MY picture last week of a team of beaters at Bix Bottom in 1963 and an appeal for help identifying them prompted a response from Richard Fenn.

He tells me that the fourth beater from the right (two places from Rogers Mills, who supplied the picture) was Mark Harman.

According to Richard, Mr Harman’s father, Len, ran Turville Folk Club, a very successful venue.

Mr Harman senior bought Idlecombe Farm in Turville in the Seventies and began by tending a dairy herd but later switched to beef cattle, which were less demanding.

This allowed him more time to concentrate on his other interests, mainly traditional jazz and in 1961 he started inviting bands to perform at the farm for friends.


Seats were bales of straw with floor space left for dancing. More friends started asking if they could come along and, as interest grew, Mr Harman invited singers to perform and the folk club was born.

Seats of all shapes and sizes were added, including . those from his Morris vans. The closure of a local cinema provided another few rows.

The audience continued to grow and an upper circle was added, made from planks and scaffolding. This increased the capacity to more than 300.

The heating system consisted of milk churns filled with hot water. The cattle that still occupied the barn could be heard mooing during some performances.

During intervals, some members of the audience would dash to the nearby Bull and Butcher pub for a quick pint.

This meant people would have to be issued with passes to show when they returned that they had already paid.

The passes were made from pages of old books, including a Bible. Sometimes, someone had to be dispatched to the pub to hurry artists up in time for the start of the second half.

Refreshments, including hot sausage rolls and soup were prepared by Mr Harman and served by family and friends.

At the peak of the folk music revival in the early Seventies, the club was turning people away but during the latter part of the decade audiences dwindled and the club nearly floundered but Mr Harman kept it going.

In the early Eighties, his health was declining and he found travelling to see new acts difficult. There was also an issue with club’s fire regulations and complaints from locals about the traffic and so he reluctantly decided to close the club.

The final event was held on December 4, 1982 with The Yetties as the main act. Mr Harman died suddenly four weeks later, aged 65. Mark took over the farm but, Richard tells me, he too has now passed away.

If you have any memories of this wonderful club, I would love to hear from you.

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Published on 16 February 2009