Yet another great night was enjoyed by all this week. A fabulous turn-out, in both jammers and listeners - and, once again, a few surprises.

It's no wonder that Martin Fieber continues to be a crowd-puller at The Coach & Horses. Not only is he one of the best exponents of slide-guitar in the country: he's also a very talented song-writer, with a knack for setting wry, witty lyrics to clever and memorable tunes, quite a few of which have yet to be heard here. As expected, he gave us another faultless exhibition of his undoubted class, playing several of his own numbers plus a few old classics for good measure.

We had hoped to double the pleasure by having Ray Bartrip sharing the guest honours at the keyboard, but sadly he wasn't quite well enough to be with us. Best wishes to you, Ray, from all of us: get well soon - we want you back here!

Thankfully we had Stevie King to call upon, and an excellent job he did as second guitar to the King Of Slide. together they delivered a cracking opning set that really set the scene for the rest of the night. Martin's closing set was no less impressive, featuring an amazing rendition of "Natural Ball" - and we couldn't let him out of the building without playing "Sleepwalk" could we?

A bumper crop of jammers this week, and in amongst them several surprise visitors. Great to see one of our old favourites back here - none other than Phil Hughes, playing and singing as well as ever. Give me a call, Phil - we'd love to see you guesting with the Houseband!

Likewise, very pleased to see my ol' mate Daryll Cornier re-acquainting himself with the drumkit after what has been quite a lay-off - not that anyone would have noticed from his storming performance. We made good use of him, too: two jam sets for him. So Daryll, I hope it's inspired you to get back out there playing more regularly!

I must thank Oisin Clancy for bringing along my young nephew Josh, all the way from Southend. I hope to see Josh back here with his Strat in the near future. He was mightily impressed with the standard of playing here at The Coach & Horses. Oisin played some great Harp as per usual, and I'm only sorry that we weren't able to get him on stage earlier. Time was running out towards the end of the night, so we had to reduce the jams down to just two numbers each. We owe you extra helpings next time, Oisin!

The award for Liveliest Guitarist Of The Night must surely go to newcomer Ibon. It's always a pleasure to see new faces here - especially when they're not afraid of demonstrating just how much they're enjoying themselves onstage!

The Lord Lucan award has to be given to Steve Taylor for his sudden disappearance just when we needed him to play keyboards. Where did ye go, Steve? Did you spot Lord Ian Carvell in the bar and decided to hie it over to His Lordship's 'Ackney mansion to do something about that Nanny of his?

Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for late-comer Ray Wallen to give us a few numbers, but Ray will definitely be here early next week I'm sure. He better had be... he's making his debut as our guest artist! Ray's let slip some intimations of what numbers he's planning to do, and apparently it'll include his own blues re-working of a John Cooper Clarke poem. This I cannot wait to hear! So, please arrive early, folks (and I'm pleased to report that this seems to be the trend of late) to give this most popular performer the warm reception he deserves.

As always, my thanks to Keith Geddes for providing me with another batch of photos, many of which you'll find on this page. Special thanks and appreciation to Wayne Mills for packing everything away at the end of the night, and I must thank Ken Cumberlidge, Mick Grundy and The Missus for helping Wayne to pack away while I was busy rabbitting!

P.S.: - For anyone who fancies a truly great Saturday afternoon, please come along to The Manor Arms, 150 East India Dock Road, E14 0BP between 3pm and 6pm. This week (6th March) will feature Martin Fieber & Claudio Corona. Next Saturday (13th) it's Jimmy 'C' & Ronnie Collins. The music and the atmosphere gets better every week, and - just like The Coach & Horses - "Dull It Ain't" !

• Vocals - Lord Ian Carvell
• Guitar+Vocals - Stevie King, Steve Collins, Paul Booth & Garth
• Harp+Vocals - Phil Hughes
• Guitar - Richard Stenhouse, Dan Smith and Ibon
• Harp - Leo Titkov, Oisin Clancy, Luke and 'Playboy'
• Keyboards - Steve Taylor
• Violin - 'Mad Mike' Abramov
• Bass - Pete Speller, Joel leTort, Joe Larner and Ken Cumberlidge
• Drums - Daryll Cornier & Mick Grundy