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Islington Folk Club home page
The original Islington Folk Club was founded in 1964 and met at the Fox on Islington Green. Bob Davenport and Reg Hall were the resident performers, and The Rakes (Reg's dance band) were the resident band. Bob's recollections of the Fox feature in an interview with John Tchalenko available on the Brtitish Library sound archive website.
When the club closed in 1968, a number of people including Peta Webb, Tony Engle and Rod & Danny Stradling formed a new club at The Kings Head in Upper Street which was run in the same style. This club continued until 1970. Rod Stradling has recently issued an excellent CD on the Musical Traditions label of recordings made at the club. The booklet notes contain information about the club and photographs of performers as well as texts of and notes on the songs.
After this club closed many people still wanted the kind of evening provided by the two clubs. Ken Lees and John Cattini founded a new club at The White Horse on Liverpool Road in 1972. This club has continued at various venues ever since. From the mid 1970s until 1986 the club was run by Bob Davenport and Roger Digby, with Flowers and Frolics as the resident band.
For a fuller account see David Campbell's History of the club.
The Club has operated in a number of Islington pubs over the years. See here for a chronological list of venues.
Here is a list of guests booked at the club, since 1997.
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Islington Folk Club home page
Page created by Martin Nail. Last revised 1st April 2023