Well it was either a Saturday night in front of the TV watching the Eurovision competition or attending a charity concert in St Catherine’s Church, Drayton.

 Given the choice it was hardly surprising that the concert was a sell out, raising over £2,000 to be divided between St Margaret’s Hospice and the Taunton Association for the Homeless.

The brainchild of village Postmaster, Alan Norton, the concert consisted of three main acts, well compèred by Steve Allinson. 

Ange Hardy, already familiar to some for her previous concert in the village, started off.  A singer songwriter, she sang in a lovely, clear folk style reminiscent of Joni Mitchell.  Ange used her songs to illustrate stories from her past; from her eventful and often traumatic early years as a homeless teenager in Dublin and Galway.  Thankfully, as her life improved, so her songs became less melancholy and more cheerful until the audience wanted to sing along with her to ‘Have you ever seen pigs fly?’, ‘Friday Night’ and the memorably funny ‘Roger the Dog’.

Ange was followed by ‘Diaspora’, the well known and popular local 5 man Irish folk group.  They started with an unfamiliar instrumental, before going on to sing many well known traditional Irish songs.  There was definitely something odd listening to this foot-tapping music inside an historic Somerset church when usually you hear it with a pint of the black stuff in hand.  ‘Diaspora’ ended their performance with John Monaghan’s fine rendition of ‘A Parting Glass’, recently sung at a local funeral.  
The surprise act of the evening was undoubtedly Fran Stallings, a professional storyteller from the United States, who just happened to be visiting the village with her husband that weekend.  I think many were sceptical about her ability to entertain, but we were completely wrong.  Fran told three stories full of drama and tension with a voice that could be heard by all.  Indeed all were silenced by her ability to tell a story.  It brought back memories of childhood, when a parent would read or recount a bedtime story.  For how often these days does anyone tell us a story, simply using their voice, as generations before have done?

The concert ended with an ‘Open Mic’ session.  Here Ange and ‘Diaspora’ were joined by father and daughter, Patrick and Alison Rendell, playing a lively ‘Hoedown’ on guitar and violin.  Ange’s husband, Rod, also sang a famous Johnny Cash song from the 1960s ‘A Boy Named Sue’.
Organiser, Alan Norton, said that he was delighted with the concert.  “Everyone enjoyed it.  Over 150 tickets were sold and St Catherine’s was full.  I liked the setting inside that beautiful church.  I am just very grateful to everyone involved and of course everyone who generously bought a ticket, with the money benefitting two very worthwhile local charities.”

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