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| On February 14th, 2005, Maureen and I were invited to attend the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, accompanied by Martin Ward, Keith Bowley and Emily Slade. The event was being held at The Brewery, Chiswell Street in London. By folky standards it was a truly sumptuous affair, starting with a grand reception that gave us the opportunity to meeting some old friends, and being able to put faces to some of the many agents that we deal with. We were then called to dinner in the main hall, a beautiful meal with more wine than we knew what to do with! | |
| The evening was hosted by Mike Harding and Mary Ann Kennedy, from BBC Radio Scotland, with the awards being presented by such folk world favourites as Ashley Hutchings, John McCusker, Chris While & Julie Matthews and Ralph McTell. |
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| Other celebrity presenters included Barbara Dixon, Noddy Holder, Bob Harris, Gerald Kaufman MP, Charles Kennedy MP, Terry Pratchitt, Bernard Hill and Buffy Davis (Jolene from the Archers). | |
| Interspersed amongst the award presentations were musical interludes from a selection of the nominees, beginning with Bellowhead, a young ten piece band fronted by John Spiers and Jon Boden. |
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| There were sets from Kathryn Tickell, Martin Carthy accompanied by Martin Simpson and Paul Sartin, Karine Polwart, Oysterband Big Session, Tom Paxton accompanied by Ralph McTell, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, a folk supergroup that could only happen at an event like this, with Eddi Reader, Boo Hewerdine John McCusker, Andy Seward, Ian Carr, Aly Bain and, just off picture, Phil Cunningham. |
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| The evenings musical entertainment was completed by Steeleye Span. The awards were given out in true Hollywood style, with a celebrity being invited to tell us nominations, probably a short film clip of each, then the celebrity stringing out the tension before, finally, telling us the winners. |
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| The categories were called, one by one:- | |
| BEST DUO | ALY BAIN & PHIL CUNNINGHAM |
| BEST DANCE BAND | WHAPWEASLE |
| MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR | KATHRYN TICKELL |
| BEST LIVE ACT | BELLOWHEAD |
| BEST GROUP | OYSTERBAND BIG SESSION |
| HORIZON AWARD | KARINE POLWART |
| BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK | MARTIN CARTHY |
| LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO SONGWRITING | TOM PAXTON |
| BEST ORIGINAL SONG | KARINE POLWART |
| The next category was Folk Club of the Year, being presented by Chris While and Julie Matthews. They told of great nights at the Sun, of the lovely audiences and of times enjoyed staying with us after the club. Then the announcement, for the benefit of those who didn't know who they had been talking about, "Folk Club of the Year, Hitchin Folk Club". Next they ran the VT that Jane and Steph from the BBC had filmed three weeks ago. It's true, television does add 10lb, at least! | |
| Then it's up to receive the award, Maureen and I have set off in opposite directions, but we meet at the foot of the stairs. Big hugs from Chris and Julie. So glad it was them, can't imagine hugging Gerald Kaufman! |
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| The acceptance speech; can't remember much of that, just hope I thanked everyone that I was supposed to. I do remember ending by saying that the real tribute should go to Maureen who, as a teenager, had taken on the club thirty nine years earlier and steered and organised the club ever since, and that was the most important thing to say! |
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| We managed to walk back to our seats together and enjoy the remainder of the awards:- | |
| THE GOOD TRADITION AWARD | STEELEYE SPAN |
| LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD | RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT |
| BEST ALBUM | KARINE POLWART |
| FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR | MARTIN CARTHY |
| Finally it was into the bar for a couple of hours of personal congratulations, back slapping and meeting up with yet more old friends who now knew we were there. Remember Dave Shannon from Therapy and Alan Briars from Mechanical Horse trough? We hadn't seen them for years. | |
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had been a wonderful evening, especially for Karine Polwart, extremely
well run by the BBC and SMOOTH OPERATIONS. Receiving the Award has
been a great honour, because it had been voted for by the musicians and,
when you are running a folk club, that means an awful lot!
Keiron |
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