“Following the devastating loss of Rowan, out of the emptiness that followed an idea gradually  emerged to celebrate her life with a gig at Nettlebed Folk Club, where she performed regularly. This will be on the 6th June, 2 days after her birthday.
Inevitably I thought we should walk as well so the day before we will walk the Ridgeway, scene of some glorious Ramblers walks early on, and then walk into Nettlebed on the day itself. 
Having sung of those ‘chalk-white horses’ in the song The Wanderer so many times with Rowan I thought it right to start at the most iconic one- the Uffington White Horse. 
You are welcome to join us at any point. “

Click here for details of these walks

On Monday 6th June, the Nettlebed Folk Club are hosting a tribute concert for Rowan Godel. This concert will feature groups that Rowan sang with: John Jones, Ian Telfer, Alan Prosser & Al Scott from Oysterband, The Ladies of Nettlebed (Charlie Dore, Jackie Oates & Megan Henwood) and John Jones and the Reluctant Ramblers (including Benji Kirkpatrick, Al Scott, Tim Cotterell, Lindsey Oliver and Boff). Benji will be donating the proceeds from this show to a charity that Rowan would have liked to support. 

See the Nettlebed Folk Club website for details of this concert and to purchase tickets.

Alongside the gig, John and Colin will be walking on Sunday 5th June from the Uffington White Horse, starting at 11am, eastwards along the Ridgeway then descending to finish for a well-earned drink at the Red Lion pub in Blewbury; then on Monday 6th June, they will walk from Goring to Nettlebed for the tribute concert in the evening. Anyone is welcome to join them. Please make your own arrangements.

Visit the the walks page for further details. See here for pictures of the route of these walks.

Rowan’s funeral will take place on Wednesday 16th February 2022 at 13.00 UK time. You may watch it live by using this link: watch.obitus.com/zvM6nu then enter the username boso8449 and password 432545. The live broadcast will start five minutes before the service. You may check the link by logging in and choosing the test broadcast.

If you are unable to watch the service live, it will be available to watch on demand after Friday 18th February.

“Dear Friends of Rowan

It is with great sadness that we must tell you of the death of our beloved, beautiful and talented daughter, sister, niece, aunt, and your dear friend.

She slipped away peacefully, on 7th February 2022, surrounded by the love of her family, and knowing of your love and friendship in her life.

Margaret, David, and Tiernan”

JJ writes:

“When you sing in harmony as closely as Rowan and I did, you have to have a special relationship and with Rowan that was easy. She was a beautiful singer and a beautiful person to have around and to be around. In recent years we shared that special bond of walking together in all weathers and Rowan’s own songs became an integral part of the Ramblers story, as her own career blossomed. 
She was a joy to be with and a very very special person. 
My heart goes out to Benji who has been a model of silent and supportive restraint this past year. This is heart-breaking for all of us. 
We had fun with this classic old English folk song on every Ramblers gig.”

Click to hear Searching For Lambs followed by Street Of Dreams (the first song Rowan recorded with Oysterband) and then Spirit Of Dust.

JJ and Benji Kirkpatrick bring you a socially distanced Christmas Carol from England Tier 1 on the Welsh Borders.

… when we could actually walk together in beautiful countryside. Stay well everyone. JJ

JJ walking with Matthew Bannister

Listen again to the Folk On Foot podcast episode recorded last August featuring John Jones and the Reluctant Ramblers walking with Matthew Bannister to the Wickham Festival in Hampshire.

The podcast features the songs ‘Walking Through Ithonside’, ‘Ferryman’ and ‘Never Stop Moving’ together with conversations en route.

You can listen at folkonfoot.com or click below for your podcast app:

Apple Podcasts — Google Podcasts — Spotify

The latest Folk On Foot podcast episode featuring John Jones and the Reluctant Ramblers walking to the Wickham Festival in Hampshire. You can listen at folkonfoot.com or click below for your podcast app:

Apple Podcasts — Google Podcasts — Spotify

The podcast series is hosted by Matthew Bannister who writes: “This episode has by far the largest cast of walkers we’ve ever assembled – and the most musicians. I call John Jones “the patron saint of Folk on Foot” because he was walking from gig to gig and singing on the way long before our podcast was invented. He’s done it all over the country and he’s usually accompanied by a bunch of fans who call themselves the Reluctant Ramblers.

On a scorching hot day last summer, we joined them for a walk over Old Winchester Hill, along part of the South Downs Way and the Meon Valley to the Wickham Festival. On top of the hill John and his band performed Walking Through Ithonside. After lunch at the pub they gave us Ferryman and on arrival at the Festival the very appropriate I Will Never Stop Moving.

Along the way John reflects on creativity and the effect of a recent brush with cancer on his view of life and making music It was a life-affirming journey through quintessential English countryside with one of folk rock’s leading singers and his mates. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.”

The preview film from the walk into the Wickham Festival is now available on You Tube and on the Folk On Foot Facebook page:

“This episode has by far the largest cast of walkers we’ve ever assembled – and the most musicians. The lead singer of Oysterband John Jones started walking from gig to gig and singing on the way long before our podcast was invented. He’s done it all over the country and he’s usually accompanied by a bunch of fans who call themselves the Reluctant Ramblers. On a scorching hot summer’s day, we joined them for a walk over Old Winchester Hill, along part of the South Downs Way and the Meon Valley to the Wickham Festival. On top of the hill John and his band perform “Waking Through Ithonside”. After lunch at the pub they give us “Ferryman” and on arrival at the festival the very appropriate “I Will Never Stop Moving”. Along the way John reflects on creativity and the effect of a recent brush with cancer on his view of life and making music. It is a life-affirming journey through quintessential English countryside with one of the most influential performers on the folk scene.”

When John Jones walked into the Wickham Festival last August, he was joined by Matthew Bannister for series 4 of his Folk On Foot podcasts. As the folk musician who walks the most on foot, it had taken a couple of years to find a date and place for Matthew to walk with John. As well as talking with John, Matthew’s cameraman took many photographs. They recorded John and the Reluctant Ramblers band singing both on Old Winchester Hill and outside the festival box office as people queued to get their tickets.

The short film trailer will launch on this coming Friday, November 8th, and then the full episode will launch on the following Friday November 15th. A short clip is available already in the season 4 trailer on the Podcast site: click here for Apple and here for Google

Click here for the series 4 Folk On Foot website.