About

Royston Folk LIVE is a constituted ’not for profit’ Club. 
Jeremy Harmer – Chair
Bryan Causton – Secretary
Lesley Walls – Treasurer
Royston Folk LIVE is held at The Royal British Legion, Mill Rd, Royston, SG8 7AE …. (more details follow)

Significant News for 2024

EXCITING FUTURE FOR ROYSTON LIVE
I am writing to announce an exciting transition at Royston LIVE.
Joining the team to share the running of the club are Bryan Causton, Penni Mclaren Walker, Guido M Rincon and Jeremy Harmer.
Lesley will be continuing to look after ticketing, keep the books and do the banking.
Mark Gamon and myself (Chris Walls) will be stepping back a little to share the planning of our 2024 future events. Which will be (initially) on the LAST FRIDAY of EVERY month at The British Legion Mill Rd

All such clubs are still struggling to recover from the effects of two years of lockdown. But with the contacts, experience, skills and fresh ideas from Bryan, Penni, Guido and Jeremy we are hoping to increase audience sizes and build Royston LIVE even bigger and better in the new year.

Those wanting to be considered for spots in future events
should now drop an email to a NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
Info@roystonLIVE.org … If not already a friend of the club it is always best to include some video if possible.


Supported by
unicornfolk.uk

The Royston Folk Club has been running since 2012
allegedly after a 30 year break – before which myth has it that it was famous for visits from such as Nick Drake and Paul Simons.  

We enjoy an eclectic mix of music taking in all kinds of roots and “folk”. We enjoy, trad, contemporary and originals from the latest singer songwriters, as well as a bit of classical, jazz, ragtime, spoken word and blues. In fact …

“For Folk music read “Good” music”

We are predominantly an acoustic club but welcome a well tempered electic guitar, bass or keyboard. We love to see and hear more unusual instruments, harps, pipes, dulcimers etc.
We value our “Roystoneers” who are, just as important as the musicians, as they just love to listen to live music.
We pride ourselves on being a friendly place where you can meet new friends and become part of a community. We showcase musical talent (on the second Friday of the month) with visits from near and far.
We especially welcome and encourage young talent.
Many of our showcase performers return with new original material, as well as, well chosen, well known songs, new instruments and new collaborations with other musicians.
From our showcases we aim to source talent for our concerts (on the last Friday of the month) though in our concerts we also regularly present big well known names.

Try our Facebook Group to meet our community of Roystoneers, followers and musicians and hundreds of great pictures from Mike Wells and Livestreams from Mark and Chris ….  

Visit our YouTube Channel for loads of great video moments at the club and from our friends … 


OUR VENUE
The Royston Royal British Legion
Mill Rd, Royston SG8 7AE 

The British Legion provides us with … 
Our own entrance and reception
Capacity for 100 socially distanced in groups at tables
A “proper good stage” and lighting
Our own Bar and bar staff serving us at any time throughout the evening with on tap … Lagers, Guinness, John Smiths, IPA and a Guest Ale, plus usual softs, spirits and wines Snacks (but not cooked food) are also available 


CAR PARKING around The British Legion … is “not obvious” but (Our Survey Says) … There is regularly about 20 spaces in Mill Rd, Queens Rd, Stamford Rd and Lumen Rd (these are only restricted 10am to 11 am so NOT RESTRICTED when we will be there) Additionally in Lumen Rd there are a number of unrestricted car parks with capacity for about 45 cars. Furthermore … Royston’s civic car park in King James Wall is FREE OF CHARGE after 3pm and is about 10 mins walk away with ample capacity.  
TRAIN Rail Station – Royston
TAXIS Meltax 01763 244444 and Butlers 0176 212223 
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS Good news our venue is totally accessible NO ramps, wide doors, accessible toilet … arrive early to grab the nearest parking


TICKETS
Tickets for our SHOWCASE nights are NOT required 
entry is just £5 on the door cash or card

Tickets for our CONCERTS …
Reserve them on our ‘Tickets’ page … Pay cash or card at the door It is not essential to reserve seats – we have 100 seats – but to be sure of your seat and to let us know how many to cater for PLEASE DO reserve on our ‘Tickets’ page … We are not taking advance payments as Covid still provides much uncertainty … If we lose any of our booked acts to covid we will continue with the help of our local musicians and the door price will be adjusted. It is of course possible that we are restricted by government with vaccine passports, tests or even further lock downs – to which we will of course comply. This why we are only taking money – on the door – on the night.


HUSH We expect silence during concerts on the “Last Friday of every month” and believe it good etiquette to wait for gaps between songs to pop over to get drinks etc. We set the place up so that this is easy to come and go at any time. On ‘Showcase’ nights on the “Second Friday of every month” things are a little more casual but respect for the performer and enjoyment of the music is our priority. Again the room is set up so that you can circulate and wet your whistle at any time. 


BOOK YOUR SHOWCASE SPOT with Mark Gamon Each solo performer or duo is offered a two song spot before the break and two song spot after the break. A “Featured Finale” are offered a longer spot to finish the evening. To avoid disappointment we ask you to contact Mark Gamon to book a spot, as we have found that there is a wealth of talented singers and musicians wanting to perform and it can be hard to fit every one in. We book the ‘Showcase’ night about three moths ahead which also allows us to promote the night and Showcase your name on our posters, Facebook and web. 

BOOK YOUR CONCERT SPOT with Chris Walls. We can offer a headliners a very appreciative audience of up to 100 people. However we have been SO impressed by the quality of our ‘Showcase’ performers we aim to give paid support slots in our main concerts to our local showcase talent.

CONCERT SOUND CHECKS are at 6:30pm doors open 7:30 Support spot starts at 8pm to 8:50pm Headline spots are from 9:10pm to 11pm with 20 min break in the middle


OUR SOUND We have a good reputation for our sound with Chris Walls on the knobs “Its not about amplifying you – I aim to do my best to get a real nice natural sound, balancing your voices and your instruments to be heard clearly over to the whole room” – Chris 

GEEKY STUFF Our main desk is an 8 channel Soundcraft EFX with 48volt “phantom power” and reverb effects .
We can add 16 more channels piggy backing our Studiomaster mixing desk.
We have 4 DI boxes. 8 x Shure SM58s 4 x Shure SM57s and all the appropriate Hercules mic stands. Power for pedals and backline.
We have 2 x LD 28 G2 PA columns (similar to a Bose L1) which are 1000watt (rms) per side – pole and sub base system. These will be behind and either side of you and you will hear what the audience hears throughout the whole 100 seater venue. We do not provide monitor mixes.
If you are a bass player that uses an amp please bring it.
If you are an electric guitar player that uses an amp please bring it. 
We like to turned down any back line and mic it (or DI it) into the mix.
We have a lighting rig to light you well and set the atmosphere.
Our NEW stage (at The British Legion) is carpeted and deep enough for a drum kit at 6m wide and 2.5m deep (0.4m high)


HOW IT STARTED IN 2012 After a 30 year hibernation Royston Folk Club was re-started in March 2012 by Mike Farrow with the support of his partner Elaine.

The first few events proved that the time and the place was right. Mike recruited his Guitar teacher Tony Buch who had a wealth of experience to host the club. Another of Tony’s guitar students 

Chris Walls was recruited on the first night of the club. With considerable experience of club, management and promotion Chris had much to share with the team. Chris provides and operates the sound system. Chris also manages and maintains this web site. 

THEN – ALL CHANGE IN OCT 2013 In 2013 Mike announced he and Elaine were moving to Wales….. “I was hoping you’d keep it going Chris” he said !!!! They completed their move with to North Wales from where he still guides us to find headline acts. During 2014 we very sadly lost Tony Buch to cancer. Chris Walls stepped up to bankroll and head up a team to keep the club going.

Chris had many skills but what he lacked was local contact being at the time new to the area. Mark Gamon on the other hand had been a regular at many of the clubs in the area as a singer song writer. Mark was the perfect person to look out for showcase talent and promote the club.

Chris now assisted by his partner Lesley Walls, and Mark Gamon, Becky Wears, have constituted a “not for profit” organisation so Royston Folk Club has a bank account and is “official” with help from  Mike and Liz Wells,  Brian Harvey, Janet and Dave Bubbins Carl Filbey  and Martin Kaszac the club is growing from strength to strength.

Until Covid 19 … As we walked away from The Old Bull Inn in March 2020 we had no idea when or how we might meet again. Our musician friends struggled but found new ways of performing “on line” … Eventually 18 months later, restrictions eased, and still wary, we were able to hold a socially distanced night of live music. We asked for dates into 2022 to be told that we traditionally did not make the Old Bull as much money on our showcase nights as birthday discos etc. It was clear that we would be accused of the same thing if restricted to the socially distanced capacity of 40 at our concerts. After much research we were pleased to be welcomed by Royston Royal British Legion with all our regular Friday dates and capacity for 100 socially distanced in groups round tables. We moved the club on the last Friday of January 2022.