My name is Ste Greenall.
Born in St Helens, September 24th 1957.
And I like to think I can come up with good ideas from time to time, and plan and organise them. So….what could I do to mark 24th September 2007? Well, it all started off with one of those daft ideas, whereby you want to celebrate your birthday in just a bit of a different way, and then the daft idea suddenly starts to seem like it might work.
Typically, though, I started to plan it even before I knew anyone might fancy it. The idea was that, because I had started to try learning the guitar three years ago, a bunch of us could get instruments together, and record some songs, and burn them on to CDs. i.e. make our OWN album!
So…what would we need?
People
Instruments
Recording equipment
Ideas of what songs to play
Oh, and the small matter of WHERE to do it. Given that I had an idea that some of those I would be inviting might not want to play or sing, it would have to be somewhere that the non-participants could also relax and have a nice weekend. Location would be determined by where the guests all live, and to try to ensure everyone could get there fairly easily.
So given that my tentative (and as yet uninvited) list would have people from London, North Wales, Shropshire, Sheffield, Merseyside, and me and my wife and son, Ailsa and Ben in Cambridgeshire, it seemed like Derbyshire would be a good idea. The three of us had stayed in a really nice cottage in Northumberland in August 2006 – and I had found that cottage on a website which offered links to similar properties. So …..after a bit of internet searching, I found what looked like an ideal location, and fired off the following e-mail to the owners of a barn and annexe that could cope with an invasion of 16 people. The barn was called Holestone, and the owners were Steve and Vicki Clemerson. Here’s what I wrote, in September 2006:
Hi folks
Next year, to celebrate my 50th, I am thinking about renting somewhere ‘out of the way’ so a group of family and friends can get together……and record an album! A few of us play instruments for fun, and we thought it would be a grand idea to get together to have a fun time, and make some music. And record it ;-)
I’d be looking to book both properties for a three day stint, starting Friday 21st September, for three nights. Can you advise on availability and price, at this stage?
Many thanks
Ste Greenall
The following e-mail came back to me:
Dear Steve
That sounds wonderful!
The weekend of 21st September 2007 is available in our large cottage (The Barn), sleeping 12, or both The Barn & The Stables, sleeping 16 people in total. The Barn has ample room to dine and seat 16 people. The cost for 3 nights in The Barn on its own is £899, or £1073 if both cottages are taken. Prices include all linen, towels, electricity, central heating & logs.
We look forward to hearing from you and do hope that you decide to have your 50th birthday musical album making weekend here! And if you do, we hope its nice weather, so you can have the windows open, so we can listen!!
If you'd like us to send our brochure, booking form etc, please email your address.
Please note that future emails should be sent to info@hmbarns.co.uk, Vicki & Steve Clemerson
By now, after having looked at the website for the barn, I was totally convinced we were going to do it, and having sounded everyone out, and decided that having been made redundant just three days AFTER first contacting Vicki, to hell with it….my employer and their redundancy money could cough up, and I would pay for the barn.
Several weeks went by, we got Christmas out of the way, and, with no job (at the time) I sent out my formal invites, by e-mail:
Greetings, people
Well, it’s about time I finally got around to sending out official invites to my planned birthday get together in the Peak District. So this is it. Don’t print the e-mail – stay eco-friendly, and save it on your pc. The idea had evolved from “getting together” somewhere out of the way, into taking instruments and recording what we do, if not for worldwide release, then to give out as CDs to anyone who might be interested. It’ll be a nice way to remind ourselves of what will hopefully be a great time, in a relaxed atmosphere. Plus of course, a table tennis / darts / pool tournament.
We’ll be staying at Holestone Moor Barns (check out this link http://www.hmbarns.co.uk ) near Ashover in Derbyshire’s Peak District. I’m sure some will fancy a walk, climb, or maybe just chill out at the barns; the facilities look great. The nearest town of any size is Matlock, which is four miles away. The owners, Vicki and Steve, seem really nice people, and Vicki has even agreed to guest on our CD! They have a pool table, table tennis, darts etc….
Down the road, in Ashover, is the Old Poets Corner pub, which in 2006 won the CAMRA Pub of the Year for Cider and Perry, but they also have a fantastic range of beer. What more, they regularly put on live entertainment, and the landlord plays guitar as well. I have cheekily asked if we can play whilst we are there, which ups the anti a bit, but Ian (McCully who for his sins teaches me, and occasionally these days, Ben) and I played a few tunes last weekend, mainly Bob Dylan, Tull etc, and we reckon we could do some acoustic stuff and some rock stuff. Of course, we pretty much know each other, though for some, it will be a first meet up and others the first time of seeing in a while, but hey ho….let’s party. I haven’t heard from the pub yet, so let’s see what happens on that score. The Old Poets Corner has a website which you can find at http://www.oldpoets.co.uk
WHO
Me, Ailsa and Ben / Fiona (Ailsa’s sister, for them what don’t know) husband Andrew and Michael / Louise and Elliot / Stu and Clare / Tom and Amy / Ian Kay and Mike Jones / Ian McCully and Alison Cochrane – Ian’s good lady…we’ll all know one another better, it’ll be like Big Brother, but without the racism!
WHEN
The barns are booked from Friday 21st to Monday 24th September, which is the actual day of my 50th, and I hope you’ll all be able to get a bit of time out
COST
To you, dear folks, nowt, zilch, zero…as far as the accommodation goes….Melanie’s paying ;-)
However, we will need to agree what to take by way of food; it’ll be like going to Centre Parcs, for those of you who have been there. So by the time we whack out the food bill, it shouldn’t amount to a fortune between us all. We may even be able to buy food on the farm…I’ll check that one out.
MUSIC
Well we’re gonna have to start agreeing what to play, and maybe try to get together somehow for some jamming, but I have a fair idea of what we all like, we just need to agree a set list.
Songs which have already been bandied about are:-
Teenage Kicks500 MilesLetter from America
Wond’ring’ AloudSubterranean Homesick BluesBlowin’ in the WindRuby Tuesday
Bring it on home. Led Zep
Roadhouse blues, Doors
Hard to Handle, Otis or Commitments
Midnight rambler
Gimme shelter
Li'l Red Rooster
Baby please don't go (down to New Orleans), Paul Butterfield as opposed to Van the man's version.
Any Yardbirds....
But that is by no means a set list, just a few suggestions; if you have some of your own, share ‘em out. The last block came from Mike Jones, who presumably can belt them out on his harmonica.
Ian Mc Cully will be able – because he’s a genius – suggest a few easy ones for us to learn.
EQUIPMENT
We bring our own instruments, but if anyone amongst us knows what we need, amplification and speakers-wise, it is Ian Mc who has been there many times and owns the t-shirt. If we have to hire a PA, maybe we should check out prices soon.
At this stage, I don’t know what else we need to think about, but let’s get cracking on preparation and look forward to a grand weekend away.
I’m really looking forward to it - I hope you are….or will be ;-)
Please share any ideas you have amongst us all……
Ste
Thus began the countdown ….
By the time September 2007 came, Ian Kay had had to drop out, but Tom had invited Sophie, is girlfriend.
Ailsa, Ben and I set off from home, aiming to arrive first, but when we got there, after a delay in the M1, Ian and Alison had beaten us to it. Soon after, Louise and Elliot were there so we had a good look round and started to divvy up the bedrooms. The accommodation was not as we expected it from the website – it was better. Every little attention to detail had been addressed, and within five minutes, I just knew we would have a great time.
Once everyone had arrived, we set up the gear in the lounge of the barn, ordered a mega Indian takeaway, and retired early for a swift start.
To be honest, we ended up choosing some songs we hadn’t even suggested beforehand, but in the main, we were happy enough to have had a really great time.
One song I was determined to try to do was Blowing in the Wind, because we had invited Vikki, and her friend Lynne to join us:
Hi Ste
It all sounds wonderful. As well as being in the choir, Lynne and I are in a small group of 5 'girls', and one of our songs is Blowin' in the wind. We sang in 4 different venues at Wirksworth Festival a couple of weekends ago.
None of us will come on Friday (you want some time to yourselves!).
I'm actually not sure if Lynne can make Saturday lunchtime as she works in a pub. But I'll let you know. If she can't, it's no problem ... she's coming in the evening anyway so we'll sing and drum ourselves.
As it was Vikki and Lynne were the best singers on the CD, although the bloke who played guitar for them wasn’t bad either ;-)
When it was all over, I sent everyone a final e-mail:
Hiya folks
Thanks YET again for sharing a great weekend with me.
Our master musician/sound engineer/producer, the maestro Mr McCully, has presented me with the master CD. Could those of you who took pictures get them on a disc to me, and I will hopefully persuade Steve Stride (ex Aston Villa, now semi-retired home creator of CDs) to make up a good sleeve….c’mon, we have to do this properly!
Oh and by the way….it’s not bad at all……some brilliant memories of a good laugh down at the barn.
Speak soon
Ste
Born in St Helens, September 24th 1957.
And I like to think I can come up with good ideas from time to time, and plan and organise them. So….what could I do to mark 24th September 2007? Well, it all started off with one of those daft ideas, whereby you want to celebrate your birthday in just a bit of a different way, and then the daft idea suddenly starts to seem like it might work.
Typically, though, I started to plan it even before I knew anyone might fancy it. The idea was that, because I had started to try learning the guitar three years ago, a bunch of us could get instruments together, and record some songs, and burn them on to CDs. i.e. make our OWN album!
So…what would we need?
People
Instruments
Recording equipment
Ideas of what songs to play
Oh, and the small matter of WHERE to do it. Given that I had an idea that some of those I would be inviting might not want to play or sing, it would have to be somewhere that the non-participants could also relax and have a nice weekend. Location would be determined by where the guests all live, and to try to ensure everyone could get there fairly easily.
So given that my tentative (and as yet uninvited) list would have people from London, North Wales, Shropshire, Sheffield, Merseyside, and me and my wife and son, Ailsa and Ben in Cambridgeshire, it seemed like Derbyshire would be a good idea. The three of us had stayed in a really nice cottage in Northumberland in August 2006 – and I had found that cottage on a website which offered links to similar properties. So …..after a bit of internet searching, I found what looked like an ideal location, and fired off the following e-mail to the owners of a barn and annexe that could cope with an invasion of 16 people. The barn was called Holestone, and the owners were Steve and Vicki Clemerson. Here’s what I wrote, in September 2006:
Hi folks
Next year, to celebrate my 50th, I am thinking about renting somewhere ‘out of the way’ so a group of family and friends can get together……and record an album! A few of us play instruments for fun, and we thought it would be a grand idea to get together to have a fun time, and make some music. And record it ;-)
I’d be looking to book both properties for a three day stint, starting Friday 21st September, for three nights. Can you advise on availability and price, at this stage?
Many thanks
Ste Greenall
The following e-mail came back to me:
Dear Steve
That sounds wonderful!
The weekend of 21st September 2007 is available in our large cottage (The Barn), sleeping 12, or both The Barn & The Stables, sleeping 16 people in total. The Barn has ample room to dine and seat 16 people. The cost for 3 nights in The Barn on its own is £899, or £1073 if both cottages are taken. Prices include all linen, towels, electricity, central heating & logs.
We look forward to hearing from you and do hope that you decide to have your 50th birthday musical album making weekend here! And if you do, we hope its nice weather, so you can have the windows open, so we can listen!!
If you'd like us to send our brochure, booking form etc, please email your address.
Please note that future emails should be sent to info@hmbarns.co.uk, Vicki & Steve Clemerson
By now, after having looked at the website for the barn, I was totally convinced we were going to do it, and having sounded everyone out, and decided that having been made redundant just three days AFTER first contacting Vicki, to hell with it….my employer and their redundancy money could cough up, and I would pay for the barn.
Several weeks went by, we got Christmas out of the way, and, with no job (at the time) I sent out my formal invites, by e-mail:
Greetings, people
Well, it’s about time I finally got around to sending out official invites to my planned birthday get together in the Peak District. So this is it. Don’t print the e-mail – stay eco-friendly, and save it on your pc. The idea had evolved from “getting together” somewhere out of the way, into taking instruments and recording what we do, if not for worldwide release, then to give out as CDs to anyone who might be interested. It’ll be a nice way to remind ourselves of what will hopefully be a great time, in a relaxed atmosphere. Plus of course, a table tennis / darts / pool tournament.
We’ll be staying at Holestone Moor Barns (check out this link http://www.hmbarns.co.uk ) near Ashover in Derbyshire’s Peak District. I’m sure some will fancy a walk, climb, or maybe just chill out at the barns; the facilities look great. The nearest town of any size is Matlock, which is four miles away. The owners, Vicki and Steve, seem really nice people, and Vicki has even agreed to guest on our CD! They have a pool table, table tennis, darts etc….
Down the road, in Ashover, is the Old Poets Corner pub, which in 2006 won the CAMRA Pub of the Year for Cider and Perry, but they also have a fantastic range of beer. What more, they regularly put on live entertainment, and the landlord plays guitar as well. I have cheekily asked if we can play whilst we are there, which ups the anti a bit, but Ian (McCully who for his sins teaches me, and occasionally these days, Ben) and I played a few tunes last weekend, mainly Bob Dylan, Tull etc, and we reckon we could do some acoustic stuff and some rock stuff. Of course, we pretty much know each other, though for some, it will be a first meet up and others the first time of seeing in a while, but hey ho….let’s party. I haven’t heard from the pub yet, so let’s see what happens on that score. The Old Poets Corner has a website which you can find at http://www.oldpoets.co.uk
WHO
Me, Ailsa and Ben / Fiona (Ailsa’s sister, for them what don’t know) husband Andrew and Michael / Louise and Elliot / Stu and Clare / Tom and Amy / Ian Kay and Mike Jones / Ian McCully and Alison Cochrane – Ian’s good lady…we’ll all know one another better, it’ll be like Big Brother, but without the racism!
WHEN
The barns are booked from Friday 21st to Monday 24th September, which is the actual day of my 50th, and I hope you’ll all be able to get a bit of time out
COST
To you, dear folks, nowt, zilch, zero…as far as the accommodation goes….Melanie’s paying ;-)
However, we will need to agree what to take by way of food; it’ll be like going to Centre Parcs, for those of you who have been there. So by the time we whack out the food bill, it shouldn’t amount to a fortune between us all. We may even be able to buy food on the farm…I’ll check that one out.
MUSIC
Well we’re gonna have to start agreeing what to play, and maybe try to get together somehow for some jamming, but I have a fair idea of what we all like, we just need to agree a set list.
Songs which have already been bandied about are:-
Teenage Kicks500 MilesLetter from America
Wond’ring’ AloudSubterranean Homesick BluesBlowin’ in the WindRuby Tuesday
Bring it on home. Led Zep
Roadhouse blues, Doors
Hard to Handle, Otis or Commitments
Midnight rambler
Gimme shelter
Li'l Red Rooster
Baby please don't go (down to New Orleans), Paul Butterfield as opposed to Van the man's version.
Any Yardbirds....
But that is by no means a set list, just a few suggestions; if you have some of your own, share ‘em out. The last block came from Mike Jones, who presumably can belt them out on his harmonica.
Ian Mc Cully will be able – because he’s a genius – suggest a few easy ones for us to learn.
EQUIPMENT
We bring our own instruments, but if anyone amongst us knows what we need, amplification and speakers-wise, it is Ian Mc who has been there many times and owns the t-shirt. If we have to hire a PA, maybe we should check out prices soon.
At this stage, I don’t know what else we need to think about, but let’s get cracking on preparation and look forward to a grand weekend away.
I’m really looking forward to it - I hope you are….or will be ;-)
Please share any ideas you have amongst us all……
Ste
Thus began the countdown ….
By the time September 2007 came, Ian Kay had had to drop out, but Tom had invited Sophie, is girlfriend.
Ailsa, Ben and I set off from home, aiming to arrive first, but when we got there, after a delay in the M1, Ian and Alison had beaten us to it. Soon after, Louise and Elliot were there so we had a good look round and started to divvy up the bedrooms. The accommodation was not as we expected it from the website – it was better. Every little attention to detail had been addressed, and within five minutes, I just knew we would have a great time.
Once everyone had arrived, we set up the gear in the lounge of the barn, ordered a mega Indian takeaway, and retired early for a swift start.
To be honest, we ended up choosing some songs we hadn’t even suggested beforehand, but in the main, we were happy enough to have had a really great time.
One song I was determined to try to do was Blowing in the Wind, because we had invited Vikki, and her friend Lynne to join us:
Hi Ste
It all sounds wonderful. As well as being in the choir, Lynne and I are in a small group of 5 'girls', and one of our songs is Blowin' in the wind. We sang in 4 different venues at Wirksworth Festival a couple of weekends ago.
None of us will come on Friday (you want some time to yourselves!).
I'm actually not sure if Lynne can make Saturday lunchtime as she works in a pub. But I'll let you know. If she can't, it's no problem ... she's coming in the evening anyway so we'll sing and drum ourselves.
As it was Vikki and Lynne were the best singers on the CD, although the bloke who played guitar for them wasn’t bad either ;-)
When it was all over, I sent everyone a final e-mail:
Hiya folks
Thanks YET again for sharing a great weekend with me.
Our master musician/sound engineer/producer, the maestro Mr McCully, has presented me with the master CD. Could those of you who took pictures get them on a disc to me, and I will hopefully persuade Steve Stride (ex Aston Villa, now semi-retired home creator of CDs) to make up a good sleeve….c’mon, we have to do this properly!
Oh and by the way….it’s not bad at all……some brilliant memories of a good laugh down at the barn.
Speak soon
Ste
It took a bit longer then I’d hoped to get the CD sleeves done, but it was well worth the wait.
The final track listing was as follows:
Track 1 The Holestone Stomp featuring Ian McCully on bass guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike “Howlin” Jones on harmonica….this leads into Boulevard of Broken Dreams featuring Ian McCully on lead guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike “Howlin” Jones on harmonica, Tom Greenall on bass, Ste Greenall on vocals
Track 2 Wond’ring Aloud – Ste Greenall on acoustic guitar and vocals
Track 3 Not a Reasonable Man - Ste Greenall on acoustic guitar and vocals, Mike “Howlin” Jones on devastating harmonica solo
Track 4 Stoned In The Hole - Ian McCully on lead guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike “Howlin” Jones on harmonica, Tom Greenall on bass, Ste Greenall on “lyrics and fearsome squawking”
Track 5 Crazy - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Ben Greenall on drums, Mike “Howlin” Jones on slightly audible tambourine, Tom Greenall on bass, and Ste Greenall on totally inaudible bongos. Introducing “Gnarled and Beserkly” – the awesome trio that is Louise, Stu and Amy Greenall!
Track 6 Blowin’ In The Wind - Ste Greenall on acoustic guitar, Vicky Clemerson and Lynne Atkin on hauntingly lovely & and ‘in tune’ vocals, Lynne Atkin on djemba
Then we went to the pub…….but when we came back…………
Track 7 Daydream Believer - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike Jones on tambourine, EVERYBODY on vocals
Track 8 Honky Tonk Women- Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike Jones on tambourine, Ste Greenall on “Erm” influenced vocals, Mike Jones on assistant vocals!
Track 9 Someday The Sun Won’t Shine For You - Ste Greenall on acoustic guitar and vocals, Mike “Howlin” Jones on harmonica, Stu Greenall on drums, Tom Greenall on bass, Louise Greenall on background laughing!
Track 10 To Be Sad Is A Mad Way To Be - Ste Greenall on acoustic guitar and vocals, Stu Greenall on drums …….which ALMOST became Subterranean Home sick Blues
Track 11 STILL Crazy after all these beers- Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, special guest Mike Yapp on drums, Ste Greenall on totally inaudible bongos. Once more…. “Gnarled and Beserkly” – with more prominent presence from Amy, of the trio of Louise, Stu and Amy Greenall
Track 12 Space Oddity - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Ste, Louise and Stu Greenall on vocals, Mike Jones on tambourine, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike Jones on completely inaudible ‘countdown’, Stu Greenall on handclaps
Track 13 Waterloo Sunset - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Ste and Louise Greenall plus Mike Jones on lead vocals, - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Louise Greenall on “sha – la – las”
Track 14 Sunny Afternoon - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Mike Jones on tambourine, Ste and Louise Greenall on lead vocals, Tom Greenall
Track 15 I Will Survive - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Ste and Amy Greenall on the Gloria Gaynor bits, Mike Jones on tambourine, Stu Greenall on drums
Track 16 All You Need Is Love - Ian McCully on acoustic guitar, Ste Greenall on vocals, all kinds of people on backing vocals, Stu Greenall on drums
Track 17 Handbags and Gladrags - Ian McCully on glorious acoustic guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Ste Greenall on vocals and “yeah”, Mike “Howlin”Jones on harmonica
Track 18 Maggie May- Ian McCully on equally glorious acoustic guitar, Stu Greenall on drums, Ste Greenall on vocals, Mike “Howlin”Jones on harmonica, background chatter and glass clinking….the guests!
A daft little idea…….a fantastic weekend. I was so glad that in September 2006,
spent lunch time in Covent Garden, wond'ring aloud.
Oh, and I named the group THE HOLESTONE BAND
Wond'ring aloud -- how we feel today. Last night sipped the sunset -- my hands in her hair. We are our own saviours as we start both our hearts beating life into each other. Wond'ring aloud -- will the years treat us well. As she floats in the kitchen, I taste the smell of toast as the butter runs. Then she comes, spilling crumbs on the bed and I shake my head. And it's only the giving that makes you what you are.
(Wond’ring Aloud – Jethro Tull)
Ste Greenall (aged 50!!)
Hartford, Huntingdon
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