The Folk Club meets every Monday at:
The
Royal British Legion Club, Rosehill Street, Conwy
Doors open at 07:30pm, Music starts around 8:30pm There's no entrance fee, but a prize raffle is held
The venue is fully wheelchair friendly
Most Mondays are singers nights (open mike), first come, first
served
Late-comers often don't get the opportunity to
perform, so arrive early to avoid disappointment!
Looking
forward to seeing you there!
Downloads:
The History of Conwy Folk Club
Clwb
Gwerin Conwy Folk Club began in 1996. There had been a Folk
Club on Sunday evenings in Llandudno, which many of our members had
frequented for many years, but it was in decline, and in it's last
years it had had a lot of trouble finding a venue in Llandudno that
would support a club. A group of Musicians and Singers used to come
for a sing around session at the "Rhoslan Hotel" on the
West Shore, Llandudno, on Wednesday evenings.
A floating bar
restaurant had recently moved in from Conwy Harbour, and it was
proposed by one of the group that this would make an ideal venue for
a Folk Club. The ship was known as the "Frigate Conwy" and
it was agreed that a steering group approach the Management of the
Frigate with the view of starting a Folk Club in the "Orlop
Bar", that being the lowest of her decks. This proposal was
welcomed, and with borrowed P.A. equipment and a great deal of
faith, the first Folk Club night was set for Monday 12th August
1996.
This sounds as if it was easy, but actually involved
much heated debate. First a day had to be chosen that did not
conflict with other Clubs and sessions in the area. We finally chose
Monday, almost against our better judgement, by a process of
elimination, but did so with grave doubts of the viability of a
Monday Club. Then came the arguments over funding - to charge or not
to charge, that was the question - it was decided that a door charge
might exclude the unwaged and these people could be our main
supporters in an area renowned for it's seasonal workers.
We
opted for a "Raffle and a Hat Pass", both of which would
be optional, so that if necessary a person could come, sit with a
glass of water all night and pay nothing, we therefore relied on
those that could pay supporting the Club. In hindsight this was the
right decision, we now have a healthy bank balance and attract quite
a few people who would be deterred by door charges.
More
discussion ensued over format, it was decided from the outset that
there would be no resident singer, duo or band, that all would be
equal with no one hogging the limelight. Hosting of the Club would
be shared on a rota.
The idea behind this was to try to
avoid the same presentation every week. We also decided on a maximum
of two song's / tune's per act, although one would be enough if that
was all you had, we wanted to encourage people to get up and have a
go, and over the year's some who got up with just one song have gone
on to be our star performers.
We stick to the two song rule
but more so now because of the number of singers the club attracts,
there is often difficulty in giving everyone the opportunity to
play!!!
Finally we had to have a name
and "Conwy Folk Club" seemed obvious, we were in the Conwy
Harbour on the "Frigate Conwy" and as we were in Wales it
would be nice to have a bi-lingual name hence "Clwb Gwerin
Conwy" which is "Conwy Folk Club" in Welsh, join the
two together and you have "Clwb Gwerin Conwy Folk Club" -
perfect.
Over the years since there has been several
changes. The "Frigate Conwy" sailed away, and we
re-located to "The Malt Loaf" on Rosehill Street. We
purchased our own Public Address system, which has over time been
replaced, twice!!! We have since moved to the Royal British Legion
Club, also on Rosehill Street, just next door to the Malt Loaf,
where already several wheelchair users have taken advantage of the
improved access, singing & playing to great aclaim.
We
still keep the same system of raising money, the Raffle raises
sufficient money to cover our day to day expenses. Our aim remains
unchanged - to provide a relaxed venue which is free to enter on a
singers night, and where the experienced and the beginner alike can
feel comfortable and at home, and come and perform and enjoy live
music - we hope we have succeeded. Come and tell us if we have!
