topicacousticfolk3
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At: Hullabaloo, 41 Westgate, Shipley, BD18 3QX

Est: 1956

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Map

Club Constitution, History,
Memoirs, Records,
Facts & Trivia


Club Constitution
 


Club Safeguarding Policy

 

The Club's Beginning
By Alex Eaton. A report on the earliest years of The Topic Folk Club written for 30th Anniversary and published in 1990 in Tykes' News in three parts.
 

The First 12 Years
By Denis Sabey, Tykes' News 1968
 

The First 25 Years
Booklet produced by the club in 1981
 

The Club in 1970-72
By Trevor Carolan. A personal memoir with some photos
 

The Topic at 60
The view from 2016, by John Waller
 

Three T&A Articles
Written by John Waller in 2022
 

Historic Photo Gallery
A selection of photographs from the very early days of the Club
 

Songs for The Topic at 60
Songs written by club members to celebrate The Topic's 60th anniversary, performed 3 November 2016
 

Gigs List
Club nights from 1957 to last week
 

Compiling the Records
Trevor Charnock on tracking down sources for the gigs listed
 

Guest Artist Links A to Z
Web links for 732 Topic acts
 

The Club's 15 Venues

Sept 1956 to 11th Apr 1958:
Laycock's Rooms, Albion Court

18th Apr 1958 to Aug 1959:
Oddfellows'/Unity Hall, Rawson Square

4th Sept 1959 to ?Apr 1960:
Fox and Goose, Canal Rd

May 1960 to mid-1963:
Oddfellows'/Unity Hall again

Mid-1963 to 22nd Nov 1968:
Sun Inn, Sunbridge Rd

29th Nov 1968 to 24th Jan 1969:
Market Tavern, Godwin St

1969:
The year of 4 venues: The Market Tavern, 6 weeks, Rawson Hotel (Jan 31 only), The Ukrainian Club (Feb 7th-Sept 19th), and then the start of the 22-year stay at The Star Hotel.

Sept 26th, 1969 to Mar 1st, 1991:
Star Hotel, Westgate

March 8th, 1991 to Jul 8th, 1995:
Peel Hotel, Richmond Rd

Jul 13th, 1995 to Dec 29th, 2005:
Melborn Hotel White Abbey Rd

Jan 5th 2006 to Feb 28th 2008:
Cock and Bottle Barkerend Rd

Mar 6th 2008 to Dec 19th 2013:
Bradford Irish Club Rebecca St

Jan 2nd 2014 to Aug 22nd 2019:
Glyde House, Glydegate

Aug 29th 2019 - Mar 12th 2020
The Merchant Bar, Peckover St

--20 month Covid Break--

Nov 4th 2021 - ongoing
Groove Pad, Saltaire Rd, Shipley
 

Club Night
For nearly 40 years the club met on Fridays - also with Saturday concerts in some of the earlier years - but it has been Thursday nights from March 24 1994.
 

Logo & Straplines
June 1995 - first appearance of the Wandering Fiddler logo
September 1995 - "Probably" dropped from "Probably the oldest Folk Club in the World".
January 2009 - Wandering Fiddler dropped. New strapline
"
live-acoustic-folk"
 

Drinking & Smoking
The club was a non-booze venue at the very start, with a lot of school-age attendees, but moved to a pub (the Fox and Goose) in 1959, so U-18s no longer allowed. March 1995 saw "Thank you for not smoking" appear, and 1st July 2007 smoking in pubs was made illegal.
 

Raffle
The raffle started on 26th August 1966, after the Committee had noticed funds depeleting. The first prize was a 15/- record token, and £1 6/8 was taken in ticket sales (a little under half what was taken on the door that night). It has continued ever since.
 

Secretaries & Bookers

Club Secretaries
1958 to 1982


Isobel Arlott
Sept 1958 - Sept 1959
AM (Molly) Brown
Sept 1959 - ?
Sandra A Kitchingham
April 1961 - ?1962
Malcolm McGeorge
?1962 - Aug 1964
Hilary Stevenson / Tideswell
Sep 1964 - March 1966
Pat Butterfield
April 1966 - June 1967
Jan Heatherington
July 1967 - March 1968
H Denis Sabey
April 1968 - May 1970
Jim Boyes
May 1970 - Nov 1971
Roger Sutcliffe
Nov 1971 - June 1972
Ken Hall
July 1972 - March 1974
Mick Wheeler
March 1974 - March 1976
Trevor Charnock
April 1976 - April 1982

Booking Secretaries
1982 to now


Ronnie Wharton
May 1982 - May 1988
Deanna Norman

June 1988 - March 1992
Brenda Baldwin
March 1992 - March 1993
Roger Sutcliffe
March 1993 - Nov 1994
Philomena Hingston
(sometimes with Finola Hingston)
Nov 1994 - Dec 2003
John Waller
Dec 2003 - Dec 2008
(with Simon Alexander Jun-Dec 2006)
Rahel Guzelian
Jan 2009 - Dec 2010
Joe Grint
Jan 2011 - Jan 2012
Anthony Charnock
Jan 2012 - Sep 2013
Sue Gaffney
Oct 2013 - Dec 2015
Rahel Guzelian
Jan 2016 - Jan 2018
Sue Gaffney
Jan 2018-Jan 2020
Martin Richards
Jan 2020 on

 

NB: The first few months of a new booker's reign were generally booked by the previous incumbent.

The Topic Folk Club

Constitution and Rules

 

The Topic Folk Club - Constitution and Rules

1 Name

The society shall be called “The Topic Folk Club” and shall meet in the Metropolitan District of Bradford each week, or at times arranged by the committee.

 

2 Objects

The aims of the society are to encourage the study and performance of folk music.

 

3 Membership

3.1 All persons over the age of sixteen are eligible for membership.

3.2 The annual subscription shall be due and payable on the 1st January each year.

3.3 The committee shall have the power to suspend or expel any member who shall infringe the rules, or whose conduct on club premises has, in their opinion, been prejudicial to the interests of the society.

 

4 Officers

4.1 The business of the society shall be conducted by a Club Secretary, a Treasurer and a Chair; and a committee of no more than five other members.

4.2 Any officer may be removed by resolution at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

 

5 Election of Officers

5.1 The committee of the society shall consist of no more than eight members, to be elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The officers of the committee shall be decided amongst the elected committee at the first meeting after the AGM.

5.2 Written nominations for committee membership, proposed and seconded with the nominees' signed consent, shall be handed to the Club Secretary at least seven days before the AGM.

5.3 Officers shall continue in office until the next AGM.

5.4 The committee shall have the power to draw up the rules for voting at elections.

 

6 Treasurer

The Treasurer shall be responsible for the finances of the society, and shall submit a report on the society's financial position to each meeting of the committee.

 

7 Club Secretary

7.1 The Club Secretary shall be responsible for the proper governance of the society.

7.2 The Club Secretary shall call a committee meeting each quarter, and at other times as necessary.

7.3 The Club Secretary shall call an EGM at the request of the committee, or upon receipt of a requisition stating the purpose of such a meeting signed by no fewer than one fifth of the society's members.

8 Chair

The Chair shall chair meetings of the Committee, and also the AGM and any EGMs. If the Chair shall be unavailable for any meeting, he/she may nominate another Committee member to deputise.

 

9 Committee

9.1 Any member of the committee shall be deemed to have vacated his/her seat if absent for more than three consecutive meetings of the committee without satisfactory justification.

9.2 Vacancies shall be filled by co-opting members, so long as these members are approved by a majority of the committee.

9.3 Any four members shall form a quorum and shall have full power to conduct the business of the club.

9.4 The chair of the meeting shall have a casting vote whether or not he/she shall have voted previously.

 

10 Annual General Meeting

10.1 The AGM will be held between 1st November and 15th December each year.

10.2 Fourteen days' notice of the AGM, stating the business to be transacted, shall be given by notice displayed at the society’s premises.

10.3 An account and balance sheet of the financial affairs of the society shall be presented to the members at the AGM

10.4 The meeting shall be quorate if 10 members or one fifth of the membership, whichever is the least, are present. Should an AGM be inquorate within 15 minutes of the advertised start time, then a further meeting will be convened for the same time on the same day one week later. Such a further meeting shall not be subject to any quorum.

 

11 Extraordinary General Meeting

11.1 An Extraordinary General Meeting of the society (EGM) may be called as set out in Clause 7.3 above.

11.2 At least one week's notice of an EGM, stating the business to be transacted, shall be given by notice displayed at the society’s premises. The quorum for an EGM, and the procedure if an EGM is inquorate, shall be identical to those for an AGM set out in Clause 10.4 above.

11.3 No business other than that specified on the notice shall be transacted at an EGM.

12 Alteration of the Constitution

No alteration in or addition to the Constitution of the society shall be made except at an AGM or an EGM. Such alterations or additions must be approved by a two-thirds majority of those members present.
 
 

13 Winding up of the society

13.1 Any proposal to wind up the society must be approved by the members at an EGM called under the provisions of Clause 11.2 above.

13.2 Upon winding up or closing down for any reason, the assets of the society shall be realised and donated to a suitable charity or charities, or similar not-for-profit organisations, to be decided by the members at the EGM.

JW Sept 2017



 

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