Traditional folk music, dance and customs - Harrogate, North Yorkshire - Chas Marshall's Website
The Village Hop Band and Hop Back Jig
The Village Hop Band
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An experienced ceilidh band based around lively traditional English dance music played on melodeon and anglo concertina by Heather Hazell and Chas Marshall. This band has a flexible line-up which includes musicians who play regularly together in various bands and music sessions. In addition to melodeon and concertina, the line-up can include piano, french horn, fiddle, banjo, percussion, guitar, and recorder. This band can be engaged either with, or without, the services of a caller for birthdays, celebrations, weddings, barn dances, fund raising events etc. Contact Heather Hazell on 01423-527892. About 16 minutes of recordings made using our two main melody instruments kindly recorded by Nick Barber in 2010. The tunes include: Louth Quickstep &
Trip to Brighton Hear the Village Hop Band with Dave Blight (bodhran), Nigel Swan (piano) and Jan Porter (recorder) at Heatherdene Folk Dance Club, April 2007. Hear the Village Hop Band with Heather, Chas and Nick Barber (baritone horn) at Heatherdene Folk Dance Club April 2008. Hear the "One Night Band" - another line-up with Heather, Chas, Paul Hudson (piano) and caller Barbara Bentley. This band was originally formed to play for one night only at a fund raising ceilidh for Clogfest in 2008, but the arrangement worked so well that we have continued to perform in spite the, now, inappropriate name! Hear the Village Hop Band with Nick Barber and Heather (melodeons), Mary Barber (fiddle) and Chas (anglo concertina) in session at Stean Cottage during March 2010. Hear the Village Hop Band with Paul Hudson (piano), Mike Johnson (percussion), Carol Johnson and Heather Hazell (melodeons) and Chas Marshall (anglo concertina). A live recording from the Clogfest fund raising ceilidh at Gargrave Village Hall in November 2011. Hear the Village Hop Band with Paul Hudson (piano), Mike Johnson (trombone), Carol Johnson and Heather Hazell (melodeons) and Chas Marshall (anglo concertina). A live recording from the Church in the Dale ceilidh at Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall in February 2013. |
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Band Diary
The year of 2008 was a busy one for band activities and with our various line-ups we provided music for 33 folk dance events. We especially enjoyed playing at our 3 local folk dance clubs - Heatherdene Folk Dance Club in Harrogate, Highside Folk Dance Club in Galphay and Knaresborough Country Dance Club. But there were a couple of highlights which were very special - playing for the Clogfest ceilidh at Cracoe Village Hall with caller Martin Harvey and for the Early Dance Circle at Ashville College, with Diana Campbell calling.
In 2009 we continued to play for our both folk local dance clubs and at many other events which totalled 30 performances for the year. Highlights included playing at Ryburn Three Step Ceilidh at Waring Green Ceilidh with caller Gordon Wood and Nick and Mary Barber. We also accompanied the Northern Lights dancers at the Llangollen Eisteddfod for International Youth Day where the team won first prize.
We played about at about 27 bookings during 2010 - unfortunately a couple were cancelled due to the bad weather. One of the year's memorable gigs was in the Station Hall at York's National Railway Museum with a backdrop of a Battle of Britain class locomotive called the Winston Churchill. Another was in the lovely wood-panelled library at Ripley Castle.
2011 saw the band playing at 30 different events. We especially enjoyed playing with Nick and Mary Barber as guests at the Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend and we were privileged to have the wonderful Sue Coe as our caller on a couple of occasions.
The band played at 27 events during 2012. At the Clogfest Fund Raising ceilidh in November we had a 7 piece line-up including the Barber family (Nick, Mary and Sarah) and the Johnsons (Mike and Carol).
2013 proved to be a another busy year with the band playing at 37 different functions and events. A most poignant moment of the year was JP's memorial ceilidh held, as he requested, on the winter solstice.
We played at 26 events during 2014 which included another trip to the Llangollen Eisteddfod with Northern Lights. The band played at 24 events during 2015 and 21 events during 2016.
| Date | Band | Event |
| Monday 10th January 2021 | Village Hop Band | Heatherdene Dance Club - this is a public event |
| Saturday12th March 2021 | Village Hop Band | Darley Memorial Hall - private event |
| Saturday 23rd April 2021 | Village Hop Band | Harefield Hall, Pateley Bridge - private event |
| Saturday 4th June 2021 | Village Hop Band | Bishop Monkton - private event |
Mike, Carol, Barbara, Paul, Heather and Chas at Cracoe, 2016
Chas, Heather, Mary and Nick
at Stean Cottage, April 2009
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The Village Hop Band at the Wheel Easy Ceilidh, 31 January 2009. Nick, Mary, Chas and Heather. "Many thanks again for doing a great job to make the Ceilidh such a success" - Malcolm and Gia.
At Chantry Hall, Bedale on 14 November 2015 |
"If you weren't at the session
on Tuesday you missed a stonker, Chas, Heather, plus Nick and
Mary Barber were really blowing up a storm; enthusiastically encouraged
by a set of drunken conference-attendees who rolled up later in
the evening. What a powerful sound they made, the conference people
couldn't help but dance, and dance they did." - Ray Black,
23 July 2010. "We would like to say a very big thank you to you and the band for helping to make Saturday night such a great evening. Marcus and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and the girls had a fantastic time. They were totally exhausted by the end of the evening but they would have danced all night given half the chance and have told us it was the best party they have ever ever been to – great praise indeed I can assure you. We have had several calls and text messages from people to say what a brilliant evening it was and how much people had enjoyed themselves and people have come up to me in the playground at school today to say the same. We also had comments from the Sutton Village Hall committee members who were staffing the bar for us that the evening seemed to have a been a great success and it was so nice to see everyone enjoying themselves." - Rachel Copping, 11 October 2010. "We had a wonderful party and really enjoyed the music and the dancing." - Sarah Shaw, 17 October 2010. "Many thanks to you and the band for a splendid night on Saturday. It really was a super night that Rita and everybody that attended really did enjoy. You really did get everything right and it was much appreciated." - Stuart Raggett 16 November 2010 "A big thank you to you all for another great evening. I have been in Pateley this afternoon and received many appreciative remarks about the Ceilidh. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and are saying they will come to the next one!! I think it has definitely become an annual affair." - Constance Hutchin 21 February 2012 Just to say again a big thank you
for your wonderful music and calling on Saturday. We have had
such positive feedback from everyone who came who said that they
really enjoyed the dancing and had a wonderful evening. They all
said how much fun that they had all had. What a wonderful evening we had and
many thanks to you all for making it go with such a swing. We
have had many very complimentary comments re band, atmosphere
and food, everyone had a great time. It was wonderful to have
so many people (a record we think) and such an age range, from
2 to almost 90! Someone has already said "Book them for next
year!" so we will aim for a similar date in 2016!! In addition
to all that we raised a staggering £908.55 for Compassion
UK Harrogate 1000 project, so we are all delighted and the hard
work was worth it! |
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Fund raising ceilidh for Clogfest at St John's Church Hall, Bilton. November 2012 Nick, Mary, Chas, Heather, Carol and Mike |
Amid the dark wood
panelling in Ripley Castle
Library, October 2010. |
Hop Back Jig
Heather and Chas previously played with Harry and Gabi Scurfield as Hop Back Jig. Listen to the band playing the Tip Top Polka and the Tip Top Hornpipe. The band's name is a play on words inspired by both morris dancing and brewing! A "hop back" step can be found in morris dancing and the name "jig" refers to a show dance for one, or sometimes two, morris dancers. In brewing a hop back is a device in which hot wort is run through a bed of whole hops. This imparts hop aroma to the beer and also acts as a filter clarifying the wort.
Heather Hazell (on melodeon) previously played in two other Harrogate ceilidh bands - Fred Pigeon's Polka Band and Laycock's Overdrive. Harry and Gabi also played in the Otley-based, Cajun influenced band "Bayou Gumbo". Gabi played fiddle and Harry was caller, doubling on tuba and anglo concertina. Chas played anglo concertina or tenor banjo and sometimes bass drum.
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At Galphay Village Hall - 15 March 2003 |
Outside Christ Church Hall, Harrogate |
