E-Newsletter 88

A mini-bulletin to give you two important items. A full length newsletter should follow in a week or so.

1. FOLK WEEKEND OPEN MEETING REMINDER
   The Open Meeting to discuss Folk Weekend 2009 takes place next Monday, 8th September, at the Black Swan Inn, kicking off around 8pm. Do come along if you have views on what we should do next year. All comments, suggestions and constructive criticism is very welcome.
   If you can’t make it that evening but have something you would like to say, put it in an e-mail to me and I’ll take it along on your behalf.

2. AUTUMN BOOKING NOW OPEN
   As an experiment for the forthcoming season (September 25th through to January 8th), tickets for all Thursday night guest artists at the Black Swan Inn are now available to book on line. Go to www.wegottickets.com and search under venue “York Black Swan” and you will find a list of forthcoming events.
   Note that there are separate entries for Full Price and for Concessions for each event. A full list of all the individual direct links will also be added to the diary pages of the club website shortly.
   I have had universally favourable reports on this particular firm. They charge you a simple 10% commission on the face value of your tickets and send you a booking reference rather than physically posting a ticket, meaning you can book until 6pm on the day of performance.
   For the majority of our club guests, I would still envisage the great bulk of sales being made on the door, but for those particularly anxious to see a particular performer (e.g. because travelling a long way) it offers the certainty of admission.
   Meanwhile, for those “big draw” guests likely to sell-out, online booking offers a quick and convenient solution. I have already had several enquiries, for example, about upcoming nights with Katy Moffatt and Chris Wood.
   Initially at least, I am putting a maximum of 40 tickets into WeGotTickets. That leaves a small remainder which I will retain to sell locally (e.g. to those people still not able to buy goods online) or to top-up the online vendor as appropriate. It would be a great help if everyone out there who could purchase online does in fact do so, rather than coming to me for manual sales. Of course, when WeGotTickets do not sell their full quota, those tickets will instead be available for door sales.
   Please note that this new scheme only applies to club guest nights. Early Music Centre concert tickets will continue to be handled by the NCEM Box Office (with a few available for sale through the club as well), while Singers Nights will continue to be “pay-on-the-door” only events. NCEM Box Office is now open for the autumn concert series (www.ncem.co.uk / 01904 658338)
   I hope this is reasonably clear. Do ask if you have any questions.