Beer Tasting on a Thursday Night

Says it all really - good on Freya and Seb at The White Hart for putting this on having been suitably encouraged by one or two blokes from the group...! 

Education for all (over 18!).

Beer & Carols 2018 - a great community sing

Another tremendous turn out in the White Hart for the annual gathering of folk in The White Hart, Ashton Keynes, North North Wiltshire, to celebrate the season with carols and wassails.

Members of The Magnificent AK47, Siren Sisters, Ashton Keynes Village Choir, the AK Gallery Carol singers were there to lend their considerable vocal talents to the proceedings and everyone else pitching in to make it such a lovely community event where people come together to sing for the joy of singing.

Especial thanks to Shirley Danby for inspiration and carol sheets, Pete Tuck for the Readings, Neil Burston for helping to make it all happen, for Chris Samuel for leading the blokes & conducting in general, Liz Nicholls for the first verse of Stille Nacht, assorted Siren Sisters for singing so gleefully, the AK Village Choir and Gallery Carolers for singing their bit, The White Hart for coping so splendidly and everyone who comes along to participate and have such a grand time.

Maybe do it again next year??

WARNING!: These men are Live and dangerously entertaining

Last seen around these parts with the full compliment of Spooky Men on their night off in the The White Hart, Stephen Taberner, better known as the whimsical mastermind behind the Spooky Men's Chorale,  offers for public amusement a musical wrestle to the death with his beloved double bass B, which typically involves a highly charming collection of songs, some moody, some funky, and some downright ridiculous.

For this pointless spectacle he will be joined by fellow spooky man Jack Fitzgrerald Sice (Ukelele/Guitar/Vocals), who has seemingly mastered the difficult art of not only sounding beautiful in his own right, but subtly enhancing whatever else is happening at the time, and has a fantastic beard....which may ultimately involve the recruitment of the glorious and/or unformed musical talents of the audience.

The pair are due to be appearing in The White Hart on Tuesday 23rd January with the fun start some time after 19:30 (your timings & mileage may vary, profits can go up and down, etc etc) so toddle along for some seriously good entertainment for so early in the week!

Seasonal singing down the Local - what's not to like?

Start your festive celebrations with a great night out down your local with some of us... Who could refuse such an offer?   This lucky lady pictured above didn't!

Come and join everyone for a hearty seasonal sing of traditional carols plus one or two less familiar and one or two set to the tune of another.

Open to all villagers, whether singers or simply wanting to enjoy a highly inclusive community event and an opportunity to hear people rejoice in the joy of singing together with a drink in hand inside a warm and welcoming pub!

Main singing starts in The White Hart Inn at around 8pm but please get there earlier to get a spot and drink.

Song sheets will be provided, just bring your enthusiasm and some drink money!

If you go down to...

... the woods pub tonight, you're sure of a big surprise

The blokes in some woods.  

Tonight they, and "some others" will be in the pub for "not your average Monday night", even for Ashton Keynes...

But, shhhh, it's a secret.

And here is what it might sound like and something from the Magnificent Archive.

Back in The Back Room

After a few years (probably, we've lost count) we are pleased to announce that our (ir)regular Wednesday night Workshops will start back in The Back Room of our Spiritual home of The White Hart Inn.

We've had some great times in the Ashton Keynes School Hall, the actual "birthplace" of what went on to become The Magnificent AK47 but now is the moment to move back and save the 10 minutes that some blokes miss at the start because they are still wandering up Gosditch walking carefully trying not to spill their precious pints from the pub....  Cut out the middle men we say!

We will be back in there on Wednesday 5th April from 19:30 onwards, and no, this is NOT an April Fool's.

We are currently preparing new material for our show at The Platform in Swindon this coming Saturday 8th April, tickets still available at http://themagnificentak47.com/tickets/.

Sensible advice for the Magnificent traveller

The new Magnificent Performance T-Shirts have arrived just in the nick of time for our trip to Derry.  

And they have some very sensible safety notices for any of the blokes who become "lost boys" during their time away from their normal stomping ground.

Let's hope there won't be someone still wearing this if it has to be put in the post!

Beer & Carols 2015 great success

A very BIG THANKS to all who came and sang their little Santa Hats off on Thursday.  

The pub was well and truly throng with carolers and a merry time was had by all.  More evidence can be found on our facebook page if you do that sort of thing.

Special thanks to Shirley Danby for being persuaded to do it again and for Neil B for much of the nudging in the background, to Chris Samuel our belovéd ChoirMeister and to Ashton Keynes Village Choir and their leaders on the night for adding so much musicality to the event, and everyone who came and made it such a great community event.

Roll on next year!  But in the meantime enjoy the Yuletide and we look forward to activities in 2016!

"C" is also for ... ?

"Carols" and "Christmas" and hearty Yuletide "Cheer", and no doubt many other words we could associate with this time of the year, but the most important one right now is indeed Carols, and almost as importantly their association with a now long established Ashton Keynes tradition of "Beer & Carols".

And this annual event will be taking place this coming Thursday 11th December in The White Hart pub in the very heart of Ashton Keynes, full of people and seasonal singing as the blokes of The Magnificent AK47 part serenade, part wassail, part Carol sing to fan the dying embers of the year towards the re-emergence from darkest winter.

The throng will start assembling from 19:30 and the festivities will start from 20:00 with joint Carols and one or two pieces performed specially by us so come along and join in the Yuletide frivolities.

And you can get a flavour for what is coming up from looking out the Wordle of the words from this year's Yuletide MAN-ual in the graphic to your left.

A Magnificent Farewell

Just a quickie to report that the village of Ashton Keynes bade fond farewell to Anthony, landlord of The White Hart these past three years, and his family with much merriment and song and above all drinking (it is what he would have wanted us to do).  The pub was packed, which is an indication of the high esteem in which he is held.

We even gave him a token of our appreciation of all the hard work we have made him and his staff do to help keep us refreshed during our workshops and Yuletide Carol events.  

Here you can see former Big Chief Instigator Neil B pulling a face of suitable pointless grandeur with Anthony, in his recently presented "Magnificent Polo Shirt" from our extensive range of leisure wear, looking suitably chuffed with the gift.

He has promised to invite us up to his new premises at some point so watch out for news of a visit once he has had a chance to settle in and explain about the special place of Ashton Keynes and the extra special Magnificent AK47 who have emerged from there.

We wish him all the best and look forward to striking up a relationship with the new landlords

Going, going, nearly gone

Goodbye from all of us!

Who ate all the pies?  Well, not the chap in the middle, flanked by two giants of our Magnificent world, Big Mike and DR Sweeney.  

But who is the little chap handing over the carefully pre-warmed pies before the start of our Wold Tour 2013?  It is none other than one Mr Anthony Klee, who along with some inspired local owners has breathed a HUGE new lease of life into our belovéd local watering hole, The White Hart.

Sadly he has been lured away to bigger and better things round Glawster way and we will miss his genuineness, keen eye for a good beer and propensity to open up specially for us on a Sunday Workshop to make sure the blokes could whet their whistles.

If anyone is around and fancies popping along there will be what will no doubt be a massive hooly of a send off for him and his good lady wife and son this coming Friday 24th October.

We wish him goodbye and good luck and have a Magnificent time.

Friday Night is Music Night #4

With the BlokeFest Cabaret looming and several gigs ahead that are crying out for some "Afters" singing in pubs, what better than to nip along to The White Hart Back Room this Friday 23rd May to brush up on a few songs, old and new.

The current plan is we will aim to start around 20:30hrs onwards and see how it goes along these lines

• Assembly. Gathering and exchange of anecdotes.  Procurement of Ale (other Lubricants are available)

• offers of contributions from the floor

Part 1:

• She died she did -  Round  - Alan
• North North Wiltshire         -  Neil, Ade
• Ashton Angler - first outing  - Gary (with / without Guitar)

Replenishing of Glasses.

Part 2:

• 10000 Miles - WORKSHOP   -  Alan, John and Gary
• WW1 Medley / Fugue..         -  Alan, John and Gary
• Now you know                     -  Gary

Open to all who would like the excuse to go down the pub and sing a bit, so bring along WAGs & FoBaFoBs (Friends of Blokes and Family of Blokes).

So be there, and be at the continuation of something possibly, er, Magnificent.

Friday Night is Music Night #2

FNIMN Friday Night is Music Night cranks back into action...

Still fed up of Friday nights in watching BBC4?  Still waking up having fallen asleep in front of a documentary about aged Rock Stars?  

Wish you had made it along to Friday Night is Music Night (FNIMN) #1?

After yet more muttering and "pubtalk" (and some action) we had the first FNIMN and people are keen for more, especially after the singing on the bus, sorry, coach on the way back from the Colston Hall gig.

The basic idea is still very simple, to provide a format for people to meet up in the Back Room of The White Hart, learn a few new songs and sing a few old ones.

The approach will be very informal with a couple of blokes acting as Meisters of Ceremony, coaxing people through a warm up then teach a new song, sing some others, teach another song and then sing a bit more.  

Sheets with the worms and tadpoles (words and music) will be provided.

Open to all who would like the excuse to go down the pub and sing a bit, so bring along WAGs & FoBaFoBs (Friends of Blokes and Family of Blokes).

We will aim to start around 20:30 and see how it goes.  So be there, and be at the start of something possibly, er, Magnificent.

Friday Night is Music Night #1

No, not that Friday Night is Music Night . . . !  A very Magnificent Friday Night is Music Night.

Fed up of Friday nights in watching BBC4?  

Do you find yourself falling asleep in front of a documentary about aged Rock Stars?  

Wish you had something more stimulating to do that involved good company, stretching yourself, learning new skills and all for free plus a pint in your hand?

We may well have the answer to your wishes. . . . Friday Night is Music Night #1.

After much muttering and "pubtalk" (and no action) within Magnificentland a few spirited souls have finally got together to try to actually get things off the ground.  

The basic idea is very simple, provide a format for people to meet up in the Back Room of The White Hart, learn a few new songs and sing a few old ones.

The approach will be very informal with a couple of blokes acting as Meisters of Ceremony, coaxing people through a warm up then teach a new song, sing some others, teach another song and then sing a bit more.  

Sheets with the worms and tadpoles (words and music) will be provided.

Open to all who would like the excuse to go down the pub and sing a bit, so bring along WAGs & FoBaFoBs (Friends of Blokes and Family of Blokes).

We will aim to start around 20:30 and see how it goes.  So be there, and be at the start of something possibly, er, Magnificent.

Final performance of the year at Beer & Carols

Somewhere beyond the throng of merry Ashton Keynes carolers, in the background of picture, you might just about be able to make our a few black T-Shirts worn by the wassailers of The Magnificent AK47.

A goodly number turned out to combine with the many dozens of villagers in a packed White Hart all joining in the seasonal spirit with some hearty renditions of classic carols by the whole pub and also by elements of the AK Village Choir.

The blokes also performed a few pieces on their own to entertain the crowd with some stirring renditions of "Shosholoza" in honour of the memory of Nelson Mandela, as well as "Malpas Wassail" and a couple of impromptu Flying Solo pieces, most notably a rather fine rendition of "Myfanywy" and that other great Welsh number, "Delilah".

A great way to end the year in the very heart of our village in our spiritual home - thanks to all who came along and helped embed this evening as part of a solid Ashton Keynes tradition.

Beer & Carols

The message is a simple one - one of the grand new traditions of Ashton Keynes is the annual "Beer & Carols" evening in The White Hart Pub in the literal heart of our village is on this week.

Not only is the back room our regular rehearsal and workshop space, the bar is very much our spiritual (and ale!) home, where we have had many, many great times with great people.

And we are doing it all again this Thursday 12th December, starting from 19:30 onwards with singing starting some time after that.  Come and join The Magnificent AK47, members from the Ashton Keynes Village Choir and Siren Sisters, all combining to sing a few hearty Yuletide songs.

Hope to see you there to raise your voice and a glass or two.