With Gerald Sables
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| The Bay Horse |
Bentley Village, A History is delighted to present the history of the Bay Horse Folk Club on this dedicated page. When Gerald Sables contacted me to ask if it would be possible to post some of his memorabilia on here, it soon became apparent that there was enough for a permanent page. Gerald runs the Jonathan Kelly website and has contacts in the world of folk music. So it is with great delight that I now hand over to Gerald.
Freewheelin' Bentley Folk
At the beginning of the 1970's one of the hottest live venues in the Doncaster area on a Saturday night was, rather surprisingly, the Bay Horse Folk Club (AKA the Freewheelin' Folk) in Bentley. After a period when folk music had a stuffy reputation and it's popularity had been in decline it had a resurgence mainly thanks to the Hippy culture of the late sixties when artists such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Richie Havens were at the peak of their popularity and having an acoustic guitar slung around your back was considered to be cool!
Folk clubs sprang up all over Britain, but one of the most famous and most popular was the Bay Horse Folk Club. It was held in an upstairs room and people had to queue on the stairs to get in. It was always sold out and it's fame spread far and wide. Mike Harding recorded part of one of his albums there, sadly I was ill with flu on that occasion but I know of several friends who were there and still boast they once made an album!
To call it a folk club is to give a false impression to those who have never visited such a venue. The club certainly had some traditional elements, but mostly it was a diverse range of artists and talents. Many contemporary singers appeared there and also many singer/comedians such as Tony Capstick and Mike Harding. Other famous visitors included the much loved Jonathan Kelly and Jake Thackray, Hedgehog Pie and Christy Moore.
The club was started around 1970 by George and Sheena Pearson. George was from the North East and apparently had been an early manager of The Animals before they found international fame. He was joined shortly after the opening of the club by John Leonard and Chris Euesden. They helped run the club and performed a few songs each before the main act took to the stage. Others who would also do a floor spot included Roy Machin and Mick Conlin. John Leonard was famous for performing the 'Gnome Song' and 'The knock on the door in the night squad'; two brilliantly hilarious songs. Roy Machin is also fondly remembered for his rendition of 'My Canary has circles under his eyes.'
On occasions if it was known that an act was likely to command a larger audience than the Bay Horse could accommodate then the Comrades club at Bentley would also be used.
By 1975 John Leonard and Chris Euseden had both left the club to pursue their careers. George Pearson continued to run the club on his own for a while before returning to his native North East. John Leonard went to work at Radio Sheffield and then worked through the ranks of the BBC, eventually leaving to form his own production company 'Smooth Operations' his name can often be seen on TV and radio credits. Chris Euesden had a successful music career. Tony Capstick had a minor hit single and became a favourite presenter on Radio Sheffield before sadly passing away several years ago. Mick Conlin passed away in early 2014. Mike Harding and many others went on to have national fame and success.
The club carried on, closing and re-opening several times but it never quite regained the fame and popularity of those early days. If you find yourself outside the Bay Horse and see an old chap with a tear in his eye, it will be an old Hippy glancing up at that room above the bar and thinking of his glorious misspent youth, those nights are the stuff of legend. If anybody has any memorabilia of those days, especially photographs and recordings we would love to hear about them.
I would like to dedicate this site to Mick Conlin, Tony Capstick and all those who entertained and enthralled us and are now sadly no longer able to do so.
Gerald Sables 2014
To contact Gerald please email arkvillhistory@yahoo.co.uk and I will forward your details.
Mike Harding Live Recording
Click the photo below to listen to a rare recording of Mike Harding at the Bay Horse Folk Club in 1973.
Folk Club Memorabilia
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| Bay Horse poster |
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| Bay Horse flyer |
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| Bay Horse flyer |
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| Folk Club membership card front |
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| Membership card back, 1973 |
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| Roaring Jelly flyer |
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| Hedgehog Pie autograph |
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| Folk Club postcard front |
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| Folk Club postcard back |
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| Ticket |
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| Ticket |
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| Jonathan Kelly autograph |
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| Poster |
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| Chris Euesden |
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| John Leonard and Mike Miller |
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| Jake Thackery autograph |
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| John Carey Group at the Bay Horse (courtesy of Colin Hirst) |
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| Jonathan Kelly at the Bay Horse (courtesy of Colin Hirst) |
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| Gerald Sables, John Squire and John Leonard in 2004 |
Do you have any memories or memorabilia from the Bay Horse Folk Club? If so, Gerald and I would be pleased to hear from you.
Good show, Gerald..
ReplyDeleteGood site. Lovely memories. Wish I did have some memorabilia but didn't seem important at the time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Chris Kirby
Good site. Lovely memories. Wish I did have some memorabilia but didn't seem important at the time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Chris Kirby
Lovely to keep lookin back at these altho theyve been on for AGES it brings back memories of when we used to go and walk back to Askern Thanks for all good nights John Lancaster
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the best folk clubs in the country. Memories, memories.
ReplyDeleteMick Sleight
So many wonderful memories of Saturday nights at the Bay Horse. Noel Murphy and Shaggis, Hamish Imlach and many more I can't remember the names of. I seem to remember only one act that used amps and they did covers of Simon and Garfunkel songs. Unbeknown at the time my future wife used to sit a few tables away,
ReplyDeleteMy maternal Great Grandfather William Guest was the Innkeeper of the Bay Horse at the beginning of the 20th century
ReplyDeleteSome really great memories from the period 1974 to 1977. Remember Jonathan Kellyat a time when he introduced a bassist with a sooo chilled out performance and also the hilarious Mike Harding who I still follow on Facebook. Where I first heard John Prine songs (the hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes) and sad to hear he passed away this year. Also very sad to hear of the passing of Jonathan Kelly recently. His 2 days one winter album still gets played on my turntable. Vivid memories of Saturday night drinking, my girlfriend of the time and really meaningful music. One performer told a story of playing upstairs in a pub when the landlord came up to complain about the music being so loud the light fitting had fallen off the ceiling below. He said "well I guess that's light entertainment". A 45 year old joke. Thanks to all involved for creating a rich vein of life for many people at the time.
ReplyDelete