Friday night is the regular night for the St Edith Folk Club in Kent where Ray has played many times. They use a number of different venues and tonight they invited Ray back to play in St Dunstan’s church in the small country market town of Cranbrook, on the edge of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
As is usual in a church the acoustics were very good. St Dunstan’s has a grand piano which Ray used to play Wind and Steel, Going Underground introduced by the instrumental Tyyne Laine, and Reach For The Sun.
Having the grand piano was a real bonus in addition to Ray playing guitar and cello. The audience enjoyed the new songs from Ray’s latest album and joined in with Drunk On Summer. Several came up to speak with Ray saying how much they enjoyed seeing Ray back with Oysterband and June Tabor at the concert in Bexhill.
Many thanks to Keith, David, Sarah and their team for organising the show and for promoting live music in such a nice venue. Thanks also to Steve Jinski for his support set.
Early the next morning, I drove Ray to Oxford services to hand him over with his cello for his lift up to Manchester to re-join his other tour.
St Dunstan’s Church
The current church dates to the late 13th century. The tower was completed in 1425 and contains a clock which is said to be the prototype for “Big Ben” at the Houses of Parliament in London. Prior to the stone church being built, there was a wooden church on the site. Some of the roof busses from that church were preserved by the builders and survive today on the wall at the back of the church.
A Visitor On Europe’s Roads 
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