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Jimmy Lynch  (West of Ireland)

       (photos: John Howson)

Jimmy Lynch was born in the west of Ireland. His mother played melodeon and the concertina and his father sang, particularly at threshing parties. He was one of five children, three brothers and one sister but only one of his brothers played music and he tragically died when he was just fourteen. Jimmy's mother played for crossroad dances which would start at four o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and continue until it was dark. In more recent years Jimmy lived in Worsley Mesnes, near Wigan and had a large collection of musical instruments. He took up busking and was a familiar figure with his rack of foot-operated dancing dolls which he transported in an old pram, often travelling by train or on visits back to Ireland, by ferry.

Tom Smith (Suffolk)

(photo: John Howson)

        Tom Valentine Smith (yes, born on 14th February!) has lived all his life in Thorpe Morieux, apart from a brief spell (about six years) away. "We had to move back!" he said. His working life was split between twenty-five years on the land and twenty-six working for Suffolk County Council. Without a doubt, it was Tom's father, Bert Smith, who encouraged him as a singer, and it is mainly from him that Tom's repertoire is gleaned: "He could sing from morning to night."
        Thorpe Morieux Bull was the place where the 'old boys' would gather for a Saturday night sing. Along with Bert Smith, there would be Tom's brother George, Herbert Game, Briar Crick and Truby Reynolds from Brettenham. "They've all gone now, but in those days you would turn out at ten o'clock, so at half past eight the dart board used to come down off the wall. Then singing for the last two hours!”
        Tom has never really been a pub singer himself, preferring to concentrate on the piano accordion, for which he was always in great demand in many of the pubs in his area. The songs he sang to me, had been written out when his father was alive, and I must say I'm glad they were.

Septimus Fawcett  (Teesdale)

  (photo: John Howson)

Septimus Fawcett was born in 1928 at West Birk Hatt Farm, Balersdale, Co. Durham. His grandfather had moved there from Swaledale. Septimus was the seventh of eight surviving children and his grandfather and father (Simon, known as Sam) played the English concertina. They had a family band which played for dancing and included his brother Dick who still plays piano accordion around the Dales. Their grandmother used to stepdance and she taught one of their uncles who stepped in fell boots. Sam was recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1953 and the family are mentioned in the 1973 book 'Hannah' about the isolated life of Hannah Hauxwell. When Septimus started playing, his main source of tunes was his father’s repertoire and several of these tunes are now rarely heard elsewhere. Now in his eighties, he still plays in his local pubs.

Emma Vickers  (Lancashire)

Emma Vickers was born in 1894 and lived in Burscough, Lancashire. Her father, as with many other members of the family, worked on the Leeds-Liverpool canal which goes through the village. He played fiddle and clog danced and sang songs as did her grandfather. Emma played the melodeon and led the local pace-eggers at Easter time and apart from singing the songs associated with that custom she also sang many of the family songs. Emma was recorded by Fred Hamer in 1963 and several of her songs were included in the EFDSS books 'Garners Gay' (1967) and 'Green Groves' (1973). She died in 1977.

Brian & Darren Breslin  (Fermanagh)

Brian Breslin was born in 1931 and his grandson Darren Breslin was born in 1985 and they live in Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh, where Darren was born. Brian was born in Rosslea, and his father always had a fiddle in the house. His first influence was the renowned piper Sean McAloon who wrote out some notes for him. In the late 1950s Brian played with the Pride of Erin Ceili Band, then after a break he got back into playing, mainly at pub sessions. The fiddle he plays now was made locally for him by an old fiddle maker called John Gunn from Derrylin.Darren has been playing tin whistle and then the button accordion since he was eight. Apart from his grandfather, who was probably his strongest influence, he also greatly admired two local players Sean Nugent from Fermanagh and Sean McCusker from Tyrone. Darren comes from a large musical family and his father Tommy would play tunes with him every evening. Darren has won many provincial fleadh medals and in 2008 he won the Senior All-Ireland button accordion competition. He can also be heard on his solo CD 'All Ireland Champion'.

Jack Stannard  (Suffolk)

  (photo: John Howson)

Jack Stannard was born in 1917 in Bedfield, Suffolk. He left school at the age of fourteen to work on the land for ten shillings a week. He then developed a particular love of Suffolk horses, becoming an expert horseman. He spent most of his working life in the employ of Robert Nesling of Bedfield. Jack’s large family were known for their singing and he has sung in most of the pubs in his locality, and at the age of ninety four, is still happy to give a song from his repertoire of country and comic songs, whenever the company is right.

Harry Litherland  (Lancashire)

 (photos: John Howson)

Harry Litherland was born in 1931 in Aspull near Wigan, Lancashire. His father Tom had a concertina and played by ear, often in local pubs. Harry had been playing violin but his father wouldn't let him touch the concertina until he was thirty. He showed him the basics but it was an old chap called Silvester Halliwell who taught him most. Harry's concertina is a McCann system duet and although Halliwell's was a Crane system he was still able to put him on the right path. At one time the concertina was very popular in the Wigan area and Harry particularly remembers two brothers called Rigby who played the local music halls. I first met Harry when he was busking in Leigh in Lancashire and he spent many years making his living this way, often travelling hundreds of miles to find his next audience.

Sarah Anne O'Neill  (Co. Tyrone)

Sarah Anne O'Neill was born in Derrytresk, Coalisland, County Tyrone in 1919. She came from a large family of ten children and three half-brothers from her mother's first marriage. Her father sang and played the fiddle and would gather other fiddle players to the house for some tunes. There was also lots of singing in the house and this encouraged herself and her younger brother Geordie (Hanna) to learn songs. Sarah Anne continued the tradition of house singing parties for many years in her own home. In 2009 she was awarded the TG4 Traditional Music Award, one of the highest honours in Irish traditional singing circles.

Reg Pratley  (Oxfordshire)

  (photo courtesy of Jamie Wheeler)

(Reg at the back right)

Reg Pratley was born in 1909 in Leafield, Oxfordshire. His father Frederick was the landlord of the Potter's Arms wherehe encouraged singing on a Saturday evening and sang songs himself. As a young boy Reg would stand on a table and sing, and he remembered that he would often get 8d or a shilling  for singing. Frederick kept the pub for thirty years before handing it over to his eldest son who kept it for a further seven years. Reg continued this family tradition and after moving to Bampton he became landlord of the Jubilee where again he found “a lot of people who could sing a song or tell a story”. He kept the pub for thirty years and died, after retirement, in 1996.

Denys Troughton  (North Yorkshire)

Denys Troughton was born in 1927 in Lythe, which is just above Whitby in North Yorkshire. He lived there until he married his wife Doris in 1956. She came from the small village of Hinderswell, which is midway between Mickleby and Staithes. Denys moved there and that is where they still live today. He learned local songs when he was young and later regularly sang at a pub in Goldsborough known as 'Dolly's'. Denys trained as a joiner and eventually started his own small business. He first joined a choir which was formed in Goldsborough and then joined the Staithes Fishermen's Choir in the mid 1980s.

John Campbell  (Co. Armagh)

(photo: Pete Heywood)

John Campbell was born in 1933 and lived most of his life in Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh. He was brought up by his grandfather, gaining his early inspiration from the older generation of storytellers who gathered in his house. At fourteen he started work as a barman and then took a clerical job, rising to site manager, only to be made redundant in 1980. He also kept sheep and took first prize at the Royal Dublin Show. Apart from his exceptional storytelling he was also a fine singer, expert lilter and played the Jew's Harp. In the mid 80s he teamed up with traditional Armagh singer Len Graham and together they made two CDs, 'Ebb and Flow' (1998) and ‘Two for the Road' (2001). John died in 2006 and obituaries appeared in the Guardian and the Independent newspapers.

David Savage  (Suffolk)

David Basil Savage was born in 1921 in Blaxhall, east Suffolk, He was one of ten children (one sister and nine brothers) and attended the village school, where he was allowed to leave early at the age offourteen, as he had secured a job on a local farm. He worked at Stone Farm, Blaxhall for most of his working life. His father, Robert, was a shepherd and known as a local character. His mother Priscilla sang songs and was recorded by George Ewart Evans in 1956. David sang mostly in Blaxhall Ship, often alongside his brother Len Savage and his cousin Geoff Ling who can be heard on VTC2CD ‘Songs Sung in Suffolk' and VTC3CD ‘Comic Songs Sung in Suffolk'. David died in 1997

Eli Frankham  (Norfolk)

Eli Frankham was born in 1928 in a horse-drawn vardo at Chanctonbury Ring in Sussex. For much of his young life, he travelled in southern England, until his family bought land in the Hampshire village of Horndean, which is close to Petersfield where in 1908 a Mr E. Frankham sang the 'The Ups and Downs' to folk song collector George Gardiner (Marrowbones p.97 EFDSS 1965). Eli became a professional boxer, starting his career in fairground boxing booths and he
kept and traded horses all his life. The family moved to the Wisbech area of Norfolk and Eli founded the National Romani Rights Association. He became known to Travellers across Britain and Europe, being a gifted linguist with a fine command of the Romany language. Eli enjoyed singing and telling stories and collected and wrote poems about Romany life. He died in 2000 aged seventy two and an obituary appeared in the Guardian.

Lucy Farr (Co. Galway, Ireland)

(photo courtesy of Roly Brown)       (Lucy Farr plays a session with Joe Whelan -(photo courtesy of Reg Hall)

        Lucy Farr was born in Ballinakill, County Galway and it was there she took up the fiddle. Between the mid-1930s, when she left home, and the early 1950s she stopped playing due to the demands of bringing up a family and working as a nurse. Then with the encouragement of her husband she re-discovered her musical interests and subsequently, figured prominently in London Irish music circles from  the 1960s on. She was thought by many to be one of the inspirational music to come out of these times.

Cyril Barber (Suffolk)

 (photo: EDP)       (photo: John Howson)

        Cyril was born into a large family in 1922 and his three brothers Sonny, Rip and Royal all played, danced and sang. The eldest brother, Sonny, was first to have an accordeon. As Cyril said, "When he was out of the way we'd all steal a tune on his music." Many of Cyril's songs he grew up with, as both his mother and father sang. The family home was Wingfield and it was around that area he first started to sing, play and stepdance. He told me, "Yes there was a lot of singing in the pubs around Wingfield. There was one old man who lived to be a hundred and he used to sing about 'shot and shell flying across the battle field' from the 1914 war. The folk used to sit there and tears came into their eyes."
        He would often keep company with the Whiting family, "Old Charlie Whiting, he could dance and sing a song!" and favourite pubs in those days would have been the Hoxne Swan and the Ivy House at Stradbroke.
        Cyril worked mainly on the land and he moved around quite a lot to find farm work, including a period in Cambridgeshire. In the sixties he moved to Felsham and worked for the council before retirement. In these later years he had almost stopped playing and singing: "Nobody wanted to hear those old songs any more" he told me. I'm pleased to say that many people are still interested in the old music and Cyril is always pleased to oblige with a tune, a step or a song.