Music

I hadn’t heard of Tom Leary until I sat next to him at a local village hall gig by the cosmic sausages. Tom and Kevin Dempsey, both of national and international fame, played at the Banbury Folk Club last night. What a fantastic evening, a rhythm tapping dream.
I love folk music. Tom is part of a larger group called Feast of Fiddles, and I can't wait to hear them!

I grew up and around music. We didn’t have a television, radio or music centre (although I do remember a turn table that was rarely used), but the house was always busy and with a number of instruments around the house impromptu Jam Sessions were not a rare sight. They hit their peak when mother took up the drums – with a grand piano and a drum kit in the hall, the sound was fantastic; guitar, saxophone, cornet, whistles, clarinet, fiddles, piano and drums filled the room, and as the music you are part of engulfs you are lost in the rhythm.

During my teens, the youth leader lived with Dick Brading of the Cambridge Crofters and with whistle players, fiddlers and guitarists in our midst we’d often end up filling evenings with music.

Music is so unexpected. My sister and I were tinkering around and ended up playing streets of London and my other sister having emerged from her slumber came slowly down the stairs singing the words, and boy could she sing – we had no idea!

I love spontaneous music. Sadly I am not a great musician, but as with all things, that has never stopped me! Living on a narrow boat is not conducive to piano playing, so any skills I did have are seriously rusty. Still, I love going to gigs, and often stop in a passing church hoping to find a piano to tickle; my most distinguished audience so far has been W.Churchill and his family, unfortunately they were all dead.