Folk music festivals are always a great place to meet old friends but sometimes it’s a chance to meet new and really interesting people.
Jan of jansvan.co.uk is a really interesting person and a real folk musician character. I’d seen her at folk festivals before but never had a chance to stop for a chat. Her preferred instrument is often the recorder which isn’t the loudest of instruments but she seems to get a lot more volume from it than most do and knows masses of tunes.
Well I was at the Saturday folk musicians session at the White Horse, Bampton when she asked me about my soprano saxophone and saxophones in general. We then had quite a long conversation about where she might get a low cost saxophone that actually worked and which one I thought she should get.
In return, she told me all about her business. It seems she uses her motor home as a “blackboard van” on which she encourages kids of all ages to draw. She said this provides great entertainment for children of all ages. Her philosophy is that, by encouraging participation and self-expression, and by transcending barriers of age and race, her activities provide an enjoyable and enlivening experience and makes a valuable contribution to society. Certainly, on her web site there are a lot of happy faces and her motorhome, duly decorated, looks great.
Other things include pavement art competitions and, I think she said, ribbon dancing lessons. Ideal for fund raising, fetes, carnivals, folk festivals and wherever you want something a bit out of the ordinary.
Jan is based in Cornwall but obviously travels all over the place. A real character and an interesting person. You can find her at www.jansvan.co.uk/
