… And what a fair it was! Food! Drink! Castle! Although, considerably less castle than you would imagine. Turns out, the bourgeois (or castle dwellers as they shall henceforth be known) are kept at a considerable distance from the common folk by ways of: moat (river?), fields, armaments (possibly), guard dogs (likely), archers (maybe) and an assortment of Christmas decorations from the 70’s (almost definitely). You know the ones, plastic, little, harmless lights in the shape of flowers - but can sever your toes at 50 paces. Although, we might suggest that 1 pace is quite enough to make a knight say ‘By gad! Ruddy hell-fire! Me toe!’ and make a speedy (though slightly impaired) tactical retreat. If only the castle dwellers knew how much money they could save with just one well-placed folk quartet!

We digress… (Good to have the usual blog writer back, eh?).

Those of you who know the band might be aware this was the first gig back after the heartbreak of losing Beth’s mum. She still isn’t really sure where she put her. Amongst the other precious things that we squirrel away for safe keeping and forget just quite where that is. Unfortunately for Beth’s dad, he was squirreled away there too, a few years ago and now there is a very real possibility that they are squirreled together… sorry Pete.

And what a great first gig back! Back into the comforting arms of our great mate Graham (nepotism who?). Now, usually with Kootch, Graham, and an outdoor gig, it’s an open invitation to God to begin the End of Days and send forth his floods. However, today God had donned his flip-flops and taken a short holiday while we enjoyed glorious sunshine.

Graham, as always, deftly handled our 300 inputs, 4 mics, 4 guitars, 1 banjo, 1 fiddle, 1 mandolin, 1 cajon, 1 maraca in the shape of a frog, 1 coffee tin filled with raisins and 4 hearts full of hope and the joy of sharing music.

We had such a good day and it was so lovely to see so many people sitting, listening, dancing, singing, herding dogs, herding children, buying merch, following us on socials and even a lovely email, mid Eastenders-Omnibus, to say how bloody great we are. Our deaf and blind patrons are our favourites.

Love, Harmonies, Cwtch,
Kootch
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