Fiona and I had an excellent night at the Butterknowle Acoustic Club Xmas do. The roads on the way up there were more slippery than a bankers tongue and it was even worse on the way back because it was -7C and I just knew going slowly and carefully was the only way to go . And home of course! Anyway , Butterknowle Village hall is a welcoming place mostly because of the very nice people who go there but I noticed that it was slightly cooler than expected . When I saw Brian Whiley one of the organizers he told Fo and I that the heating had gone off because the fuel had run out quite likely because the thermostat kicks the heating in when it is really cold to protect the pipes! Well, no problem in a very capable village community and I saw a lot of this in Reeth and Muker communities in the 70s when I played in the brass bands in the Dales. Because Butterknowle has many adjoining farms someone knew one of the farmers and many gallons of heating oil were whipped over to the village hall. Bet that could be trickier to do in an urban community .

The music got going and there was much laughter as well particularly when one of the folk singers got going on a John Denver song " Today when the blossoms still spring from the vine , "cough, cough" " and so on . He eventually stopped, blaming the peanuts he had munched beforehand , something I of course as a harmonica player would never do! , but everyone including the singer thought it was hilarious . Got the night off to a good start . Julie McGrath the folk/country singer was excellent taking me to inner places I didn't expect to go on a cold night in County Durham. The Exiles from Eden folk Band were also great. I had a good play with the Button Hole Jam and they are a really good band and I had to make sure that I didn't over play and kept my self out of the way when it was right to that . It is important in a band that all voices are heard and everyone gets to musically say their bit . Button Hole Jam pull that one off really well.

Which brings me into a point to be considered by musicians : anyone out there : get music clubs going like Butterknowle Acoustic Club or if you are a band trying to get ahead , good thing to do , play small venues and give the audience a really good time not by just playing well for a short period with music superbly produced for your demo but takes so long to write and rehearse that you can't put together enough music to be able to entertain everyone for at least two hours , you know you are , my favorite band at the moment, but play well for a long period : at least 2 hours . Win the audience in other words. Then, musicians will be supported as they are every month in Butterknowle. Point Proved ? Butterknowle Acoustic Club produced over two and a half hours of music last night all of good quality and yes one will wince occasionally at the gaffs as much as I groan at my own talent level and many gaffs I made last night such as doing a very nice little musical run in one of the songs but " Hey folks it was in the wrong key and at the wrong time " . Groan. I don't know how I get away with it sometimes but maybe I do : everyone in Butterknowle Village Hall wants to have a good time so they hear the general impression which was pretty good from all of the musicians . What face doesn't have some spots on it? I like my own, spots and all , but not as much as I like my wife's!

A really cracking night out and I would like to thank the Butterknowle Acoustic Club organizers and particularly Brian and Klara Whiley : excellent musicians and comperes who got everyone going and made us all feel really welcome comfortable . Thank you.