One week later . . .
Wow, it all happened – and quite smoothly, it seemed! The sun shone, the dance sides were excellent, cheerful, perfectly organised and were as always beautifully colourful and suitably jingly. Ably accompanied by their musicians, they are our showcase in this city.
Indoors, in the gloriously spacious and elegant basilica that is St Barnabas Jericho, the ceilidhs and balfolk dances were justly popular, supported by excellent ceilidh bands who filled the hall with their music. All Oxfolk’s events, including those organised in collaboration with Family Ceilidh Oxford and Balfolk Oxford, were very successful, and on at least one occasion were sold out well in advance. Also under cover, in the various performance locations, our local artists entertained in a smooth rota, offering a wonderful variety of music and song. Even when a couple of changes had to be made at the very last minute because of illness, excellent replacements stepped forward to fill the gap - so thank you, Callum Beck (at the OFS), Kim Hobday (at the Covered Market) and Jim Driscoll (at Common Ground).
Understandably, many onlookers chose to stay outside in the spring sunlight and enjoy the music and dance there, but indoors there was plenty to see and hear. Excellent dancing was to be had indoors as well, of course, at St Barnabas. For our local non-dancing musos, the Covered Market remained the hub, with twenty-two different performers providing entertainment there over the three days of the festival. On Saturday evening there was also a concert supported by the Market Tap, featuring Mandy Woods and the Holy Fools. As for the other locations, there were nine performances over two days at the Old Fire Station; thirteen over two days at the Westgate Public Library, where there were also two young people’s workshops; six performances and a concert from Katie Grace Harris and her band at Common Ground, over Friday and Sunday; five performances at the Weston Library, including the Jericho Singers, on Sunday, with a flashmob from the Feisty Choir on Saturday; and at Blackwells, three choirs, Rising Voices, Faringdon Community Choir and the Feisty Choir, attracted a very appreciative audience in the Norrington Room on Saturday. Elsewhere in Blackwells over the weekend, in the Upper Room on the top floor, there were eleven performances, including a workshop, from excellent musicians – and a talk on Music Theory for Folkies from Justin Greenhalgh. Apologies, this paragraph looks as though it should be turned into one of those list songs, like ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, but all the venues that so kindly offered us free house room need to be acknowledged.
As ever the sessions were brilliant and full to overflowing, as some of you may have seen from the photos uploaded to our social media. The Isis River Farmhouse, the Black Swan, the Royal Blenheim, St Aldate’s, the Half Moon, the Jolly Farmers, the Star in Rectory Road and the White House, between them hosted all possible varieties of session over the weekend.
Of course there were some rough edges, including some problems with sound in two of the venues, though we think we can resolve that issue before next year. Our team this year was very small so that we were always at full stretch, and there were hardly any funds, although we were very grateful for the voluntary contributions. Fortunately folkies are a good-natured lot and last weekend everyone seemed ready to have a good time. You certainly lifted our spirits in your enthusiastic involvement in everything that was on offer. And nowhere was the ‘good time’ more apparent than in the outdoor music, the vibrant colours, gorgeous face paint, wonderful hats’n’headdresses and – most definitely! – in those jaunty, jingly steps that were to be seen and heard around town during our Oxford Folk Festival.
Thanks for being a part of it, and please come again next year! (Ginnie Redston)