Next FASH Event

The next FASH event will be our second Gathering on the 10th December - more a party than a workshop and only £6 entry! It will be at Durley Memorial Hall SO32 2AD. Mainly dancing but with a few extras including a visit from the King John's Mummers. We will have a mix of callers and musicians, much the same as at our very successful first Gathering last year. You can download a flyer here.

If you are not already on our FASH Supporters circulation list and would like to receive news of our events, please contact Daphne on info@fash.org.uk or phone 01243 531497.

We are aware that Covid has recently become more prevalent, so our document 'FASH Workshops and Covid19' is unfortunately still relevant. It details the precautions we take and what we ask you to do to protect other people.

Just too late to be included in the December/January issue of 'Solent Waves', Celticfolk have confirmed that Show of Hands will be appearing in a concert on the 4th February - part of their 'Full Circle Part II' tour. The concert will be at the Corfe Mullen Village Hall in Towers Way. Tickets available only via the website https://celticfolk.net/index.php/tickets/ Note that this concert venue is not on the 'Show of Hands' website, but at least three of the others shows in February are already sold out.

We have to report the sad news that John Martyn died peacefully aged 91 on the 10th October 2023, after a rapid decline in his health. The funeral will be at 11.30am on Friday 10th November at Portchester Crematorium and there will be a wake afterwards at the Port House (PO6 4TH) in the Port Solent Marina at approximately 12:30pm.

Many of you may have danced or sung with John over the years. He and his wife Elizabeth had been dancing since the sixties - first in Chichester, then at the Whirligig Folk Dance Club in Southampton and at Eastleigh Folk Dance Club. After Elizabeth died John turned more to his singing and was recently a member of three choirs including The Madding Crowd, which he joined after coming to one of the FASH West Gallery workshops. He had an excellent bass voice and was a valued part of the group for many years, as much for his warm, kind personality as for his singing. He will be greatly missed.

Ian Nichols has announced the dates and the bands he has booked for the coming season of SHOCC ceilidhs. The next one on the 16th December is already sold out, so it's important to book early. All the details can be found on the SHOCC website www.shocc.co.uk/ The ceilidhs are also listed in our Dance Diary.

Please note that Louise Siddon's Winqeilidh has moved from Winnall and will now take place at The Nutshell, 15 Kings Walk, Winchester SO23 8AF. The start time has also changed, the class now starts at 8pm. Dates and details in our Dance Diary.

If you prefer contra-style dances, we have our local Solent Contra Dances with Barrie Bullimore calling. From September onwards they will be on the second Wednesday of the month at Shawford Parish Hall - details in the Dance Diary.

Have a look also at The London Barndance Company's website. They are again running live dances, mainly at Cecil Sharp House. All the dates and callers/bands are given on the LBC website; the dances can be found on the EFDSS website, which is the easiest way to buy tickets in advance (£14, members £12).

The regular contra dances at Egham (Ashford Folk Dance Club) have also restarted. These are afternoon sessions on the second Sunday of the month. More details here. These two contra sessions tend to be on the two days of the same week-end, and sometimes one caller leads both events.

A comparatively new website is now on-line: Friends of English Dance are putting together a directory of dance clubs, callers and bands/musicians to replace the well-established one, now no longer available, of "Set and Turn Single". If you run a dance club, are a caller or part of a band, do consider adding yourself/your club/your band to the site - it will take a while to collect all the information, but if everyone adds their own part it will soon grow.

Also on the site, you can find resources for dancers, callers and musicians, including videos, particularly for those new to English Country Dance, of many of the basic dance figures.

We have added a link on the 'Solent Waves' page to the 'Solent Waves' archive. All issues right back to number one have been scanned in and saved as pdfs. The most recent ones are in full colour, issues a bit further back are in black and white and issues prior to November 2013 are in greyscale as they were printed in blue.

Focsle Music now meets regularly at two different locations - The Guide Dog and The Wellington Arms. For all the details see the Focsle website and their Facebook page. (Facebook is more frequently updated but the website has the more complete diary). Even with all these 'live' meetings, Focsle is still running the Wednesday Zoom sessions. If you would like to be kept fully up-to-date, e-mail Paul and ask to be added to their mailing list.

Woolston and Bursledon Folk Club are suspending the Sunday 'Zoom' sessions; the 'Live' sessions, which have seen some really good nights, will continue. They are restarting the occasional guest night; if you would like to be kept up-to-date on what is going on at W&B, drop John Connell a line on wbfolkclub@gmail.com and ask to be put on the mailing list.

The English Folk Dance and Song Society, EFDSS, has its full programme on-line now. Many song and dance workshops are included. See www.efdss.org and go to their 'What's on' page, or use this link www.efdss.org/whats-on to find out what is taking place in the coming months and to book tickets. Clicking on one of the headings in red you will find mainly what is taking place at Cecil Sharp House: gigs, workshops and dances separately. To see what dance events members of EFDSS have asked to be posted on the website, go to www.efdss.org/calendar-events, or click on the heading "The Folk Dance Calendar" in black. This part of the website has taken over some of what used to be the on-line calendar of "Set and Turn Single".