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Please can I alert concertina/net readers in the north of the UK to a short tour I shall be doing in a fortnight or so.It is part of a national launch tour of folk clubs, arts centre and folk festival gigs that I am doing this year to introduce my debut solo CD " After All These Years"...which i have made at the age of 69.It was produced by my eldest son Sean, a well-known producer and musician.In fact, for those of you who know the folk scene- both in the UK, America, Europe inc Ireland - the " solo" album is peppered with some of the biggest names: Sean on guitar and his Yorkshire-born wife Kathryn Roberts on vocals;middle son Sam on piano and his acclaimed Irish singer wife Cara Dillon also on vocals, plus my famous son Seth on violin and viola.The legendary Nic Jones- who is a neigbour in my Dartmoor village- even sings on the CD!Also helping out is fellow Dartmoor musician Jim Causley,Ben Nicholls,Sam Kelly, Jamie Francis,Dan Crimp and Gill Redmond.The album has had national radio plays on Mark Radcliffe's BBC Radiio 2 Folk Show, plus BBC Radio 6 Tom Robinson show. Mike Harding has played several tracks on his popular worldwide podcast, and a dozen or more other BBC local radio and other indepedent radio stations have given airplay.You can buy it from amazon, iTunes, Proper or, best of all, via Paypal on my website www.geofflakeman.co.uk Better still come and hear the " stuff" live . On Thurs, Feb 16 I'll be playing at the renowned Black Swan Folk Club in York. On Fri, Feb 17 I'm supporting ace singer-songwriter Pete Morton at the Harlequin Theatre in Northwich, Cheshire. On Sat, Feb 18 Mike Harding has very kindly set up a solo gig for me at The Lion pub in Settle,Yorkshire On Sun, Feb 19 I play the Bothy Folk Club at Southport, Lancs. All concertina fans - especially duet players - will, hopefully, find something of interest in my shows.I use a Crane duet to perform self-written and west-country songs, English and Irish folk, Americana and even 19210's30's jazz. I would love to meet some concertina players from ' oop north.'Do come along . (While I'm here - for 'tinba players further south and west, I have solo gigs this Sat, Feb 4 at the David Hall, South Petherton,Somerset and on Sat, Feb 11 I'm at the Blazing Stump Folk Club, Carhampton Village Hall, near Minehead,Somerset.

Hello! I'm a new user on this forum so first off wanted to say hello! I've been playing concertina for about 20 years since the age of about 10! I've just bought a new wooden ended wheatstone concertina - my other concertina is a metal-ended and very loud so wanted something a little quieter for acoustic song accompaniment. However, my new concertina has an interesting history which I'm fascinated by and I would to get to the bottom of it. It has the usual Wheatsone label on one side but a very unusual label on the other side which reads: MADE TO ORDER OF T. WALLACE CHURCH, LANCS. WHEATSTONE & CO. MANUFACTURERS, LONDON. The normal label reads: WHEATSTONE & CO. PATENTEES AND 22551 MANUFACTURERS 20, CONDUIT STREET, LONDON, W I bought the concertina from barleycorn concertinas and have been told that to find a Wheatstone with the name of another person is extremely unusual. I've looked up T Wallace on the 1911 census and found that he was 49, living in Church, Lancashire and is described as a 'dealer and repairer of musical instruments'. However I can find no other trace of him or any connection Wheatstone on the internet. Church in Lancashire is very small place. The population now is under 4000 and it was probably smaller in the 1890's. I just wondered if anyone had come across anything similar or had ever heard of a T Wallace who dealt in concertinas or how he would have managed to get Wheatstone to actually add his name to the label! Thanks so much and I look forward to chatting to you all :-) Louise x