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Folkal Point :: 11 December 2009 - by Simon
Last Saturday we held the first in our series of 'Folkal Point' fund-raising nights at the Fermain Tavern.
Thanks to everyone for all your support and to the musicians for such an inspirational evening, it was unforgettable. You can find a review of the night on the BBC website: CLICK HERE
Thanks to Tim for these great photos (find these and more at: http://www.photof8.co.uk/galleries/3FokalPoint/):
Colette Esteves
Shaun from The John Wesley Stone
The John Wesley Stone
Nessi G
The Barley Dogs
Jam Session
Jam Session
Last Saturday we held the first in our series of 'Folkal Point' fund-raising nights at the Fermain Tavern.
Thanks to everyone for all your support and to the musicians for such an inspirational evening, it was unforgettable. You can find a review of the night on the BBC website: CLICK HERE
Thanks to Tim for these great photos (find these and more at: http://www.photof8.co.uk/galleries/3FokalPoint/):
Colette Esteves
Shaun from The John Wesley Stone
The John Wesley Stone
Nessi G
The Barley Dogs
Jam Session
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- 15/12/2009
Tracy says: “What a wonderful evening this was! I didn't stop dancing until the wee smalls! When is the next one going to be?”
Sark Sessions :: 09 November 2009 - by Simon
We were really excited to be back in Sark again this weekend... this time it was Ed, Sarah, and myself, and we went armed with instruments!
With gales blowing in from the West the crossing was just a tad lumpy but the Sark ferries are stubborn work-horses of boats and it takes a bit more then that to put them off.
With Sark Shipping now operating their winter timetable we were very limited with our time in Sark... the last ferry of the weekend back to Guernsey was at noon on Saturday.
Friday night was spent meeting a few more Sark residents and playing music in the Bel Air, and the Mermaid. Both places were really welcoming to us and we had a brilliant time! We even won 3 prizes in the meat draw! (but forgot to collect the prizes before we got on the Ferry!)... That night we were kindly put up by Michelle in one of her thatched guest cottages.
Despite the late night we just about made it up in time to meet with Ray at 9:30 to talk about Marquees, Sound gear, and toilets.... after that we cycled off for another quick exploration of our potential festival site, and then it was down to the harbour on the back of Michelle's tractor, and back to Guernsey.
We are starting to make rapid progress, the festival is really beginning to take shape now.
Thanks to Darren for the pics, and his didgeridoo playing!
-- Simon
Session in Bel Air
We were really excited to be back in Sark again this weekend... this time it was Ed, Sarah, and myself, and we went armed with instruments!
With gales blowing in from the West the crossing was just a tad lumpy but the Sark ferries are stubborn work-horses of boats and it takes a bit more then that to put them off.
With Sark Shipping now operating their winter timetable we were very limited with our time in Sark... the last ferry of the weekend back to Guernsey was at noon on Saturday.
Friday night was spent meeting a few more Sark residents and playing music in the Bel Air, and the Mermaid. Both places were really welcoming to us and we had a brilliant time! We even won 3 prizes in the meat draw! (but forgot to collect the prizes before we got on the Ferry!)... That night we were kindly put up by Michelle in one of her thatched guest cottages.
Despite the late night we just about made it up in time to meet with Ray at 9:30 to talk about Marquees, Sound gear, and toilets.... after that we cycled off for another quick exploration of our potential festival site, and then it was down to the harbour on the back of Michelle's tractor, and back to Guernsey.
We are starting to make rapid progress, the festival is really beginning to take shape now.
Thanks to Darren for the pics, and his didgeridoo playing!
-- Simon
Session in Bel Air
Session in The Bel Air
Session in The Mermaid
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- 09/11/2009
Marie-Dom says: “I think I should have been there! Feeling disgruntled that I didn't get to make music!!! Looks like you all had a grand time, inspite of the weather. I'm coming next time!! LOL
MD
x”
Sark, Sark, Sark... :: 25 October 2009 - by Simon
This weekend myself and Ed took the ferry across to Sark from Guernsey to meet up with some of our festival buddies and to begin working out some of the logistical challenges that lie ahead.
We arrived on a wet and wind-swept Friday evening with just enough daylight left to hire some bikes and head off to visit one of the main contentders for our festival site. The site was only 5min cycle ride from the village, and dispite the bad weather we enjoyed every second of it. On arrival we were blown away by the amazing vista that lay before us. Facing north-west this field had panoramic sea views of Brechou, Guernsey, Herm, Jethou, Alderney, and on a clear day (i.e. not today!), France.
Our next stop was to meet up with Darren who was kindly putting us up for the night, but on the way, still with a bit of light left, we decided to head off across the Coupée to Little Sark. We were half way across, admiring the dramatic scenery, when Ed spotted this face staring at us from the cliff face opposite... with the mist rolling in now and the light almost gone it was very eerie!
Once the light had gone we met up with Darren who had just finished putting together some brilliant video footage of this year's celebration of the sea, so watched some of that, talked festival for a little while and then headed down to Hugo's bar... after getting a little lost in the dark lanes, with nothing but the torch light on my mobile phone to illuminate our path, we arrived at Hugo's very soggy and slightly saddle sore. Hugo's is a really nice little bar and restaurant with live music two or three nights each week - very friendly staff who were really excited to hear more about our plans and I'm sure will become involved with our preparations over the coming months.
Saturday was a little hectic, we had many people to meet with and needed (but didn't want!) to be on the 5 o'clock ferry back to Guernsey, so after a full English in AJ's cafe on the avenue we headed off on a tour of the island. Everybody that we met was really excited to hear how we were getting on with our planning and fully supportive of the event, it is great to have so many fantastic people behind us and sharing our vision! Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat to us and offer us advice, especially Darren, Michelle, Jared, Paul, Carline, Budgie, Tom, Geraldine, Linda, Kevin, Lawrence, and everyone else!
Simon & Ed
This weekend myself and Ed took the ferry across to Sark from Guernsey to meet up with some of our festival buddies and to begin working out some of the logistical challenges that lie ahead.
We arrived on a wet and wind-swept Friday evening with just enough daylight left to hire some bikes and head off to visit one of the main contentders for our festival site. The site was only 5min cycle ride from the village, and dispite the bad weather we enjoyed every second of it. On arrival we were blown away by the amazing vista that lay before us. Facing north-west this field had panoramic sea views of Brechou, Guernsey, Herm, Jethou, Alderney, and on a clear day (i.e. not today!), France.
Our next stop was to meet up with Darren who was kindly putting us up for the night, but on the way, still with a bit of light left, we decided to head off across the Coupée to Little Sark. We were half way across, admiring the dramatic scenery, when Ed spotted this face staring at us from the cliff face opposite... with the mist rolling in now and the light almost gone it was very eerie!
Saturday was a little hectic, we had many people to meet with and needed (but didn't want!) to be on the 5 o'clock ferry back to Guernsey, so after a full English in AJ's cafe on the avenue we headed off on a tour of the island. Everybody that we met was really excited to hear how we were getting on with our planning and fully supportive of the event, it is great to have so many fantastic people behind us and sharing our vision! Thanks to everyone who took the time to chat to us and offer us advice, especially Darren, Michelle, Jared, Paul, Carline, Budgie, Tom, Geraldine, Linda, Kevin, Lawrence, and everyone else!
Simon & Ed
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The ticking clock.... :: 21 October 2009 - by Sark Folk Festival
Hello all! We're gearing up for the committee meeting tonight, and I thought I'd drop you all a line to say please feel free to come along and to share your ideas.
With the realisation that SFF will actually take place in 9 MONTHS TIME, we are getting very excited and are throwing ourselves into organising. We know that, with everyone's support, we can make this a great success!
It's also time to think seriously about the possibility of a Christmas fundraiser. If any islander, mainlander or other unspecified folk appreciator would like to offer their charitable services to us, please get in touch, we'd love your help!
On another note, it was great to see Nessi G at the Cock & Bull the other night - what a fantastic evening, we think she's great!!
Thanks for your help and support once again!
S & C
Hello all! We're gearing up for the committee meeting tonight, and I thought I'd drop you all a line to say please feel free to come along and to share your ideas.
With the realisation that SFF will actually take place in 9 MONTHS TIME, we are getting very excited and are throwing ourselves into organising. We know that, with everyone's support, we can make this a great success!
It's also time to think seriously about the possibility of a Christmas fundraiser. If any islander, mainlander or other unspecified folk appreciator would like to offer their charitable services to us, please get in touch, we'd love your help!
On another note, it was great to see Nessi G at the Cock & Bull the other night - what a fantastic evening, we think she's great!!
Thanks for your help and support once again!
S & C
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Welcome to Sark! :: 10 October 2009 - by Sark Folk Festival
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the very first blog of the very first Sark Folk Festival (SFF), which will, as you know, be taking place on the beautiful and extraordinary island of Sark on 2nd-4th July 2010. We're so excited about this festival as we know it's going to be something really quite special. Sark's a place like no other- a car-free, green, craggy, sunny, breathtaking island in the English Channel that stays with people forever. Mervyn Peake wrote novels about it, Nigel Kennedy named his son in honour of it and Martin Clunes won't stop talking about it!
But even more important than the opinion of these charming men has been the reaction of you all to the idea of a festival on Sark. Since SFF's Myspace birth about three months ago, we've been delighted and amazed to hear from legions of Sark-loving folkies. We've listened in amazement to people's experiences, we've shared some of their fondest memories and we've been infected by people's excitement both about this festival and about the prospect of returning to Sark once more. I can't emphasise enough how much this has meant to us and has made us, if possible, even more committed and excited about this event. So hats off to you guys for supporting us so early on in the game. And please keep the stories coming - we never get tired of hearing them!
That's Sark. And now to Folk. We're delighted about the amazing Mary Hampton and Ruth Notman who are both confirmed to play for us next year - their music fits with Sark wonderfully and we can't wait to hear them on our own turf! We're also very pleased to have been in the Guernsey Press this week - we're on our way!
The Channel Islands have so much musical talent and recently, the Guernsey folk scene has been seized by a whole new life (if you're based in Guernsey like us, head into town to Market Square most Saturdays, or up to the Cock & Bull on Thursday night for proof!). From great young singer/ songwriters like Lydia Jane to traditional shanty singers like GU10, we've got so much to celebrate and to introduce to the world (yes, you guys are the world. No pressure).
And this is just Guernsey! We're trying to find out as much as possible about Jersey, Alderney and Sark musicians and although we've already met some fantastic Channel Island folk artists through doing this - the legendary Tom Bliss from Alderney and fantastic Jersey Bob to name just two - we're constantly aware that some elusive individuals will be slipping under the radar. Please - if you are an elusive individual,who happens to be an awesome folk singer musician please get in touch with us!
So what have we been doing recently? As it's the first Sark Folk Festival, our funds are understandably very limited. Therefore at the moment we're contacting as many Channel Island-based companies as possible in the hope of getting sponsorship and funding. We're really pleased that we've had a few encouraging words from people but we know we've got a long way to go if we want to make this festival as successful as it could be. If anyone has any good ideas for companies we can contact or if you're a potential sponsor, or even if you'd like to make a donation, we'd love to hear from you.
We're also about to kick off our fundraising in earnest. There's talk of a Christmas fundraiser which will be something pretty spectacular - if anyone
would like to play, sing or dance to help us raise some cash, please drop us a line. More of this to come in blog no.2!
I think that's it for us for now. We'll keep you updated. A very important last word though - the Sark Folk Festival committee meets roughly once a month on the Cock & Bull pub. If you're interested in getting involved in any way, please get in touch with us, we'd love to hear from you.
Till next time!
C & S
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the very first blog of the very first Sark Folk Festival (SFF), which will, as you know, be taking place on the beautiful and extraordinary island of Sark on 2nd-4th July 2010. We're so excited about this festival as we know it's going to be something really quite special. Sark's a place like no other- a car-free, green, craggy, sunny, breathtaking island in the English Channel that stays with people forever. Mervyn Peake wrote novels about it, Nigel Kennedy named his son in honour of it and Martin Clunes won't stop talking about it!
But even more important than the opinion of these charming men has been the reaction of you all to the idea of a festival on Sark. Since SFF's Myspace birth about three months ago, we've been delighted and amazed to hear from legions of Sark-loving folkies. We've listened in amazement to people's experiences, we've shared some of their fondest memories and we've been infected by people's excitement both about this festival and about the prospect of returning to Sark once more. I can't emphasise enough how much this has meant to us and has made us, if possible, even more committed and excited about this event. So hats off to you guys for supporting us so early on in the game. And please keep the stories coming - we never get tired of hearing them!
That's Sark. And now to Folk. We're delighted about the amazing Mary Hampton and Ruth Notman who are both confirmed to play for us next year - their music fits with Sark wonderfully and we can't wait to hear them on our own turf! We're also very pleased to have been in the Guernsey Press this week - we're on our way!
The Channel Islands have so much musical talent and recently, the Guernsey folk scene has been seized by a whole new life (if you're based in Guernsey like us, head into town to Market Square most Saturdays, or up to the Cock & Bull on Thursday night for proof!). From great young singer/ songwriters like Lydia Jane to traditional shanty singers like GU10, we've got so much to celebrate and to introduce to the world (yes, you guys are the world. No pressure).
And this is just Guernsey! We're trying to find out as much as possible about Jersey, Alderney and Sark musicians and although we've already met some fantastic Channel Island folk artists through doing this - the legendary Tom Bliss from Alderney and fantastic Jersey Bob to name just two - we're constantly aware that some elusive individuals will be slipping under the radar. Please - if you are an elusive individual,who happens to be an awesome folk singer musician please get in touch with us!
So what have we been doing recently? As it's the first Sark Folk Festival, our funds are understandably very limited. Therefore at the moment we're contacting as many Channel Island-based companies as possible in the hope of getting sponsorship and funding. We're really pleased that we've had a few encouraging words from people but we know we've got a long way to go if we want to make this festival as successful as it could be. If anyone has any good ideas for companies we can contact or if you're a potential sponsor, or even if you'd like to make a donation, we'd love to hear from you.
We're also about to kick off our fundraising in earnest. There's talk of a Christmas fundraiser which will be something pretty spectacular - if anyone
would like to play, sing or dance to help us raise some cash, please drop us a line. More of this to come in blog no.2!
I think that's it for us for now. We'll keep you updated. A very important last word though - the Sark Folk Festival committee meets roughly once a month on the Cock & Bull pub. If you're interested in getting involved in any way, please get in touch with us, we'd love to hear from you.
Till next time!
C & S
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- 11/10/2009
PaulW says: “Sounds brilliant! What an amazing venue. Can't wait! Good luck with the funding.”
