I was playing harmonica with the Button Hole Jam band last night and it was a great time at the Butterknowle Open Mike night. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming as usual Bryan Whiley being a great host. Julie McGrath and Peter Snowball were two really good entertainers Julie singing with that captivating lark like voice and Peter grabbing the audience with his sweet tones and great delivery. I have come to the conclusion that the evening is structured just like a folk club where musicians come and do their bit and appreciate what others do with a guest act happening every once in a while as well. Back in the 1980s I was first introduced to folk clubs by Toni Bunnel a fine folk musician I was having a relationship with at the time and prior to that I had no idea that folk clubs even existed! I was always knocked out then with what I thought was a version of community music but in actual fact folk music and folk clubs go back centuries apparently. It is a good format and my personal view is that Butterknowle Acoustic Club is really just another really good variation on that theme as the times and communities change. Let's face it without good musical organisers like Bryan Whiley and Peter Snowball who runs the Newton Aycliffe folk club and the many other people who do the myriad of non-musical activities in our communities what on earth would we have? Last night I also had a good chat with a local man from Weardale who told me about the huge amount of economic activity that was going on at the head of that Dale in the late 60s and early 1970s and now in his home village of Rookhope there is just a part-time post office "The times they are a changing" absolutely right!