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I am a Trustee of Gloucestershire Traditions, Chair of Stroud Wassail and member of the events team at the Folk of Gloucester. I am also lead singer of the punk folk band “The Swing Rioters” and one half of the folk duo “Scrape and Squeeze”.
Previously I have worked for the International Red Cross implementing information systems in disaster prone countries. I have also had 40 years experience in high tech international marketing.
About my Talks...
Talks illustrated with images and song
I offer a variety of talks that are illustrated with both projected images and song. These are available for clubs and other organisations that are within driving distance of Gloucester. So far I have given over 100 talks.
Available Talks
Our Heritage of Song : Or the People’s Voice.
This talk looks at our English heritage of traditional song. It looks at the process which creates “traditional” song. It also looks at how we so nearly lost this heritage and how it was rescued from oblivion. See this talk here. A talk given for the Civic Trust of Gloucester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHoK8jFuclA&t=205s
The History of Christmas and Wassailing
We all think that we know what makes a “traditional” Christmas. A home with the family eating turkey. Expecting presents from Santa Claus and so on. This talk shows how much of what we think goes to make up a traditional Christmas is a relatively modern idea. The Victorians fundamentally changed this festival.
This talk looks at what makes for a truly traditional Christmas and the central role played in that by the custom of wassailing.
Stories of Britain
This talk offers eight stories of Britain: four in prose and four in song. It is illustrated with pictures from the rather wonderful Alison Merry https://merryilluminations.co.uk/. British traditional folk song is a very strong medium for storytelling. This talk contains four such songs.
The stories:
The Battle of Nibley Green
Three Ravens (song)
The Prince and the Raven
Lovely Joan (song)
Princess Frideswide
Benjamin Bowmaneer (song)
The Voyage of the Matthew
There stands a cottage (song)
Fee:
I charge from £50 depending upon the driving distance from Gloucester
