Not obvious to many residents of Cambridge, but there is a small and close-knit Irish community based here, and they were out in force enjoying the “craic” on Sunday night at the Romsey Labour Club listening to and participating in a splendid evening of top drawer Irish Folk music. In the best tradition, this was a purely informal session, with up to 15 musicians of all ages playing fiddles, accordions, guitars, tin whistles and even a harp, just for the sheer fun of it. The standard of musicianship was as impressive as anything seen professionally at Cherry Hinton Hall later in the summer. Jigs, reels and hornpipes blended into each other, the sound seemed to penetrate your bone marrow and entrance you into a spirit of good will. Among many famous tunes we heard were “The Masons Apron” and The Cat Who Ate The Candle”, the minstrels seemed to be using extra sensory perception to switch from one melody to the next mostly at 100mph. The Labour Club, more old Labour than new Labour is ably run by a stalwart of the Irish community, Mary Reid, from Ballycroy in Co. Mayo. It is comfortably dingey, with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Inexplicabaly, the vast majority of Irish community in this town hail from a remote corner of Co Mayo, from the scattered villages of Bangor Erris, Mount Jubilee, Geesala and Ballycroy. They seek to keep their culture alive and maintain community spirit by these gatherings and Mary is very much the catalyst for this. The centre of gravity of the ensemble was fiddle player Josie Nugent, originally from Cork, who was technically the most proficient. It seems she has encouraged many of her colleagues from the medical profession with a shared interest to join her from Addenbrooke's, as there were immunologists and surgeons among the musicians playing late into the night. And with an open bottle of Bushmills on the table in front of the band in a cosy club, it was a perfect way to beat the blues of another wet Bank Holiday weekend. | 
