Bodmin Folk Club - A short history. In the Late 60's a tide of contemporary American folk music was sweeping Britain and      several clubs in Cornwall performed this material.  However, in 1967 a small group of traditional singers, including Vic Legg and Lar Cann, used to meet for weekly sessions in the Masons' Arms, Bodmin.  They decided to start a club to raise funds for British folksingers to visit Cornwall.  The first recorded club night of the Bodmin Traditional Folk Club, as it was then, was on 31st May 1968 in an upper room at The Barley Sheaf.  Guest nights then, as now, were on alternate Fridays and many great evenings were held there.  But the following year a Padstow 'Oss Party, singing, playing, and above all dancing, caused the ceiling to flex so dangerously that we moved to The Garland Ox, where Ted Caiger said "I'll give it six weeks".  it was a little more than that! First 20 years. Our first spell at the Garland lasted over 20 years, from June 1969, the first guest there being a British club favourite, Shirley Collins.  A who's-who of British folk music subsequently entertained there, though the clubroom itself was very different to the cosy quarters we know now.  There was no ceiling, no lighting but candles, and no carpet, and the cast-iron stove did nothing to combat the numbing cold.  Other premises. Unfortunately we were forced to find other premises in August 1990; Sid and Chris at the Pencaran were most welcoming but the rooms were just the wrong shape for the club, and sadly in September 1993 we were on the move again, this time to Bodmin Jail.  In July 1997 though the opportunity came to move back to our spiritual home at The Garland Ox and with hosts Norman and Liz so welcoming, we seized the chance.  In April 2007 we needed to look for a change in venue and returned to The Barley Sheaf, where the Club started in 1968. Unfortunately, in October 2011 the Barley Sheaf was put up for sale and closed so we were on the move again. The Mason's Arms looks quite small from the street, but has a large and very comfortable room behind to which we were welcomed by Paul & Wendy Hudson our present hosts.