Percy Copley at The White Swan, Hebden Bridge!

I haven't posted for a while. Been busy. Life just gets busier, somehow! But the ukulele is always to hand, and the days are few and far between when I can't fit in a few minutes playing. As well as playing I love to listen to good players, good performers. At GNUF last year, one of the performers to really impress me was Percy Copley. I loved his folky-bluesy finger-picking style. He'll be at GNUF again this year, (5th-7th May) but unfortunately I will not - so when I found that we were free on Saturday, the day he would be playing at The White Swan in Hebden Bridge, I held my breath and suggested to LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) that we hop up north to Hebden Bridge, (a fair way from we are!) stay the night, and enjoy the concert! To my delight he said ok! So in a shake of a lamb's tail the case was packed, a hotel room booked and we were away. It's wonderful to do things on the spur of the moment sometimes.

Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has changed a lot since the last time we passed through it - that was many, many years ago. More than thirty. It's prettier than it was, it's vibrant, and it has suffered. The Boxing Day floods of 2015 brought havoc and misery to the town. The floods were bad and the link will take you to a page where you can explore photos and articles about why it happened... but businesses and homeowners alike suffered as the roads and buildings went under water. The last business to reopen was the The White Swan... the landlady Liz doing an awful lot of the clearing up herself, getting by with a little help from her friends.

Now Mary Agnes Krell, the main organiser of GNUF, lives in Hebden Bridge with her partner the ukulele builder Rob Collins. (tinguitar) They were not flooded out but being big-hearted folks they were there helping everyone else to sort out the mess. And although on the whole, the town is recovering and getting back on its feet, Liz and The White Swan could still do with a bit more help, a few more folks through the doors... so Mary got hold of Percy Copley and organised a free concert at the pub, for the sole purpose of getting more punters through the doors buying ale! I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty wonderful. Mary knows how to do these things and is very, very good at it! I don't throw these words around a lot - but Mary Agnes Krell really is AWESOME! A good head for doing things and a great heart for doing them for the right people. As I sat listening to Mary speak, and saw Liz the landlady, and realised what the night was really all about, I was very moved. It was very special.

The concert was good. Very good. Percy did a uke workshop to start off with. It wasn't easy, I could see that; various levels of experience among the uke players there, and a lot of noise from the folk enjoying themselves at the bar! But Percy battled on manfully with astonishing good humour and everyone enjoyed it, I could tell from the faces!

The concert was opened by a very talented local youngster of just fourteen, Isaac Hughes-Dennis, who writes his own (very good) and amusing songs, and has a big smile and a very engaging way with an audience. So very entertaining! How is it that these youngsters don't seem to have a single nerve in their bodies! He is definitely a name to watch.

Percy did two half-hour sets, the first being all ukulele, the second being tenor guitar and mandolin. The uke and tenor guitar were loaned to him by Rob Collins, and they sounded great.

The fact that we made a two and a quarter hour journey and paid for a hotel room overnight tells you how much I wanted to hear Percy sing and play. I knew how good he was, and on Saturday I enjoyed every minute. So did LSH. If you are a regular reader you'll know that my LSH doesn't play and has to take my word for it if I tell him that someone is worth the effort of going to see them! No, he was not disappointed. Percy sang and played a wide range of songs and we were both entranced for the whole evening.

Percy will be at GNUF again this year - get a ticket before they are all gone! And check out his website here
to see, buy and get a listen to his CDs. I have both... you need these, you really do!

Thanks for dropping in, I appreciate it. I'll try to post again before too long! I do have plenty to tell - just not a lot of time to tell it! I'll work on that!