Chris Butler

The Tallington Ashes 2004

I’m sure you’ve read about my previous appearances at The Tallington Ashes festival but for anyone who hasn’t, here’s a bit of background to the event. It’s a weekend of music with a cricket match during the Saturday afternoon. It’s organised by the band Blyth Power and takes place at The Whistle Stop pub in Tallington, Lincolnshire. Tallington is a small village four miles to the east of Stamford. The pub is situated just after a rail level crossing where the east coast mainline runs straight past the pub and alongside the campsite behind The Whistle Stop. I have been fortunate enough to play every year from the first one in 2001 to the present one during the 6^th-8th August 2004.

We set off late Friday afternoon for the 70 mile drive from Derbyshire to Tallington. It was a really warm afternoon and with the windows wound down, we drove hoping that the rest of the weekend would be just as hot. Last year saw a lot of rain, so much so that Blyth Power’s usual Saturday evening headline set was cancelled due to the safety of the band and their equipment from playing under a gazebo in the pub’s beer garden. It was a nice drive through Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and through the picturesque villages of Lincolnshire. We arrived around 6pm to find the place more busy than usual. Each year seems to attract more people than ever and it looked like being a good turn-out even at this early stage. We found a place in the car park to park the car and a place on the campsite to pitch the tent. It was thirsty work pitching a tent in the hot sun and after a two hour hot drive, it was a relief to get into the pub, get a drink and some welcome food. Friday night is the acoustic night of the weekend. It was the part that I would also get a chance to play. It’s great that Blyth Power let me play and don’t mind having me along at their gigs or especially at this weekend of theirs. It’s much appreciated and a real pleasure and an honour to be a part of this fabulous weekend. I tuned my guitar and settled down in the pub’s beer garden to watch the other performers and enjoy the warm summer’s evening. The music was performed on the porch of the outside bar called The Outback Bar.  It’s a bar in the beer garden with an inside seating area and an outside porch large enough to use as a stage for the entertainment. Joseph Porter opened the night’s entertainment with his acoustic guitar. The first of quite a few performances over the weekend from the Blyth Power man. His enthusiasm for the weekend, and Blyth Power’s organisation and commitment to it all was wonderful and made it so easy for performers such as myself. Equipment checking and setting up, sound checking, running times sorted and a host of other thankless duties that made the weekend run smoothly and help make the weekend a great success. It wasn’t unusual to see Joseph with his young daughter under one arm and a guitar under the other while instructing the next band waiting to play where to plug in and how long to perform. Thanks to the band for all the help and guidance over the weekend. After Joseph’s excellent acoustic performance which included solo material, Enemy Within from the recent Red Wedding CD (Red Wedding being an acoustic duo made up of Joseph and Steven, the guitarist of Blyth Power) and Blyth Power songs such as Royal George. Joseph broke a string on his guitar and while I put a new string on it for him, he recited his poem about seeing Attila The Stockbroker naked. After Joseph’s performance, I took to the stage. It was great to perform again and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s always a sympathetic audience at Tallington, and no matter the music style or ability of the performer, everyone is treated with kindness and given a fair hearing. I appropriately enough played my song The Tallington Ashes for the first time ever. You can download the song from the website, it’s my ode to the weekend and really a bit of fun. I also played a couple of songs to remember the 20^th anniversary this year of the start of the 1984/1985 miners strike. My full set list was: - Paranoia?, Football 1 Fascism 0, Strike!, The Blackleg Miner, Just Do It!, The Council Workers Strike, Wish You Were Here, The Tallington Ashes, For Fox Sake. 

After my performance was a great set by Jessi Adams, the Singer, guitarist and lyricist of Eastfield. Playing punky unplugged versions of Eastfield songs on an acoustic guitar with just three strings. Jessi is great, it’s official. Then it was Jeeves playing his acoustic guitar and singing, then Wob. I played a gig with Wob at The Robey, Finsbury Park, North London in April 1992 and then saw him for the second time solo at last year’s Tallington Ashes. It was nice to see him again; he’s a very energetic performer and a real live wire. I first supported Blyth Power in July 1992 when Wob was the guitarist and it’s strange how I’ve supported the various line-ups over the years, seeing such people as Martin (bass), Darren (keyboards), Wob (guitar), Jessi (guitar), and Gary Miller (guitar) leave or replaced. Now also Bambi too who has left the fold to concentrate on playing bass for Eastfield, though more about that later. After Wob, the evening ended with Red Wedding. I do like to hear Joseph playing acoustically and the duo of Red Wedding compliments the folk songs really well. Edward Lay Bare, Bluecoat Boy and Fang Over Lip sounding particularly good. Steven performing Goodnight (not sure of the actual title, it’s the ‘hidden’ song at the end of Blyth Power’s On The Viking Station CD) as a solo piece because of Joseph suffering another broken string was a real highlight. The night ended far too soon and it was back to the tent for a very warm night indeed.

Saturday morning was really hot from the moment we awoke and I’ve never seen so many wasps than we did over the weekend. We did our usual Saturday morning drive over to a big supermarket on the edge of Stamford for a cooked breakfast and then went into the town to look around the shops and market. It was too hot to walk around really so after feeding the ducks in the park, it was back to The Whistle Stop just in time for the music to start. Eastfield kicked off the lunchtime music programme with a set of fast punk songs and it was great music to listen to on a hot Saturday lunchtime in a pub beer garden. Wob then followed with his second set of the weekend and then Deep Fur with their first ever gig. Joseph asked me if I’d mind doing a few songs again and I jumped at the chance. It was great to play again though I must admit; I’d not rehearsed two whole sets worth of songs so some would have to be played again. Luckily, I’d spoken to various folks after my set on the Friday evening and they had asked if I played again over the weekend, would I do certain songs again. So that both spared my blushes as well as being nice to do requests for people. I even started by doing a brand new song called No Work Today that was only written the week before. It’s about getting away from it all and forgetting about the pressures of work and the stresses of day to day living. I had some of the words on a piece of paper stuck to the guitar as a prompt but I needn’t have worried, I remembered it fine. Not that anyone would have known had I not! Steven of Blyth Power/ Red Wedding appeared at the front of the stage wearing a Wayne Rooney mask and I felt very honoured to be playing to such a distinguished audience member! I ended my set with The Tallington Ashes again appropriately enough. My full set list for Saturday lunchtime was: - No Work Today, Football 1 Fascism 0, The Blackleg Miner, Just Do It!, Q. And Children? A. And Children, Wish You Were Here, For Fox Sake, The Tallington Ashes. After my set, Joseph Porter followed again doing another fine set of songs on his acoustic guitar. Death And A lady being a particular favourite of mine. The music finished for the afternoon with Jack. A punk band that included Bambi of Eastfield on bass guitar. It was then time for the cricket game between Joseph Porter’s team and Chris from Bishop’s Stortford’s team. I didn’t take part in the cricket this year preferring to have a lie down on the grass outside of my tent and enjoy the hot sun. It was also the first day of the new football season, apart from The Premiership which starts a week later so we lay in the sun listening to the games and scores from up and down the country. Joseph’s team didn’t win the cricket match this year though I’m sure I’d have been no use had I played. The pitch for the cricket was far smaller this year due to more tents and more people arriving right up until early Saturday evening. It really is a marvellous success and all credit to Blyth Power for that. After a bit of a rest and some food, it was back down to the beer garden area to watch the night’s music.

The evening’s entertainment was started up by Wob while I had a look at this years stalls which included another great scam by Joseph which included chucking pairs of underpants at a board and if the undergarments stick to the board, you get points. Enough points would get you your 20p back! Mike Halliwell & Mat Foster followed Wob and then Pog took to the stage. Both acts were new to me and again demonstrated the difference in musical styles over the weekend. Eastfield followed with their second set of the day. A great set again. I really enjoyed them. 

Blyth Power rounded off the evening with a wide range of songs from their back catalogue. As I mentioned earlier, with Bambi leaving, the bass player on the night was Spud, the bass player from General Winter, standing in until a new bass player is rehearsed and ready. It was a great set with songs including Animal Farm, Stitch In Time and a version of Zounds’ Dancing. 

A wonderful evening, it stayed dry and warm and it was a great finale to the day. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay for the entertainment on Sunday lunchtime (Blyth Power and Eastfield I believe) as we had to return home Sunday morning to feed Dylan, the cat. Friends had looked after him for the previous couple of days for us but we arrived home Sunday lunchtime to find him on the back garden enjoying the sunshine. Thanks ever so much to Blyth Power for everything as always, to Bambi and Jessi who make it so much easier and enjoyable for me, to Mat and Juleigh for looking after Dylan and to Loz and Gaz for being there. Hope to see you in Tallington next year.

Also see: Tallington 2001, 2002, 2003

The Tallington Ashes Song

Instructions: Right-click your mouse on the above song title to download the song in MP3 format. Choose save target as... and save to your desktop or documents folder (or somewhere you can find it later!). It's about 4mb in size so may take 15 minutes or longer to download if you have a normal dial-up connection.

As you can see, after appearing at The Tallington Ashes each year, I’ve written some sort of diary or review of the event. It’s just a bit of fun and it’s good to put my thoughts onto the website for anyone who didn’t get the chance to get to those festivals. But I was thinking, really, I’m just this writer of songs. I’m no Patrick McCabe or Iain Aitch and I didn’t take any photographs to accompany the write up for the 2003 article so I thought I’d put the Tallington experience into song!

Written in 2003 © Chris Butler. Recorded live at Terry’s, Belper, Derbyshire on 20/01/2004. Thanks to Terry and Allan for making it possible and to Blyth Power for having me along from time to time.

The Tallington Ashes
It’s always nice to get away
A break from work, some rest and play
So with my clothes and my tent in the car
And not forgetting my acoustic guitar
I head for Tallington

I like to set off around mid-day
I like to take my time and find my way
Arriving sometime in the afternoon
It’s always over all to soon
In Tallington

Out on the campsite pitching my tent
There’s pieces missing and the pegs are bent
With our home fixed up we’re high and dry
It’s now that we’ve finally arrived
In Tallington

Meeting friends not seen all year
Laughing and talking over a beer
Sharing a joke or sharing some food
It puts us in a real good mood
For Tallington

I tune my guitar for my Friday night spot
And I think of all the songs that I’ve not forgot
Joseph’s on form and he’s sounding fine
With his tale of poor old Rubenstein
In Tallington

At the end of the night it’s back to the tent
It doesn’t really matter how my playing went
It feels so good when I play my songs
I’m on top of the world all night long
In Tallington

Saturday comes and no sign of rain
It’s time to start the cricket game
I’m soon bowled out, so much for winning
“ And with grace I retired from my innings”
In Tallington

Soon it’s time for the bands to play
And we sing and dance the night away
I love live music in the open air
But the trains roaring by don’t seem to care 
Much for Tallington

As the sun goes down more bands do play
And beer and food is tucked away
Eastfield are playing faster and louder
With a grin and a guitar it’s Jessi’s hour
In Tallington

Now it’s the time we’ve been waiting for
Blyth Power playing for a hour or more
Alnwick and Tyne- It sounds just right
Marius Moves and Signalman White
Are in Tallington

It’s off to our tents for the final night
With our sleeping bags all zipped up tight
With a smile on my face and a buzz in my ears
We’ll do it all again- Next year
In Tallington.

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