June 10 at the Victoria

Crowded and noisy, we ended up outside. Hugo Simms talked about his book project after spending a year going to live gigs just about every night. Sounds promising. Les Burton told of his screenwriting success, Chris Clack suggested tying future Grouchos to local events, such as gallery nights - not a bad idea.

But the star turn was Hylda Sims, who had just heard out of the blue from a Russian music fan who had unearthed a video of her performing with the City Ramblers skiffle group in Moscow in 1958. Here it is. The quality of both the film and the performance is excellent.... they are the second act, after about a minute.. ("It's not too embarrassing is it," says Hylda, "apart from my strange fringe!")