This is an Irish tune session held on the last Friday of the month, 8:30pm – 11:00pm. The session is run by a core of very experienced players with a large repertoire. We are a friendly group and are happy to support players who want to learn new tunes, extend their own repertoire and participate when able to do so.
The Royal Oak is a country pub and the publican has been supportive of traditional song and music sessions for many years. Although the pub can be busy with diners earlier on in the evening, by the time we start playing in the main bar, most of the customers are there to enjoy the music and are generally quiet and attentive. Other sessions also take place in the pub though not on any fixed and regular basis.
For more information about the Royal Oak Irish session, and to find out if you would fit in and enjoy it, please contact Paul Dengate, paul@dengates.co.uk.
A small-ish & very pleasant session - welcoming atmosphere, nice pub, lovely people, good music. It is a bit out of the way (though easily accessible down the A21 from South London) but it's well worth the journey ..... Keep up the good work
The last Friday of December is Christmas Day, so the session has been moved to Sunday 27th December, 8:30pm. The Royal Oak is opening specially for the session on the Sunday. For January, the session will revert to its usual 'last Friday of the month'.
Important: Please email before travelling - possible venue change
The tenants at the Royal Oak will be changing shortly. We don't yet know if the session can stay at the Royal Oak. Until we have a definitive 'yes', please email me (paul@dengates.co.uk) to confirm the location. Thanks to the great support we have had, there is no doubt that the session will continue either at the Royal Oak, or elsewhere.
The new tenants at the Royal Oak, Whatlington are happy for us to resume the Irish session at the Royal Oak. The session on the 30th April 2010 remains cancelled, but the regular "last Friday of the month" sessions will restart from Friday 28th May 2010. If you have any concerns or queries, or want to check before a long journey, please email me (paul@dengates.co.uk). Better still, get in touch anyway so that I can put you on the email list for the reminder I send out a week before the session.
We have had to move the June 2010 session to Friday 2nd July 2010. Unfortunately, during the change of tenants there was a mix up resulting in a Whatlington village social event making use of the pub on the last Friday of June. The following session (30th July) will start us back on our regular spot on the last Friday of the month. If you have any doubts or queries before committing to a long journey to Whatlington, please feel free to contact me before travelling (email address as noted above).
Thanks to Paul, Jo, Chris, Harriet & the other regulars for an excellent night out. A lovely session, very friendly & relaxed, in a nice country pub. Well worth the journey to find such nice people & good music ! Looking forward to the next one ....
I’m afraid we have had to cancel the April Irish session.
With Jack In The Green starting in Hastings the same night, a public holiday and a royal wedding, there seems to be just too much else on, with their associated gigs, at least for Hastings people. I would not want to allow those with much further to travel to risk arriving and finding few, if any, of the locals present. Originally, I had hoped the session would be able to still happen, but unfortunately, we’ll have to give it a miss this month.
General info
This is an Irish tune session held on the last Friday of the month, 8:30pm – 11:00pm. The session is run by a core of very experienced players with a large repertoire. We are a friendly group and are happy to support players who want to learn new tunes, extend their own repertoire and participate when able to do so.
The Royal Oak is a country pub and the publican has been supportive of traditional song and music sessions for many years. Although the pub can be busy with diners earlier on in the evening, by the time we start playing in the main bar, most of the customers are there to enjoy the music and are generally quiet and attentive. Other sessions also take place in the pub though not on any fixed and regular basis.
For more information about the Royal Oak Irish session, and to find out if you would fit in and enjoy it, please contact Paul Dengate, paul@dengates.co.uk.
# Posted on September 18th 2009 by Paul Dengate
Well worth the journey ....
A small-ish & very pleasant session - welcoming atmosphere, nice pub, lovely people, good music. It is a bit out of the way (though easily accessible down the A21 from South London) but it's well worth the journey ..... Keep up the good work
# Posted on September 27th 2009 by teetotaller
December 2009 session date
The last Friday of December is Christmas Day, so the session has been moved to Sunday 27th December, 8:30pm. The Royal Oak is opening specially for the session on the Sunday. For January, the session will revert to its usual 'last Friday of the month'.
# Posted on December 20th 2009 by Paul Dengate
Lovely Stuff!
Great mix of tunes and fantastic songs, made to feel very welcome, hope to see you again, thanks! :O)
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by Kazoo and Bones Player
Important: Please email before travelling - possible venue change
The tenants at the Royal Oak will be changing shortly. We don't yet know if the session can stay at the Royal Oak. Until we have a definitive 'yes', please email me (paul@dengates.co.uk) to confirm the location. Thanks to the great support we have had, there is no doubt that the session will continue either at the Royal Oak, or elsewhere.
# Posted on March 27th 2010 by Paul Dengate
Session to continue at the Royal Oak, Whatlington
The new tenants at the Royal Oak, Whatlington are happy for us to resume the Irish session at the Royal Oak. The session on the 30th April 2010 remains cancelled, but the regular "last Friday of the month" sessions will restart from Friday 28th May 2010. If you have any concerns or queries, or want to check before a long journey, please email me (paul@dengates.co.uk). Better still, get in touch anyway so that I can put you on the email list for the reminder I send out a week before the session.
# Posted on April 30th 2010 by Paul Dengate
June 2010 session moved to Friday 2nd July 2010
We have had to move the June 2010 session to Friday 2nd July 2010. Unfortunately, during the change of tenants there was a mix up resulting in a Whatlington village social event making use of the pub on the last Friday of June. The following session (30th July) will start us back on our regular spot on the last Friday of the month. If you have any doubts or queries before committing to a long journey to Whatlington, please feel free to contact me before travelling (email address as noted above).
# Posted on June 2nd 2010 by Paul Dengate
As ever, a lovely night out !
Thanks to Paul, Jo, Chris, Harriet & the other regulars for an excellent night out. A lovely session, very friendly & relaxed, in a nice country pub. Well worth the journey to find such nice people & good music ! Looking forward to the next one ....
# Posted on August 28th 2010 by teetotaller
December session date change
As the December session would have fallen on New Year’s Eve, we have moved it to the previous day, i.e. Thursday 30th December 2010.
# Posted on October 25th 2010 by Paul Dengate
29th April session cancelled
I’m afraid we have had to cancel the April Irish session.
With Jack In The Green starting in Hastings the same night, a public holiday and a royal wedding, there seems to be just too much else on, with their associated gigs, at least for Hastings people. I would not want to allow those with much further to travel to risk arriving and finding few, if any, of the locals present. Originally, I had hoped the session would be able to still happen, but unfortunately, we’ll have to give it a miss this month.
# Posted on April 5th 2011 by Paul Dengate