Features
Folk Activities
Quite simply these take many creative forms usually associated with the more traditional arts and crafts. Essentially they involve people doing things for themselves whether in the form of communal entertainment such as singing and dancing or in more individual activities like pottery, basket weaving, painting etc. All these are available to anyone with determination and an interest although, to people with a disability, some are more easily accessible than others. Individual activities present little difficulty with each person setting their own standard while groups may need more careful handling depending on aptitude although it would surprise many to find English Country Dancing to be an excellent activity for children and adults with physical difficulties whether in groups, schools or clubs as the dance and music can be tailored to the group. In fact within an active group such as the Folk Dance Club some physically disabled persons can be fairly easily absorbed.
Wheelchair dancing is popular http://www.rdksportswheelchairs.co.uk/dancing.html
As is folk dancing at Ormskirk Folk Dance Club http://lancs.talis.com/engage/showrecord/1203743916592.
Music can be enjoyed in one of the many folk clubs in the north http://www.folknorthwest.co.uk and in many cases a person’s disability will not affect their musical ability and so access is the only problem.
Don and Heather Davies John Condy
Mick Hare
Sale Folk Club is a rare exception www.salefolkclub.co.uk in that it is a high quality venue and on the ground floor making it wheelchair friendly both on acoustic and concert nights and the professional Tom Doughty.
Tom Doughty
Tom Doughty
website:
http://www.tomdoughty.com/news2.html who sings and plays every kind
of lap guitar from his wheelchair has recently become a regular visitor.
It was in a road traffic accident in 1974 that Tom became a permanently
disabled person. Initially his impairment also affected his fingers and
prevented him from playing music and he recalls the frustration of
creating music in his head but not being able to hear it in the air.
With the tenacity and creativity of a new explorer finding ways to work
around his limits of hand movement, however, Tom discovered how to
return to being a musician by developing absolutely new and unique
techniques for playing slide guitar, with a sensitive touch and full of
feeling. In fact in the search for gigs he is shortly to take a trip
over to California to demonstrate his Solomon and play some gigs and
develop some more performances and share the fun with other musicians.
His instructional DVD is going to happen too and in March 09, he will be
featured in the Acoustic Magazine in a slide guitar article. The new CD
is something that he is proud of, it has an assertive sound and
confidence plus he has written most of the tracks too, so it is another
step forward. Reviews will soon be out in some magazines, including
Rock’n’Reel, Blues in Britain and Froots. Despite this, marketing and
selling remains his Achilles heel because, as he says, he feels that he
is just a musician.
So, in short, if anyone feels the desire to express themselves in words
and music they should look around for a suitable venue and make their
presence felt in the same way as Tom Doughty and many able bodied people
do on a regular basis.
Don Davies, Sale Folk Club, Southern Road, Sale, Manchester M33 6HQ
Contact:
info@salefolkclub.co.uk
Sale Folk Club: www.salefolkclub.co.uk
by Don Davies
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