Solent Waves
December 2001/January 2002 Issue 244
Editorial Material

Hi Folks!

I know they say that the older you get the faster that time flies but this is ridiculous! It hardly seems like 5 minutes since I was rushing to meet the copy deadline for Solent Waves and that was 2 months ago. I used to think, when looking back, that time was measured (in my mind anyway) by the number of new and different experiences that I had had within a given period. The fewer the number the faster the time had flown, but now I’m not so sure, judging by this last month, and now I have to start thinking about Christmas!

Which brings me to future events. Our annual Playford Dance on 1st December at Soberton Village Hall might be over by the time you read this chat, but if not the committee hope to see you there, preferably in costume.

There’s a lovely annual event at Cecil Sharp House that we usually attend. It’s the annual Christmas Carol Concert on 16th December this year, starting at 7.00pm and if you fancy a dance beforehand, there’s a dance in the afternoon from 2.00 till 5.00pm. Both events are well attended and very enjoyable.

Don’t forget that the January FASH Workshop with Barrie Bullimore is on 13th January (not 23rd as in the flyer).

Halsway Manor continues to absorb large amounts of my time, but it’s all in a good cause. There are lots of events planned for the next couple of years so do grab a leaflet when you attend local events, phone the Manor on 01984 618274 or give me a ring 023 8036 0892. Events in the not too distant future include: New Year House Party, Somerset Wassail Weekend on 4th January, Scottish Weekend and Burn’s Night on 18th January, Young Musicians Weekend (17+) on 8th February, The Yetties Weekend on 22nd February, David Kettlewell Mid-week Houseparty, April 8th to 12th. Phone Coral Charles on 01483 577089 for the New Year House Party, all other events contact the Manor on 01984 618274.

Well I’ve run out of time, as usual. May I on behalf of the FASH Committee wish you all a very peaceful and joyous Christmas and an exciting and enjoyable New Year.

EDITORIAL

I would like to thank Trevor Gilson for producing the article on live music on licensed premises. For some time now there have been problems caused by various interpretations of the regulations in different parts of the country that have affected song clubs, music clubs and morris teams. An article has appeared in English Dance and Song on the matter, and I asked Trevor to distil some information from his web site for Solent Waves.

Joan Nash has asked me to thank all who responded to her plea in the last Solent Waves and sent donations towards distribution costs. Your contributions are very much appreciated.

And, finally, don’t forget the next copy date - 10th January 2002. It will be here sooner than you think. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Here’s your chance to take a good hard look at yourselves, and others, and come up with some New Year resolutions for people in the folk world. How could you improve yourselves as dancers, singers, musicians or callers? Or, how would you like others to improve themselves? Please send me (by 10th January 2002) any suggestions from the serious (I must try to make more eye contact with my dance partner) to the frivolous (I will remember to take my finger out of my ear when singing) and I will assemble them into an article for your edification and delight in a later issue.

WHAT PRICE MUSIC & DANCE?

Continuing the Struggle to Keep Live Performance Alive

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 (mainly concerned with selling of liquor) stipulates that if you’ve got a liquor licence you DON’T need a separate public entertainment licence for live music, unless the music is going to go on after drinking-up time. Renewing a Liquor Licence for a pub is only about £80 once every three years. Police, fire, building control, and environmental health departments are consulted on renewal.

In England, by contrast, a separate Public Entertainment Licence (PEL) is required where more than two ‘performers’ are to appear in a pub or other licensed premises. For a small venue this costs from approximately £200 to more than £1000 in different parts of the country - for one year if you’re lucky (renewal has been required after only a few weeks where a Council has a uniform renewal date). It is believed these costs have gone up dramatically in the last few years. Shops (bookshops and coffee shops, for example) require a PEL for performances anyway, however few the performers and despite the fact that the premises will have been vetted for fire and other public safety risks. ‘Performers’ means different things in different places, although Councils will never admit this publicly notwithstanding widely varying severities of enforcement.

So what does the Law actually say? That’s the problem. The Law fails to define a performer. Many times a Council will quote ‘The Law’ at you when they mean ‘this is how we interpret The Law and we’re not about to change, because if we do all the other poor saps will complain’. The extraordinary practice in London of requiring both performers to remain the same during an evening has been enshrined in the British Institute of Innkeeping’s Handbook for the Entertainment Licensee’s National Certificate, and could be set as a question in their qualifying exams! It was recently overturned in a Court and, although the London Boroughs are stoutly (and correctly) maintaining that the decision is non-binding, it would be a foolhardy Council that would now enforce the old rules. They are of course constantly quoting similarly non-binding case law in their own defence without any sense of shame. Do customers joining-in constitute performers? No comment (but a Hackney Landlord was fined plus costs for allowing his customers to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the members of a duo). Does it help if you don’t charge on the door? No comment (but it is a compromise operated in one neighbouring County, although legal opinion is against it).

There is a widely held (but erroneous) belief that possession of a PEL allows a premises to make more noise than would otherwise be the case, often used as a pretext for objection by local residents. With a machiavellian twist, Councils quote these objections as a reason to insist on a PEL! A course in simple logic seems called for.

The Taliban no doubt have other things to worry about now, but if we feel hard done by remember they forbad musical instruments of any kind in Afghanistan!

Jack Straw (the previous Home Secretary) was committed to reform and the White Paper "Time for Reform" was published in April 2000. However, it’s no good asking the question of his successor David Blunkett because the responsibility for licensing was quietly passed over to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport during the reshuffle following the election. Minister Dr Kim Howells is no doubt considering his priorities, but while publicly re-affirming the Government’s commitment to reform, there was no mention of it in the Queen’s Speech. Meanwhile another neighbouring Council is attempting, Canute-like, to pacify its critics and its elected representatives by pretending to spearhead a movement for reform - which has already been agreed in principle!

What remains? The Government policy of ‘Local Cultural Initiatives’ and The European Convention on Human Rights are both contravened by existing practice all over the Country. Councils are still invoking Public Safety despite the obvious truth that an unsafe pub is an unsafe pub with or without performers (who are much less likely to cause an incident than a sporting fixture on an exempt TV). As campaigner Hamish Birchall wrote (Dorset Echo 5 Sept 2001), "…complaint is not so much about the law as it stands (although it is pretty daft), but the way in which the council, Weymouth and Portland, appears to collude with and exploit the daftness…". The Lords expressed a fairly unequivocal contempt for "peculiar and perverse" interpretations of the law (11th December 2000). Reading between the lines, this caused the Government considerable embarrassment; in any event Ministers now say that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to comment on individual interpretations and, indeed, only the courts can ultimately do so.

The Musicians Union and the EFDSS are in the fight and recently helped organise the 19th July ‘Day of Action’ which obtained some media coverage (despite Jeffrey Archer and Foot and Mouth)! I have tried to maintain an accessible running summary of developments on the web (also at http://SCoFF.welcome.to/session.htm ) and there you will also find links to the much more discursive proceedings on the Mudcat site.

Does Government care? No comment. Do they think there are votes in it? No comment. Do we all have to keep embarrassing Ministers and Local Authorities? Yes we do.

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Submitted by Trevor Gilson (to whom technical queries and requests for additional links only) and Edited by David Roberts, ‘Symposia’, Bishops Sutton, Alresford, SO24 0AL. 01962 735202 (to whom all other enquiries and requests for inclusion of events and venues).