Broadstairs Folk Week has now passed for another year and there is general agreement that it was one of the best ever. Although Norcsalordie could not be there in its entirety, Martin appeared with a new and exciting act to fill the Norcsalordie slots - This was their schedule

Broadstairs is a grass roots festival where people would continue to go even if there was no main stage.  The main performers are the folk fans who go not to listen but to participate and there are so many venues and so many opportunities to join in.  There are the dyed in the wool folkies who gather in the Wrotham Arms and the Lord Nelson - there are the multicoloured morris teams all along the prom - there are those who go to listen to folk music and roam from pub to pub sampling the various acts (and the ones who find an act they love and follow them for the rest of the week) and there are those who find themselves caught up in a festival they didn't know was happening !  Everyone is catered for at Broadstairs Folk Week

In 2008 the weather did its best to dampen the occasion but thanks to the resilience and spirit of performers and audience alike it failed.  Most of the acts that appeared had spent night after night in tents buffeted by the wind and lashed by the driving rain but the next day they were up again taking advantage of the sunny breaks to busk on the prom and to play the pubs

Take Norcsalordie for instance on Saturday night.  All afternoon the rain had been pouring down, the skies were dark and the wind was whistling through the guy ropes.  Due to appear on the Bandstand that evening to greet the torchlight procession WEATHER PERMITTING it got to 19:30 with no sign of any improvement so a call was made to the organisers and the message came back that the gig and the procession were cancelled - and for a while that was it

Then the rain stopped but it still looked threatening until above the trees back at the campsite there came a tiny lighter patch in the sky.  A quick look at each other that said 'I will if you will' and a second call was made to the organisers - "we're going to play!"  The kit was quickly gathered together and down they went to the bleak and deserted Bandstand - in the gathering gloom it was evident that the Bandstand had been stripped of everything movable - all the PA - mikes, amps, speakers - even the windbreaks - and the electricity supply was under lock and key.  A word with the worker sent to deliver the ubiquitous yellow collecting tin and it seemed that no key was available to get to the power supply so an approach was made to the nearby burger hut - still optimistically open - in the hope  we could plug into their chip fryer - only to find that they were keyholders for the electricity point on the Bandstand so the gig was on !

The band's own PA was unloaded and set up - the mics taped up against the wind to prevent unwelcome bluster - all still in the vague hope that some of the few people scurrying by might yet stop to listen in the cold.  The band's banner was secured against the wind and the bleakest gig in the band's history began - check out picture 43 halfway down this page :- http://www.stella-maris.org.uk/images2q.shtml

This being Broadstairs a crowd of hardy onlookers gathered and the optimism of the people running the burger bar finally paid off, it was a good night to be selling hot food ! - and yes the torchlight procession did take place .... 

Ahh - the magic of Broadstairs .... but nevertheless let's hope the weather is kinder in 2009!