EMERGENCY EDITION – CHANGE OF VENUE 11th & 18th DECEMBER

Due to unforeseen circumstances, The Black Swan Inn was obliged to close down suddenly last Thursday afternoon. The duration of this closure is not yet known, although it hoped that the pub will be trading again by Christmas.
Last Thursday evening’s concert by Fil Campbell was moved successfully to The Loft at Melton’s Too on Walmgate. Our heartfelt thanks go to all the staff at Melton’s for taking us on at barely an hour’s notice.

Mike Silver’s concert this Thursday, 11th December, has been moved to The Winning Post on Bishopthorpe Road.

VENUE

For those of you who do not know it, The Winning Post is at 127-129 Bishopthorpe Road, postcode YO23 1NZ and should be easily found on Google Maps, Streetmap Co UK, etc. As you drive south along Bishopthorpe Road away from the city centre it is set back on the right a couple of hundred yards after you have crested the hill.
Please note that you cannot access Bishopthorpe Road directly from the A64 Southern Bypass – you need to drive into the city centre and out again.

PARKING

There is some parking at the venue itself and unrestricted street parking adjacent on Bishopthorpe Road.

TIMING

We will try to run to the same schedule as at the Black Swan, i.e. doors open 8pm, music from 8.30pm, finish 11pm or just after. Stan Graham will be MC and the floor performers will be Anna Shannon from Scarborough (Mike Silver may be producing her next CD), along with Phil Cerny (newly returned from USA) and David Swann.

FACILITIES

The Winning Post is a large inter-war “roadhouse” pub with several rooms. These include the enclosed function room, seating around 100 with tables and a small stage. There is a bar inside the room, though many people prefer to go through to the main bar for service. John Smith’s cask ale is available at £ 2 a pint and the bars are open until 11pm. We will be using the club PA.

TICKETS

As the Winning Post is a larger room than we had at the Black Swan Inn, there will be plenty of tickets available on the door and there is no obligation to use the advance booking facility. In the initial uncertainty on Thursday evening I changed the WeGotTickets listings for this event to “please contact venue”. I will endeavour to have that changed again, along with the venue details, but that may not be possible for a day or two.

PLEASE COME ALONG IF YOU CAN

The management at The Winning Post have kindly moved a regular quiz night into another bar in order to accommodate us. It would be great for them (and good for our own morale) if we could thank them with a full house and copious bar sales! Mike Silver is certainly worth turning out for.

The Club Christmas Party on 18th December will also be held at The Winning Post.
We have also booked the Winning Post room for Thursday 18th December for the club’s annual Christmas Party. We may still be able to run this on the usual bring-and-share food basis, or we may have to book catering from the pub. I will issue another newsletter next weekend with further details, plus a Black Swan Inn update if I hear of any developments.

Looking ahead – into 2009.

We very much hope that the Black Swan Inn will be in business again by next month, but if for any reason this does not happen, we will be looking for a new permanent venue. We already have a few ideas, but please feel free to send in any suggestions you may have. “Ideal” requirements include:

• A separate function room, with little noise penetration from elsewhere in the building.
• No hire charge, or only a minimal one.
• Capacity at least 50, possibly up to 100.
• Available every Thursday. We could conceivably move to another night but already have a lot of touring artists booked for Thursday dates in 2009.
• Venue holds a current Public Entertainment Licence and is registered with Performing Rights Society.
• Location within the city and preferably close to the centre.
• Car parking at the venue or available nearby.

Clearly we would prefer licensed premises, though that does not necessarily have to be a pub – it could be a social club or hotel.