Chris Butler
Tallington Ashes, 18th & 19th August 2001
I had asked Blyth Power a while ago if I could play at
their weekend festival in Tallington. “Yes, please do” Was the reply. A very
positive and swift response without any hesitation. It’s what I’ve come to
expect from them now. I first supported them in 1992 and before that even, in 1991 had
supported their then guitarist Wob. I’ve played a few times with them recently with
the present line-up and have found them to be the most friendly, helpful, inspirational
and supporting bunch you could ever wish to meet. It’s always a total joy to work
alongside them and their enthusiasm and I quite freely admit that it’s a total labour
of love supporting one of my fave bands.
‘Tallington Ashes’ as it was being called
referred to the cricket match taking place during the Saturday afternoon. An annual
cricket match between Blyth Power and Chris from Bishop Stortford’s team with the
victors winning the ashes. The weekend at The Whistle Stop pub in Tallington, South
Lincolnshire (just a few miles to the East of the historic town of Stamford) also boasted
outdoor music provided by a variety of bands and performers, a campsite, a real ale bar
and plenty of photo opportunities for rail enthusiasts with the East coast mainline
running alongside the campsite. A rural picturesque setting and all for free admission
(with just £4.00 to camp!)
On the Friday evening I played support to Blyth Power at
The Victoria Inn, Derby. It was a lovely evening and a taster for the weekend to come.
It’s a local venue for me (in fact it was my 7th time at the Vic!) and so
was good to meet up with a few friends and I even made a few new ones. I put in my usual
dodgy performance but did enjoy it a lot. I did a 35-minute set and performed
‘Paranoia?’ for the first time. I thought it worked quite well and decided
I’d try it again sometime. I’d put new strings on the guitar and found it quite
a battle to keep in tune but somehow managed with not many mistakes at all! None that
anyone would notice anyway. The full set list was Stefan, Plug’s last stand/
What’s the ugliest part of your body?, The Blackleg Miner, Wish you were here,
Paranoia?, Wordplay, I never much liked James Bond films anyway, All Join In!, Strike!,
Such A Crime, While I’m Here.
Blyth Power then followed to do what they do best;
Thoroughly entertain. They were great, doing a varied set of both old and new songs and
plenty of my faves…An excellent night, good turn out and for me, good practice for
Tallington!…
After going home for a good night’s sleep, we set off
Saturday morning to ‘find’ Tallington! Josef had given me directions the night
before, it seemed easy enough to find, especially when you get to the railway crossing
next to the pub. So armed with a road atlas and a car packed full with tent, sleeping
bags, clothes, box of CD’s to sell!, guitar, leads and other equipment, we went
through picturesque villages of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire such as Oakham and
Stamford and arrived in Tallington Saturday lunchtime. It was one main road basically, a
few houses, The Whistle Stop pub and the railway crossing. Further down the road was
Tallington Lakes. Very popular with water skiers, boating enthusiasts and other water
sport types. We had a drink at the pub on arrival and then set about putting the tent up
on the campsite at the rear of the pub. A handy hint here would be to put the tent up
first! We then had a mooch around and a look at the area for the bands to perform. It
looked quite impressive. A nice big area, picnic bench style tables complete with
umbrellas in case it rained. The stage was situated at the front of an outside bar. It
looked like a ranch from a western film, with the bands to play on the porch of the ranch.
The bar wasn’t in operation but used as a store for quick-change overs in-between
bands.
Saturday afternoon was the cricket match. I batted for the
Blyth Power team (though it was a case of blink and you’ll miss me) as on the third
bowl, I hit it straight into the air and it came down for an easy catch by
Jessie…”and with grace I retired from my innings” as the song goes. Out for
a duck but still good fun. While in the crease, a silly hat had to be worn. I went for the
policeman’s helmet. It’s about the only time I’ll ever get a chance to wear
one and in my opinion, as silly hats go, you can’t get much sillier…We did lose
the match in the end but I wont gripe about it…
The music started early in the evening with
Eastfield. We
had been so lucky during the cricket match not to see any rain (especially since the
forecasters had promised loads) and I just hoped it would keep off for the rest of music
too. Eastfield were great. Very fast catchy sounding punk rock. Melodic enough for my ears
and ending their set with a great version of ‘Ooh Ahh, Just a little bit’.
Wonderful! The flying Scotsman rumbled past to show it’s approval but when I was a
kid, I loved the Deltics and so it was just a kettle to me…Rachel Pantechnicon was on
hand throughout the evening with her/his wonderful poetry. Sometimes sad, sometimes
surreal, often funny !…Jehovah’s Witless did their first live gig which must
have been a bit nerve racking for them and they did a version of ‘Teenage Kicks’
by The Undertones. Always A good choice of song in my opinion. It was my first chance to
see and hear Mad Dogs and Englishmen, who were a duo instead of a trio on this occasion.
Josef and Gary from Blyth Power. I did enjoy them and likewise Mick Tyas. I thought he was
brilliant. Anyone who performs ‘Lakes Of Pontchartrain’ and ‘Between the
Wars’ has got to be something special….General Winter I did enjoy too. It’s the second time I’ve played with
them and have enjoyed their set on both occasions. Again, anyone who performs
‘Can’t Cheat Karma’ and not a bad version of it is ok by me…It had by
now started to spot with rain and had dropped a little cooler too so thanks must go out to
everyone for patiently staying put throughout my set while waiting for the mighty Blyth
Power. It had now become dark too and with no stage lighting, it did look like the
audience would be spared the sight of me if not the sound! Until Josef fixed up a
spotlight! It did help actually as I could see the neck of the guitar better! So I’ve
no real excuses for any mistakes! I did enjoy playing and it was both great fun and great
experience but found I wasn’t quite as sharp as I had been the night before. 
I had a bit of trouble remembering
the first song even which is a bit unusual for me, though I did remember the words to a
new song, the imaginatively titled ‘Song 55’. My full set list was; Stefan, The
Blackleg Miner, Paranoia?, I Never Much Liked James Bond Films Anyway, Wordplay, Song 55,
For Fox Sake, Black Or White…All in all, it was a fantastic experience. I made lots
of new friends, generated some interest in the CD and had a great weekend. After my set, I
got a drink, relaxed and watched Blyth Power show us all how it’s done. They were
excellent and treated the audience to lots of older songs…Afterwards, we went back to
the tent, tired but happy. I lay on my sleeping bag listening to the rain hitting the
tent. There’s something quite comforting about being in a nice dry tent when
it’s raining (as long as the tent doesn’t leak!) and the romance goes out of it
the next morning when you stick your foot (or something) out of the tent onto wet
grass…
Sunday morning, we relaxed and went for a short ride into
Stamford for breakfast. Brought Sunday papers to catch up with all the weekend’s
football results and then back to put the tent away and pack up our stuff. After helping
out with a ‘photo-shoot’ for Blyth Power, pretending to be a rugby player it was
then time for Blyth’s lunchtime set. Bringing the curtain down on a fantastic
weekend. They played a great lunchtime set completely different from the previous
night’s. A nice and relaxed Sunday lunchtime session, while some sobered up and some
started on the drink all over again!… and then they were gone…off to another
date …A fantastic weekend had by all. Thanks ever so much to all who came and
supported it. Well done, you made it a success. Thanks to all that came up and chatted and
took an interest in my stuff over the weekend. Extra special thanks to Blyth Power for
letting me play and to Allan for the support, companionship and a great laugh…Right,
I’m off to practice my batting ready for next year!…
All the above pictures courtesy of Blyth Power.