Saturday 8 August - 15:00 - Albion Gardens - between Albion Street and the Prom

Monday 10 August - 20:00 - Bradstow Mill at the top of the High Street

Tuesday 11 August - 20:00 - Prince Albert at the lower end of the High Street

Wednesday 12 August - 20:00 - The Barnaby Rudge in Albion Street

Thursday 13 August - 13:00 - The Rose in Albion Street

Friday 14 August - 20:00 - The Charles Dickens in Victoria Parade - a great venue for a fine finale

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/images2g.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

OTHER BROADSTAIRS GIGS Sunday July 26 - 18:00 Neptunes Hall - 1-5 Harbour Street Monday August 31 - 13:00 Wrotham Arms - 6 Ramsgate Road

Broadstairs Folk Week August 2008

In 2007 Norcsalordie made their debut on the folk festival scene at Broadstairs Folk Week.  This mammoth event in the second week of August is pulled together each year by artistic director Kim Headley and her team and it was Kim who gave Norcsalordie their first chance while other festival organisers were too timid - thanks Kim.  Norcsalordie returned the favour by not only playing their sets to great acclaim from those who saw them but also doing more than their fair share of busking for festival funds.  

For anyone out there who does not know, this delightful town on the eastern tip of Kent turns itself over body and soul once a year to one of the most vibrant and friendly folk festivals in the country.  Countless venues in the town are supplemented by ad hoc busking along the seafront.  If you live in Broadstairs and don't like folk music this is when you book your annual holiday.  The town is very well provided for by pubs and as well as the staged events almost every pub in the town joins in with the festival.  If you want to go to Broadstairs and see everything then tough, you can't - it's impossible.  There is so much going on at any one time that there has to be something for everyone.

Make a note in your diary - in the second week of August there is only one place to be - Broadstairs !

Broadstairs Folk Week August 2007

You were brilliant in Broadstairs. We called you the finds of the year

We were all impressed by your ability to draw in the crowd

Hopefully see you next August down here

I have been going to folk week for about fifteen years, and seen both good and bad, but you two guys are right up there with the best!

Probably my favourite discovery of the day were a young duo called Norcsalordie

My friends and I thought your music and choice of songs was superb and enjoyed your sets very much