Dec 27 2011

Planning A School Ceilidh In 2018?

Barn dances are not only excellent fun as a social evening for all – regardless of age or ability, but also a great opportunity for you to raise funds for your school.

We can provide help and guidance with organisation, fund raising and publicity – just ask!

We have played for  Staff Parties,  PTA Events, PTFA Events, School Fund Raisers,  End of Term Celebrations, Staff Retirment and welcome parties.

We work with all kinds of schools – Primary, Middle,  Special,  Secondary, State and Public.

We have years of experience working in schools and know how to make your Ceilidh  a great event.

Don’t forget to ask about discounts for Sunday afternoon and mid week events.

Dec 27 2011

Burns Night Ceilidh

We haven’t got anything in the diary yet for Burns Night – so if you fancy a great Ceilidh for Burns Night contact us ASAP -with a lively mix of tunes and A fantastic Highland Piper we can really make your Burns Night special. Last minute booking for Burns Night is possible and we guarantee that we can make your festivities happen in fine style.

Some ingredients for a great Burns Night are listed below you can take a pick and mix approach and add lots of ceilidh dancing to enliven proceedings – we can advise in greater detail if required and help you with your planning.

Piping in the guests
Chairman’s welcome
The Selkirk Grace
Piping In The Haggis
Address to the haggis
Toast to the haggis
The meal
The first entertainment
The immortal memory
Toast to the Lassies
Reply to the Toast to the Lassies
Lost Burns manuscripts
Vote of thanks
Auld Lang Syne
Lost Burns manuscripts

Dec 13 2011

Planning A Charity Fund Raising Ceilidh?

Barn dances are not only excellent fun as a social evening for all regardless of age or ability, but also a great opportunity for you to raise funds for your club or society. Whether you are a charity, community group, school, PTFA, club or society we can help you raise funds for your really special cause. We can provide help and guidance with organisation, fund raising and publicity – just ask! But to get you started here are a few things to bear in mind: One of the most important factors when setting up fund raising events is the ability to repeat the event on a regular basis. It is really important that participants have a great time. We can also help with your fundraising by the use of games during the event. We work with you to create a feel good factor, which can really help you make more money. Remember do the sums. What is the cost per ticket x the number of people attending? How much for a single ticket – how much for a family? Then ask your self: Is the event purely a fundraiser or is it a social event with a fundraising element? How many people will attend? Do you have to hire a hall? Will you be providing food if so what is the cost? Is it included in the ticket price? What is the cost of the entertainment? Do you want to decorate the hall? Will you be selling drinks? Remember more formal events can generate greater income. Do you have support from friends and colleagues? How will you advertise the event? Fund raising events should be really good fun.

Dec 10 2011

Now is a great time to think about organising a ceilidh

Now is a great time to organise a ceilidh – whether for a birthday party, wedding,hog roast, fundraiser, church social, club party or  just  a great knees up for family and friends. Book early to avoid disappointment.  Call Pippa on 07891 590111 to book the best Ceilidh band in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Jun 18 2011

Beverley Folk Festival Sessions

A fantastic night for some members of the Hessle Ceilidh Band and friends playing in sessions at the Sun and Tiger – The session at the Tiger was really good fun with plenty of music being played until the wee hours – a special hello goes out to Jennie Beastie on fiddle, Amanda Lowe on hammer dulcimer, Helen on hammer dulcimer (two dulcimers together they sound awesome), Quentin on Cahon, Gordon on double Bass, Helen on violin and double bass Mike and Val from Cottingham and the inimitable Wainwright sisters Heather and Hannah the session at the Sun was full on and funky!

Jun 12 2011

Ceilidh thank you

Hi Pip
Just a quick message to say many thanks to you all for Saturday night. We have had lots of messages today from our guests to say how much they enjoyed the evening. Everyone is exhausted and taking today to recover!!!
We had a lovely time and the music certainly helped our guests to talk and catch up as well as dance.
Please pass on my thanks to all the members of the band for a very enjoyable and successful evening.

Sue and Iain

Jun 12 2011

We went to Beverley races

We played for a silver wedding anniversary at Beverley Race Course last night – the acoustics in the function room were fantastic as was the food – a big ‘hats off’ to the pecan fried sausages – delicious – Plenty of enthusiastic dancers and a great time was had by all – the Bavarian Hand clapping dance went down a storm as did strip the willow – On behalf of the band I’d like to wish Iain and Sue a very Happy Silver Wedding Anniversary.

 

May 30 2011

Wedding Party Near Aldbrough

We had a fantastic night playing for dancing in a Marquee, we were joined by the inimitable Ruby who plays a mean shaky egg in time with a variety of jigs, reels and polkas no mean feat for a toddler – she was in time, smiling and played her shaky egg with passion throughout the set.

Later on she was joined by her elder cousins who sang a variety of songs through the PA.

The evening was rounded off by a series of tunes played solo on the bagpipes by Hull City Pipe Band Major Liz Wainwright.

Mar 26 2011

Asthma UK Charity Ceilidh

We had a chartiy ceilidh last weekend to raise money for Matthew Kitchen who is running the London Marathon this year in aid of Asthma UK.  Well it wasn’t strictly Hessle Ceilidh Band as such, as Phill and Emma played as well the fabulous Liam Robinson, Francis Kelly and Tim walker all the way from Lincoln.

Emma did a grand job calling the dances (first time calling) with Reg Stones calling a couple of dances too.  We raised £150 for Asmatha UK and a good time was had by all.

Feb 17 2011

London Marathon support ceilidh

 We are unashamedly advertising this Ceilidh supporting Matthew Kitchen, running the  London Marathon, raising money for Asthma UK.

Come along, have a good knees up and enjoy dancing!!

Saturday 19th March – “Marathon Matt’s” – Asthama Uk Community Charity Ceildih
 at Hessle All Saints Church Hall, Hessle, East Yorshire
 

Contact Emma on – 07828 646671 or Pippa on  07891 590111

Not strictly a Hessle Ceilidh Band Bash (as lots of musicians involved-  the more the merrier!)
but a great cause and  FAB community ceilidh to come to, bring own booze and nibbles!
 see the Facebook event page or contact us for tickets
  £7 a per person or £20 family ticket for 4 – a luscious Pie and Pea supper included!

Apr 25 2010

Busy musicing…

Thank you to everyone who came and supported the fundraising ceilidh we held last month.  We raised £25o for a group visiting the Beamsley Project for disabled people – a good night was had by all!  A BIG thanks to Ann Wilkinson too who helped organise this.

Rob, Angela, Sean, Mark and Heather all helped out filling in spots between dances, which gave us other musicians a break (thanks) and Rob sported a lederhosen to one of Steve’s very authentic and original Bavarian folk dance, “Puffensqeezenlederhosen“, which involves some level of co-ordination of  slapping, clapping and dancing in the style of Basil Fawlty…

A busy few weeks ahead with some band members sitting exams (!), local ceilidhs, some of us going to folk festivals and local events playing for local morris dance sides and pipe band events.  All seriously good fun.

Next community ceilidh to be on or around October 16th for Big National Ceilidh an event supporting WaterAid – please do come and support – details to follow. 

Nov 14 2009

Spring Community Ceilidh

We are having a…

SPRING “St.Patrick’s” Community Ceilidh

 Saturday 20th March 2010

 All Saints Church Hall, Hessle,  Hull

 £5 per adult/£12 family ticket.   No bar – bring own food and drink/booze.   A great ‘knees up’ night out with friends and family, no age restrictions – you just need two working legs!

Proceeds to local community projects.  Please contact us for tickets.

Oct 21 2009

September at Castle Howard

Here of some photos (of us on a break between sets) of the lovely day out we all had at Castle Howard’s “Wild About Wood” day run by the Arboretum Trust, Kew. 

The weather couldn’t have been better and the turn out was fine.  If you haven’t been to Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, it’s a spectacular place to visit.   We had a few extra musicians – which was an added bonus as it made the music more varied and the day more brilliant!!

Castle Howard Sept 09

On a break

Aug 14 2009

International Day at a local high school

St Mary’s High School in Hull had an International Week last term with music, food and culture from all over the world.

We went in with some friends and played some English and Irish music.  Liz got the highland pipes out to add a Scottish flavour to the performance.  Quite something to hear – and very loud in a school hall!

International day Liz Bagpiping

Apr 3 2009

Charity Ceilidh for the Beamsley Project

Some of us played for a ceilidh last Friday 27th March, at All Saints Hall in Hessle, raising money for a group visiting the Beamsley Project for disabled people.

There were over 100 people there dancing with callers Steve Haswell and Rob Nicklas, respectively on melodion and guitar/vocals and with Angela on flute playing along with Rob’s vocals. 

The stage was full of musicians too – so thanks to Heather, Hannah, Angela, Rob, Steve, Gordon, Jill and Colin for making a good sound (and thanks to Rob also for the PA).

 The night raised £350. 

A big thank you to all that came, enjoyed and contributed and especially to Anne Wilkinson who organsied it all!

Oct 19 2008

Big National Ceilidh last night for WaterAid

A massive thank you to all that came to the ceilidh and merrily danced the night away supporting the charity WaterAid as part of the Big National Ceilidh day event.  We all had a fab time and really enjoyed the night!

We had 134 (give or take 1 or 2) people dancing at 10pm to the Circassian Circle dance and the night raised £670 for WaterAid!!!  Here are a few photos of the night…

       

         

Sep 13 2008

Saturday 18th October – BIG NATIONAL CEILIDH DAY

BIG NATIONAL CEILIDH DAY

This is unashamed advertising for our fund raising community charity ceilidh at

Hessle Town Hall, near Hull on Saturday 18th October 
as part of the Big National Ceilidh Day raising money for Water Aid

It’s for a very worthwhile cause! Please use the ‘Contact us‘ page for tickets
Tickets £5 each, no bar so bring your own drinks/booze (cups) and nibbles
Everyone welcome!

Aug 22 2008

Whitby Folk Festival – Aug 21st 2008

Some of us Hull and North Lincs lot did Whitby Folk Festival sessions on Thursday. We got there at about 10.30am and settled down at a cafe at the end of the north cliff area in the town, drank lots of tea, ate some sausage, eggs and beans brunch then played on our instruments.

      

Made John Kirkpatrick‘s session in the Middle Earth Pub early afternoon and the 422 session later in the day at the same pub.  Both sessions were different and both great. The pub was full but that didn’t detract from the session – then that’s easy for me to say as I had a seat!

Some of us Hull lot off to Shrewsbury Folk Festival now as I blog – and no doubt will have a good time there.

Aug 15 2008

Competitive Swingball

As a ceilidh band we take rehearsing very seriously – unless the weather is nice and there’s a swing ball tournament to be had. 

So todays rehearsal went well, got covered what we needed to and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden… turns out Liz, the piper, or “Whistling Wainright”, as her Swingball name is, has a killer instinct to win. 

“Scrapey Sean” (his Swingball name – it was all getting a bit silly at this point!), the violin player, bore the brunt of Liz’s brutal swingball skills and lost miserably. 

However “Mart the Bang”, percussionist, beat “Whistling Wainright” backhand – so she melted into a pile of goo.  Losing is not an option for Liz.

Hey ho, a good days work done by all 🙂

Jul 2 2008

Session/workshop pictures

Emma, who’s playing bodhran in the session, brought her brother, Matthew Kitchen, along and he kindly took these photo’s of the French and early music session on 22nd June at the Beverley Folk Festival – thanks Matthew!

                                   Sunday morning session

                                                 Shawm

                                                

Jun 25 2008

French and early music workshop

We did a workshop/session on French and early music on Sunday morning at Beverley Folk Festival.  We had recorders, accordion, percussion and fiddle with Quentin on gurdy and pipes and me on shawm, we ran through Bear Dance, Branle l’Offical and the old favourite Horses Brawl then we did some French bourrées, a Morvan bourrée and Tricotada.

The session was full and we hopefully passed on some ideas and new tunes to those that went.

To finish with, John aired one of his own compositions (composed in France) and people spontaneously got up to dance – always a sign of a good tune! 

Jun 6 2008

Braveheart re-enactment at Cave Castle

We did a ceilidh at Cave Castle on a Wednesday night.  It was Hull University’s Drama Department’s end of year do to see the final year students off.  They had a “Grafter’s” award ceremony, which finished just after 10pm then we were due to play… only then, tradition has it, that all the men go to the lake in the grounds of Cave Castle for a cigar.  So off they toddled leaving us with a load of women on the dance floor with no male partners to dance with.

After 20 minutes (now after 10.30pm) we decided for drastic action.  Liz got her pipes out and  I, armed with darabouka and tambourine, went to pipe the boys back up to the dance floor.

This all worked very well.  Got to the 70ish lads near the lake, Liz started piping and we started drumming and sure enough they started to follow.  About half way up the hill to the castle we realised no one was following us.  We looked back, only to see two lines of men ready to charge at each other…  then followed the Braveheart re-enactment.

A great roar ensued and the two battle lines ran at each other, Liz kept piping and we kept drumming and the two sides clashed.  After skirmishing for a few minutes they dusted their tux’s down and proceeded to be piped up to the castle and on to the dance floor.  What a laugh!

May 18 2008

Ceilidh yesterday

We did a ceilidh yesterday near York in a village hall in Sutton upon Derwent, a really lovely setting and atmosphere and we all very much enjoyed it as did the wedding guests. 

Liz really “did one” on the bagpipes! – she played for half an hour, really enjoyable (not only because it meant most of the band had some time off) but she really gets into the spirit and gets everyone jollying up there.  Quentin and Martin playing along on the djembe and darabouka made it hard for anyone not to clap along or dance!

Helen’s got some photo’s – will post them up soon. 

 

Apr 11 2008

Recording last week

Last week we spent a day in studio recording our own compositions, some romping early music stuff and our ceilidh sets for us to listen to and pick out the good points and see if any better arrangements could be had.

What fun – but hard work!  I think a lot of us hadn’t used our brains quite so intensely for a long time for the hours it took, from 9.30am – 4.00pm!!!  Got a good 11 tracks from it though.  So hopefully we’ll get some clips of it up on the web soon.  Thanks goes to Adam the sound guy who was great.

Quentin gurding, John on accordion and Helen on fiddle.

    

   

Mar 9 2008

Friend’s wedding

We did a wedding last night for two friends Helen and Gordon, in fact the sister of Liz our whistle player, it was a great do.  Eamon, the caller, really got the dancers going.

With it being, musically, a folky wedding, as both Helen and Gordon play, there was a session in the bar and a ceilidh in the next room, with guest spots in between dancing.  Sam Pirt on accordion and Richard on violin fair motored along with some music, while the buffet was consumed, which was brilliant.

Heather and Hannah, Helen’s nieces, played the first dance on flute and cello, a waltz composed by John our accordion player, with John accompanying. 

Then for the last dance along with the band, Sam, Richard, Bill, Anne, Carol, Laurie and the other session muscians (whose names escape me – sorry!), about 20 of us, played and everyone got up to dance!  What a great end to the night.

Jan 24 2008

Composing and wassailing

Some of us have been composing since Christmas and we have some cracking tunes to rehearse this new year.  

A few of the band braved the cold on January 13th to play at a Wassailing at Pickering Road Community Orchard for the Raving Maes to dance to.

It is the first wassailing held at the orchard – and it was a great sucess with around 70 people turning up to put toast on trees and pour cider on the roots of the young apple trees.  Hopefully the first of many to come there.

    web-page-size.jpg      webpage.jpg

Lots of bookings too and some possible studio time at Easter to record some tunes, what with playing for the Raving Maes as well it looks like 2008 is going to be a busy year for us.

Dec 10 2007

Our ceilidh bash

Well, it was good fun and lots of people dancing, which is the main thing.  We had 45 mins to set up before people arrived so it was a bit frantic but it all came together.

Quentin and John has a good go on the hurdy-gurdy and accordion, and friends Cameron and Mark did some piping and violin.  Martin also joined us on persussion, along with Quentin.   We all enjoyed ourselves and will have another ceilidh night next year in spring.

Oct 28 2007

Mrs B’s Cafe & Christmas

Mrs B’s excellent cafe’s website is now up and running.

We’ve been rehearsing for our Christmas Party on 23rd November which just involves a whole lot of playing and dancing (and rowdyness no doubt).  There’s a 7/8 tune to dance to.  I think the general consensus is that dancers will have to make this up themselves, with a bottle of wine prize for the most inventive dance moves – if we play this towards the end of the night maybe the odd rythyms won’t be noticed…

Oct 18 2007

Big National Ceilidh Day – Water Aid

On Saturday 18th October 2008 there is a Big National Ceilidh Day to raise funds for Water Aid.  We are having a ceilidh at Hessle Town Hall to raise funds.  

At 10.00pm all bands across the UK will be playing the same tune, Jamie Allen, and as many people as possible dancing the Circassian Circle.  Here are some sobering figures from the Big National Ceilidh Day’s website:

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one sixth of the world’s population.

2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation. This is roughly two fifths of the world’s population.

1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day.

Oct 14 2007

French connections

A few of us went to Les Panards Dansants yesterday which was part of a weekend of French Traditional Music and Dance in Otley, near Leeds.  We have a ceilidh next May, in Hessle, which involves a weekend of people from Hessle’s twin town of Bourg de Thizy, France, visiting.   So it would be nice to play them some French music and do some French dancing as well as traditional English music and dance.

We have been playing some French traditional music recently as two of the band members have houses in France and have books of french music which are really interesting to play.  You can definitely hear the tunes that are perfect for hurdy-gurdy!

Sep 24 2007

Sunday afternoon playing and good coffee!

Sunday afternoon saw us down at the Humber Bridge park area outside a friends cafe playing music for people doing the British Heart Foundation’s walk across the bridge.  

Shelly’s coffee is great as is the food and the surrounding countryside – there’s just something nice about playing outdoors.  Thanks to Tim Waters for the photographs.