Shirley Accordion Club, Birmingham, last meeting

[Matt Butcher]

It was the last meeting of the Shirley Accordion Club in Birmingham last night, as far as we know. Low turnout in recent months and other pressures on the organisers' time left them with the conclusion that it had been good but now was the right time to draw it to a close. It ran for four years as a continuation of a previous club and was based around a very informal atmosphere with no guest artists and a consciously low key feel. As a result a number of shaky performers were able to get started on playing in front of others and there was a lot of good music from individuals and groups. I always felt it was friendly and for everyone. The club completely avoided the rivalries that ruin many musical ventures. The most memorable night was probably when Petri Makkonen turned up as a guest of a regular attender and played polkas and I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.

This sort of thing usually prompts comments on how sad it is that clubs in England are shrinking and how the accordion is dying out. I'm sure it's not dying out, in fact I'm fairly sure the number of players is growing again. There are many reasons the clubs aren't the draw that they once were, I think, including generation gaps, different ideas of what makes a good night out, changes in musical tastes, the fact that more English players now start as adults and so find it harder to play something decent to other people, recession, the growth of folk sessions, and to some extent a new generation of competent performers has come up and found that their time is fully occupied in playing already. So I don't think things are all heading downhill by any means. But I am sorry to lose this night which meant a lot to me. By pure chance I was the last one to play, so I played Da Slockit Light, for obvious reasons.

I'm posting this really to say thank you to Clifford Henry for putting this on for four years. There's more effort goes into these things than meets the eye and it was worthwhile.

 

[Soulsaver]

It is a shame - I hope the active members can find their way to another club. I was in Shirley Tuesday & Wednesday and I'm there again tomorrow (Friday). Where was the venue Matt?
Is the next nearest to you South Staffs?

 

[Happy girl]

Matt: It is very sad to hear of your club folding.

Thank you for your uplifting comments & views; you speak positively about the accordion & its future & I wholeheartedly endorse your point of view.

 

[Matt Butcher]

The venue was at Shirley Social Club which is on Marshall Lake Road, just by the Stratford Road. There are other clubs around so I shouldn't make out that it's the end of the world. There is the Black Country Accordion and Music Club (great name isn't it) at Rowley Regis, there's one that I am involved with now that meets at Catshill near Bromsgrove (I'll come back to that), there's monthly meetings at the Birmingham Accordion Centre and I think there may be other clubs in Coventry and Warwickshire that I don't know about. I am sure there are other places to play as well, for instance at Fletcher's bar in Kings Heath there's a weekly acoustic music thing which at least means people who do play accordions can hear people who don't. So it's really not the end of accordion playing in the Midlands at all, it's just that I thought this one had something good going for it. For those who can travel to Stoke, by the way, the North Staffs club is great, very friendly.

 

[Soulsaver]

I was in Shirley Social today! - albeit a funeral reception. Local rumour in the area says thay are selling to developers?
N. Staffs. Yes I hear good things but never seem to get around to going.