Uncategorized

If the live feed should disappear Click Here to watch on Facebook
(You don’t need to be signed-in. Just click the full-screen arrows <>)

If the live feed should disappear Click Here to watch on Facebook
(You don’t need to be signed-in. Just click the full-screen arrows <>)

If the live feed should disappear Click Here to watch on Facebook
(You don’t need to be signed-in. Just click the full-screen arrows <>)

If the live feed should disappear Click Here to watch on Facebook
(You don’t need to be signed-in. Just click the full-screen arrows <>)

♫♪ We’ll keep a welcome in the Facebook,
We’ll keep a welcome in the Vale,
This land we love will still be singing.
When we come home again to…
meet up in person again once everything gets back to normal and this damn virus has been beaten!

I don’t know about you but I’m getting weary of this Covid malarkey now. I’m eager to get back to nights out at gigs, music venues and the theatre; back to seeing our friends again – in person – in groups of more than whatever number Doris decrees is acceptable at any random moment in time; back to gathering around a fire pit with our guitars; back to normality.

Okay. Rant over. What I am grateful for, is the way we have managed to keep our Ruthin AllStyles community together throughout these troubled times. I’m grateful for the enthusiasm with which forty-odd musicians record their songs each week and send in their videos for our Thursday night online get-together. Each week I am amazed, yet not surprised, at the talent that exists within a radius of a handful of miles of Ruthin, plus, of course, our welcome visitors from further afield.

This week was no exception. The theme was “Songs of Wales”. And I loved the lengths some of you went to, to produce something with a Welsh connection. There were some Welsh songs; there were some songs translated into Welsh; there were songs about Wales, songs by Welsh songwriters and by Welsh recording artists.

For our “Starting in three minutes” intro this week, we had a lovely traditional rendition of Calon Lan sung by Eirlys Jones and Ruthin’s Y Porthmyn choir.

There was even a song specially written about Ruthin AllStyles by Jenny and Norm. And I just can’t stop smiling when I think about non-Welsh-speaking Peter Leslie’s song that he wrote with lyrics taken from bi-lingual road signs.  Absolute magic!

Week 26
Yes, six months of running the club online. Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun! This week was the first time I had to fly solo – my co-pilot and glamorous assistant having had two teeth extracted that afternoon. I so missed having her there by my side, and by all accounts, she was missed by you guys too. Jayne has asked me to pass on her thanks and gratitude for all the get well messages

Next Thursday the theme is Short Songs.
Short songs!  What is this nonsense Birchall speaks of? Well, the eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed we didn’t remove the calendar listing which said that September 17th would be a guest night at The Feathers, featuring that ever-popular …ahem …boy band from Chester, Welcomme Finnan and Chrimes. It would have been a crime not to have welcomed them back to Ruthin AllStyles, so we will be presenting a 25 minute set from John, Frank and Andy – hence the need for short songs to ensure all our regulars get a chance of a virtual floor spot.

It’s going to be a great night. See you Thursday at 8.00pm sharp.

If the live feed should disappear Click Here to watch on Facebook
(You don’t need to be signed-in. Just click the full-screen arrows <>)

Yes, the smiles came thick and fast on our fun-filled virtual trip across the Mersey, to the Albert Dock, past the Beatles Statue, and onward to Matthew Street.

The scene was set in the intro with a video of the Mersey Ferry (courtesy of North Wales YouTuber Michael R Gentry) to the accompaniment of Gerry Marsden’s “Ferry Across the Mersey” sung by our favourite ex-pat scouser, Joe Lyon.

The Liverpool Sound was very much in evidence throughout the evening with some cracking songs, thirty-eight in all, and I loved the way that those which were not even related to Merseyside were given a sometimes rather tenuous connection by their performers.

With kind permission from another YouTuber, Paul Frost, we were able to present most of the show aboard the Royal Iris on a Mersey Ferry Cruise from Woodside to the Pierhead, with some stunning views of the Liverpool seafront.

Wirral’s country duo, Sarah-Lou and Jimmy Rae, aka Tennessee Waltz, were the last guest night performers at The Feathers before we went into lock-down.

So it was fitting that they should sing Jimmy’s wonderful anthem “Under the Mersey Moon”, for our finale spot, hilariously accompanied by Sarah’s cat, Jazzy, on tambourine.