Saturday Sun

James and Rebecca

Peter in the foreground with mug

Stuart singing





By 9am it was HOT in the tent. Vince and James both felt really rough with wisky heads. The gash on Vince's shin looked nasty. The nice people whose paddock we were camping in let us use a little toilet and sink that was in a little utility room and they even brought us some bread, houmous, fruit, tea, coffee, rooibos tea and some orange juice. I thought this was incredibly nice.





Vince and I sat about chatting to folk in the morning while James and Rebecca snuck off to the hotel where aunt was staying to have showers. Cheaters! We went for lunch in a nearby Harvester pub, our first proper food since lunch at KFC at Oxford services the day before.



Then we headed back for soundcheck in the church. I had my book with me to stave off boredom and also got up and wandered around frequently as my bum went numb from sitting down so long last year. Pews are not comfortable.



One set of performers from the Friday night were joined by the rest of their band Eve and the Garden. I had wondered why I recognised the drummer and realised it was the parish priest! The band were really good and hadn't really heard of Nick Drake until the vicar got involved last year (he had been in the job 10 days!) They do sort of folksy celtic rock stuff and the Paul the vicar seems to have a large array of different congas, bongos and djembes.

Vince and James performed Three Hours for the second time as it went down so well last year. Next year they're hoping to play it with Paul the vicar on drums. James played a song of his own, Closed, which went down brilliantly and he sold quite a few of the CDs he took with him. You should be able to check out James and Vince's performance on You Tube so please check it out.

Back to the campfire again but a slightly more restrained affair this evening. I think people didn't want to pack up their tents with a hangover.

I Was Made to Love Camping

Hayley Jane and Vince
Rebecca and Nya

Unfortunately the only pictures I have are round the camp fire on the Saturday night as I forgot my camera for the rest of the weekend!

We set off from Croydon and got stuck in a traffic jam as people had slowed down to look at an accident on the other carriageway of the M40. Boo! I think I left my cool Fossil watch that my uncle got me for my 16th birthday on the table at Oxford services. I have rung their lost property but it hasn't turned up. Ultra boo!

We get to Tanworth and have 30 minutes to put up our tent. We've never done it before. We're both hot and tired. We both get in an arse with the tent and each other. Vince accidentally hits me on the chin with a bit of the tent when he is shaking it out. I cry. We make up.

We take longer than half an hour. James and Rebecca have gone in search of supermarket for food which we don't have time to eat. We get the to the village hall and fortunately things are delayed.

James and Vince decide to go on first to perform At the Chime of a City Clock. The sound man Peter Rice was at university with Nick Drake. He doesn't have the levels right so you can only just hear Vince's bass. James then did a song of his own (sorry James I can't remember which one you did). They go down a storm.

The evening progresses nicely with lots of lovely singers. People generally do one Nick cover and a cover by someone similar (like John Martyn, Tim Buckley, Fairport Convention, Jackson C Frank etc) or a song of their own.

Back to the campfire for more singing, merriment, drinking. Vince gets very drunk on whisky and falls into chairs and takes a chunk out of his shin.

Place to Be

Every yearsince 2003 there has been an annual Nick Drake gathering in Tanworth-in-Arden, the sleepy Warwickshire village where Nick grew up and is now buried.

Last year was the first time that Vince, me, our friends James and Rebecca and some of his family had gone to this gathering and we had a bloody great time. It was a bit of a farce getting down there from Scotland as we were told our train was cancelled due to Virgin staff being on strike, only to have to leg it to a different platform to get on a train to Birmingham. It was hot and everybody was trying to get on our train as theirs had been cancelled.

We made it in the end though. On the Friday evening there is a more informal concert in the village hall and on the Saturday is the concert "proper" in the church. For such a small village the church is HUGE!

Last year we stayed in a B&B in Solihull, this year we're camping in Tanworth itself, hence the reason why I want it to be good weather, but not too hot, at the weekend. I'm not looking forward to trying to take all our camping essentials on the train!

This time we're going via James and Rebecca's in Surrey so Vince and James can practice the songs they're playing. As you can imagine they don't get to do that very often due to the miles involved! If you click on the link above you'll see some photos of James and Vince, as well as other performers, in the gallery section.

So, if you want to come along then please do. It's good place to meet some great musicians playing beautiful music in a scenic place. Plus it's FREE (apart from the drinks)! Mine's a cider thanks....