A quiet midweek gig and a scoping out of a venue for future plotting of things. That’s uncharacteristically vague, sorry, let me start again: I’m looking for somewhere to put on a regular Brighton folk club. Monthly first, preferably, and then once every couple of weeks if we find an audience for it.

I’ve been inspired by visiting London nights like Morris Folk and Sharp’s, and also hearing great things about Folk of the Round table. As well as the oldies who have been coming to sing since the sixties or earlier, there’s a lovely younger generation of folkies bringing their own – queer, diverse, and very radical – takes on the songs and the form.

Plenty of these lads are in and around Brighton, too, but there isn’t a regular club of the ilk I’m imagining. There’s play-around-the-table instrumental nights at the Jolly Brewer, the Lord Nelson, and The Brunswick, focusing on British, Irish, and American folk. But there are no singers nights, where anyone can get up to sing a song or play a reel.

The idea would be regular nights, with occasional special guests, like the aforementioned Hands of the Heron (more on them in a bit, by the way!).

Finding the perfect venue for this, as with a lot of things in Brighton, is proving tricky. You want somewhere not too far from the station. you want a room for about 40-60 people. It needs to be intimate and separate from the main bar, preferably, but not essentially, there needs to be a stage, or raised area. But amplification isn’t an issue.

And you want the venue to be accessible, if you can, which is hard in a city without much of an industrial heritage and therefore not much in the way of warehouse or ex-industrial spaces.

The main room at The Brunswick *could* be the one. The only thing is it might be slightly on the large side, and I fear the stage might be a touch intimidating for first time singers.

It is, however, a beautiful space, at ground floor level, and contained within a well-run community minded pub with a solid reputation for music and supporting local artists.

It’s a bit of a trek from the station, though.

Hands of the Heron – not Hands Off The Heron, their situationist punk side project that only exists in my mind – were wonderful.

A Bristol based folk/psych and dream folk trio, Bec Garthwaite, Beth Roberts and Claire Vine all write, sing, and take turns as frontperson. The harmonies are as beautiful as a crystal church, and the instrumentation – taking in banjo, fiddle, and Vine’s Palestine flag splattered harmonium – is beautiful, delicate, and sparse.

Hopefully I’ll be putting on Vine’s own solo project at a This Machine Kills Wasps next year – or, if I get stuff together, perhaps she could headline the debut of Brighton Folk Club.