From: Sheila Miller [sheilamiller55_at_yahoo_dot_co_dot_uk]

Sent: 03 October 2017 19:04

Subject: Tom Paley: sad news, and Cellar Upstairs folk club: programme for October 2017 to January

You may well all know this by now, but I'm sending it in case any of you haven't (and because that has happened to me in the past): Tom Paley, a legend (or, as he often joked, a leg-end) of American old-timey music, died on Saturday afternoon. As most of you know, he had been ill for some time, and had collapsed a few times and had a number of stays in hospital, with pneumonia and other conditions. A few weeks ago, Ben moved him to a nursing home near Brighton, where Ben and his family could visit him often and take him out. His state of health improved considerably, but recently it deteriorated again.

I got the news that Tom had died just before the club on Saturday, but obviously couldn't inform anyone then, apart from announcing it at the club. Afterwards, I had to rush home to finish packing and try to get some sleep before getting up very early in order to leave the house by 6am to catch a 7.25am flight to Cyprus (where I now am - here for six days). I couldn't find an internet caf? in Larnaca, and have only now managed to find one in Lemesos/Limassol, where I'm staying. I really will have to get an iPad or something for when I travel.

If you hear when the funeral is, please let me know. I'm back on Friday night, so hope it won't be this week. I've been friends with Tom for 45 or 46 years - met him first at the Enterprise folk club 45 years ago - so I very much want to be there. He was so much part of the London folk scene that it's hard to believe he won't be turning up at our clubs any longer. I was hoping to have a special night for his 90th birthday next March, having done one for his 80th nine-and-a-half years ago.

Also, while I'm writing to you, here's a reminder of the programme for the Cellar Upstairs for October 2017 to January 2018. All our evenings are held in the upstairs room of the Calthorpe Arms, 252 Gray's Inn Road, WC1X 8JR (on the corner of Wren Street; tel: 020 7278 4732) on Saturdays, starting at 8.15pm. King's Cross, Russell Square and Chancery Lane tube stations are about 10 minutes' walk away, and various buses go down (and up) Gray's Inn Road.

On Saturdays, I leave a message on my answerphone giving information about the club - who's on, the pub's address, times, prices, etc.

No tickets are needed for any of these nights: people just pay on the door for all of them. Floor-singers are always welcome.

I hope we'll see you at the club in the not too distant future.

All the best

Sheila

7 October: Anne Lister (her songs - eg, Icarus and Moth- have been covered by various other singers, including Nic Jones, Martin Simpson and Jon Boden; with guitar)

14 Oct: John Conolly (songwriter of many fine songs, of which the best known is Fiddler's Green; among his other widely sung songs isPunch and Judy Man)

21 Oct: Andy Turner and Mat Green (great singing and playing of traditional English songs and tunes from duo from Oxfordshire; possibly a solo jig too)

*28 Oct: John Hegley (bespectacled performance poet from Luton, popular all over the country and on Radio 4, but rarely seen in folk clubs)

4 November: the Askew Sisters (traditional songs from Hampshire and other parts of Britain on fiddle and melodeon from Hazel and Emily; some tunes too)

11 Nov: Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith (younger singers from East Anglia with sensitive musical arrangements of traditional and other songs on guitar and banjo)

18 Nov: Archie Fisher (great, popular Scottish singer of traditional and other songs, also an accomplished guitarist)

25 Nov: Harp and a Monkey (Lancashire group, very popular in northern England, on rare foray south; songs in the traditional idiom with banjo, viola, harp, mouth organ, glockenspiel and other instruments)

2 December: Andrew Frank and Michael Hebbert (great singer and virtuoso concertina player make up one of the most entertaining acts around - assorted songs of the music hall and the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s)

9 Dec: Duck Soup (Dan Quinn, Ian Kearey and Adam Bushell - former members of Gas Mark 5, the Oyster Band, Flowers and Frolics and other bands - with assorted songs and tunes on various instruments)

2018

6 January: Ewan McLennan (mainly traditional Scots songs from excellent younger singer and guitarist) (booking now confirmed)

ENTRANCE: Members: ?6, non-members: ?8, except on nights marked *, when it will be ?7 and ?9. Membership: ?4. Information: 020 7281 7700.

RESIDENT PERFORMERS: Gail Williams & Jim Younger, Peta Webb & Ken Hall, Sue Williams & Frankie Cleeve, Bob Wakeling, Katrina Rublowska, Amanda MacLean

INFORMATION: 020 7281 7700

PUB (Calthorpe Arms): 020 7278 4732