A Bumper Week

It was indeed a bumper week – in more ways than one!
For a start we had 36 through the door, despite the fact the summer months are generally quieter. Exactly half of those were performers, giving us a bumper crop of songs and tunes.
There was a lot going on in the area too, not least of which was the two day GraigAid Festival at Graigfechan. It featured a bumper crop of local musicians, many of whom are frequent visitors to the club, as did the Folk on the Farm Festival on the isle of Anglesey the week before.
Away from the music, I had a bumper week myself. Retirement is supposed to be a time for pipe and slippers, but I just seem to be busier than ever. Besides which, I don’t smoke, nor do I possess a pair of slippers.
Last weekend I was treated to a surprise unbirthday gathering of all five of my children, their various spouses and partners, grandchildren, plus a cousin or two for good measure.

This all happened at the excellent Nant y Felin restaurant in Llanrhaedr, organised by my sneaky, but otherwise lovely, wife 🙂
The long and short of it is that here we are, very late on Wednesday night, six days after our bumper music night, and I’m only just getting around to write about it!
The list of floor spots is so long, you’d need a Tom Tom to navigate through it. Suffice to say it started with a Tom of the Degney variety, and ended with a Tom of the Goodall variety. And every performance in between was excellent and inspiring.
So for this week’s blog, I’m going to leave you with some photos, a roll call, and a soundbite from Mr Goodall’s finale spot. This was a beautiful self-penned song called “Last Days of Life”, that left me, along with many others choked with emotion.

Roll Call
Tom and Lynda Degney
Richard and Wendy Eastwood
Richard Ruthin
Bob and Penni Neale
David Rees
Glyn Hudson
Joe Lyon
Chris
Jane Harvey
Cath Bryan
Enid Toft & Neil Wilkinson
Peter Leslie
Pete & Di
Tom Goodall
Last Days of Life by Tom Goodall
Click to listen