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While Andy and I were looking forward to this years festival, there were a couple of underlying issues which kept niggling away in the back of my mind and stressed me out before we'd even started. The first of these was the anticipation of the journey down to Kent. Last year it took us fully 9 ½ hours to get there, and although memorable for all the wrong reasons, the mere thought of doing it again was filling me with a dread of total boredom! The next issue was the weather! Foolishly I'd got onto the Met Office website and seen the five day forecast for Kent- rain, heavy showers and thunderstorms- just an awful, dismal scenario, I could already feel the wet clothes dripping about me, the damp bedding in the tent (camping again this year!) the muddy shoes & sodden feet, and the inability to get warm & dry for four days was already making me shudder. The last and very real problem that was preying on my overactive mind was my inability to play an instrument! A week previous I'd dislocated a bone in my wrist, and even after an emergency session with the osteopath two days ago (click- ouch! -"don't worry, give it a couple of days to settle down") things weren't looking good. I couldn't rotate my wrist enough to hold a guitar neck never mind play the bloody thing, and pulling/pushing the accordion bellows still seemed like a very far off dream. Should we phone the festival right now and cancel it all? Or take a bit of a chance? After all, our first gig was still two days away!
 Tuesday 15th
We set off at 1.30pm as planned. I was travelling down with Jennie, my wife and most of our gear, and we'd arranged to meet Andy and Rachel (who'd been staying in the midlands for a few days) at a service station somewhere on the M6 to switch over the PA equipment between our two vehicles. The skies were dark and foreboding, and the rain was coming down hard and fast as we left Wales (damn you Met Office!)
We arrived in Broadstairs at 9.30pm on a beautiful summers evening! and pitched the tent in the warm afterlight of sunset. Andy & Rachel had just bought a new tent which slept 6 people and we were invited to join them to save bringing two tents. Despite some initial scepticism about being cramped into a damp tent with other people, what arose before us was an incredible structure which bore more resemblance to a reserve tent for the Moscow State Circus than the usual little hovel we've become accustomed to crawling around in! That night we were to sleep in the west wing, just adjacent to the main function room near the entrance hall (I can even stand up! Wonder what's out the back door?) Now this was camping! o.k. off to the pub!
Wednesday 16th This morning the heat of the sun on the tent woke us all, and while the bedding was slightly damp this was from sweat not rain. After picking up our passes and a cooked breakfast at MOOR & COAST- the 'Whitby' based catering company- (very nice to see you again boys), we decided to show Jennie & Rachel a bit of Kent and took them off to Canterbury. We didn't have any gigs today so this was to be pure 'chill out' time, no rush to do nothing!
The sun by this time was blazing down so we just idled away the afternoon eventually ending up in Margate to eat ice creams on the sea front,
before taking a leisurely drive along the coast back to Broadstairs. Once back in Broadstairs we parked up and got some fish & chips which we ate down by the harbour. Coming from a seaside town ourselves,
it felt very strange to be doing something we only watch other people do! After our feed we made our way back to the campsite to have a quick sleep before getting washed and changed to go out to find that nights entertainment.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM THE ARTISTS PROGRAMME, ARTISTS AND VENUES MAY HAVE CHANGED WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE(sorry!)
Walking down the main street we passed the first pub that had music being played. This was a bloke on acoustic guitar playing a
Bob Marley song complete with full backing track -big drums, complete harmonies, driving bass- 'the works'! Hold on! Freeze frame! We stood there rooted to the spot, incredulous that the Festival had deteriorated to this offering of 'Live music' in the space of only a year. How were we to compete against this stuff? (all would be revealed at a later date!). Our first real port of call was THE ROSE where FERGY CAMPBELL & PETE MAY were doing their stuff. Not our sort of thing but the people who were there were taking it all in. The main attraction here for us though turned out to be an electric fan we could stand in front of! This was one warm night, so we decided to get some fresh air and went on to the BALMORAL where a very rich and lovely sound was emanating from the courtyard. Two musicians (sorry, hate the word duo!), PHOENIX (according to the programme) were certainly giving everyone something worth listening to. Accomplished musicianship and a big warm sound guaranteed them a good audience, so we slipped quietly away to the CHARLES DICKENS where ROLAND CHADWICK & NIGEL FEIST were playing. This was a pretty busy place, but unfortunately the volume of the mandolin was unbearable as we entered so we did an about turn and beat a hasty retreat (sounded good from outside though!). The night was getting on a bit but we managed to get to the BARNABY RUDGE to catch the tail end of 'Red Eye's' set, and were afforded the unusual luxury of finding an empty table near the front, where we could relax and soak up very some nice Cajun orientated music.
Our final destination for the evening was happily not very far away. Down at the PAVILION things were jumping. This was immediately evident as soon as you set foot in the place, you could barely see the dance floor for contorting and writhing bodies. 'Elephant Talk' was the band responsible for all this chaos, and a pretty good job they were making of it! This was a clever fusion of 'Dance' music -using sequencers,
drum patterns and backing (original music unlike Bob Marley man's!) -with more traditional Celtic/Gaelic music overlaid by some very talented musicians
 on Guitar, Harp, Double bass and Violin. Now I'm not very keen on 'Dance' music (or dancing!) in much the same way that Jennie's not very enamoured by 'Folk' music,but we soon found ourselves on the dance floor, Andy and Rachel having already succumbed minutes earlier! This was one of those nights that you don't want to end, but after several encores unfortunately it did. We eventually made our way back up that long hill to the campsite where we called in to MOOR & COAST for a rum'n'cocoa before hitting our beds again.
Thursday 17th
Once again another nice morning! This was to be our first set of gigs today, so to freshen up I went down to the showers with Jennie and Rachel (hey! separate shower cubicles you pervs!), this was beautiful! Nice hot water pouring out. I'd just managed to get lathered up when the water stopped completely! Now a six inch square flannel isn't the best tool to remove all the soap & suds from a six foot bloke, but there weren't any other options available, a frantic dash to the campsite office revealed that the maintenance man was off site, at least for several hours! A few soapy people eventually emerged from the showers and slipped discreetly back to their tents.
Catching the mini bus from the lock-up we were dropped off at our first venue for the day the BARNABY RUDGE. We had played here last year so knew what to expect. A good big room with a wooden floor and great acoustics! It didn't take us too long to get set up and sound checked. A welcoming pint from landlord Eric,
and a quick chat with some familiar faces from last year, then we were off. Bloody hell! 30 seconds into our first tune and the dancers were already up! Love this place!
 See this live...
An appreciative audience built up pretty quickly, and the gig just flew by. Lovely start! Lovely gig! And even better -no soap suds frothing up, and no problems with the wrist!
As it was only about 30 feet away we were going to take our gear straight to the next venue and get sound checked for the night's gig at HARPERS BAR, but to our surprise there was someone playing there! Now this was a bit confusing, there was nothing on the programme or in the listings to give us a clue as to who they were or what time they were playing. Going back to the BARNABY we were even more surprised to find some-one setting up amidst all our equipment! -now this is where Bob Marley man comes in - During the festival week some Pubs who don't participate in the festival, and some venues who do, hire in additional entertainment! Some of the music you're going to hear at these places might not bear any resemblance whatsoever to 'folk music' but these people play locally for the rest of the year. So if you're wandering round Broadstairs and you hear music that's not really 'Live', 'Original' or to your liking, don't worry! Standards haven't slipped at all, and at least everyone's tastes are being catered for (bit of a confession here, one of the best bands I heard in Broadstairs was an 'indie' band playing their own stuff in a bar by an open window with a female bass player. I don't know who they were, or where they played, but I know they were good!).
Eric the landlord gave us permission to stow our gear in his pub until we could shift it to the next venue, so we all decided to find somewhere to eat. After the fish'n'chips of the previous day we thought a change of diet was in order so we scoured the town and if it wasn't closed it was full. In desperation we thought we'd grab a pizza but on the way found this great little 'Tapas Bar' right opposite the BARNABY RUDGE. What a wonderful discovery! Unfortunately it was also opposite HARPERS BAR which was now in total darkness with two huge Electrity Board vans parked on its doorstep. Making enquiries after the meal we were told that the electricity would be out for the rest of the evening. This seemed to be confirmed by the ominous smell of melted electric wiring drifting through the bar. Not good! People were coming to see us tonight! Going back to Eric to explain the situation he very generously offered to let us play an afternoon session in the pub the next day (bless him), and having travelled all the way from Wales to be seen and heard it was an opportunity we really couldn't refuse. We decided to then head back to the campsite to see if the showers were working, at the campsite office we were told they were still out of action but the 'other ones' were still working! What other ones!!!
This was beautiful, nice hot water pouring out and six foot of smelly soapy bloke was finally restored! After a quick sleep we had a call from Harpers Bar saying they expected the electric to be back on for nine o'clock- see us then!
Fair play to the HARPERS BAR staff they'd made every effort to have the place open, and as we set up our gear they were still snuffing out candles. This was too much of a rush for us though, and we never had enough time to do a full soundcheck. As we were about to kick off, the Newcastle kingsmen decided to make an appearance and it wasn't until 9.45pm we actually managed to get started. We'd been advertised to make an 8 o'clock start and most of the people we'd expected to turn up having seen the 'closed' sign obviously went elsewhere. Partway through the gig someone also managed to disconnect the power supply to our PA system! We both felt this was turning into a very fraught/disastrous night despite people being appreciative. Later on Jennie and Rachel told us that this had possibly been one of our best gigs as we'd been playing with more determination than at other gigs!
The mini bus arrived just as we were packing our gear away. And as the night wasn't exactly over yet we all decided the best thing was to do was get the gear back to the lockup and meet Jennie and Rachel back at the Pavilion. Nicholas the driver explained we had to pick up another band from the DOLPHIN which we did while some very spectacular flashes of lightning went off all around us. Once aboard the bus the heavens opened and the rain came crashing out of the skies (Met Office take note -Broadstairs, Kent -Heavy Monsoons imminent!). Back at site we rushed our gear through the rain and two inches of groundwater into the safety of the lockup helped by Nicholas, towelling it dry before catching the bus back to the Pavilion.
Here we caught up with our partners and caught what remained of a set by 'Sheelanagig'. They appeared to be some of the members of 'Elephant talk' but with additional musicians (live drums etc) playing a very similar blend of music, but this time with a Jazz, Latin, Eastern European feel to it, and like the previous night they had their audience firmly in their grip!
We reluctantly left the Pavilion (partly because it had been another good night, and partly because it was still chucking it down!) to be met by our smiling bus driver Nicholas who knew we'd be needing a lift!
-A quick word here about Nicholas. One of the many magnificent volunteers, he comes here from Cheshire, and while his wife loves the folk music he's not so keen. But he loves the vibe, the people and the area, and spends his week working long, long hours getting people shuttled around the various venues and the Folk Week wouldn't function without people like him!
-Back on site the rain has stopped! There is music and rum'n'cocoa in Moor and Coast, and the tent is perfectly dry (inside). Quick drink, bed, goodnight!
 Friday 18th
No rain again today but it's going to be pouring gigs. We've got three lined up! After picking up our damp gear from the lockup we set up stage in the CHARLES DICKENS. This is large pub which is very food orientated. We've got a nice gentle one hour set ahead of us, and more encouraging, scattered among the diners we can see the people who've come to see us (what happened to you last night? the place was closed when we got there!). It's very difficult to play an inspired rip-roaring set amidst egg and chips, but we had a good session and managed to entice a few new faces along to the BARNABY RUDGE for our afternoon set.
Once again at The 'Barnaby' the place was slowly filling up as we were setting up. Another nice clear sound-check, another welcoming drink from our hosts, and another nice gig. Good to see people up and dancing yet again and great to see the locals grooving along
on our tambourines and shakers. For an impromptu and unadvertised gig the place was very nicely full and rocking by the end of the afternoon. Thanks to all!
See more...
We managed to get all our gear dismantled then re-located, re-assembled and sound-checked in The PRINCE ALBERT by half six. Having two hours to spare we decided that we all needed a good feed and made our way back to the 'Tapas bar' for another beautiful meal (it might be that we've forgotten the name of the place, but then again it could be that we don't want to tell you in case we get invited back to Broadstairs next year and can't get in here again!). Sitting around the table well fed and content, we decided that it would be a very bad idea to drive back home to Wales tonight (our original intention) as we were all pretty much shattered. This came as some relief and meant we could now put whatever energy remained into our final gig.
 Back at The PRINCE ALBERT it was already busy. Setting up at six had been a wise move as there was now very little space to be had, but also some of the locals (having heard our sound-check) had actually stayed to catch the evening performance! Some (by now) very familiar faces were well entrenched at prime locations around the room, and we could see the dancers amongst them nervously shuffling their feet in anticipation. Then we were off! From then on the place just got busier, louder and fuller, with people hanging off the stairs and dancers utilising every minute space they could find (people were even drinking outside and looking through the windows to get closer!). Our only problem was a distinct deterioration in sound quality, but during the time we use to re-tune the guitars we raised the height of our speakers by a foot or so, and hey presto! --the sound could now travel over peoples heads! By the end of the night the audience weren't letting us off easily, and after many 'encores' Andy annouced that if they wanted one last tune, everyone in the pub had to chant 'WALES, WALES, WALES!' -That night 'The Garden of England' could've been heard in Wales!!!!
Saturday 19th
6.30am. we've just struggled out of bed. It's dry again this morning (apart from a heavy dew) and we're trying to summon up the energy to de-camp and leave Broadstairs, neither of which we want to do. We eventually leave around 7.30am. then -boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, boredom, more boredom -arriving home in Wales mid-afternoon to discover that our slot at THE BARMOUTH FESTIVAL has been brought forward to six o'clock!
Broadstairs footnote.-
-Driving down to Barmouth in the rain, we noticed one tiny patch of bright sky travelling in our direction. Arriving at the festival it was very cold, very wet and very miserable. We even did the sound-check on the outdoor stage with our coats on while a very damp audience hung about sheltering from the wind.
We took to the stage and explained that we'd just driven up from Broadstairs where the weather had been beautiful (they didn't look too pleased!), so we took our coats off on stage and said that we refused to play in the rain, and would they like a bit of Kent sunshine? (muttering crowd-of course they would!). We launched off into our opening number and literally a minute later the sun came blasting out (even the lighting man looked suitably impressed!), the wind dropped and suddenly people were dancing like we'd got used to over the past few days! Thanks Broadstairs! Thanks Kent! Thanks God!
Once again Run dog run have had a wonderful time at the Broadstairs Festival. Jennie and Rachel (not the world's greatest folk music fans) absolutely loved it! And from all of us we would like to extend our deepest thanks to-
-Kim and the festival organisers -You've got the biggest talent of all!
-All the musicians and technicians who rock the place!
-All the volunteers- who keep the festival going with a big smile, especially Nick the driver, Geri the donation collector,and the guys at the lock-up/site office.
-All the friends we've made and re-met you all know who you are! Keep in touch with us at- www.rundogrun.co.uk
Or -If you were there and you've got any pics, video clips or comments you'd like to share with us, send them to the above website address or e-mail them to andy@rundogrun.co.uk
Huge thanks/ Diolch yn fawr iâwn.
Russ & Andy,
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