If you love camping and the general comraderie of English folk festivals, you may well like to take a look at the activities offered by the Folk Camps Society.
I attended their Beckford Musicians Camp last weekend (29 Jun– 01 Jul 2007) and had a great time.
Our camp was at the Beckford Village Hall, Worcestershire with a field besides the hall being used for our tents, campervans, motorhomes and caravans.
As I parked my ancient camper van, I could see rabbits hopping in the adjacent field, the grass was soft underfoot, the sun was shining and the stresses of my busy week began rapidly to melt away.
The weekend started Friday evening in the Beckford Village Hall with a welcoming impromptu musician’s playing session from Band Swing which is a traditional folk music tune book arranged by workshop lead musician Pete Mac.
Admin and logistic arrangements were briefly explained by the dedicated and hard working weekend camp administrator and there was a brief ‘introduce yourself’ for the 53 campers and musicians present.
The range of instruments being played was truly amazing and the standard of musicianship extremely high. There were bodrans, bagpipes, fiddles (violins), flutes, melodeons, piano accordions, a snare drum, an electronic keyboard, a tuba, a bassoon, recorders, whistles, concertinas and probably more that I haven’t mentioned. Lots of the musicians played several instruments and enthusiastically swopped between them as they felt the music dictated.
The atmosphere was cheerful, light hearted and friendly. A kind violinist let me share her music stand and kept me organised by adeptly finding the correct page for the jigs, reels, hornpipes, waltzes and other dance music tunes we played during that evening. It felt great to be organised! (I also discovered she was a straw craftsman as well as being a great violinist.)
The organised session came to an end some time after 9 pm and a few of us stayed on to busk tunes without reference to any written music. The tunes came quick and fast and I rapidly discovered I was in the company of some really talented musicians.
I awoke in my camper-van on Saturday morning to the drumming sound of rain on the roof and news on the local radio station of flooding. But, thankfully, not in the field where we were camping.
We squelched across the soggy field to the Beckford Village Hall and as instructed by our hard working and highly organised administrator, lined up our wellies in the entrance hall, donned our ‘inside footware’ and hit the tunes running at 10 am under the guidance again of Pete Mac and his wife Nicole.
The tunes flowed fast and furious with Pete’s playing tips, hints and suggestions expertly (and tactfully) interspersed as appropriate.
The format used was initially to play a series of tunes that would be appropriate for a particular traditional dance slowly and then to repeat the tunes at dance speed. Tunes were cleverly chosen so that those of us who were less capable as well as the more advanced were challenged but not defeated. Alternative notations of the tunes were often available also to help the less experienced instrumentalists.
I would say, for a full enjoyment of the session, the ability to read music notation to a good standard, was fairly essential. Thankfully, although playing folk music in pub sessions has got me out of the habit of reading music, I found I was able to keep up to speed for most of the time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Lunch came and went with some musicians popping down to the local Yew Tree pub for their meal. I grabbed a pint from the social club attached to the hall. munched a filled roll and got engrossed in a deep conversation with Mick Spenceley, Folk Camps Administration Manager, about the joys of the Ubuntu version of the Linux operating system. (Ok I admit it, I’m a fully fledged geek at heart!)
We were so engrossed in our discussion that we missed the start of the afternoon session on International folk music tunes. Mick rushed over to join in but I was happy to chill out. One of the joys of a camping weekend, I’ve found, is that there is always someone around willing to chat if I wander around aimlessly with a silly smile on my face (my greatest talent).
The Saturday evening folk dance was a terrific success. Not only could these guys and gals play instruments brilliantly but they could also dance expertly.
I flatter myself that I’m able to jig around to a pop tune as sprightly as the best but the complicated figures and sequences of traditional folk dancing are somewhat alien to me.
My doubts about joining in were dashed as I was grabbed by a series of lady dancers who guided me around the folk dance figures and sets so expertly that I almost believed it was all of my own doing (almost).
The last dance of the evening was the best (an American one, I believe) with a series of undulating sequences where couples, in turn, created tunnels for other couples to pass through and featured (probably at my mistaken instigation) a rather over speedy ’swing your partners’. I later discovered that my dance partner whom I thought was in her thirties was actually (somewhat unbelievably) rather older. If folk dancing keeps you looking that young, I’m a devotee for life 
In the course of the evening, I also met Alan Corkett who was the artistic leader for the weekend and is also involved with that wonderful folk music resource Halsway Manor in West Somerset. Apparently lots of good things are happening at Halsway Manor these days. I’m now determined to find time to check them out (so watch this space).
Later in the evening, when all sensible people had returned to their tents, camper-vans, motorhome or caravans, I found myself in a corner of the Beckford Village Hall in a small circle of musicians playing 17th century Playford tunes. These tunes have a lightness and a delicacy all their own.
By 12.30 am, the immensely organised administrator, warden and logistics coordinator, who was waiting to lock up, was almost falling off her chair with fatigue, so we took pity on her and followed the sensible folk back to our camp site homes and bed.
Sunday sessions started at 10 am with lots of bleary eyed but still determined musicians ready and raring to go. The tunes rocked on until lunch and then, after meals had been served at the Yew Tree inn, there was a very pleasant pub playing session before returning to the Beckford Village Hall for another short session of musician’s favourite tunes before the end-of-camp cream tea.
In conclusion, I had a great time and feel I made many friends. I think anybody who loves the comraderie of festival camping and enjoys playing traditional dance tunes with musicians who are similarly passionate about playing folk music, may well enjoy these camps too.
The musician’s weekend is only one of a number of camps run by the Folk Camps Society and apparently each type of camp has it’s own unique qualities.
For those who like the camping and comraderie of folk festivals, I would think Folk Camp Society, which is a not for profit registered charity is well worth checking out.
Bye for now
