michael sam wild

Hi folks. Despite a long absence I am still here. I was 80 last December. I have had a few ups and downs and we moved house to Shireoaks near Worksop . Notts. I found some good local sessions and have been to English Country Music Weekends and Whitby Folk Week. I obtained a G/D Wheatstone Anglo and a Lachenal Bb/F baritone Anglo but my main instrumental challenge has been fiddle which became feasible again after a shoulder operation in 2017 I hope to bump into friends again after the epidemic dies down . Stay safe

Hi One or two folk have asked if I am OK. yes, my shoulder healed and I took time out to get some practice on the fiddle . I will be selling some concertinas soon . I will post on the forum. I still play the anglo and got a nice baritone in Bb|F at Whitby Folk Week from Barleycorn. Thanks Mike

Do you mean G/D ?

Very sad news. One of my favourite traditional style players. I enjoyed playing along with her in sessions and last saw her in Miltown Malbay at the first Gathering a few years back RIP

It was great to meet and chat to Rollo at the English Country Music Weekend in the sessions at Bampton this summer he is still going strong and I got some nice photos

I usually sing unaccompanied songs so find the best key then do my best to accompany it in that key! Can work out costly in Anglos! But I find C G and D and F are best for me apart from Bb and Eb

Would anyone like to get together for mutually supportive workshops. Say once a month on a regular basis I envisage young and old, not in a pub and not a session initially. Helping each other learn to play Irish mainly on C/G in regular session keys. I live in Shireoaks near Worksop so would prefer a Worksop Workshop ! PM me or post here or find me on facebook

Welcome to the concertina community. I found your charts very clear and useful. Nice one ! The Merriman poem is also very well translated and interesting. yours Mike

I was talking to John Howson of Veteran at English Country Music Weekend about Reg Hall's history of Irish Music in London in the 60s and 70s . Reg did a PhD on it but has not published . There will be Topic releases of vintage recordings from that fertile scene ( when Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Casey, Jimmy Power , Danny Meehan ete etc were in their prime) with extensive sleeve notes . Should be good

A bit like all those German and Czech Strad violins! with 'genuine' labels

Cormac says on his Facebook he is going over to pipes and selling all his concertinas! . Find him on Facebook and PM him

On a C/G C along the row if you are solo , it goes a bit high but you can do Kimber Kords easily on LHS for volume or octaves as Dan says. . G in 'Irish style' with a few chords is fine. Just to be awkward I do it in F so I can sing along too. Mrs Kitty Hayes style!.

Well spotted Jim. Or it could be one of his pigeons! I am following up both the leads you mention and will eventually report back. The brass band instruments and music are still accessible so could be linked somewhere The 4th Duke of Newcastle's men had explored for coal earlier but the first sod was cut 1854 and the shaft was sunk 1861. Their was inward migration to a sleepy medieval village following the building of the turnpike , canal and the railway .So these men who look to be from their 20s to 40s would be first or second generation Shireoaks miners (boys went down the pit at 12 or even younger) and the community was already settled with a new church, chapels , bands, football teams etc etc. They were Unionised and able to mount this campaign against a lockout where owners drove wages down in hard times. The book Black Diamonds by Catherine bailey (Penguin Books) tells a fascinating story of the contrasting lives of miners and aristocratic owners mainly centred on the Fitzwilliam estate at Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham a few miles away

I'll be at ECMW and Bradfield

Nice one in D/A on eBay 1 day to go. Anybody had experience of Piccolo in sessions etc?