The New Sheridan Club: What's Happening and When

Cakewalk Café
Wednesday 8th February
8pm–1am (swing dance classes 7–8pm and 8–9pm)
Passing Clouds, 1 Richmond Road, Dalston, London E8 4AA
Admission: £5 (£3.50 if you're in 1920s/1930s clobber) or £8 including a dance class, £12 including both

Live swing jazz every Wednesday featuring Nicholas Ball, Ewan Bleach and chums, with optional dance classes from Swing Patrol.

The Candlelight Club
Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February
7.30pm–12am
A secret central London location
Admission: Tickets £15 in advance
Dress: 1920s dandies and swells, gangsters and molls, degenerate aristos and decadent
aesthetes, corrupt politicians and the Smart Set In the Know

The Candlelight Club is clandestine pop-up cocktail bar with a 1920s speakeasy flavour, in a secret London venue completely lit by candles. Each event offers a one-off bespoke cocktail menu with special themes and featured ingredients. There are live period jazz bands plus dance or burlesque acts and vintage DJing from MC Fruity. This time it's our "Valentine's Day Massacre": watch us shoehorn romance and gangster slayings into one theme, with a cocktail menu that reflects both Guns and Roses. As it were. Plus sultry live jazz from Gracie and the G-Spots.

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour
Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February
7.30pm
The Heron Theatre, Milnthorpe
Admission: £10

Delightful spoof 1930s stage show in the semblance of a live radio show, with much comic business derived from the live production of sound effects. The troupe have previously performed at an NSC party.

Saturday Night Swing Club
Saturday 11th February
7.30pm–2am
City Firefly, 18 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EP
Admission: £12 (includes a £3 drinks voucher)

Three dance floors playing swing, R n' B and rock n' roll music from the 1920s to the 1950s, with resident DJz Dr Swing and Simon "Mr Kicks" Selmon, plus guest DJs this time Swanny and the Bees Knees. On the middle floor there are dance classes from 8.15 till midnight. Guest teachers this are Natasha and Paul teaching collegiate shag (indeed) and the Bees Knees teaching 1920s Charleston.

The Wiyos + Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns
Sunday 12th February
7.30pm
Dingwalls, Middle Yard, Camden Lock, London NW1 8AB
Admission: £15 (book here)

A sizzling double bill of ultra-hot US acts breathing dynamic new life into Depression-era sounds. New Orleans-based singer Meschiya Lake, crowned as Best Female Performer in the 2011 Big Easy Music Awards, is spearheading a revival in swing-dance, lindy-hop and jitterbug music, belting out classics by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith alongside richly seasoned originals, at the helm of a line-up featuring trumpet, trombone, sousaphone, washboard and guitar. The Wiyos, named after a 19th century New York street gang, likewise put a stylish contemporary spin on their self-styled mix of “vaudevillian ragtime jug-band blues and hillbilly swing”, splicing it with strands of pop, rock and hip-hop. With their debut album, 2009’s Broken Land Bell, having earned them a tour support slot with Bob Dylan, they’ll be previewing tracks from its forthcoming follow-up Twist, inspired by The Wizard of Oz.

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour
Sunday 12th February
7pm
The Malting Theatre and Arts Centre, Berwich on Tweed
Admission: £12 (£10 concs)

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour
Monday 13th February
7.30pm
Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
Admission: £15, £13 or £10

Swing at the Light
Monday 13th February
From 7pm
Upstairs at The Light Restaurant and Bar, 233 Shorditch High Street, London E1
Admission: £8 for class and club, £3 just for the club night after 9pm
Dress: Vintage/retro appreciated

Weekly vintage dance night in a venue with a wooden floor and its own terrace. Beginners classes from 7.30, intermediate classes from 8.15, and "freestyle" from 9pm.

Valentines at the Tea House
Tuesday 14th February
The Tea House Theatre, 139 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HL (020 7207 4585)
Evening
Admission: £49 for four courses including wine and entertainment

NSC Members Harry and Grace Iggulden run this establishment, which was not only the venue for the last Club summer party but also consequently ended up appearing in the TV doc A Very British Party. For St Valentine's Day they have devised a romantic dinner menu, described as "ancient Greek love food with a modern touch". There will be candles, roses and live music from a soul trio, with the opportunity to dance later. Just 25 bookings will be taken and, as on this night "you should only have eyes for your lover", the staff will all be masked and discrete.

Country Chesnut & Ginger Soup with White Sage Sourdough Bread; or
Foie Gras with Marinated Celeriac, Apples & Confit Raisins

Rack of Lamb with Braised Chicory and Fondue Potatoes, garnished with Love-red Onion and Peppers, served with a Red Pepper Reduction and a Red Wine Jus; or
Wild Mushroom and White Wine Risotto with Avocado Butter Sauce
This main course was conceived at the Connaught Hotel where our chef trained under Gordon Ramsay

Lemon-Lapsang Jelly with Vanilla Ice Cream and Almond Tuile; or
Chocolate Mouse with Pomegranate for dessert

A glass of red or white wine will compliment each course and a pot of one of our delicious teas and petits fours to finish

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour
Tuesdays 14th, 21st & 28th February and 6th March
8pm
The Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2
Admission: £19.50 or £27.50

The Double R Club
Thursday 16th February
8pm
The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, 44-46 Pollard Row, Bethnal Green, London E2 6NB
Admission: £10 in advance

An evening of mystery and nightmares inspired by the films of David Lynch, featuring a parade of cabaret and burlesque performers. Comes hightly recommended by our Chairman. More at www.thedoublerclub.co.uk.

Anna Chen presents Traders
The Steampunk Opium Wars
Thursday 16th February
6.30–10pm
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF
Admission: Free, but booking required

Britain's craving for chinoiserie in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in a trade imbalance that threatened to empty the treasury. To pay for the tea, silks, spices and porcelain we liked so much, the East India Company sold enormous quantities of cheap Bengal-grown opium to China, turning an aristocratic vice into a nationwide addiction. To celebrate Chinese New Year and mark the opening of the new Traders Gallery at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, poet and cultural provocateur Anna Chen is hosting The Steampunk Opium Wars on the evening of Thursday 16th February. A dastardly tale of imperialism, drugs and warfare in the 19th century, the story of this dark episode in British history is told in satire, poetry and music inside the belly of the beast. Historical characters from both sides of the argument do battle in verse, and members of the audience have the chance to write and take part in a Farrago Poetry History Slam. With music from legendary writer Charles Shaar Murray; former Flying Lizards singer Deborah Evans-Stickland performing her mega-hit Money; DJ Zoe "Lucky Cat" Baxter; and Gary Lammin of The Bermondsey Joyriders in the weirdest tea ceremony you've ever seen. It says here.

The Candlelight Club
Friday 17th and Saturday 18th February
7.30pm–12am
A secret central London location
Admission: Tickets £15 in advance
Dress: 1920s dandies and swells, gangsters and molls, degenerate aristos and decadent
aesthetes, corrupt politicians and the Smart Set In the Know

The Candlelight Club is clandestine pop-up cocktail bar with a 1920s speakeasy flavour, in a secret London venue completely lit by candles. Each event offers a one-off bespoke cocktail menu with special themes and featured ingredients. There are live period jazz bands plus dance or burlesque acts and vintage DJing from MC Fruity. This time it's Mardi Gras time: Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is the last day before Lent. In Britain we eat pancakes, but in New Orleans they have a huge carnival party with parades, masks and shiny trinkets, a tradition dating back to the 18th century. Come and help us celebrate the music and cocktails of the Big Easy—which is also the American home of absinthe.

The Eccentric Club
Open Convivial Meeting
Friday 17th February
7.13pm
The Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, Mayfair, London
Admission: £20 in advance
Dress: Eccentrically overdressed, glamorous (expressly no trainers, as if you needed telling); Gentlemen, jackets, preferably club ties and badges; ladies, evening wear

Members, friends (which includes NSC Members) and new candidates of the Eccentric Club gather for social intercourse with ladies and gentlemen of a somewhat eccentric persuasion and a taste for good wine and good intellectual company. The Eccentric Club's Monthly Open Convivial Party is designed as a joyful and merry evening, full of entertaining conversations, drinks and performances by the Club members and the surprise guests.

"It's a Wonderful Vintage Love Boat Ball"
Friday 17th February
8pm–2am
The Battersea Barge, Nine Elms Lane, London SW8 5BP (behind the Fed Ex building)
Admission: £15 in advance
Dress: Strictly vintage; nautical not obligatory but appreciated

A Valentine's-themed vintage knees-up on a static barge featuring live jazz and vintage DJs, tarot and psychic readings, a roving magician, vintage photo booth, burlesque plus dance competitions.

sdf The Ric Rac Club
Saturday 18th February
8pm–2am
The Fox, 28–30 Paul Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 4LB
Admission: £8 in advance, £10 on the door
Dress: Your finest sartorial splendour

The Vintage Mafia launch their new club night in this characterful pub with two floors with a smoking terrace. All guests receive a FREE King's Ginger cocktail on arrival, and there will be dancing to music from 193os dance bands to 1960s Northern Soul, with DJing by the Vintage Mafia ladies and special guest All Fringe, No Knickers, plus a set by ukulele lady Miss G. There will also be a FREE raffle.

The Orphanage St Valentine's Masked Ball
Saturday 18th February
10pm–3am
Adam Street, 9 Adam Street, off Strand,
Admission: £25 in advance
Dress: Divine decadence; “masks obligatory, clothes optional”

A Vikor Wynd joint in Georgian tunnels beneath the Strand. A bevvy of vintage DJs plus burlesque (I think—it's always quite hard to decipher Wynd's promotional literature), a silhouette portrait machine and Russian food. There is an optional dance lesson beforehand at 9pm for an extra £5.

Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair
Sunday 19th February
11am–5pm (trade from 10.30am)
The Old Finsbury Town Hall, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RP
Admission: £4 (£5 trade before 11am)

Some 50 stalls offering vintage clothes, shoes, handbags, hats, gloves, textiles and jewellery from the 1800s to the 1980s, plus vintage posters this time too. There is also a tea room, alterations booth plus sometimes live entertainment too. More details at www.clerkenwellvintagefashionfair.co.uk.

NSC Film Night
Monday 20th February
7pm–11pm
The Tea House Theatre, 139 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HL (020 7207 4585)
Admission: Free

The Club Film Nights return with a presentation, curated by Lord Compton-Bassett, of the BBC production Beau Brummel: This Charming Man, starring James Purefoy and Hugh Bonneville. C-B will give a brief history of Brummell and Regency Dress by way of an introduction. Originally scheduled for last month, this was postponed when the old venue closed down unannounced (oddly, not the first time this has happened to one of our film nights). Thanks to Members Grace and Harry, proprietors of the Tea House Theatre, for letting us use their gaff.

Swing at the Light
Monday 20th February
From 7pm
Upstairs at The Light Restaurant and Bar, 233 Shorditch High Street, London E1
Admission: £8 for class and club, £3 just for the club night after 9pm
Dress: Vintage/retro appreciated

Weekly vintage dance night in a venue with a wooden floor and its own terrace. Beginners classes from 7.30, intermediate classes from 8.15, and "freestyle" from 9pm.

The Old Fashioned Dating Company Launch Night
Wednesday 22nd February
Doors 6pm; dating from 6.30pm sharp; show from 8pm
The Shadow Lounge, 5–7 Brewer Street, London W1F 0RF
Admission: £32 for dating and show, £11 for dating only. Tickets from oldfashioneddating.eventbrite.com.

An interesting new spin on the speed dating concept, this event gives each participant ten "dates" (which I guess must last about nine minutes each if you do the maths), followed by a music/burlesque show featuring Kele Le Roc. Moreover you are matched with your dates by a real live "dating professional". It describes itself as a "a journey back to 1930s courting" aimed at "cool modern people with old fashioned values". Make of this what you will but it suggests it's aimed at people with a general interest in things vintage.

Hedna's Vintage Night Club
Saturday 25th February
8.45pm
The Stables, Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes MK17 8LU
Admission: £12.50 until 8th January, £14.50 after that and £16 on the door. Advance bookings may be made in person at the box office or by phone (01908 280800), by email to boxoffice@stables.org or online (though these last three incur a booking fee)
Dress: Vintage

Vintage Sweethearts Harry and Edna offer an immersive 1930s and 1940s night with live music from the Three Belles, DJing from Empire Radio and dance tutors on hand. More about Hedna's here.

Swing at the Light
Monday 27th February
From 7pm
Upstairs at The Light Restaurant and Bar, 233 Shorditch High Street, London E1
Admission: £8 for class and club, £3 just for the club night after 9pm
Dress: Vintage/retro appreciated

Weekly vintage dance night in a venue with a wooden floor and its own terrace. Beginners classes from 7.30, intermediate classes from 8.15, and "freestyle" from 9pm.

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 7th March
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

Mr Charles Henry Woolfenblood, Duke of Tipa, will give us a talk On Top Hats, "focusing on silk toppers especially. I will briefly touch on its history, practice and use as well as give out handy tips for polishing and sourcing. All those with toppers are encouraged to wear them on the night."

Riviera Swing Weekender
Friday 23rd–Monday 26th March
4pm Friday to 10.30am Monday
Victoria Hotel, Belgrave Road, Torquay TQ2 5HL
Admission: £189 for two nights, £249 for three

Late 1930s and 1940s weekender with a "more British feel", featuring the John Miller Orchestra (Sunday only), The Jive Aces (special Forties set), the Little Devils and Kate Garner, plus vintage DJs, vintage market and British cinema from The White Bus. Ticket price includes breakfast and evening meal. Hosted by Viv the Spiv! More at www.rivieraswing.co.uk.

The Fitrovia Radio Hour
Friday 30th March
8pm
Norwich Playhouse, Norwich
Admission: £12 (£10 concs)

The Fitrovia Radio Hour
Sunday 31st March
8pm
The Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead
Admission: £12 (£10 concs)

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 1st April
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

As 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of London trolleybuses and the 60th anniversary of the end of London trams, the Earl of Waveney will return with a talk and slideshow entitled Last of the Line: London’s Trams (and Trolleybuses!), looking at the tram's and trolley’s presence in the capital from the beginning of the 1930s through to the 1960s. Among the slides and stories he will vividly depict the tram vs trolley debate that clove London Transport (as did later the electric vs diesel hot potato), how the systems coped during the Blitz, and what happened to some of the vehicles after their life in London—including those lovingly preserved by people like Waveney.

The Fitrovia Radio Hour
Wednesday 4th April
7.30pm
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
Admission: £13.50–£23.50

The Fitrovia Radio Hour
Friday 20th April
8pm
Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington
Admission: ??

Oxford Punting Trip
Saturday 21st April
From noonish
Oxford
Admission: A share of the punt hire (around £20) plus you'll need to budget for food and booze

The annual Oxford punting trip is one of the oldest Sheridan traditions, and usually occurs on the Saturday closest to St George's Day. Folk generally gather in the Turf Tavern from around 11am and aim to hit the Magdalen Bridge Boathouse at midday where the punts are picked up. Punting then takes place until the traditional picnic spot is reached by the High Bridge (aka the Rainbow Bridge) in the University Parks (no. 5 on this map). After a picnic lunch the party punts back and usually repairs to a hostelry, frequently the Turf again.

There is sometimes also a black tie meal in a restaurant on the Friday. More details to come.

The Fitrovia Radio Hour
Saturday 21st April
7.30pm
Northcott Theatre, Exeter
Admission: £12.50–£16.50

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 2nd May
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

Mr Sean Longden will get our mojos working with Popular Music Artistes (1950 to the Present Day): Lessons for the Modern English Gentleman.

The lecture will be a study of those individuals in popular music who have ignored the fashions of ‘youth culture’, instead dressing and behaving in a manner that might have gained them entrance to the New Sheridan Club.

Expect it to be a combination of the mainstream and the obscure (such as the 1960s US garage band The Scarlet Henchmen who wore cravats, smoked pipes and sang a curious ditty about Crystal Palace). Expect also a 1980s video that includes London buses, red telephone boxes, chess, college scarves, umbrellas, fencing and a tricorn hat.

The 1940s Relived
Saturday 19th May
10am–5pm
Brooklands Museum, Brooklands Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0QN
Admission: £11 (£9.90 students and OAPs, £6.05 children)

Celebrating the best of the 1940s against the historic backdrop of Brooklands Museum’s 30-acre site. The Wellington Hangar is a reminder that Brooklands was an important centre of aircraft production during WWII, when both Hawker Hurricane Fighters and Vickers Wellington Bombers were built on the site. Add in a pill box, air raid shelters, the original Clubhouse plus other period features and you have outstanding surroundings for this event. The organiseres are also looking for re-enactors, both military and home front, period vehicles, traders plus of course the music and dancers to help make this family event special and to celebrate all aspects of the 1940s. They are particularly interested in Home Guard re-enactors, as Brooklands had its own HG detachment. Contact: Neil Sinclair neilsinclair@brooklandsmuseum.com 01932 857381 ext. 244.

Victorian Railway Weekend
Saturday 19th May
10am–5.30pm
The Severn Valley Railway, Kidderminster Station, Comberton Hill, DY10 1QX
Admission: £20 for one day, £30 for two, £40 for three days

Vintage transport enthusiast the Earl of Waveney is looking to raise a posse to check out this festival of steam. For more details of the tickets and what is happening see here. To see Waveney's Facebook event see here.

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 6th June
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

Mr David Waller (who previously addressed us on the life of Gertrude Tennant) will dazzle us on the subject of The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow, Victorian Strongman.

Sandow was colossolly famous in his day and possessed what was considered the perfect male body. He rose from obscurity in Prussia to become a music hall sensation in late Victorian London, going on to great success in North America and through the British Empire. He was a friend to Edward VII and was appointed Professor of Physical Culture to George V. So how did he come to lose his fortune and wind up in an unmarked grave in Putney Vale Cemetery?

Hedna's Vintage Night Club
Saturday 23rd June
8.45pm
The Stables, Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes MK17 8LU
Admission: £10 until 3rd March, after which prices rise. Advance bookings may be made in person at the box office or by phone (01908 280800), by email to boxoffice@stables.org or online (though these last three incur a booking fee)
Dress: Vintage

Vintage Sweethearts Harry and Edna offer an immersive 1930s and 1940s night, this time featuring a full stand-up set from Viv the Spiv. More about Hedna's here.

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 4th July
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

The Earl of Essex will entrance us on the subject of The Life and Scandulous Times of Sir Henry "Chips" Channon MP.

NSC Club Night
Wednesday 1st August
7pm–11pm (lecture at 8pm)
Upstairs, The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JB
Members: Free
Non-Members: £2 (first visit free)

Lord Finsbury Windermere Compton-Bassett will set us straight on A Brief History of the Metropolitan Police & Special Constabulary.