Dolgellau Music Club's 2022/23 season came to an uplifting end in St Mary’s Church on Friday, 31 March in the company of the Rosie Hood Trio.

The trio is comprised of Rosie Hood, guitar and vocals; Rosie Butler-Hall, fiddle; and Robyn Wallace, melodeon.

The trio entertained with a variety of traditional tales and tunes, as well as several of Rosie Hood’s own devising.

The audience heard of Eilmer who in about 1010 tried (in vain, needless to say) to fly from the spire of Malmesbury Abbey (there’s now a nearby brewery called The Flying Monk!); of sailor William Taylor’s sweetheart, who dressed as a man to join her beloved at sea only to find he’d betrayed her with another (you can guess the outcome...); and the sad story of Lord Lovel, who on dying of grief became a briar entwined with a rose growing from the grave of his Lady Nancy – happy endings were in short supply!

Rosie’s lovely voice was ably supported by her namesake’s beautiful improvised fiddle accompaniments, and Robyn’s melodeon provided vigorous harmony and rhythmic energy aplenty.

In the afternoon the trio gave a performance workshop at Ysgol Bro Idris for 80 or so pupils from Years 7 and 8, and the session provided a perfect end-of-term lift-off before the Easter holiday; the children seemed to relish it.

The high point for them was perhaps Robyn’s demonstration of clocsio/clog-dancing. They had lots of questions afterwards, especially when Robyn told them the clogs were ‘homemade’.

Thanks go to St Mary’s and the school for their welcome, and to John S Jones for sponsorship.

The trio, who had come all the way from Sheffield, said they’d thoroughly enjoyed their trip, and they certainly gave a lot of pleasure in both workshop and concert.

The new season – after a rescheduled March violin recital on 22 September – will open on Friday, 6 October with Côr Bro Meirion.

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