a minstrel at the minster

It’s been a while since I have been to Nottingham which was my first stop on the way to Southwell, a delightful small town in Nottinghamshire. The Town has a long history and was a favourite of King John who liked to hunt in nearby Sherwood Forest. Charles the First spent his last night as a free man at The Saracens Head and this was the hostelry arranged for my overnight stay by my host. It was in the cobbled courtyard of the Saracens Head that I met up with Simon, Elaine his wife and some of their friends on a glorious summers day.

rock n roll - elaine yours truly and birthday boy ian

The main street of the town reminded me of shops when I was kid. I remember Alf Hoffman who had his cobbler business in Smith St Warwick and host of other family businesses who’s names were signed over their shops. It was nice to be in a town where the family business is still a main feature of local commerce. In Southwell the shoe emporium is called Broughton’s.

After I had dumped my gear and had a cup of tea we all went over the road for an Italian dinner. After meeting up with most of the people who would be attending the show later on and having dined judiciously, so as to avoid being too full to sing, Simon and I made our way down the street to the venue for the rest of the evening.

greg sarah helen bob and joanne

There was a pa available but I opted for the simple set up of my Tanglewood guitar and my precious little Roland Mobile Cube amplifier. I don’t need a vocal microphone when in this mode and it makes recording the shows very easy.
This event was a birthday present from Simon to his long time friend and fellow adventurer Ian who is a Mental health Nurse. I have never been a birthday present before so that was a nice first. As with all of these gigs, everyone was so welcoming and friendly. It was obvious their own connections with each other were mostly long term and very strong. As usual my audience was a mixture of people who knew my music and folk who were to hear it for the first time.

The show went well and my audience were very enthusiastic along the journey through the songs. I think it was the only time so far that I have kept to the set list of songs I wrote. I am very pleased by people’s responses to the new songs and encouraged to continue to write in this vein. I sang Poppy for Ian towards the end and he joined in with what Simon later described as a slightly dubious harmony. It was great fun and I enjoyed every minute.

The show was fun but the après gig get together back at Ian’s was just as enjoyable. There I met with some very interesting folk and we stayed talking until the early hours. I do enjoy these discussions and sharing of experiences and ideas. I had an interesting chat with Andy who was one of the experts called in by the Panorama team to comment on film in their programme about abuse in the Winterbourne care home.

 andy

bob yours truly and kate

What a motley crew we were. It was one of those times when it would have been interesting to make a skills list of all attending. There were definitely a few folk here who I would have liked to have in the life boat I wrote about in an earlier post.

elaine yours truly and ian

It was quite a night and some folk were just a little worse for wear as they began to make their way home. I walked back with Simon to the Saracen’s Head where we said goodnight and crashed. After a long night what better than a carton of V8 followed by excellent bangers and mash at a local hostelry? That was breakfast and soon after Simon, Elaine and Jade took me to Nottingham on their way back to Leamington Spa. We had big hugs at the station and said our farewells. I feel sure some of us will meet up again in the not too distant future. So that is another FDPFAFDW under the belt. I loved it. Thanks to all especially Simon and Elaine who looked after me so well.

Next stop Norway.

all photos simon wallace

peace