Oxford Folk Festival 2006

[Nick]

Early night? what's an early night?

We swung wildly between nervous breakdown and fantastic high today. We saw a procession occupy the centre of Oxford with much jubilation. We saw the triumphant homecoming of Bellowhead. We grooved to Verity in the Cellar until our feet gave out and now we're eating chips and cheese and drinking port.

And we presented flowers to Sandy and Fi and Sandy and I got up on stage in front of a full house and waved an award around  and we danced and danced.

Cool!

Cheers

Nick

p.s. Eliza? Diamond. Nuthouse says sorry for throwing Sandra at you in the Cellar by the way.

[ollythedolly]

watched the Martin Carthy guitar workshop this morning. what a legend! i have spent most of the day messing around with his favorite tuning C G C D G A. i am annoyed i missed Waterson Carthy last night but it was great seeing Martin!
It has been a great festival! thanks to all those in charge and every one that helped in the organization and running
Olly.

[jude]

I hope you are all in one piece and satisfactory after the end of the festival.

It was brilliantly organised and fantastically run, (in my opinion anyway!) and I am just sorry I couldn't have been more help 

Jolly well hooray to you all!!!

Jude

[abby (tank girl)]

one piece, more than satisfactory, met loads of TAWers and had a generally great time.
Bellowhead - brill(contemporary, inovative, .. bit of a school play musical trip toward the close, but , hey....-and they were on course for the percusionist of the year award, until the welly dancing umpalooooompaa;s..), Winterset - better, black oompaloompa's - ( thet be eee..)yes!
fiddle and singing workshops - worth an early sunday morn and totally worth the effort!
indoor camping- easy.
kids- could've been worse.
atmosphere - great.
company - top quality!

great to meet sandy, chris, nuts, fi, adrian, GF, mic, bently bear, issy, ethan's granny, tash, ellie, nick, olly, anji, sian, boatgirl(and boatboy?)(i think?) SoN, strange yukon man, rachel unthank, frank skinner, eliza carthy, the oompaloompa's, andy irvine, pete cooper, chris leslie...................................
great time, even for non-city dwellers!  ( it took me a while to control my city centre panic attacks and not being able to see the tent......) on a side note, bus in, 320p, taxi out, 410p, math?
well done all and glad we were there.

[abby (tank girl)]

and someone i forgot, saturday afternoon, magpie lane, a little simpsons 'maggie' at the back with her parents, engaging everyone closeby, shuffling along on her knees with her dress hiding her feet, two little curly pigtails, chomping intermittently on her dody......ssssssoooooooo cute! the star of the weekend for me.
and our little angels dancing their socks off to bellowhead!

then sleeping all night without a peep in the indoor camping.

thanks kids!

[Suzanne]

Thanks to all who organised/attended/performed/stewarded etc for a GREAT Festival.  Some real treats and unexpected surprises in there.  I really enjoyed Magpie Lane and the John Dipper Band (I'd not heard of either before this weekend) and Black Umfolosi were stunning!   Spire were as great as ever and Flook rounded off the Town Hall events on a high note... pictures of a Talkawhiler dancing wildly during their set will be in my photo album very shortly (unless she wishes to bribe me otherwise ). 

Bentley Ben enjoyed himself too - he learned a lot in the Martin Carthy Guitar Workshop and now he wants a guitar of his own.  I've told him that he'll have to make do with a child's accordian until he's a bit bigger.  As for me, I was drooling over the accordians and that absolutely gorgeous bright pink electric violin   Lack of money and complete failure to play a violin stopped me buying it but I was thinking that, if I ever learn to play a violin, then that is the one I will buy.  However, if I win the lottery, I will buy it anyway and it will look nice on my bedroom wall.   I do know that somebody on this forum came away with a musical instrument but I will leave her to tell you all about it.

As for me, I know have 515 photographs downloaded and they need sorting out and labelling.  This may require a bit of help from Talkawhilers if I get stuck on names of individuals in bands but I will let you know.

[T]

Well, I wish I could remember more of the festival, it's all happened in a bit of a daze for me. I do apologise to any TAWers who didn't find out who I was, or did so in the last minute  -  and if I had had a voice to speak with, I'd chatted a lot more to all of you!

I had a very good time though, saw some great stuff, met some nice people, drank some interesting beverages (that Sloe Gin was rather nice, Vicky, as you can see from the empty bottle this morning!) and am looking forward to meeting you all again.

I'm back at w*rk now, left Oxford at a quarter to six this morning and am feeling ready for a new line in T-shirts:

Cool Rough As Folk^[TM]

[issy]

I only made it to Oxford for Saturday and spent most of that Morris Dancing... the sun had got his hat on so it was great! 

It was so good to see lots of TAWers - Gower Flower, Adrian, Nick, Sandy, Mic, Jude and Anji, Nuthouse and SoN...  and then I picked up a ticket for the evening  and got to see the John Dipper Band and Waterson Carthy, which I really enjoyed, having not seen either previously (Yes I know I live under a stone).   

Our own Chris Bates helped me to find out when I had to catch the train for which I am deeply grateful, (I dont do public transport would have got stranded without his help) and then I met Pete Standing, Ethans Granny, Ethans Mum et al, Groove Street and Jones and delightful children.

I couldn't stay for Bellowhead unfortunately but it was fantastic to see Rachel Unthank and the Winterset.  I saw Rachel and Becky in Towersey nearly 3 years ago when they were all giggles but clearly gifted.  All 4 of the Winterset women are massively talented and I wasnt sure why the name features Rachel specifically as all the women were equally prominent in their performance.  I thought they were quite stunning and am looking forward to seeing them again.

I was completely exhausted by the time I'd got home, and my legs ached for Britain (walking, standing, dancing etc) but it was a fabulous day.   Very Well Done to everyone involved in organising it, and next year I'll be there for the whole weekend 

Issy

[Mix (Mic)]

Excellent festival!!!!
First time I'd seen Bellowhead....won't be the last!!!!   The Oxford Waits on Friday night were absolutely brilliant!!!!! will also be looking eagerly for any of their future performances that I can get to
Wonderful to meet/meetup again with so many talkawhilers. I'll be volunteering for stewarding again next year, cos it's fantastic fun!!! (but won't be partaking of the indoor camping   nowt wrong with the camping, but this poor old f*rt can't do the sleeping on hard floors anymore )
Ahh yes, a talkawhiler that yielded to temptation....hmm, wonder who that was then? ? ? Me? buy a guitar? Moi?   oops!!!!! and two whistles (a C and a D....it says on them)  with my name engraved on them for free (a price I like)

Congratulations to Sandy, Fi, Nuts, Nick Tim and everyone who brought the festival to fruition... well done folks, a triumph!!!!!!

Never did find CreamT though

mic

[Boatgirl]

Boatboy and I had a fantastic time! Without a doubt it was the friendliest festival we've ever been to, and it was lovely to meet so many TAWers.

Highlights were Bellowhead (of course). Blinding set, bring on the album.
Also, Black Umfolosi (both performance and workshop were amazing). The sight of four barechested men made dragging myself out of bed SO worthwhile.

The Breton session in the Madding Crowd was brilliant, as was the DJ set in the Cellar.

I've been entertaining my workmates this morning with performances on my new kazoo. Boatboy came away with a ukelele, and wants to know if anyone is interested in forming a Yukons tribute band.
He'd like it to be known as The Ukes of Hazzard.

A massive, and I mean massive, thank you to Sandy, Chris, Fi, Nick, Stuart, Tim and everyone who made this cracking festival happen. You should all be very proud of yourselves!

Boatgirl xx

p.s if you see any pictorial evidence of an inebriated girl dancing wildly to Flook, that was my twin sister. Please rest assured, my good talkawhilers, that neither Boatboy or myself would ever behave in such a shocking fashion in public.

[Mab]

Hello there,

Just wanted to say a massive thanks on behalf of myself and bellowhead to Sandra, Fi, Chris, Nick and all the other talk-a-whilers working on the Oxford festival. I hope you're all having a very well deserved lie in this morning!

Thanks also to all the members of the board who voted for bellowhead in the Hancocks. What a beautiful award!

The band are on their way to Leeds as I type, for tonight's gig at the Irish Centre and we all look forward to catching up with many of you again soon at a gig somewhere!

All the best,

Kate 

[Sian]

The festival was fantastic and a big thankyou to the organisers Sandy Fi etc it was just brilliant.  I could only make Sat/Sun afternoon but the time I was there was fantastic.  The atmosphere was both relaxed and buzzy.  Cider was very potent.  Talkawhilers I met were just so lovely, nice to meet Groove St, Gower Flower, Mix, Adrian, Nuthouse, Nick, Fi, Sandy, Anji, (where was Cream T?)

A strange and unexpected highlight was the Parade.  The Castle setting for  the dancers was just spectacular and the parade by all the different sides into Cornmarket moved me to tears.  Well done everyone.  The dancing was great (especially Issy)

I hope to make for the whole thing next year as I missed out on so much.

[T]

Look, I was there. Honest. Standing at the bottom of the Town Hall staircase from midday to 4pm on Saturday, quite tall (unless you're Nick) at 6'2" and that's without the flipping big hat - not easy to miss! I was not covered in jam and clotted cream, though - which suppose was an oversight on my part for which I apologise. Undoubetdly there will be photographic evidence surfacing at some point, at which moment you'll be slapping your forehead saying "oh, that was him!"

Even our very own Sir Robert Peel managed to find me, and he's been dead for almost 176 years. 

PS: I've changed my avatar, since apparently I don't look anything like my last one. I reckon this one might give you a better idea, just imaging a black hat on top.

[abby (tank girl)]

i think i saw cream t on the balcony on saturday.....didnt see sir bob tho.........

and i'm sorry BG but i have hearde that there is already a yukons tribute band!

[Mix (Mic)]

I waved my wrist many times at the bottom of the stairs at the town hall.... I think I might know which one you were now, but I wish you'd said who you were    Sir Bob, another elusive personage!!!!   

mic

[Sian]

But I didn't see anyone who looked like a cross between Bill Bailey and Billy Connelly

[Nick]

Sir Bob was not elusive. Didn't you see him up at the front of the parade? He was the one with the bath chair artfully disguised as a hobby horse.

The way he negotiated a route for the procession right through the middle of the rockabilly band playing in Bonn Square was quite masterful  

[Sir Robert Peel]

It's all a bit of a blur.   

More anon..... when I find my teeth.

Peel

[T]

But Nick, to be fair: the incidence with the Rockabilly bass player and the bucket of hobby horse manure did cause a bit of a stir and Sir Bob's local colleagues diverted his bath chair at the end of the procession straight past the Town Hall for another couple of hundred yards before inviting him in "to help with their investigations".

Which reminds me, did we ever get enough money in the collection for his bail? At the last count there were only 3 shilling sixpence missing. I do hope he was released in time for the Cellar Bar party!

Ah, I see he turned up while I was typing this. Thank goodness!

[Mix (Mic)]

Sir Bob was not elusive. Didn't you see him up at the front of the parade? He was the one with the bath chair artfully disguised as a hobby horse.

The way he negotiated a route for the procession right through the middle of the rockabilly band playing in Bonn Square was quite masterful 

Ahhh!!!! I was a bit further back, and somewhat sidetracked by keeping my head out of the way of some incredibly enthusiastic men with sticks
Sadly, no one would let me have a stick    Suzanne thinks that this might have something to do with the ASBO

mic