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JULY 2008

Bof! are playing at Ely Folk Festival on the afternoon of Sunday 13th July. We shall be doing a short French dance workshop followed by a "bal". Hope to see some of you there.
• The Hosepipe Band has a couple of public gigs coming up in the Autumn: November 8th we're playing at Oxfolk and on November 15th, we're playing for Dances in the Barn at Sproughton near Ipswich. On both occasions Andrew Swaine is calling for us.
• For anyone interested in downloading our music, there's good news and bad. First the good news: our latest CD Kettleburgh Fete is now avaliable to download from itunes - track-by-track or as a whole album. The bad news is that Woven Wheat Whispers has closed down its operation. This was a brilliant site which offered recordings of ours that were no longer available in CD form. If anyone is interested in obtaining copies of these titles, we can burn single copies for £4.00: Dancing for Pleasure and Profit, Polstead Meadow, Robin Hood's Bay (Harkelees) or Bassland (Bass Instincts)
• Bass Instincts CD, Black to Bassics (no, these are no misprints here!) is now available at £10, incl. p&p from the band. It consists of 13 instrumental tracks - mostly dance music. You can hear some of these on our Myspace page. If you'd like to buy a copy, the easiest and quickest way is to email us and we'll send you a Paypal invoice.
• Bass Instincts have three public dances coming up in the new year: February 28, we're playing for Toosey Dances at St Osyth Village Hall, that's near Clacton-on-Sea. April 4, we're at the White Horse Ceilidhs at Grove Village Hall in Oxfordshire. April 25, we're playing in Cambridge for the Round. The dance is being held at Parkside Community College, Cambridge.

JANUARY 2008

• We've got some interesting public gigs coming up with our three groups. The first of these is an evening of French music with Bof! at Colchester Folk Club on January 21st. Although it's a regular folk club night, we're hoping to get some of the audience dancing. Bof! will also be using the occasion to promote their new CD La Vache que Danse. To hear a few tracks, visit Bof!'s Myspace page
• The Hosepipe Band is playing for the Friday night (May 9th) ceilidh at the St Neots Folk Festival, for the third year, with Mary Panton calling.
• And on March 15th Bass Instincts is playing at Sproughton near Ipswich for the Dances in the Barn series. Hopefully the new CD will be out by then!
• We have two new items available as downloads from Woven Wheat Whispers website: Robin Hood's Bay Val and Simon's tune book containing 44 of their compositions. This is in pdf format. Also a four-track EP by our 1990s band Harkeles.

NOVEMBER 2007

• Sorry about lack of news, but we've been very busy over the last few months. We've already started recording a new Bass Instincts CD, which should be out in March 2008, and have almost finished the new Bof! CD which will be available in January.
• All three bands have interesting public gigs coming up in the new year. Hosepipe Band are playing for Oxfolk in April with our 6-piece Kettleburgh Fete line-up; and are playing for the Friday night ceilidh at the St Neot's Festival again on May 9. For more details, check our gigs page.
• Kettleburgh Fete has had good reviews in the folk press and some radio coverage on BBC Radio Derby and BBC Radio Shropshire. Genevieve Tudor's excellent Sunday night folk programme 8-10 pm, on Radio Shropshire has also featured tracks from the Sticks CD Between the Downs.

MAY 2007

• You can now buy our recordings by PayPal. Just email us and ask us to send you an invoice.
• At last, our new CD Kettleburgh Fete is out. It consists of 12 tracks of dance music, and the accompanying booklet contains dance instructions. Full details on our Recordings page.
  
• The Hosepipe Band was a six-piece when we played at the St Neots Festival Friday night ceilidh. Drummer, Barney Monger and multi-instrumentalist Tom Miller joined the original four. Andrew Swaine called - excellently, as usual.

FEBRUARY 2007

• Bass Instincts second recording from 1987, Bassland, is now available as a download from Woven Wheat Whispers for £5.00. The recording is mainly dance music, but includes two songs among the 11 tracks.

JANUARY 2007

• We're sending New Year cards this year as we always seem to forget Christmas cards! This remarkable photograph shows Simon and Val practising in the back yard just before their first public performance. The picture was taken on an box Brownie - hence the appalling quality.

• Our next CD Kettleburgh Fete is now well on the way, with most of the recording completed. Our usual four-piece line-up is augmented by the drums and percussion of Barney Monger, and the guitar, mandolin and keyboards of Tom Miller. We're hoping it'll be ready in early May.
• Sad to report our Friday 4 May gig at Corton near Lowestoft has been cancelled. In fact, the whole weekend Beer and Folk Weekend - or was it Folk 'n' beer? - has been cancelled. Never mind - it would have been a fair old drive from Colchester just to play to a couple of dozen boozers!

NOVEMBER 2006

• Val and Simon have just brought out a collection of their dance tune compositions. The book is called Robin Hood's Bay after Val's most widely-played tune, and contains forty-four tunes, including those played by Bass Instincts, Harkelees, The Authentic Clarkes and The Hosepipe Band. The six Polstead Meadow tunes are illustrated by Glynn Thomas's colour etchings which inspired this music. A page from the book, with the hornpipe Pin Mill, is reproduced below. The collection is priced at £8.60, which includes postage and packing. Send cheques, made payable to Val Haines, to 33, Beaconsfield Avenue, Colchester, Essex CO3 3DH.
  

• This photo is of the reformed Bass Instincts, a band which played for local and national ceilidhs during the 1980s. As you will see, four of us have aged considerably since the early days, but our drummer seems to have discovered the secret of eternal youth. He's also changed his name to Christy Alston.

• The Hosepipe Band has started recording the new album, to be called Kettleburgh Fete. I hesitate to predict when it'll be out, but it's pretty safe to say before next year's party conference!
• One of our ex-bands Bass Instincts are reforming for occasional gigs. So far we have two bookings: Colchester Folk Club Christmas Ceilidh on December 18 this year, and Toosey Dances in St Osyth Village Hall, on November 24th next year. We have the original line-up - Graham Alston, Stuart Moffat, Val Woollard and Simon Haines - and a new mystery drummer. We'll be playing a mixture of new material and old favourites from our previous incarnation.
• Our other band Bof! is now the resident band for the Bury Bal, a regular French dance event held three times a year. For most "bals" we manage to get a real French band to play for us. Full details can be found at the new Bury Bal website.

• Mike Harding played us on his Radio 2 show on March 6. Fittingly, he played the set Lifted / Larry Day from Landslide - appropriate because the first tune was made up to celebrate the lifting of a hosepipe band about 10 years ago.
• We have recently signed up to Woven Wheat Whispers, the exclusively folk download service. Our three CDs can be downloaded from this site at less than half the price of an actual CD. You can also download the cover and all artwork. The Bof! CD Reve a Verteillac is also available from WWW.
• We've been getting a huge amount of free publicity recently on radio, TV and in the newpapers. Here are just a few of the headlines:

  Hosepipe Band hits 8 million

  Hosepipe Band demanded to stem drought

  HOSEPIPE Band must be ordered within weeks to avoid the threat of standpipes and rationing this summer

  Hosepipe Band heralds spring of zooming house prices

  Hosepipe Band should be introduced across Rockall to stave off the threat of drought

  HOSEPIPE BAND HOTLINE LAUNCHED

  Hosepipe Band for 8m consumers

• A Sprouty New Year to you all!

• This picture reminded me of time the band went to play in France and were treated to a typical English meal before the evening dance. We began with a hefty gin and tonic aperitif. The starter looked mysterious as it was brought to us on trays, but it turned out to be that old English favourite Braised kidneys, Brussels sprouts and Ham done in a sort of thick, reddish gravy. The half of the band that was vegetarian generously passed their kidneys (well not actually theirs) to our bass player, who devoured them eagerly but then felt slightly queasy for the rest of the weekend. Fish and chips followed, well sauteed potatoes I'd call them. The fish was poached in a delicate butter and herb sauce and tasted delicious. The pudding was some kind of sponge cake covered in a generous serving of creme anglaise, or custard as we know it.
• We've got a few public gigs coming up in the next few months, should either of fans feel like travelling vast distances. They are February 18 Dances in the Barn, Sproughton, Nr Ipswich, Suffolk (Contact 01473 742334), March 25 - Hastings Old Town Ceilidhs, Hastings, Sussex (Contact 01424 715552 / 07966 696408), and May 5 St Neots Folk Festival, Friday Night Ceilidh (Contact 01234 376278)

NOVEMBER 2005

• Drummer and percussionist Barney Monger now plays with The Hosepipe Band on some gigs. His main band is the Suffolk-based heavy metal band Dead Lane Cross. Barney also plays with Geoff in Kip Keino.
• Bof! the Simon and Val's French music band have recorded a CD Reve a Verteillac and are picking up a few more gigs. See below. (For Bof! line up see December 2001 News item below.) The CD is available from us, price £10 including p & p. We're involved in the new regular French music workshop in Bury St Edmunds which takes place on the third Wednesday of the month. We also have a number of gigs coming up - see Hosepipe Band public functions

• We're planning our next CD - hopefully to be out about Christmas - famous last words! In the meantime, for anyone who's completely fed-up with the three tracks that have been on the website since the end of the last century, we've uploaded four different tracks. Get them on to your MP3 players now!

• It's been a while since we've updated this section - lack of time being the only excuse. We've kept pretty busy, some of the highlights being Saxmundham Arts and Music Festival, where we played to 14 people; Colchester Folk Club support for Roy Bailey and Karen Tweed (no, not another "duo"); our regular New Year's Eve dance at Leavenheath Village Hall (on again this year); and the Bal de Liomer in Picardie where, with our caller Phil Lyons, we taught the French some English dances.
• Forthcoming gigs open to the public are the Harwich Morris annual dance at Bradfield Village Hall (that's near to Harwich) on July 9th. New Year's Eve, at Leavenheath Village Hall. And in 2006, Dances in the Barn at Sproughton, near Ipswich on February 18th.
• A recent trip up to our attic has unearthed a rare cache of about 20 Bass Instincts Bassland vinyl albums (vinyl). They are very slighty concave, but are otherwise in perfect condition. Produced by Paul James of Blowzabella fame, it includes such classics as Filarfolket'sPotatisvals, two Landler by Mozart, The Blackfly Polkas, and two songs from the inimitable Stuart Moffat. Send us a cheque for ten quid made payable to "Val Haines", and we'll send you one forthwith.
• And finally, this would have been our Christmas card to all our fans. It's by a Dutch painter Rein Pol.

• We've got a few public gigs coming up for our diehard fan(s?). We're doing Islington Folk Club on September 9; the November Reel Dance gig in Saxmundham, Suffolk, on Saturday 6; and the Kier Hardie Hall Ceilidhs in Norwich on Wednesday December 15.

DECEMBER 2003

• A belated Happy Hosepipe Christmas to our fans. Hope you're both well!
  

• For anyone who's worn out their copy of our second CD Polstead Meadow, or who's never had the pleasure, we've had another batch made. They're available from the band at the usual price of £10.

APRIL 2003

• Our gig at the Cromer Pier Festival on May 8 will mark the tenth anniversary of the Hosepipe Band. Our very first gig was way back in the last century in May 1993.
• To mark this momentous occasion we are offering a special reduction on the price of CDs for the rest of the year. Any CD - £10 / Two for £18 / Three for £25. All prices including postage. Send cheques made payable to V.M. Haines to 33, Beaconsfield Avenue, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3DH For details of our CDs go to Recordings

DECEMBER 2002

• Negative news to start with: our New Year's Eve gig at Copdock Village Hall has been cancelled. Too many people wanted to come and they ran out of tickets!

• Never mind! It's Christmas again. Here's the band Christmas card. The Hosepipe Band decided against taking on a double bass player. In this scene they threaten to shoot him if he doesn't stop turning up at gigs.

NOVEMBER 2002

• In addition to his work with the Hosepipe Band, Geoff Coombs is now one half of a new duo called Kip Keino. They have just brought out their first CD Fruit Flies and Battleships. Full details on their website. In Kip Keino, Geoff appears as Glyph Owenson.

SEPTEMBER 2002

• Simon Haines and Val Woollard have joined Issy and David Emeney to form Sticks. The new group has put together a folk club set which combines traditional and original songs and tunes. Their first CD is called Between the Downs and is obtainable from 01206 547830.

• We had a fun gig at the first of this season's Reel Dance Ceilidhs in Saxmundham. The lovely Fee Lock - 'Nigella' to us - cool as ever - called expertly.

• Our new CD, Hell's Bells, had a nice review in The Green Man Review. The reviewer particularly liked track 5 - Hell's Bells / Asdaboudicca. Several people have asked me where this title came from. The photo below should explain all, well nearly all. The modern sculpture in the foreground is supposed to represent Boudicca, the warrior queen associated with Colchester.
  

MAY 2002

• At last our new CD has materialised. It's called Hell's Bells has 11 tracks and lasts 52 minutes. Full details on the Recordings page.

• Any fans of our mandola player Geoff can see what he was like in 1975 by looking at the Zorch website. There's a black and white picture of the band in the seventies. Geoff is on the far right!

JANUARY 2002

The band's 1994 recording Waltzing for Pleasure and Profit is now available on CD. Three extra tracks have been added to the original 12 to make a 51-minute recording. Further details on our recordings page.

DECEMBER 2001

Happy Christmas to our fan in Hemel Hempsted and the other one in America. This year our card is one of Val and Simon on a recent working holiday in Portugal. Not very Christmassy, but very Hosepipey!

• Our new CD, which will be called Hell's Bells is now due out in February.
• Geoff Coombs went on a three-week holiday to India in November. While he was away, we were joined on guitar for three gigs by New Model Army bass player Nel.
• Val and Simon have joined Paddy Butcher and Phil Lyons from RSVP to form a new occasional band playing music for French and Breton dancing. The band BOF! have two gigs so far: January 5th in Manningtree, near Colchester, and Friday May 10th at Kelsale in Suffolk as part of the On y va programme. For info. contact Lin Barnes on 01728 602416.

We've had a busy summer one way and the other. Here are a few of the highlights.

• At the end of June we were invited to play at the Tillingham Festival of the Arts. The venue was a pub; the event was a Chinese meal! We appeared prominently in their posh programme. The pub was packed with people scoffing chop suey etc. There being no room in the main bar, we were shown into the snooker room. We sat around the snooker table and played there all night. From time to time people came in to listen. Certainly a novel experience!

• Sidmouth was great. We played for three dances: kids in the Blackmore Gardens with Peter Bearon; the Anchor Gardens with Michael Catovsky and the Late Night Extra in the Bowd Marquee with Fee Lock. Thanks to all the callers. We also did a meet the band which gave us the chance to play some of our new (non-dance) stuff. A few people asked about a certain set of tunes we played (B Flat One / Flat 1B). We said it would be on our next CD. This is now likely to be ready around the beginning or middle of December - in time for Christmas - we'll keep you posted.

• Walton Folk Festival on 9th September. There was a disappointing turnout all round, but we enjoyed the two sets we played in the final Sunday afternoon concert.

• Finally we did Colchester Folk Club on 10th September - only the second full-scale folk club set we've done. We included some of the new tunes from our forthcoming CD.

JUNE 2001

• The current issue of English Dance and Song has the second of Simon's articles under the general heading, All in a Night's Work - this one chronicles the band's experiences playing for a Midsummer wedding!

• Playing at the Imola in Musica Festival (June 8-10) was great. Because we flew, we had to limit our instruments. Simon took only one melodeon! We played outdoors in different piazzas on Friday and Saturday nights.
  
  As you can see in the photo, people danced to our music. A group of dancers from Imola had got hold of one of our CDs beforehand and matched up some of the tunes with English dances they already knew. It was odd to be doing something like an English barn dance in the middle of an Italian town. But we had a good weekend - appreciative audiences, wonderful weather and fabulous food!

MAY 2001

• On April 28 The Hosepipe Band took part in The Sounding Out Show, a day of music with other local music groups of all kinds, organised jointly by the local council and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields. As orchestra in residence in Colchester for a period of 3 years, the Academy is working alongside local musicians to extend music making opportunities through community outreach work and concerts.

MARCH 2001

• If you're a regular reader of English Dance and Song, you may have seen Simon's article Functional Bands with stars in their eyes. If you don't get the magazine, try looking for it in your local library. This general article about playing in a ceilidh band, will be followed in forthcoming issues of the magazine by a series of articles capturing the atmosphere of the different kinds of gigs that bands like us do during a typical year.
• We've recently added a few more public gigs to our gig list, notably the Imola in Musica Festival in early June, East Bergholt, Suffolk in July and Colchester Folk Club in September. Colchester is twinned with Imola in northern Italy, and we've been asked to do three concert spots as part of their annual music festival. If you can't make it to Italy, try Old Hall , a commune in East Bergholt on July 7th. They've got 12-hours of music including Rory McLeod. We'll be playing sometime in the afternoon.

JANUARY 2001

• We're looking forward to our next public gig which is a Norwich Third Thursday Ceilidh with a caller new to us: Phil Starks. Date February 15th.
• Before The Hosepipe Band and Harkelees, Simon and Val were in a band called Bass Instincts.
  
  We have just added a link to a page about this band which lasted five years and in addition to the usual gigs, played Sidmouth, Whitby, Holmfirth etc in the late 1980s.
  Why are we bothering to do this for a defunct band? Well, we've just produced a compilation CD of Bass Instincts recordings. It was rockier than the Hosepipe Band, with an Albion-band style bass and drums line-up. We played some good tunes including standards like Harvest Home, Gaspe Reel, Primrose Polka etc., as well as our own compositions, Stuart Moffat songs and a bit of classical stuff: Mozart, Purcell etc.
  If you're interested, we can send you a copy for £11 (incl. p & p), from the usual contact.

DECEMBER 2000

• Hippy Hasepope Christmas - Hope to see you in the New Year
  

• Our March 3 2001 Beckenham Hops gig is cancelled. Michael Catovsky has been forced to pull the plug on this dance series due to falling numbers. We sympathize with Michael, having had to do the same to our own Copford Ceilidhs this time last year. Let's hope that his Reeling in Ealing series continues to succeed.

• Tom Miller of the Geckoes replaced our mandola player Geoff Coombs when we played in the Royal Festival Hall Foyer as part of the Folk in the Fall 'festival' organised by Mrs Casey Music. Joining us for the second time this year, Tom played guitars and mandolin.
  
• Val Woollard's Robin Hood's Bay has been published in a new collection of English Bagpipe Tunes by Julian Goodacre: Threedle-Deedle Bagpipes. Robin Hood's Bay is the second tune in The Ferryman set on our CD Polstead Meadow. Among the 50 tunes in the collection are compositions by Dave Townsend, Chris Walshaw, Matt Seattle, Dave Townsend, Flos Headford, and Cliff Stapleton. [Copies are available from Julian Goodacre, 4 Elcho Street, Peebles, Scotland EH45 8QL.]