Grand Union Folk Club
The Soar Bridge Inn, Barrow upon Soar
Near Loughborough, LE12 8PN. See
map.
Grand Union is a traditional style folk club that meets on Monday nights in the friendly setting of a village pub
serving a range of real ales. A place to sit back,
relax and lose yourself for a few hours in the company of like minded people with a love of traditional music.
Why not come and join us?
"Great singing club" - The Wilson Family.
The clubs activities can be split into 3 categories: Guest Nights, Singarounds and
Musician Workshops / Sessions. Singarounds and guest nights start at 8.30pm.
Singarounds are the very essence of what the club is about and are on the 2nd Monday of each month throughout the year
(check the website for the January date if the 2nd Monday is Plough Monday). There is no formal entry
charge, but a voluntary contribution of just £1 to help us offset our running costs would be most welcome. Guest night
charges vary.
Guest Nights and Singarounds
The club organises regular traditional English music workshops and sessions at the Soar Bridge Inn (see below for the dates).
The workshops, which have a strong morris influence, take place in the Grand Union club room at the back of the pub and run from 7.30pm until 9.00pm.
They regularly attract an ensemble of melodeons, English / Anglo concertinas, accordions, fiddles, guitars, whistles and recorders. The music is taken at a
steady pace and they are open to anyone who has mastered the rudiments of their instrument and who has an interest in English Folk music. There is no formal
entry charge but a voluntary contribution of just £1 to help us offset our running costs would be most welcome.
The sessions take place in the bar and run from 9.00pm until the landlord kicks us out. They are usually fronted by Martin Wildig and Phil Preen (subject to
the commitments of the Bang On The Wall Ceilidh Band). The music has a bias towards the English traditional but apart from that the format is reasonably free.
The sessions are open to any musician who enjoys playing traditional music, there is no entrance fee and the pub keeps a good cellar with real ales always
available. So what are you waiting for? Come and join us.
Workshop and session dates for 2008:
- 15th September
- 27th October
- 17th November
- No session in December
The Grand Union Folk Club has at its core a group of well established singers and musicians who are drawn together by a common passion - the love of a good session.
Even allowing for the occasional absentee, there are enough of us to guarantee that, if you enjoy tradition style acoustic folk music, you will have a great evening out.
Members of the core are:
Stuart Booth,
Pete Burnham,
Lyn Cooper,
Bob Crosby,
Tony Jalland,
Karen Harris,
Jacky Lockley,
Phil Preen,
Martin Tabraham,
Steve Tunnicliff,
Martin Wildig,
Bill Wilkes.
For more details contact Bill on 01509 813566,
Bill Wilkes.