Bridge Folk Club, The Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne (2026)

13/06/2026

Alistair Anderson at The Bridge Folk Club, 2 March 2026

Peacock Blue, Isaac’s Cut (Written by Alistair)

Before he played this set Alistair reminded us that the first time he trod the stage at the Bridge Folk Club was in 1964. 1964!

Peacock Blue and Isaac’s Cut are on his Hethpool Linn album. The sleeve notes say – ‘I wrote Peacock blue for an open air contemporary dance performance in the grounds of Cragside near Rothbury. The work was created by Emma Dunn, a wonderful dancer and choreographer. A friend with synesthesia experienced this melody as an intense blue colour, hence the title.
Isaac’s cut was written as part of a longer piece and titled ‘Panning for Gold’, commissioned by the new music Millennium in 2014. The idea of applying to be part of the new music Millennium came from Sage Gateshead, who also suggested the lineup that I had to write for, namely concertina, steel pan band, clog dancer and scratch DJ! The whole piece was performed in London’s South Bank Centre and in Glasgow as part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations. This particular tune started having a life of its own and as there were two reels in the longer piece, calling it ‘that other reel from Panning for Gold’ didn't work. When I was working on a residential course with the wonderful young musicians in Folkestra (another Sage Gateshead institution) a young melodeon player, Isaac Marchant, made a significant contribution to the arrangement that became known as Isaac’s cut and that seemed a good name for the tune

Alistair’s website is http://www.alistairanderson.com

12/06/2026

Gaeran Southern at The Bridge Folk Club, 27 April 2026

One Dessert And Two Spoons (Written by Gaeran)

This is about when you get to the pudding course after a lovely meal and can’t decide about your dessert so you end up sharing

12/06/2026

Peter Armstrong at The Bridge Folk Club, 23 February 2026

Tempted (Written by Peter)

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Tempted: Words & Music Peter Armstrong

I’ve been tempted by whisky - like I never was tempted by wine
and vodka’s way too Rusky, and Rum just numbs my mine;
but I love my darlin’ whisky, and if love comes with the blues
between the life of water and the water of life
I know which I would choose

Chorus
‘Cos I’m a long-time slave to them old gold chains
and if I could break free
how long would it take for me to lay
them chains right back on me?

Now, I’ve been tempted by Jesus, and by Jesus’ mother in blue
and they tempted me so lovingly, only one thing I could do:
I dressed me as a pilgrim, with my pilgrim’s scrip and shell
and a penny or two would keep me in shoes,
a pound keep my glass full

Chorus

Now Eve got tempted by Adam; Adam was tempted by Eve;
and the snake meanwhile was paralysed and God went on his knees;
and the whole sweet garden went quiet - all know the hour had come
when the rightful place of the sufferin’ race
would be laid down by love.

Now, some has called it Disaster; many’s called it The Fall,
but when you look through the eyes of that gal and that guy
it ain’t no such thing at all,
‘cos you can keep your garden perfect; you can guard your apple tree,
but what’s so cute about all that fruit
you never get to eat?

Chorus

11/06/2026

Graham Bell at The Bridge Folk Club, 11 May 2026

The Cow And The Black And White Bull (Written by Graham)

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Watch more of Graham Bell’s songs on his YouTube channel. Go to https://www.youtube.com/

11/06/2026

Bill Dodds at The Bridge Folk Club, 23 February 2026

For Sophie (This Beautiful Day) (Reg Meuross)

This is a tribute to Sophie Scholl. Sophie, age 21, was a founder member of the Weiße Rose (White Rose) anti-N**i resistance group in Germany during World War Two. Her small group bravely opposed the N**i state and called for resistance to the war

She was arrested with her brother and a friend at the University of Munich for distributing subversive leaflets and they were taken for interrogation by the Gestapo. In a show trial four days later they were convicted of High Treason, sentenced to death, and beheaded by guillotine the same day. Her final words were “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

10/06/2026

Vic Gammon, Gabriel Bath and Matt Quinn at The Bridge Folk Club, 27 April 2026

Goodnight Song, Michael Turner’s Waltz, Brighton Camp

Goodnight Song is also known as ‘It’s Late Into The Evening’ (words and music by Vic Gammon and John Challenger c1968)

Vic Gammon and John Challenger had a group called The Garrett Singers. They made an LP (remember LPs?) for Argo Records and Vic would love to put it on the internet along with his other archive materials (see below) but he hasn’t been able to get the necessary copyright permission from Argo so it has to remain unavailable. If there’s anyone from Argo reading this please message us and we’ll put you in touch with Vic

Michael Turner’s Waltz was an untitled waltz in Michael Turner’s manuscript in Chichester. Found out later to be by Mozart (Vic described it as ‘traditional, from the Michael Turner Manuscripts and A Sussex Tune Book’

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Vic, Gabriel and Matt played these for us during a wonderful night at The Bridge when we celebrated Vic’s 80th birthday

Vic is one of our great friends, a brilliant singer, a multi-instrumentalist, often seen at The Bridge with his lovely wife, Shiela. He isn’t just an entertainer, he is a renowned expert in the folk tradition, hugely valued as a tutor on Newcastle University’s Folk and Traditional Music degree course until he retired. He is a genuinely lovely bloke with a big heart; every time he does a gig for us he insists we give his fee to Crisis, an amazing charity that looks after many vulnerable people

He is also very generously adding extra materials to those that he has already made available free of charge to everyone (see below). So it was wonderful to be able to celebrate Vic’s birthday with him in April (slightly late, the actual date was in March but never mind). We’re looking forward to many more visits in the decades to come

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New recordings of original songs, ‘No Way Home’
Part one of a trilogy called Random Songs, now available for free listening and download at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/no-way-home_20260220 . The Internet Archive posting has a downloadable PDF of lyrics, brief notes and paintings by Annie Dearman. Audio also available at SoundCloud - search ‘Vic Gammon originals’ then go to Albums, where you should find No Way Home

This is the first issue of a three-part collection of Vic’s songs which he will make available for free download via the Internet this year. The whole project is called Random Songs or more fully ‘… random songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information’ a 2026 project to make available songs written and performed by Vic Gammon. The project title is a quote from a White House statement about songs on the murder of US citizens by federal ICE forces in Minnesota put out by the Marsh Family, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg. (Observer 1/2/2026 p.17). The songs are made available under a Creative Commons licence with allows for free, non-commercial, download and use and you can give them as presents if you want to. Vic’s previous album of self-made songs, A Very Paltry Rascally Original, is available for download at https://archive.org/search?query=Vic+Gammon and on SoundCloud. When he has finished the Random Songs project he wants to work on a similar collection of favourite traditional songs

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Audio Archive Guide 2026
This is available as part of Vic’s Internet Archive collection at https://ia601808.us.archive.org/2/items/dsc-01951/VGAA%20Guide%20January%202026.pdf and on his Academia.edu. collection at https://www.academia.edu/164845428/Vic_Gammon_Audio_Archive_Guide_Spring_2026_. The particular areas that have developed since the last issues are podcasts (particularly contributions to Matt Quinn's In the Roud series) and Traditional Song Forum presentations

10/06/2026

Gatehouse at The Bridge Folk Club, 30 March 2026

Willie Coleman’s Jig (Trad) Kilglass Lakes (John McEvoy), Spotted Dog (John McEvoy)

The tunes:

• Willie Coleman’s Jig gets its name from fiddler Willie Coleman of County Sligo, Ireland. It is usually designated ‘Trad’ but a comment on https://thesession.org/tunes/476 says ‘I had the great pleasure of knowing Willie Coleman when I was young and I can absolutely confirm that he composed this tune’

• Kilglass Lakes – John McEvoy composed this for his mother, who lived near Kilglass Lakes in County Roscommon, Ireland, before she emigrated to Birmingham, England. John’s parents had lived quite close to each other in Ireland but they didn’t really meet until they had both emigrated and settled in Birmingham

• Spotted Dog – The Spotted Dog was a pub where there was a lot of music in Birmingham, close to where John McEvoy lived. The pub sign was a dachshund with four spots that represented the four provinces of Ireland

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The website of Gatehouse is https://www.gatehousetrad.ie/ and they are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tusnua16

Artists always find it difficult to cover the costs of performing far away from their homes so we must give huge thanks to Culture Ireland for supporting bands and for making it possible for us to enjoy the amazing music of Gatehouse at The Bridge Folk Club in 2026

09/06/2026

Vic Gammon and Matt Quinn at The Bridge Folk Club, 27 April 2026

The Goose And The Gander, The Trip To Brighton (Both trad, arr by Vic)

Vic learned The Goose And The Gander from the Singing of Ron Spicer of Ardingly, Sussex in the 1980s. He resourced The Trip To Brighton from Rutherford’s Complete Collection of 200 Country Dances Vol.2; 1759, and recorded it on the CD ‘Black Crow, White Crow, by Dearman, Gammon and Harrison

Vic and Matt played these for us during a wonderful night at The Bridge when we celebrated Vic’s 80th birthday

Vic is one of our great friends, a brilliant singer, a multi-instrumentalist, often seen at The Bridge with his lovely wife, Shiela. He isn’t just an entertainer, he is a renowned expert in the folk tradition, hugely valued as a tutor on Newcastle University’s Folk and Traditional Music degree course until he retired. He is a genuinely lovely bloke with a big heart; every time he does a gig for us he insists we give his fee to Crisis, an amazing charity that looks after many vulnerable people

He is also very generously adding extra materials to those that he has already made available free of charge to everyone (see below). So it was wonderful to be able to celebrate Vic’s birthday with him in April (slightly late, the actual date was in March but never mind). We’re looking forward to many more visits in the decades to come

________________________

New recordings of original songs, ‘No Way Home’
Part one of a trilogy called Random Songs, now available for free listening and download at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/no-way-home_20260220 . The Internet Archive posting has a downloadable PDF of lyrics, brief notes and paintings by Annie Dearman. Audio also available at SoundCloud - search ‘Vic Gammon originals’ then go to Albums, where you should find No Way Home

This is the first issue of a three-part collection of Vic’s songs which he will make available for free download via the Internet this year. The whole project is called Random Songs or more fully ‘… random songs with irrelevant opinions and inaccurate information’ a 2026 project to make available songs written and performed by Vic Gammon. The project title is a quote from a White House statement about songs on the murder of US citizens by federal ICE forces in Minnesota put out by the Marsh Family, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg. (Observer 1/2/2026 p.17). The songs are made available under a Creative Commons licence with allows for free, non-commercial, download and use and you can give them as presents if you want to. Vic’s previous album of self-made songs, A Very Paltry Rascally Original, is available for download at https://archive.org/search?query=Vic+Gammon and on SoundCloud. When he has finished the Random Songs project he wants to work on a similar collection of favourite traditional songs

/////////

Audio Archive Guide 2026
This is available as part of Vic’s Internet Archive collection at https://ia601808.us.archive.org/2/items/dsc-01951/VGAA%20Guide%20January%202026.pdf and on his Academia.edu. collection at https://www.academia.edu/164845428/Vic_Gammon_Audio_Archive_Guide_Spring_2026_. The particular areas that have developed since the last issues are podcasts (particularly contributions to Matt Quinn's In the Roud series) and Traditional Song Forum presentations

09/06/2026

Richard Poulson at The Bridge Folk Club, 23 February 2026

Walk All Over You (Paul Bird, Jump The Gun)

Jump The Gun was a 1980s band that Richard Poulson and John Bird were in

08/06/2026

15 June 2026 at The Bridge Folk Club – Litany

Our old friends Ed McGurk and Nick Caffrey have teamed up with Julie Proctor on fiddle and Dave Howard on mandolin/bazouki/guitar (not all at once) to form Litany. Even more riches than we've already heard from Lancashire's finest

Don’t miss this terrific evening

NB: We don’t have a card reader – please be traditional and bring cash

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Future Events and Guests at The Bridge –

6 July 2026 – Sam Baxter and Merle Harbron

17 August 2026 – Phil Tyler and Sarah Hill

31 August 2026 – Closed (Late Summer Bank Holiday)

7 September 2026 – Mills & Farrell
Janet Mills and David Farrell are very well known to our club regulars and we are all looking forward to this guest night. Their superb first album ‘Crooked Path’ is now available; see their website at https://millsandfarrell.com/ for purchasing options, and to enjoy more of their music go to –
https://soundcloud.com/user-481884431
https://www.instagram.com/millsandfarrell/
https://www.facebook.com/millsandfarrell
https://www.youtube.com/

28 September 2026 – Steve and Kristi Nebel
Steve and Kristi from Washington State are long-time friends of the Bridge and it’ll be wonderful to have them here again after a much-too-long break

12 October 2026 – Anne Alderson

2 November – Sally ironmonger and Brian Carter

16 November – Pipe Dream

7 December – Fundraiser Singaround for Crisis

14 December – Salty Dog

*** All other Mondays are our usual Singarounds ***

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Elsewhere and Elsewhen

Thursday 11 June 2026 – Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4SG
Luke Daniels with Matt Tighe and Luc McNally in their ‘Bellows To The Hearth’ tour
The trio fuses English, Irish and Scottish traditional tunes with global influences to create a sound that is completely unique. Tickets from Eventbrite

25 to 28 June – Alnwick Playhouse (and beyond)
What a Wonderful World Festival
Don’t miss ‘JON BODEN: The Floodplain Trilogy on Saturday 27 June
See the full programme and get tickets from https://whataww.org/

Friday 24 July 2026 – Little Theatre, 1-4 Saltwell View, Gateshead, NE8 4JS
Tim Dalling in ‘Ivor Cutler and the Shinytribe: A Double Bill of Songs and Stories’
Tickets (£16.50 including the booking fee) from We Got Tickets at https://wegottickets.com/f/16316
Tim will be our first guest at The Bridge in 2027 (27 January)

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**************** Our Regular Reminders ****************

The Bridge Folk Club page and YouTube channel

New music is uploaded every day – Like us or Follow us on Facebook, or Subscribe to us on YouTube

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Let’s keep everyone safe and healthy

If you're feeling unwell in any way at all (even if you think it’s only a bit of a cold) PLEASE just relax at home and come back to see us when you're feeling completely better

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Driving to us

Parking outside of the club is free after 7.00 pm
If you arrive early the charge is £1.90 an hour up until 7.00 and the council very kindly offers several wonderful ways for you to give them the fee:
• Via the PayByPhone App. The location code is 808937
• Via PayByPhone online at paybyphone.co.uk
• Or by calling 0330 400 7275
• If you’d rather pay by card (contactless only) you’ll find the payment machine outside of the Vermont Hotel

The Clean Air Zone in Newcastle city centre doesn’t affect anyone driving to the club in a private car, and most vans are OK. If you want to make absolutely sure that your vehicle won’t be charged you’ll find the answers at https://www.breathe-cleanair.com/
and
https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/transport-improvements/transport-and-air-quality/newcastle-and-gateshead-clean-air-zone #:~:text=A%20Clean%20Air%20Zone%20(CAZ,any%20vehicle%20until%20January%2030

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Things change

If you'd like to get the latest updates about what is happening at The Bridge send your contact details to us at [email protected] and you’ll get our weekly email

Bridge Folk Club

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