Several of us were a little jaded after Tuesday's fun evening at The Old Ship. This applied especially applied to Alan, who had hurt his thumb at football earlier on Wednesday evening and felt unable to play guitar or mandolin. It turned out that his thumb is broken, so he won't be playing football or instruments for a while.

Dick seemed not to be affected by the general lack of energy and kicked off with Drink Old England Dry and later challenged the rest of us to reach the low notes on Fathom the Bowl.

John Macrae eventually arrived for his promised visit, having spent much of the evening stationary on the M40. His songs and humour are always very welcome. This time he also brought his video camera to film some of the session for his planned documentary on folk clubs. We're looking forward to seeing his interview with Karen, providing she stopped laughing for long enough to answer any questions.

It was great to have Martin back from university. He sang us one of the songs that formed part of his composition assignment, plus a hilarious song in a funk style by the Flight of the Conchords and something from Muse. Vicky was relieved to have an accompanist back. She and Martin sang Fairy Tale of New York (compulsory at this time of year) and It Doesn't Matter.

Roger too had a problem with his thumb, but still managed to accompany Karen for a few songs. They've chosen a great set of material, which is coming together very nicely now.

John injected some seasonal notes with several parodies of Xmas songs and carols, notably Walking 'round in Women's Underwear to the tune of Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

Without an accompanist, Rosie played the Shetland tune Da Trowie Burn on the concertina and adopted aLancashireaccent for Chips & Fish.

We're not meeting on Boxing Day. Seasons Greetings from Marlow Bottom to all our attendees and blog readers. May your tunes be rousing and your choruses well sung.