The first festival of the season, with all the ingredients for success, good venue, good beer, good food and, best of all, great bands and pickers. Terry Holland and Janet Churchill, together with many friends and helpers, put on this friendly and very enjoyable event. The background work is seldom seen by most of the paying patrons: congratulations to all involved.

Terry’s format for success is one main band on Friday and two bands on the Saturday night! The North West’s own Bluegrass phenomenon, Bakers Fabulous Boys, were the Friday night treat. The concert began in the concert room after ‘last orders’, when most people had done their greeting and chatting and become attentive. Good move that, Terry!

Russ put on a great performance which included many self-penned numbers (which are becoming Bluegrass standards) and reworks into Bluegrass style of several different styles of songs. The musicianship of all the band members is just wonderful. Lorraine Baker provides that extra ingredient - her singing and presence - to complete the picture of a truly Y2K BG Band!

Saturday evening starts at 7.30 with scratch bands; Terry tells you when you’re on and nobody refuses (strange that!) All the scratch bands (too many to mention) performed to a high standard under the thrown-together format and everyone enjoyed the experience.

Janet Churchill and organiser Terry Holland

Special mention must go to an all girl band (plus an odd male guitarist) which saw the return to the stage of Alice Coleman (bass and vocals) along with Mum Penny (banjo) and the debut of Janet Churchill on fiddle - nice playing and singing! Another special mention must go to Delia Fuchs who played bass in at least three bands, always keeping a solid rhythm; she really enjoys her ‘grass!

After many hours of Bluegrass there is always need for a contrast and the first of the evenings guest bands provided just this. The Yorkshire-based Ken Tardley Playboys are accomplished musicians playing in the ‘Dalebilly’ style - like Western swing only more Yorkshire and real, like a good Sunday roast dinner with a couple of pints thrown in. They welcomed back guitarist Ed Ingley (a pseudonym for tax purposes?) to the fold after an 18 month absence. The band gave us a night to remember with a great set in their inimitable style, with such songs as, err... Well they were good, anyway...

The Bluegrass Brothers were headline band. They must be contenders for the UK number one outfit, with the Duffy brothers on mandolin/fiddle and guitar and the Robinson brothers on banjo and bass. This outfit is exciting and has the right, tightly arranged material to please an audience. From gospel songs with neat harmonies to hard driving numbers to self penned numbers, a complete show unfolded. These guys get better every time I see them, with excellent stage craft and presence, together with neat outfits - only the shoes are odd. If you’ve not seen them pencil them in as a must see band!

Near the end of their set came another surprise; they introduced girl singer Gill Barnam, who was nicely dressed (Ray Duffy paid me half a crown to say this) and impressed me with her version of Laurie Lewis’ Home Place. What a superb voice! Her second number was The Beatles’ I will - great stuff. I look forward to seeing her again; hopefully she will be a regular feature of their show.

To sum up the whole event: it appeared to me to have something for everyone - workshops for Banjo, Dobro, Guitar and plenty of parking-lot picking. An unusual feature was a fiddle-lending event where all the Fiddle players gathered together and played and, I suppose, bonded!

I cannot finish without a word of praise for Mike Benson, sound man and PA Technician for the weekend, and his team, who provided sound of exceptionally high quality for the concerts. He can drive that sound desk better than most musicians play their instruments and good sound is the making or breaking of a successful event.

Paul Morgan, Bancyfelin, South Wales, writes:

This small festival is held in the grounds of the Oddfellows pub in Colwall, near Malvern and has become a regular fixture on the festival circuit.

Most people were itching to get picking and socialising after the winter break - witness the fact that Bernie Ross flew over from Copenhagen just for this weekend.

The setup at Oddfellows is a bit different from other festivals, The great majority of the hundred or so people there were musicians, and the emphasis is on participation. The booked bands are limited to Friday and Saturday evenings only, giving everybody else more time for playing during the day. How many other festivals have you been to where you’re torn between the priorities of taking in a promising afternoon concert versus picking around the campsite? Another bonus of this arrangement is the very reasonable £10/person weekend cover charge.

After we’d all had a chance to settle in and renew old acquaintances the Friday evening concert kicked off, ably MC’d by Harry Whale, We were treated to a cracking set by Baker’s Fabulous Boys.

Saturday dawned grey and forbidding, but a reasonbly-prlced breakfast was served in the lounge bar. The site continued to fill up encouragingly during the morning, as did the bar by noon.

“It is the banjo, not the fiddle, which is the instrument of the devil”. People later remarked that banjos were conspicuous by their absence from the campsite on Saturday afternoon, thanks to Terry’s near two-hour banjo workshop. (There is no truth in the rumour that this is going to be a two day workshop next year). This session was cleverly devised to appeal to players of widely varying abilities - no mean feat.

The Saturday evening concert saw Jim Hirons MC-ing. It was excellent (see Arthur’s report) though I missed the KTP’s (barbecue time).

After 15 years of listening to (and ten years of trying to play) Bluegrass music my abiding impression after the concert was how good our better domestic bands have become.

Sunday morning gave us the “fiddle bonding” session led by Chris Harrison in the beer garden, The sun shone, and still more people arrived to enjoy the last day’s festivities. Unfortunately, Sunday afternoon heralded the need for most of us to break camp and head for home. I understand there was a great pick in the bar on Sunday evening for those of us lucky enough to stay on.

“Oddfellows” is an absolute must. Our thanks must go to Terry Holland for his hard work and organisation, and to Ian the landlord for his continuing hospitality and support for our music. Paul Morgan, Bancyfelin, Caermarther, South Wales.

1st July 1999