This was twenty to six on the 16th of February – well, not actually in Lichfield, the Waysides of which remain the Serenaders’ usual habitat, but on the Dorset coast where the Revd J. Olly Glum and Emily Blue were researching their theory that it isn’t as wet on the edges of the country as it is here at its centre. (Their theory was found to be hopelessly wide of the mark.)

Anyway, what it does show is that it is getting marginally lighter with each passing February day, if, that is, you can see through all the mist and rain. And what that means is that the ol’ T-chest is having its Yuletide decor peeled off, and we’re beginning to think that warmer, drier weather might indeed be “an actual thing”.

Intensive rehearsals start next week, or rather a ramshackle bunch of people (some of whom really are getting old) will be gathering to blow the dust off a ramshackle bunch of instruments (some of which are hardly instruments at all) and exchange blank looks each time the Revd mentions a song they played last summer.

Wish us luck!

We were intending to busk again this Saturday, 23 December, but the weather is once again looking changeable – one moment sunny, the next wet with gales – so in the light of our success last Saturday, the Serenaders have decided to draw a veil over the rest of 2023, devoting themselves instead to eating, drinking and making merry with their nearest and dearest. We shall also be raising a glass in hope to a 2024 containing a few more dry, warm and buskable days than was the case in ’23.

We therefore wish you all a most marvellous festive holiday, and may all your hopes for the new year be realised while none of your fears come to pass. See you on the other side!

The Yuletide Serenaders finally made it onto the streets of Lichfield, and our efforts were richly rewarded by very kind Christmas shoppers – £115 in notes alone! – which will all go to the Crisis At Christmas fund which helps to bring some hope and succour to the homeless at this time of year.

The donations seemed to drop into the hatbox at a quicker rate when we were not playing – but the band is trying not to take it personally!

Many thanks to Harriet for joining us on vocals and ukulele for a few numbers and to Jill for strong singing.

The band – or as many of us who manage to get out of bed and into town before noon – will be doing its ‘massy thing tomorrow, that’s 16 December according to the Julian calendar, from around 10.30 in the a.m. If we’re not outside the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Market Street, cock an ear for us in a neighbouring Lichfield street, perhaps not far from the Guildhall in Bore Street, for example.

And don’t forget, if you want to do your own body and soul a favour you can join us in song (lyric books provided).

It’s looking far too wet.

But we’re optimistic for Saturday 16 December!

…and don’t forget your brolly! For Folk On The Farm, that is. It’s sold out, and the weather is looking… well, weathery.

The Serenaders will be serenading the musicians and punters into the site at Woodhouse Farm, near Whittington, from about 11am and then intermittently (much like the showers) for the rest of the afternoon.

Hope to see you there. It’s this Sunday 17 September, in case you have no sense of time (much like the band… ho ho).

The Serenaders will be back in town – that’s Lichfield – tomorrow, Saturday 9 September, busking in Market Street outside the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum (opposite Waterstones). As the weather is forecast to be warm (I nearly wrote unseasonably warm there, which is ridiculous on the face of it but a lot nearer to the sad truth of an English summer), we will be playing a little earlier: between 10am and about 11.30am or when our voices and fingers give out, whichever comes sooner. I’m delighted to announce that, although we will be shy of uke maestro Ian Doleful and tambourine maestress Mandy Down-Heel, we will be delighted to welcome, on guitar, Phil OhNo. We might even be joined at some point by part-timer and complete diva Harriet Bleak.

And on Sunday 17 September we’ll be trying to squeeze in a song or two in between the proper musicians appearing at Folk On The Farm, the annual Lichfield Arts visit to the country as part of its Lichfield Festival of Folk. It’s at Woodhouse Farm and Gardens, the postcode is WS13 8QG, and all we hope for is that the rain will hold off and that we’ll see a few familiar faces there.

The line-up of proper musicians includes Farefield, Chase Mist, The Durkins and the community big band ASpire, which will include a couple of Wayside Serenaders pretending they know what’s going on.

For full details and booking (it’s £10.78 for adults, children under 12 free, which appears to include a barbecue), just click on the image above.

Blessed may be the cheesemakers. Or even the peacemakers!

Certainly, when it comes to busking, one of the Rev J. Olly Glum’s pet hates is amplifiers of any kind. So he laid down strict rules from the beginning for those poor souls who were press-ganged into being Wayside Serenaders: an electric cable, a device which had batteries, printed circuits of any kind, just the faint whiff of positive and negative terminals, was enough to put him in a semi-incoherent rage.

Then, in a moment of self-doubt, he wondered if he was being a bit harsh…

Thankfully, a book he was reading came to his aid and convinced him that his original gut feeling was the one to go with.

This is the late, very great art critic, novelist and man of wisdom John Berger quoting his friend Ken on a performance by musical hall artists Flanagan and Allen (Here Is Where We Meet. John Berger – Bloomsbury, 2005):

“The microphone is going to kill their art… They talk across the whole theatre and we’re in the middle of them. If they use a mike, this will stop and the public will no longer be in the middle. The secret of music hall artists is that they play defenceless, like we are. A player with a mike is armed!”

The Wayside Serenaders will remain “defenceless”, just like their audience!

Five of the seven Serenaders (two had left for more important business) bringing some suitably bathetic cheer to Market Street in Lichfield this morning.