beer in those days and I consumed rather a lot of Old Peculiar. The Full House line up was terrific though.

I was there. Me and my mate Steve went because I wanted to see something (anything) with Dave Mattacks in it. I had no other reason for going at the time (big fan). We stopped off at an off licence in Banbury 'cos we were'nt sure if there was going to be any alcohol on sale(!)
Chris Pegg sold us our tickets on the gate, and we parked at the top of the field (only one field for everything). Our tent had fallen out of my van on the way, but we didn't realise 'till we got there, so we had to sleep in the back of the van. Nice.
I remember Simon and Andrew Loake playing Friday, and again on Saturday as the bill was 'short'. Still got their album (whatever happend to them?)
The GP's were brilliant, my first exposure to RT.
On the Saturday Earl Okin actually offered a lift to London to anyone who was 'going back early'. As if we would.
On the Saturday we had a film (In One End and Out the Other) before Fairport. Stve's jaw hit the floor when Swarb started playing, neither of us had seen anything like it.
As a result my music listening tastes changed completly, within a couple of years we'd formed the mighty Blackadder folk-rock band (still going strong) and I've not missed a Cropredy since.
In fact I'm going all misty just thinking about it.

I was there. I have a hazy memory that we miscalculated the number of people we could get in the car on the way back and left one of our group to sleep at the sitewithout sleeping bag or tent!

I was also there; it's a bit of a hazy memory now, but I remember the Loakes, the GPs & of course, FC on superb form. And I do remember our own fair Jude shyly taking the stage and singing like an angel.

And a morris side doing a dance that involved each pair/couple downing pints (of lager, sadly) at regular intervals.  I may be wrong, but I think Chris Leslie might have been playing fiddle...  (it might not even have been at Broughton, but at Croppers the previous year?)

Roll on August!!!

A rather lovely "Both Sides Now" I believe? I loved that album. Is it still about?

Hi,
Now we`re thinking about it Broughton Castle is probably my favorite "Cropredy".
The Gps were great, (Best Headliner!)
the film...!
Captain Cocos Country Dance Band  :) bring them back. Now.

We were there.

Recall their Lord and Ladyship being upset by something in the crowd .... was it someone in the moat, or offending them verbally ?

Seems like a lifetime ago - well, it was !!

ahh..yes...I remember also cheers at the updates over the PA regarding the progress of the Ashes test match at Old Trafford.  Botham hit 118 off the Assie quicks, including 6 sixes, showing scant respect for the great Denis Lillee.

It's now on Talking Elephant  ;D

I think

It is indeed  :D One more version of Walk Awhile to annoy H with, and such royalties as a forthcoming ahoy!  ;D

http://tinyurl.com/2dzena

Me? I would have been there, but for the fact that it changed venue & I was a week late!

After the Zeppelin Knebworth show where I thought FC were second best only to LZ that day, I went in search of albums. Having got most of what was then available, I started asking about, only to find that there was one gig in 1980, at Cropredy, and I missed it.

So I made a beeline for Cropredy on the weekend that I had heard that the 1981 gig was on, only to find out when I walked into one of the pubs (I forget which) that it had already passed me by the previous weekend, and at Broughton Castle, not Cropredy.

Ho hum, I thought.....so I made sure the following year & I've been ever since!

Broughton Castle 1981 was my first "Cropredy". I had been a Fairport fan for well over ten years, but had never met any of them. I arrived early on friday. The Full House line-up (who I'd never seen on stage before) were soundchecking and I got to talk to everyone and a few more. Swarb smilingly signed my freshly bought copy of "Smiddyburn".

But my fondest memory of that festival was the kindness of Simon. I was a massive collector at the time (still am, of course). The only Fairport tracks I didn't have in my collection were two live numbers on a Various Artists live double album from the Nyon Folk Festival a few years earlier.

When Simon found out, he went straight home, found a spare promotional copy of the album and took it back to the site, signed it and handed it over with a big smile and a cheerful "have a nice evening".

No wonder why we love these guys...

I even got to see Jude on stage for the first time ever. Thought I'd never see it. From my position close to the stage, it looked like a rather nervous Jude, though. Simon told us "she says she wants to go home". We were all glad you didn't, Jude.

And yes, the GP's were a total knock-out. The atmosphere and excitement we felt coming from the stage doesn't really come across on the CD.

As a fledgling music journalist I wrote a two page report for my music paper on the event. It wouldn't be my last report on the festival over the years, I assure you. Some years later I went on everyone's last and only nerve with detailed radio interviews for a one hour special I did for national radio in Norway on their 20th anniversary. Now even that is 20 years in the past. Suddenly I feel *very* old.

T-R

I was there too. I remember someone building a bonfire somewhere afterwards and singing round it long into the night. Happy times. The GPs were definitely a great headliner.

The only downside was my friend spilled milk all over the boot of the car......it stank until I sold it

I never made it to Broughton Castle, but a friend (who was a police inspector at the time) was the bag-man. He sat in a caravan in the grounds, drinking Guiness, while the people on the gate brought him carrier bags full of cash. He doesn't remember how much money he was sat on by the end of the evening, but it was a fair old pile. They had overdone it with the Guiness, as they had ordered a tanker full, most of which ended up being wasted, the state my friend was in!

Cheers,

Jules  :)

How did you manage to sell spilt milk?

He had to do something with it - there was no use crying over it!

 ;D

Jules

Out of interest... is it pronounced "Bruffton", "Browton", "Brawton" or something else?

You can't fool me - I know a trick question when I see one!

It is pronounced "it".

 ;D

Jules

Brawton...

But is it Carsul or Casul?? ;D ;D ;D

Broughton Castle was terrific. I had been to a Cropredy in 77 but this was something bigger.And also, formally my favourite band wasn't a band anymore so this could be the last time ( great song title by the way) I'd be able to see the disbanded band perform. The anticipation rose with the amazing Full House-line up gig n The Half Moon earlier that week and the weekend was no disappointment. Great atmosphere, Theakstons -although my tankard didn't last a decade - Old Peculier  was new to me then and fantastic music. I've always felt that "Moat on the ledge" could have been "fuller", there were more good song's that could have made it onto the record, but maybe the result or the recording wasn't up to the quality of the rest of the weekend. My remembrance is lying on the slope in the sun enjoying all the music. Aaahh nostalgia... :)
But now I look forward to August 11.
Staffan

aaargh......... :-[ :-[ :-[

One of the following acts at broughton, leonard nimoy, Mr Spock
Three men and a baby,
Who's was the baby?
http://www.wheredidtheyfilmthat.co.uk/film.php?film_id=253
Kevin

http://www.broughtoncastle.com/onfilm.htm
Nothing about Fairport?
surely.

kevin

The brawtonian's & residents both pronounce it carsul - and they should know!

I thought they might!!

 ;)

Just as it's 'barth' & not b-ath.....

I know, off-topic!

not if yoou come from oop narth chris!

This was really meant to be tongue in cheek..  :P

Let's celebrate our different accents & dialects!!

I can't speak at all with my tongue in my cheek..

DC

As long as that doesn't include Estuary English!

Didn't we have a thread roughly along those lines once? Miduck? ;)

WE did....which is why I won't break this out into The Arms for a repeat, unless there is a mass requirement?

 Only picture I could find of the lads at the castle:

               (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/fcfansite/miscellaneous/misc-bw-broughton.jpg)

   Didn't anyone take any photo's?  :-\

One mass requirement coming right up!

You require Mass Cocker..?

Didn't know you were a Roman...

Start it in the Arms please, Cocker, there's a good chap.

We did and its still there on page 3.

Sandra

minx

Hillman ??

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Insomnia strikes again ??

04:51 ??  :o

Well, it's Australia Day, so I guess Anji was up all night celebrating via satellite.

"celebrating via satellite"  ::)

Blimeyheck. I am going to try that  ;D ;D

Have played the CD in the car all travelling time today and I can thoroughly recommend it as a rattling good romp. Everyone's on extremely fine form and it's just as good, if not better than I remember it  :) You can get it from Talking Elephant or (and here's an idea) it's available for download. Anyone got any idea who's playing drums on which particular songs?
TRACKS
01.  Walk Awhile
02.  Country Pie
03.  Rosie
04.  Matty Groves
05.  Both Sides Now
06.  Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman
07.  The Brilliancy Medley/The Cherroke Shuffle
08.  Woman or a Man
09.  High School Confidential