FOCSLE Music  founded 1963
real live music in Southampton, UK for the past 60 years

In‑person events at The Guide Dog, Bevois Valley, second & fourth Tuesdays


Page updated October 9th '25

In‑person FOCSLE Music
on second & fourth Tuesdays, at The Guide Dog, Bevois Valley, Southampton  SO14 6SF

Note NO EVENT on Tues. 14th:  pub is using the room.
If you fill your diary far ahead, note that the same MAY apply to two consecutive meets on Tues. 25th Nov. and 9th Dec. [both due to Saints home matches].  Will update here any alternative arrangements.
Next Guest:  Tues.  28th October   IAN W. BROWN  local singer-songwriter with a national following (writer, Sandy Thom’s No.1 hit I Want To Be A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair);  manager, shanty group Fishermen’s Friends)
FOCSLE Music programme, Autumn
More events, and details of the above, further down.  Add your comments on our Facebook page.
We rely on your, and others’, good sense in taking some respiratory-illness precautions, and on your not attending if you have symptoms.  COVID, undergoing an uptick at the moment [if from a low base] can still kick ass, so please continue following the simple counter-measures.
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Virtual FOCSLE Music
Successful, long-running [5 yrs+] Zoom singaround/song-circle, second & fourth WEDNESDAY of each month, 8pm UK time
thus next date October 22nd, MC’d by Alaska’s very own Dawn Berg
Other details further down
FOCSLE Music ‘LIVE’   Singarounds and Guest nights.  Entry by donation.   Raffle in break, with alcohol, confectionery and CD prizes
Paying by bank transfer:
Payee:  New Fo’c’sle Music Club
Sort Code:  30 90 34
A/c No.:  0127 1883
Provide your name (not the Guest’s) as a payment reference
You can pay for raffle tickets by this m.o., too.  £1 per strip of 5.  Tell the person in charge on the night your name and the fact that you’ve paid by transfer, so they can check against their records.
Future Events [subject to amendment]:

NOTE NO MEET on Tues. 14th OCTOBER

Tues. 28th October  8pm
Guest IAN W. BROWN  The only Hampshire pig-farmer with a No.1 hit song to his name, or to be nominated for an Ivor Novello Award!  Impeccable guitar-style, brilliant, wide-ranging song-writing, for many artists including Fishermen’s Friends, Show Of Hands, Jason Donovan, D Side, Pixie Lott, Graham Gouldman, Henry Priestman and even Meryl Streep.  All presented with much self-deprecating humour.
The story of his signing and managing Fishermen’s Friends to a “£1 million major label record deal” and into the top ten album chart in 2010 was turned into a heart-warming film that was the feel-good hit of its year, featuring several of his songs [it’s also toured live, incl. to The Utilita Bowl – in Southampton’s very own West End!! – with Susan (Bouquet of Barbed Wire;  A Fine Romance) Penhaligon in a starring role].
Read more about IAN here;  better still, come along and hear his songs and stories live — whichever way you prefer to pronounce that :-)  Singaround first
Venue:  The Guide Dog   38 Earls Road  Bevois Valley  Southampton  SO14 6SF
     Rec. £10pp in the pot

Tues. 11th November  8pm  Singaround
Venue:  The Guide Dog   38 Earls Road  Bevois Valley  Southampton  SO14 6SF
     Rec. £2pp in the pot

CHECK BACK HERE PERIODICALLY FOR DETAILS of meets due to be on 25th Nov. AND 9th Dec.


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Virtual FOCSLE Music    sign up for periodic alerts
Join us and our international music friends (incl. some professionals:  over 300* performers can’t be wrong!)
Second & fourth WEDNESDAYs   8pm (UK)   = 3pm Eastern / NY   = 12noon Pacific / LA
Click/tap for other details, incl. our start-time wherever YOU are in the world
Answers to some FAQs:  we run Singaround-style = whoever shows up does a turn, while the rest listen in, muted
Musically, any genre welcome, ideally unplugged;  we’re definitely not solely a platform for watching videos (even if you’re IN them) rather than you performing directly for those of us in the ‘room’
Audience as welcome as performers
Themes may arise on the fly, esp. among the more verbally playful of our number, but nothing formal mooted
Despite the maritime-sounding name† [Southampton is a port city, geddit??], it’s not just a “Shanty Sing”:  they’re a serendipitous part of the mix
We run for c.3 hours:  turn up, and leave – and/or come back, even – as suits your schedule.  That said, we can’t always accommodate performers who show up only in the last hour;  don’t let that inhibit you from attending then, if that’s all you can manage.  Because of the implict fairness of lending an ear to fellow musicians [your audience, when it’s your turn to perform], we can’t book you a slot ahead, so you can scoot off and come back just for that.
Nice things spontaneously put on the record, during the depths of the Pandemic and in the past few days:

   Great session   …so glad to have found this treasure      (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

   I love these   …most enjoyable.  The Focsle crew is a delightful bunch, including some breathtakingly good performers      (Austin, Texas)

…love the atmosphere of FOCSLE [Music] as well as the range of styles…
…enhanced further…  …by having a theme — it really brought out the best in people
…a very enjoyable evening…  …especially when quite a few other [online] sessions are getting a bit tired.
   Well done for playing such a big part in keeping so many people sane through these strange times      (Staffs., UK)

   Thanks for all the warmth you put into your hosting.  Felt welcomed and included…  …muchly enjoyed this      (St Paul, Minnesota)

   Congratulations on a very successful event      (Lincs., UK)

   Thanks for giving me the opportunity to meet, hear, and sing to/with a very talented group of singers.      (S. London, UK)

   You have an amazing geographical spread on your Focsle Zoom meetings…  …the four corners of the North American continent from…
   …California and Arizona in the south to Oregon and Alaska in the north west and Toronto in the east, plus an attendee from Sydney, Australia…  impressive!
   The art of compering is much underrated…  …You do it very well.  It helps that you know so many of the performers.
   Zoom folk clubs have been the silver lining to the pandemic.  However, what you have at the Focsle is exceptional and truly international.      (Hythe, Kent, UK)

   Thanks for the much-needed musical fix today.  And…  …for the creative theme ideas.      (Eugene, Oregon)

…truly enjoyable, meeting so many different people with so many different songs.      (Derby, UK)

   Fantastic     …amazing!     Lovely…     …entertaining…     …a range of talented performers     …fine folks
   It’s been great       Excellent…  …again     …wonderful sessions every week       …thank you for doing this      (from around US & UK)

   I rate your 2 sessions as the tops!  [= FOCSLE Music and a US-based virtual ‘cousin’]      (Coventry, UK)
* up to Oct. 8th '25, our 227th ‘edition’, we calculate 380 individual visitors, of whom 314 have performed
† When The Fo’c’sle Folk Club launched, it was typical for port-based ventures to point up their maritime city connections, hence the pun [pronounced “folks’ll”, not “fox’ll”].  Also, the “forecastle” – of which the term fo’c’s’le is a sailor’s corruption – is the upper deck in the bow of a sailing ship where the crew were quartered, and would make music to relax
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