Merry Christmas!

As it is that time of year and if you are keen on folk traditions then you might be interested in the Tradfolk Wassail Directory which has appeared for the last 3 seasons including the 2024/25 season last year. It is not clear whether it will be updated yet for 25/26 but it is still a useful resource to find out what is going in the way of ‘Wassailing’ in each county and the dates for this year are likely to be quite predictable based on last year’s information. There are also some other listings for Wassail events which may be useful including a well stocked one exclusively for the county of Somerset, comprising some free and family events, and another produced by the National Trust. The nearest to Royston is Dunton Wassail on Saturday 3rd January and details can be found in the ‘Featured Events’ section on the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.

I am sure that at least some members of one organisation which I came across recently will be joining in with the nearest Wassail and that is the Chiltern Folk Association. I was most impressed with their Autumn newsletter sent to Unicorn Folk recently covering as it did a wide range of dance related activities around the area that is covered by the chalk escarpment known as the Chiltern Hills. I hope to be including a lot of their various club’s activities in the Unicorn Folk LISTINGS in future and in the meantime you can have a look at their website for further information and browse their newsletters going back several years.

Filby’s Folk Christmas podcast (Show 112) has just been published and it includes a fine range of festive songs, well in my opinion anyway, and it features a brand new album from the Winter Wonderband a four piece group consisting of Jennifer Crook, Saul Rose, Maclaine Colston and Beth Porter all very well established and respected names on the folk scene. The album called Joy Illimited contains some lovely new arrangements of well known traditional songs and carols plus a couple of covers of more recent songs – Last Christmas (yes, the one by George Michael but a much better version! ☺) and The Fairytale Of New York. Ideal listening over Christmas dinner I would say – either the album or the podcast!

Once the festive season is done and dusted there are plenty of things to look forward to in the New Year including at The Stables in Milton Keynes. They are once again running their popular Ceilidh Experience course which provides a chance for musicians interested in traditional and folk music to play in a band and play at a Ceilidh. All the details can be found by clicking on the link on the poster in the ‘Featured Events’ section on the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.

I hope you are enjoying all the festive gigs listed in the current edition of the Unicorn Diary and I’m looking forward to the Royston Live Christmas Party this coming Thursday 18^th December. Do keep your eye on the update to the Diary which is coming in the week between Christmas and New Year which will contain all known details of folk club and other folk events in the principal Unicorn Folk area covering Beds, Bucks, Cambs, Essex, Herts and beyond into East Anglia and to the West, not to mention the national coverage given to folk festivals and some other events and tours which you can find in the LISTINGS one of the main menu entries at the top of the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.