Greetings from ‘The Oldest Folk Club in the World!’
Trevor Charnock: A Memoire from The Topic Folk Club, Bradford
Trevor H Charnock was Committee Member and Secretary, from 1974-82, of Topic Folk Club, Bradford - the longest running and surviving Folk Club in the World. He’s now Club Historian and Archivist.
The band will always be indebted to Trevor’s steadfast friendship and stalwart support over the decades, for which we will forever be thankful.
Check out www.topic-folk-club.org.uk
These are his reminiscences of the band, spanning more than 45 years. More than memories of the Somerville Gents, this is a story of a famous folk club and his reflections of times past.
It was late August 1976 when The Topic Folk Club’s Treasurer, Dave Hamer, came back from having been to Durham Folk Festival. Had a good time, I asked, and what were the guests like; a good event, he remarked, and I have seen a band we should look into booking. It turned out it was The Somerville Gentlemen’s Band - now, when Dave spoke as enthusiastically as that you took notice. Fortunately he had got contact details and so after discussing it with the Club Committee it fell on me as Club Secretary to pursue the booking.
< PHOTO: A familiar sight at a Topic Folk Club night back in the 70’s - Trevor, with pint in hand, exchanging repartee with the audience. >
This would be my first contact with Karen Umpleby who was handling their bookings, and after friendly negotiations the band was booked at The Topic Folk Club in Bradford for May 20th 1977. On their arrival at the club the number of instruments they came with struck me and in particular Ted’s full sized double bass seemed to dwarf him, and there was the posh instrument stand. The band at that time was Ted Crum, Martin Cole, Phil Ferrar and Dan Dorning, and a well-dressed skeleton that was not introduced. I was the MC for the night and was pleased with their very friendly attitude as to how we liked the evening to go - I know it’s how it should be but you did get some egos at times.
They did a highly professional and varied night with some song surprises, one of which involved “The Skeleton” (he still did not get introduced). The relaxed manner and humour they had with themselves came across that as well as being band members they were good friends as well. The club audience responded to them really enthusiastically, even the pub landlord, who always used to appear in the club room just before the end of the night, gave them a thumbs up.
A number of club regulars on the way out said they hoped they would be coming again. I said I expected the club would be offering them another booking next year. However, they were back much sooner than anyone expected. The club had booked “Mr Gladstone’s Bag” for November that year but the day before the booking I got a call from John Watcham [Mr GB’s concertina player] to say that due to illness they would have to cancel the gig. This is every organiser’s nightmare, a short notice cancellation, and how to get round it. The group was one of the folk scene’s big names at the time and a full club was expected (no website or email mailing lists in those days!). I needed more than just a local singer to fill in, then in a flash of inspiration I rang Karen Umpleby and explained the situation; she passed me on to Ted and I was really pleased (and relieved) when he said they would be delighted to help us out. They arrived at the club, set up, and proceeded to do an excellent night. So much so that one member of the audience (not a club regular) remarked on the way out you never had ‘Gladstone’s Bag’ booked, it was always these, you could not have got a band such as the Gents at such short notice. I just shook my head, showed him the contract for “Gladstone’s Bag', and the door!
The band were then booked for their ‘return booking' in 1978. This was the start of regular bookings of the band up to April 1982, including as a ceilidh band. Over the years of being involved with their bookings, having them stay overnight with me from time to time, and bumping into them at festivals, we developed a friendly rapport and some great memories.
< Jem Patterson and Dan Dorning on a band’s getaway week in Wales. Jem slipped into the lineup when Dan left. >
When I phoned Karen to fix up the ‘return booking’ for 1978, she told me that Dan Dorning had left the group but they had managed to find another talented singer and musician - Jeremy “Jem” Patterson - to step in for him (well, she would say that, of course). However, when they arrived Jem introduced himself and he had slotted into the band seamlessly, a very talented musician, excellent singer and a fine sense of humour, resulting in another well-received night by the club audience. One amusing episode that night involved Les Barker [legend, poet and very funny man] who had dropped into the club. When the band was singing the Cucumber Song {Harry Champion’s “I Like Pickled Onions”) and were in full flow, Les marched down through the audience with a large cucumber clutched upright in his clenched fist and presented it to Ted. The audience fell about with laughter and so did the band, but to their credit they finished the song.
< Performing “Pickled Onions” at Sidmouth Folk Festival. It was always great fun to do and it became more outrageous over the years. One time, during a walkabout in the “Oom-pah” refrain, Ted got too close to the edge of the stage and slipped off into an alarmed front row! >
On one of the occasions when they were staying over with me, the usual thing to after a club night was to go for a curry, however I do not do curry, garlic or chilli, so I took them to the legendary “Pie Herbert’s”. It was situated out of town in Manningham, a suburb of Bradford, and the third generation Greenwood family that ran it had on offer beside excellent pie, mushy peas and mint sauce, were various other pie delights - belly pork, ham shanks, and black and white tripe. There was not another establishment like it in Bradford or anywhere else, the clientele varied from revellers dressed in their night-out finery to the navvies still in their donkey jackets and wellies. The place was renowned for staying open late on Friday and Saturday nights and you could tuck into a pie-feast up to 3am. I do realise that pie and peas is a Yorkshire delicacy but the look on the lads’ faces when we entered was something to behold. Sadly, this establishment is now long gone, a lost iconic Bradford eating house.
In 1980, I caught up with the lads at Towersey Festival where they were booked to appear. Towersey was a festival I had enjoyed attending since 1975, so meeting up with the Gents again was a plus. They brought a bunch of good friends with them, who were also great company and I experienced the joys off playing Chinese cricket with them through the day and catching their concerts in the evenings. It turned out that the headline artists for the final concert were in doubt of getting there, so the Gents were asked to close the final concert. They played to an appreciative audience of about 2,000 and when it came to the encore the whole audience as one repeatedly were shouting jus one word - “Cat! Cat! Cat!” leaving them no choice but to end with Jem’s “I’m Going To Drown My Cat”.
< POSTER: 1978 appearance at The Topic. >
In 1981 the band started playing for ceilidhs, not surprising with all their skills as musicians. At the time The Topic were running regular ceilidhs, running eight very successful events every year. We booked the Somerville Gentlemen’s Dance Band for three successive years, to a great reception. Eventually they added Kate Sayer on keyboards, and her partner Andy Gotts on electric guitar. Jem switched to drums and assorted percussion, all of which added a new dimension to their sound and drove the dance tunes superbly.
In December 1981 they were booked to play the club on Friday night and stayed over to do a club ceilidh on the Saturday. Late Friday afternoon I got a call from Ted to say they could not get out of Leamington due to heavy snow. Phil had rung his work's office in Bingley to ask about the snow and condition of the roads. “What snow?” they said. However, it was clearly impossible for Friday night’s club gig, they being stuck in Leamington, but what about the Saturday night ceilidh? Ted replied, tomorrow we’re not at work so we’ll dig the car out and set off early. When I arrived at the ceilidh venue to set up, they were there well wrapped up, loaded with food and flasks of tea. They did an absolutely storming ceilidh to a crowd of enthusiastic dancers. At the end of the night I asked them if they wanted to stay the night with me and drive back fresh in the morning. They decided they would set off home as the traffic would be light, and the drive should be easier. I rang Ted the next day to check they got home OK, and thankfully they’d made it back although the drive had been a bit hairy. Later on the Sunday the snow arrived in Bradford, and how, so much so that I did not get into work the following day. On Tuesday I had a few calls from people who’d been at the ceilidh, remarking that the boys deserved a medal for for even setting off for the ceilidh. I said it showed just how committed the band were in trying not to let people down.
< Jem switched to percussion for the dance band. Note the temple blocks as part of this mad kit! >
As 1982 progressed it turned out to be a significant period both for the Somerville Gentlemen’s Band and myself. Later in the year the Gents would disband, due to Phil and Jem leaving the Leamington area to move to opposite ends of the country because of work commitments. For myself, April 30th marked the end of my seven and a half year stint on the Topic committee, the last six years as Secretary. It was something I’d planned so I’d chosen my final list of nights with guests I particularly liked (they suited the club as well, of course). I had the Gents booked for April 23rd, when I had a call from Elaine Wood who ran the Mytholmroyde Country Dances over in the Calder Valley, the other side of Halifax and she asked if I minded if the band would do a ceilidh the night after the Topic club night. not at all, I said, you’ve made a good choice. It was arranged that half the band would stay at Elaine’s and the rest with me after the Friday Topic gig. The Friday night came and the lads did their usual storming and well received performance. When it came to their compulsory rendition of “I’m Going To Drown My Cat” they called me up on stage to join them singing it. For three minutes I was a member of the band, fortunately too late to ruin their reputation.
< PHOTO: Jem has a talent for writing comedy songs. Here he’s pictured belting out a totally rewritten version of “Proper Cup of Coffee” for the wedding of Richard Ferrar and Rachel Jones. Trevor guested on “I’m Going To Drown My Cat”, a rewrite of “All Around My Hat”. See ‘Videos’ - Archive section for Drown My Cat, and Somerville 3 section for “Proper Cup…” (wedding version). >
At lunchtime the following day we’d arranged to meet at The Puzzle Inn on the outskirts of Halifax to enjoy a good music session there. The beer and the music went down a little too well for me and I had to cadge a lift to the ceilidh in the evening. The ceilidh went extremely well and concluded another excellent weekend.
< POSTER: 1981 ceilidhs at the Topic (Shelf Village Hall). Always great fun! Note Peeping Tom booked for March. >
I had discovered that the lads all played cricket for The Somerville Arms cricket team, also they said what an excellent pub it was. One Sunday morning In June 1982 I found myself with a mate journeying up the M1, deciding we would try and find the pub in Leamington Spa to check it out. I had this romantic vision of a pub with a cricket pitch next to it, but the illusion was cruelly shattered when we discovered the pub was surrounded by large Victorian terraced houses - a cricket ground nowhere to be seen! However, when we got inside the lads where there with a number of their friends. Everybody, including the landlord, John Chater, made us most welcome. The pub was one anyone would wish for as a local and John as the deerstalker-wearing landlord made up for the missing cricket pitch. I even bought a pub T-shirt but much to my annoyance seem to have lost it.
< PHOTOS: Trevor managed to dig out his T-shirts! The Somerville Arms Cricket & Mountaineering Club classic; and his band T-shirt (the only serving example). >
Later in 1982, I was at Warwick Folk Festival and what was supposed to be the Gent’s final concert on the Saturday night. They were on storming form, leaving the set and coming back for an encore. Standing in line, they sang a cappella “The Parting Glass”, a fitting farewell. To thunderous applause they bowed and left the stage. Ted told me they were having a bit of a do the following day at the Somerville Arms, and suggested I drive round to his house in Granville Street to join them.I’m not sure how I found my way (no sat nav then) but I finally arrived, parked up and went with Ted to the pub. There was a fine music session and drink until closing time (they closed at 2pm in those days), then on to their friend Lesley’s house where in a large room with food and drink laid on, the celebrations continued all afternoon until it was time to return to the Somerville Arms for a resumption of the music and drinking. I totally missed the Sunday of Warwick Festival but hey, what the heck! I ended up crashing at Ted’s for the night. He left for work the following morning, leaving me with a key to lock up after I’d helped myself to breakfast. So, I drove back up to Bradford later that morning and into work the following day, explaining why I’d not made it back in on Monday.
< PHOTO: Scene of many an excellent singing and drinking session. Trevor succumbed to its considerable charms. >
In October 1982, the band did a ceilidh for The Topic (they honoured the booking even though they’d officially disbanded). It was another fine performance by them and the last time I saw them perform together. One of the Callers they worked with was John Meechan, a fine Caller in his own right, who, as well as a great collection of traditional dances, used to write his own. Two were dedicated to The Gents, “Somerville Square” dedicated to something connected with the band, the other a five couple long-ways dances called “Somerville Farewell”.
< PHOTO: The Somerville Gentlemen’s Dance Band. John Meechan seated on right. >
At the 1983 and 1984 Warwick Festivals I caught up with Ted and he introduced me to Sue, his wife. I was now married too, and my wife Kath was with me. We’d got married just before the ’83 festival. In 1985 our first son was born and I discovered that time and money would no longer be solely my own with the arrivals of our second son, my time on the folk scene was greatly curtailed for a number of years [a reality of life that hit most of the Somervilles around the same time]. I think it was around 2010 while playing around on Google that I put Ted’s name in and to my surprise it came up with his details. I banged off an email, not expecting him to remember me [how could we forget!] after all that time. To my surprise he remembered me and we got into email conversations to update each other on what we were up to.
Ted had started a new ceilidh band - Steamchicken - and to my delight they played over the next four years at ceilidhs at venues near to us. I was able to go to the dances and catch up with Ted and Sue in the intervals, talking as if no time had passed. Steamchicken was a band like no other, their tune selection not the usual fare that ceilidh bands played, but they arranged them to fit the dances perfectly. It was pretty surreal to be dancing down the hall to Cornish Six Hand Reel, to the jazzy sounds of “When My Sugar Walks Down The Street”, with a horn section magnificently led by Mandy Sutton. It being near to Christmas when they played these ceilidhs, they lit up the stage with Christmas lights, adding to the party atmosphere.
< Steamchicken - a Quality Street selection of choice goodies - as Forrest Gump’s mom said “You’re never sure what you’re gonna get!” >
Ted and I continued to exchange emails and he told me Phil and Jem had moved back to the Midlands and around 2006 they got back together as as trio, playing new, freshly arranged material (Martin was still in Cornwall making very high quality stringed, fretted instruments; Dan was in Chichester and at that point off the radar).
Then in 2019 I heard they were planning a reunion - a 40th Anniversary concert to celebrate 40 years since the making of their “Far From Home” LP (released in 1980 - I still have my copy). Is it really that long ago? A family event meant I couldn’t attend and I was not best pleased, but torn as family came first. Ted sent me a link to watch the video recordings of the concert, featuring all five Gents joined by new member, Peter McDonald on piano.
< Warwick Folk Festival’s 40th anniversary; also the band’s 40th anniversary of recording “Far From Home” Delighted to be back with all of the band’s members. >
