At last, Ceilidh dancing is back and Silver Bough were delighted to be playing at an overdue 70^th birthday party – with a 1970s theme – at the Fentham Hall, Hampton in Arden, Solihull on Saturday afternoon 28 May.

The weather was so pleasant that the 70 plus people attending Sheila’s Covid-deferred 70^th birthday party didn’t want to stray far from the outdoor pig roast and refreshing drinks and so the band morphed into Gospel Bell and played outside until the pig had all been eaten! Suitably nourished, a very happy audience of people in amazing 70s outfits came to listen to our warm-up tunes and happily danced as Jackie guided them through the steps, Donald, Ben and Richard played and Rachel and Jackie demonstrated the dances.

It was fun to watch this happy group of people dancing from our position on the stage – clearly ABBA style 70s platform shoes and high boots are not the best footwear for dancing but they did it! Our thanks to Sheila for inviting us to play for her delayed 70^th and for a warm welcome, generous hospitality and great dancing!

The village of Somerton is home to Gospel Bell regulars Dave and Toni and we always enjoy playing for the Somerton Social Club members in their beautiful village hall. Fran and John had brought with them their guest from Ukraine and she listened attentively, said that she’d really enjoyed our music and joined us for our usual group photo:

Left to right: Richard, John, Fran and their Ukrainian guest, John, Toni, Donald and Troy

We shall miss Dave, our amazing harmonica player and raconteur when he and Chris move to Wales a little later in the year but thankfully he played and sang with us for part of the evening. Our thanks to Debs and Emma and the Somerton Social Club committee for inviting us to play. Whenever you’d like us to come back, just ask!

Centre stage: the inimitable David Reed, our friend, harmonica player and story-teller.

The ‘History’ section of Bodicote St John the Baptist Parish Church website which serves the communities of Bodicote, Cherwell Heights, Cotefield and Longford Park near Banbury, Oxfordshire says:

It’s impossible to say how long there has been a church in Bodicote. The name of the village itself, probably derives from ‘the settlement of Boda’ – a family name and has a Saxon ring, although being on the edge of Salt Way, a very ancient road older even than the Roman occupation of Britain, the settlement could be older still. If there ever was a Saxon Church on this site, there is no sign of it, but we can be sure that people have worshipped here on the same spot for at least eight centuries.

After a recommendation from an audience member at a fund-raising event we played at prior to the pandemic, event organiser Helen Hall invited us to play a fund-raising concert at St John’s on Friday evening 6 May 2022. Helen and her team were hoping to raise a few hundred pounds for the work of the church but the evening exceeded all expectations, raising around £600! Our thanks to Helen and her team for meticulous planning, organising and leaflet campaigning in the streets close to the church, to the Vicar Revd. Sarah Sharp for her warm welcome (and for personally delivering the fastest ever interval drinks order!) and to the Curate Revd. Nick Fielden for his encouragement. Above all, we’d like to thank everyone that came along, sang with us and generously supported the event – they thought they were coming to a concert but our audiences have to sing with us and they did! Afterwards an audience member asked us if we would play a Ceilidh for Ukraine and so we hope to be back in Bodicote again soon.  Thank you Bodicote for a really enjoyable evening.