Rolling Hills Folk Club

23/02/2025

Thanks to everyone who came to Rolling Hills Folk Club in Darnick Village on Friday.
Another great night full of variety and plenty of banter thanks to our loyal regulars who always make every evening different and so enjoyable. Wonderful harmonies, heart-wrenching songs, great fiddle, uke, concertina, whistle, moving and funny recitations (some with props) and so much more.

Added to that everyone got a very welcome surprise when Pete Coe walked through the door! He has been a regular Club guest as well as appearing at a past Rolling Hills Folk Festival and is returning as our guest at the Club on Friday November 21st. Great to hear his wonderful voice and melodeon again and all got an extra surprise with an amusing 'murder' ballad involving 3 little piggies....

And we were pleased to welcome Richard from the Adirondack Mountains in New York State, a lyric poet and skilled musician and songster who introduced the thumb harp to start the evening. ( which we now know can be tuned and not just one way).

See you all again soon!

20/02/2025

Don't forget about our live club tomorrow night. Bring your songs, instruments, jokes, tales or just yourself. This is the perfect opportunity to buy your ticket for next months special concert. We will also have our legendary raffle. Tea / coffee available for a donation. BYOB

14/02/2025

In case people might be interested in this: Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and two others on "Folk on Foot": https://www.folkonfoot.com/ This is from Max Marnau

We rely on our listeners to keep us going, so why not become a member (you'll get great rewards), or simply buy us a coffee.

10/02/2025

Thanks very much to everyone who joined us on Friday night's Zoom, whether to sing, play or listen.
We had another really varied evening full of poignancy as well as some humour.
Betsy Bell is a very cheery ear-worm!

In spite of apologies from those away on travels/ exhausted from work or life and Mary Ann doing a care home gig across the Atlantic, we still had 20 screens involving 32 people enjoying the camaraderie which we never thought could be possible via this technology!

We missed the singing of a number of
regulars who were on screen but suffering with lurgies.
Hope everyone will be fit and well for Friday March 7th for more musical enjoyment.🎵🎼🎶

05/02/2025

And another taster to tempt you into our next Rolling Hills Folk Club concert in Darnick Village which will feature both Phoebe Rees Music and Ben Robertson.

We are thrilled to have tempted them over the border for their ONLY gig in Scotland.

Phoebe and Ben will perform separately and together showing off their many vocal and instrumental talents.

Grab your tickets early to avoid disappointment. £10 /under 18s free.

05/02/2025

A wee taster of one of our hugely talented guests for our next Rolling Hills Folk Club concert on Friday March 21st in Darnick Village . Tickets available now and advance booking encouraged. £10 each/ under 18s free.

The Crow on the Cradle was written by Sydney Carter during the height of cold war tensions. In this video I'm performing the Phil Beer/Show of Hands arrangem...

31/01/2025

Thanks very much to Max Marnau for sharing this excellent image of the wonderful memorial carving which she spotted whilst walking on one of the beautiful Earlston paths near Leader Water yesterday.
The plaque reads: "Remembering Jack Jones, Co-Founder and Chairman Earlston Paths Group 2005-2015. "When I die, bury me low Where I can hear the bonny Tweed flow, A sweeter place I never did know The rolling hills o' the Borders"."
Regulars at our live club enjoy seeing and hearing Max regularly singing in a wide variety of languages and the words on the memorial are of course from the wonderful Matt McGinn song after which our Rolling Hills Folk Club is named.

18/01/2025

Thanks to everyone who came to Rolling Hills Folk Club last night to get 2025 off to a great start.

Of the 22 people who came, 19 performed, with a great mix of unaccompanied and accompanied singing, (guitars and ukes), with a number of beautifully delivered Burns' songs, some in preparation for Melrose Literary Society on Tuesday January 21st.

As well as beautiful more traditional songs, other choices included a new year song about the Cornish tradition of watching the old year go out with the tide and welcoming in the new and one about 2 volcanoes looking for love, aka lava!

The touching Silly Wizard song, Lover's Heart, was sung beautifully as was The Highwayman, made famous by Glen Campbell and others. The song tells of four re-incarnations of one man, building on themes from older songs, and reminded me (Ros) that I always learn at least one new and interesting fact on third Fridays!

As well as the songs, poignant and comical poetry was brilliantly delivered. Spoken items from Burns, Dave Calder, Mike Harding and Stanley Holloway added to the variety and we heard an excellent self-penned 'toast to the laddies'.
We even heard Tam O' Shanter and were encouraged to time it (10 minutes!)

And the beautiful Village Hall was cosy throughout the evening and much appreciated as usual for the amazing acoustics.

We really hope this longer post might tempt our neighbours in Darnick Village to step along for a visit soon and of course anyone from anywhere!

There is NO pressure to perform but if you know you want to, give it a try.
Otherwise BYOB/ make a hot drink +/- knitting or crochet OR just sit back, relax and ENJOY!
You are all VERY welcome.

Next date: Friday February 21st with doors open from 7.30p.m.for 8 p.m. start.

16/01/2025

Remember it really is the THIRD Friday tomorrow, January 17th, which means one thing:
Rolling Hills Folk Club is live in Darnick Village in the beautiful Village Hall.

Doors open at 7.30 for 8pm start.
No pressure to perform- just sit back and enjoy

£2 entry/ under 18s free.

Bring unwanted or excess gifts for the raffle!

P.S. there will be birthday cake! Don't tell Ron!

09/01/2025

We are hugely saddened to hear of the passing of the wonderful Geordie McIntyre this week. Geordie was a huge part of the Scottish Folk Scene from the 1960s when he started the first Glasgow Folk Club.
We were thrilled that he and his lovely partner Alison McMorland were early guests at Rolling Hills Folk Club in 2007, a few months after we started up in our first Melrose venue. They returned in 2012 to deliver another excellent evening which we fondly remember.
Our thoughts are with Alison and all the family at this sad time.

04/01/2025

Thanks to everyone who joined us on our first Rolling Hills Folk Club Zoom of 2025 last night.

Excellent variety as usual from some dark messages to amusing songs, including Ron's comical rendition about 2 volcanoes looking for lava (aka love).
Check the video link below or just search for Disney lava song to warm up this frosty day!
https://g.co/kgs/o8pMFK3

A number of songs covered themes of welcome, kindness, peace and friendship which suited our hopes for the new year.

All of the contributions were meaningful and memorable and special mention to John's beautiful nyckelharpa playing in Herefordshire of the Shetland tune, Da Slockit Light, which set off a wee screen band with Sandy on guitar, Ron on fiddle, both in the Scottish Borders and Adam on flute in Canberra.

Thanks to all the audience too and best wishes to all those coping with various health problems who enjoyed joining us both on and off screen.

The vote was unanimous to continue the monthly Zoom sessions though ambivalent re the crazy raffle but we'll keep it going for this year and review costs again in 12 months.

Anyone who wishes to donate towards the Zoom subscription can do so via PayPal or bank transfer and we'll provide details via email in the next few days.
For clarity the subscription has never been paid from RHFC funds but personally by the Andersons from when it started in April 2020).Thanks to kind donations for 2024 we covered the subscription and raffle p and p which was much appreciated.

Here's to more sharing of musical camaraderie from far and wide on the first Friday of each month of 2025 (excluding July and August).

01/01/2025

Our guests for the 21st of March 2025 are no other than......

Drumroll

Ben Robertson https://youtu.be/pJYjatqhFSU?si=smUpkHIQzJ9E4Xhr

And Phoebe Rees Music

https://youtu.be/p69FFppTjak?si=rnvnU42TYdrDR_a1

We are beyond thrilled to have secured both Ben and Phoebe. They will be playing some solo stuff and some duo items.

Phoebe and Ben have both had solo slots to end our Zoom folk clubs in the early lockdown days where they really impressed the audience.

Phoebe and Ben are both hugely talented as there videos show and we know this will be a superb concert night in the beautiful Village Hall in Darnick Village for Rolling Hills Folk Club.

31/12/2024

Me, mum and dad want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year for when it comes. All the best for 2025.

As a special treat come back tomorrow for our guest reveal for the 21st March 2025.

You won't want to miss this very special concert but tune in tomorrow to find out who it is.

27/12/2024

This is one of Tommy Ashby playing an original song with the coohands playing alongside.

27/12/2024

A taste of the final number from The Coohands tonight which we are sure a lot of you will know. Thanks so much to Henry, Murray, Seoras Ashby, Ken and Tommy Ashby for an absolutely brilliant night.

It was brilliant to see everyone enjoying themselves and leaving the beautiful Hall in Darnick Village buzzing at the end of the night.

Thanks to everyone who came and also to the enthusiastic dancers at the back!
A massive thanks to The CooHands and especially to Seoras Ashby for getting a date to work for us and to Tommy for guesting in the second half ( and for sound desk management).

It was a really wonderful Twixtmas evening!

22/12/2024

And the photographic evidence from the Rolling Hills Folk Club Christmas Party, thanks to George Machray.
We were pleased that George travelled from Port Seton to join the audience, sing some wonderful songs and capture the atmosphere.
As you can see we had a wide variety of performers in varied festive attire and a great buffet and raffle ( squidgy sprouts warrant a second mention!)
And everyone enjoyed being in the beautiful venue in Darnick Village dressed in its own festive attire!

22/12/2024

And here's a photo selection, thanks to George Machray who we were pleased to have in the audience, all the way from Port Seton. Hopefully we'll welcome him back to Rolling Hills Folk Club in Darnick Village soon as a guest, to hear more of his poignant and his comedic songs.