Grayshott Folk Club

www.grayshottfolkclub.co.uk

Grayshott Village Hall, Headley Road, Grayshott, Nr. HINDHEAD, Surrey GU26 6TZ Grayshott Folk Club welcomes back: MERRY HELL (again!) Friday 1st August 2025 @ 7.30pm This could be the fourth or possibly the fifth time Merry Hell have come to play for us……….but who’s counting? Each time they come down from Wigan, to play at the Wickham Festival, they stop by and sell out Grayshott Village Hall. They always thoroughly entertain us all, indulging us in Folk/Rock anthems and uplifting music. Everyone goes home with a skip in their step and joy in their hearts. Next day, they’ll suddenly find themselves humming or singing a familiar tune like “Bury Me Naked” which is the kind of earworm that makes you wonder; where have I heard that song before?

“Bury Me Naked”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8XSJjpYdA4

Firm Festival favourites, Merry Hell continue to crest a wave of success and are selling out shows all across the UK so please don’t leave it too long to get your tickets from all of the usual places. Although basically a family affair with four Kettles in the band (John on Guitar, Andrew on Lead Vocals, Bob on Bouzouki with John’s wife Virginia on Vocals), they are more than ably assisted and supplemented by the highly talented Simon Swarbrick (Dave Swarbrick’s Nephew) on Fiddle, Lee Goulding on Keyboards and Colin Foster on Bass.

Together, they make a full and wonderful sound. “Lean On Me”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb_b95a5hsA is another catchy earworm. Merry Hell’s brand new album entitled: “Rising Of The Bold” , was released on May 9th 2025 and you can pre-order it here: https://merryhell.bandcamp.com/album/rising-of-the-bold. It features their latest single “Peace Can Be Louder Than War” which includes the voices of members of our Grayshott Folk Club audience singing along to this song when Merry Hell last played for us in May 2024. They added our voices to the 1,000 + strong choir. You can hear it hear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1jhXfRRhKo

Merry Hell will be playing for us on Friday 1st August 2025 as part of our “mini-festival”.

Tickets £20

Reservations by phone on 01428 607096 Online through Ents24 at: https://www.ents24.com/hindhead-events/grayshott-village-hall/merry-hell/7292365

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Grayshott Folk Club www.grayshottfolkclub.co.uk

Grayshott Village Hall, Headley Road, Grayshott, Nr. HINDHEAD, Surrey GU26 6TZ

Grayshott Folk Club welcomes back: STEVE WICKHAM (THE WATERBOYS) + RAY COEN

Saturday 2nd August 2025 @ 7.30pm

“Fisherman’s Blues”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UQJwd3awQ Wickham Festival 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zEvq5wLHNw

Steve and Ray have visited Grayshott Folk Club twice before; in November 2022 and again in May 2024. On both occasions, they played to spellbound full houses at Grayshott Village Hall so we couldn’t wait to invite them back again. Living as they do in the far West of Ireland, it is essential they have plenty of work over here, in order to make their occasional visits worthwhile so we’ve had to wait a bit. Their visit this time, coincides with another headline appearance they are making at Wickham (yes, Wickham) Festival, near Fareham in Hampshire.

Steve is a masterful Fiddle player who has performed with the very best that music has to offer; Bob Dylan, U2, Sinead O’Connor and of course, The Waterboys for nigh on forty years. His influence on their hit albums “This Is The Sea”, “Fisherman’s Blues” and “Room To Roam” is easy to hear.

In addition to the Fiddle, Steve also plays a wide range of other instruments and he has always maintained his own side projects. Over the years he has released two brilliant solo albums; “Geronimo” (2004) and “Beekeeper” (2017). Geronimo is actually the name of his treasured favourite Fiddle. “Beekeeper” is an album that is permanently on my turntable at home and is marked out by its variety and diverse styles of music. Steve was described by Mike Scott of The Waterboys, as “the world’s greatest rock fiddle player” but nowadays, Steve is playing and promoting his own tunes and songs and is currently working towards his third solo album. During lockdown, he recorded the optimistic and beautiful song, “All Will be Well”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvKyxcMNn-k

Ray Coen is a singer/song writer guitarist from Sligo, who has been a band mate of Steve’s for many years in their occasional, international band NoCrows. Together, they make beautiful sounds and their acoustic interpretation of “Fisherman’s Blues” in November 2022, blew us all away. Music to die for……….

Tickets £20

Available from Grayshott Post Office (in person only, from 5th June 2025) Reservations by phone from: 01428 607096 Online from Ents 24 at: https://www.ents24.com/hindhead-events/grayshott-village-hall/steve-wickham-the-waterboys/7292954