Ceilidh band

Barn Dances for Everyone

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About Barn Dances for Everyone

A barn dance or ceilidh is just the BEST way to get your party or celebration started! Barn dances really ARE for everyone!
Ceilidh band
Milton Keynes
Public liability insurance of £10 million
Verified profile

James McCafferty is the Caller for Barn Dances for Everyone, which means he explains and walks through each dance with you before we dance it. The music for all the dances is digitally recorded and played through a high-quality sound system, so the audio quality is at least as good as a live band. James taught country dancing in primary schools for many years. He first learned the art of English Folk Dance with Eastleigh Folk Dance Club (still going strong!) and danced with Winchester's international dance display team Woodfidley. He danced and played melodeon for King John's Morris of Southampton and founded the boys' morris dance team the Fryern Morris Minors. He also founded the unaccompanied folk song group Solstice and the early music group Milady Clare's Musicke, with whom he recorded the albums Minstrels Gallerie and Pastymes. He is the author of Live Recorder, a series of workbooks and CDs designed to teach basic musical literacy to complete beginners. Under the banner of Early Music in Schools, he continues to take his demonstrations of early musical instruments to schools and community groups. James accompanies much-loved traditional songs with a Celtic flavour on guitar, cittern, dulcimer and melodeon. So if you'd like to turn your Barn Dance into a proper Ceilidh ("kay-lee"), with live traditional songs and music during the food break, this can easily be arranged!

Encore badges
10 gigs
Experienced: 10 bookings through Encore
Saved the day!
Booked for an Encore gig with less than 24 hours’ notice
6th Anniversary
This act has been working with Encore for over 6 years
Musicianship
Genres:
Folk, Ceilidh
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Types:
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Event types:
Private event, Wedding, Hotel / Restaurant event, Corporate event, Concert, Cruise, Birthday party, Christmas party, Charity event
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Barn Dances for Everyone's Song list

Dances:
The Caerphilly Ring Dance
The Big Set
The Flying Scotsman
The Oxo Reel
I Want to Be Near You
Cumberland Square Eight
Lucky Seven
Two Facing Two
The Bridge of Athlone
The Horwood Arches
Waves of Tory
La Russe
Djatchko Kolo
Jeanne Qui Saute
The Horse's Brawl
Circassian Circle
Goddesses
Soldier's Joy
The South Oxhey Stomp
The Sweets of May
Blaydon Races
The True Lover's Knot
Up the Sides and Down the Middle
Ninepins
The Honeywell Circle Dance
Thady You Gander
The Circle Waltz
Jack's the Lad
Meeting Six
The Six Reel

Barn Dances for Everyone's Prices

Note: prices may vary based on travel distance. For an exact quote, click “Check availability”.

Standard Prices
Performance durationPrice
Up to 1 hour£500
Up to 2 hours£575
Up to 3 hours£650
Barn Dances for Everyone
Full starFull starFull starFull starFull star
5 out of 5
9 verified reviews
Satisfaction
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5.0
Professionalism
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5.0
Communication
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5.0
Punctuality
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5.0

Barn Dances for Everyone's Reviews

From Encore customers:

EP
Eileen P
4 days ago
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5 out of 5

James was friendly, adaptable and cheery..would recommend

Reply from Barn Dances for Everyone
4 days ago

Thank you, Eileen! You were a delightful crowd to call for! 😊

JT
Jenny T
8 months ago
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5 out of 5

James provided an excellent service. Very personable and made the evening a great success entertaining a wide range of ages and backgrounds. Guests who had never experienced Barn Dancing before thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Thank you James.

Reply from Barn Dances for Everyone
8 months ago

Thank you for that lovely review, Jenny. Your fabulous crowd of family and friends last Saturday were just the BEST to call for, so I had a blast! Congratulations again on that 50th anniversary! :-)

LP
Laura P
1 year ago
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5 out of 5

James was fantastic. Thank you for a memorable evening!

Reply from Barn Dances for Everyone
1 year ago

Thank you, Laura - that is so kind of you. It was an absolute pleasure to call for such a lovely crowd!

BG
Becci G
1 year ago
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5 out of 5

James absolutely made our evening. He provided all this own equipment, was very pleasant to communicate with and made our barn dance excellent. Could not recommend him enough!

Reply from Barn Dances for Everyone
1 year ago

Thank you, Becci! You were such a wonderfully lively and responsive crowd to call for, and I had the best time! Hope to see you all again soon! :-)

Read all 7 reviews

From other customers:

JC
Jenny C
4 years ago, for a Funeral / Memorial service in Topper St
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5 out of 5

Thank you for the fun and music James - such a lovely end to an extraordinary day when we said goodbye to mum at the Crematorium and danced at her wake. BRAVO!

AF
Amy F
9 years ago, for a Wedding in Kiln Ln
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5 out of 5

We were absolutely thrilled with the Barn Dance James called for our wedding guests; it made the evening and got everybody up and enjoying themselves. James was professional and enthusiastic and made everybody feel at ease. He made the dancing such fun and really set the happy mood for the rest of the night. We thoroughly recommend James and his barn dances for any party; guests young and old will enjoy themselves!