Updates emailed  6 September 2024 

​Folklife Traditions Journal updates
​
Download (free) the Email we sent = PDF of Updates for Members' Folk News (below), for Journal, and for Directory. 6 pages, 717 KB        If any problems, email [email protected] & we'll email it to you.
Our next JOURNAL will be out on 1 November.   Deadline for Articles 1 October.
Already received:   Long Lankin, by Rosie Upton; Gallant Hussar, by Charles Menteith; 4 tunes from Isabella Kennaugh, by Stephen Miller.
More welcome!

Contributors

🄹 Our contributors Roy and Lesley Adkins will no longer be sending in their excellent articles for the Journal. We thank them for their 29 wonderful contributions, as detailed on the Index: ARTICLES webpage.  

Societies
🄹 TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM.  See https://tradsong.org​
     TSF produce excellent online meetings, free to view, usually once a month for most months, held on a Sunday at 16:00 London Time.
      These usually last 90 minutes and typically have 3 speakers, occasionally 1 for a single topic.
Sunday 8 September 16:00 London time (BST, UTC+1)
  • Barry O'Neill  Traditional Macaronic Songs from around the World and Canada.
  • Nick Dow  The Life and Songs of Marina Russell.
  • Margaret Bennett    Macaronic songs:  Integration or separation? 
Simply log in to the Zoom meeting a few minutes before the start time using this link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81174591014?pwd=t98HKKahaazxuefSJ8Kb5GE3RJaxcZ.1
Meeting ID: 811 7459 1014  Passcode: 943073
Link also available on the ‘Meetings’ page of the TSF website – www.tradsong.org.
    You will then be placed in the waiting room until the meeting starts. If you arrive later, you will be admitted as soon as practical (we are often busy in the early part of the meeting).  If you have problems with access, contact [email protected] - we might be able to help.
Sunday 13 October 2024
Another single topic event:, the speaker will be Tiffany Hoare, the Library and Archives Director at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
  • Heritage secured: the new Vaughan Williams Memorial Library archives and indexes
Updates emailed  27 June 2024 

​Folklife Traditions Journal updates
​​Folklife Traditions Journal updates
​Publications
   Mae'r Lolfa newydd ail-ryddhau un o bosteri eiconig Margaret Jones - Poster Chweldau Cymru.
Pris y poster yw £9.99 +p&p a gellir ei archebu yn www.ylolfa.com neu yn eich siop lyfrau leol.
   Hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg a Saesneg argraffiad newydd o lyfr Robin Gwyndaf Chwedlau Gwerin Cymru sy'n cynnwys dros 60 o chwedlau a gwybodaeth am arferion gwerin y Cymry. (£9.99)

   Y Lolfa has just released one of Margaret Jones's iconic posters - Welsh Folk Tales. Priced at £9.99+p&p it can be bought at www.ylolfa.com or in your local book shop.
   Also available in both Welsh and English a new edition of Robin Gwyndaf's book Welsh Folk Tales including over 60 tales and information on Welsh folk customs. (£9.99)
Updates emailed 23 May 2024

​Folklife Traditions Journal updates
Collectomania!: Folk Song and Music Collectors and their Worlds
Cecil Sharp House, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July 2024
 
Booking for the ‘Collectomania’ conference is now open and you can buy your tickets through the EFDSS website – HERE
 
The full programme will be announced shortly, but papers accepted so far include:
 
• Sabine Baring-Gould – 100 years on
• 'Not to bury Sharp, but to crucify him': A critical appraisal of the academic assault on England's foremost folk song collector.
• Context and interaction – issues in writing about historical song collecting
• Anne Geddes Gilchrist: Folk Song Collector and Scholar
• Joanna Colcord: A Sailor’s Life, a Collector’s Legacy
• 'Your last proposal about music hunting sounds charming. We must think it over.' W.H. Gill and J.F. Gill as Manx Folk Song Collectors
• 'They Call Me Jack of All Trades”' Four multi-tasking ballad collectors born in nineteenth-century Ireland, and how their several occupations and experiences coloured their interest in gathering songs
• Collecting with the Dictaphone: James Madison Carpenter's Recordings and Transcriptions of English and Scottish Ballads
• Welsh Folk-Songs in Aberystwyth, London and Paris
 
This is an in-person conference, though a few of the papers may be pre-recorded for presentation on the day. If you have any questions, please direct them to Steve Roud - [email protected]
 
The conference has been organised by TSF and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library of the English Folk Dance and Song Society with the support of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA), Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru (Welsh Folk Song Society), and the Elphinstone Institute (University of Aberdeen).
Updates emailed 3 May 2024
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Folklife Traditions Journal updates

🄵  TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM - Special Online Meeting
5th May, 4pm, Zoom:  Using the Roud Indexes on the New VWML Website - A Practical Guide.
    Steve Roud will lead a session explaining the changes that have been made to the way his index is presented on the new edition of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Website. He writes:   'The new Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website was launched on 16th April, and is undergoing testing. The way that users access the Roud Indexes has therefore changed, although the underlying functionality remains the same. This session will be a practical one and Steve Roud will demonstrate how to search and navigate his material on the new site. All welcome, from beginners to index-nerds.'
   Booking for the event closes at 4pm on 4th May § - Register for your free ticket at Eventbrite/Ballad Partners
Places for TSF Online meetings using Zoom are limited to 100 people. 
§ ​  If you can't make this or it's now full or if you are are too late to book, TSF meetings are usually recorded and made available on TSF’s YouTube channel - usually a few days after the live Zoom meeting.

🄹 NEW BOOK FROM THE BALLAD PARTNERS : ‘Jinny the Witch’ and Other Song Folk, edited by Steve Roud and David Atkinson, featuring papers given at the Traditional Song Forum (TSF) conferences in Limerick and Sheffield, and also at the Forum’s online meetings.   
    It’s The Ballad Partners’ ninth publication, and the fourth in the series of Folk Song Studies, published with financial help from the TSF and the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS).
    This wide-ranging volume has something for everyone: plenty for both folk music scholars and those with a more general interest in folk music, social history and cultural studies. Whether you’re interested in seasonal customs, traditional hunting songs, song collectors in the UK and America and folk songs’ links with music hall. There are also two fascinating chapters with a more   theoretical perspective: what do we mean by an ‘authentic’ folk song and is there a folk music canon? You’ll need to read the book to find out…
 
List of contents:

  • Singing that Ancient Doggerel about ‘Jinny the Witch’: Hollantide Eve Songs from the Isle of Man: Stephen Miller
  • New Year’s Eve Carol Singing in West Lancashire: Peter Bearon
  • The Enduring Textual Structures of Hunting Songs: Mary Emmett
  • The Fuller Sisters in America: Michael J. Bell
  • Alfred Wiliams’s Surviving Notebook: Richard Spencer
  • Framing the Collectors: The Collector–Singer Relationship in Historical and Comparative Perspective: Hugh Miller and Paul Mansfield
  • Folk Song and the Metaphysics of Canon Formation: David Atkinson
  • Harry Clifton and Harry Lauder – Their Impact on the Folk Repertoire: John Baxter
  • Felix McGlennon – Manufacturing First-Class Songs: John Baxter
  • Folk Song, Self-Realization, and the Measure of Authenticity: David Atkinson
 
‘Jinny the Witch’ and Other Song Folk , £15 (plus £3.50 p.&p UK),  pbk. 210pp.    ISBN 978-1-9161424-8-0
Available from The Ballad Partners website:   www.theballadpartners.co.uk/publications
      Looking ahead, The Ballad Partners have three other publications already in the pipeline: a volume of papers from last year’s English Folk Dance and Song Socieety (EFDSS) dance conference; a book on collector/scholar Anne Gilchrist by Peter Snape; an edited version of the late Susan Tilley’s MA thesis on northeast song. These publications will be followed by a new volume on ‘street literature’ – broadsides and chapbooks – being compiled by David Atkinson and Steve Roud. So  no shortage of projects for the foreseeable future!       Sue Allan

🄵  Note: Little Book of Ballads by Derek Taylor is detailed in May's Folklife West magazine, copied to www.folklife.uk/south-east.html
Updates emailed 19 March 2024
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Folklife Traditions Journal updates
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🄵  ​FOLKLORE SOCIETY ONLINE TALKS
Tickets for our online talks are booked via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/ online/the-folklore-society/?page=1%20 If you create an Eventbrite account and follow The Folklore Society you’ll receive notifications as soon as our tickets go on sale.
Folklore Society members get a discount by entering a Promo Code when buying the Eventbrite tickets. The Promo Codes for discounts are listed at https://folklore-society. com/members-only and are also sent to members with the email publicity before each talk. If you can’t get into the Members area of our website, please contact us at https:// folklore-society.com/about/contact/
Tickets are £6.00, discounted to £4.00 with the Promo Code.
●  26 March, 18:00, online talk, Diane Rodgers, ‘Fact, Fiction & Folklore in Film & Television.’
●  9 April, 18:00, online talk: Susan Kilby, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Extraordinary Ordinary Landscapes.’
●  23 April, 18:00, online talk: Juliette Wood: ‘Beastly Beasts: Hybrids in Folklore and Fantasy.’
●  7 May, 18:00, online talk: Eric Huang, ‘Martyrdom and Demonic Possession: the Virginal Followers of Saint Ursula.’
●  21 May, 18:00, online talk: Rosemary Power, ‘Sheela-na-gigs on Medieval and Early Modern Buildings.’
●  4 June, 18:00, online talk: Afrodite-Lidia Nounaki, ‘Re-inventing National History through Conspiracy Theories.’
●  18 June, 18:00, online talk, Victoria Newton, ‘Reproductive Bodylore: Vernacular Knowledge and Contraception Decisions.’ (Rescheduled).
●  2 July, 18:00, online talk: Fadime Apaydin, ‘The Portrait of Bhakti Sant Kabir Das.’ 
Dr Caroline Oates, Librarian
The Folklore Society, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT
Tel. +44(0) 203 915 3034
www.folklore-society.com
​Updates emailed 6 March 2024
​
Folklife Traditions Journal updates

"You have a great website. I wish I had known about it earlier when I was researching ballads for a discussion group." 
MARCH 2024 JOURNAL NOW ONLINE.
7 researched articles as announce in previous email; plus Trac Cymru (folk development for Wales); King for a Day and The Doc Rowe Collection. News from researchers and Folklife Societies.  Seasonal Local Celebrations from Doc Rowe.

🄹 Top 100 Best Selling Ballads of the 17th C
From Bob Askew
Dear All,
   I am happy to say that Professor Christopher Marsh has at last completed his Website with the tunes of the Top 100 Best Selling Ballads of the 17th Century. It has audio renditions of the songs, and I think it is a wonderful resource. A great chance to get to know some ballads that are a bit earlier than most that we sing. There are some great ballads in there, and  some tunes which would have gone on to be used in later ballads as well.
https://www.100ballads.org
    Some of the ballads may be religious or political, but it is great to know that misogynic ballads were not popular. There are some lovely and interesting ballads. Many would be great to hear sung today, although some might benefit from some shortening, just as seventeenth century people shortened some of the earlier ones!
    I think that it is a wonderful resource. Do send on to any singers, researchers, historians, or anyone who might be interested.
    All the Best, Bob

​🄵 TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM (1)
TSF Online Meeting 61, 17 March 2024, 4pm GMT.  There will be three presentations at this meeting which will be preceded at 15:30 by the TSF Annual General Meeting. The presentations will begin, as usual at 16:00.
  • Steve Gardham  'Same Song—Different Song'  Ever since Professor Child started to number the ballads he compiled...
  • Brian Peters  'John Stafford and Radical Song in Lancashire, 1800-1850'
  • Vic Gammon  'The (Too?) Remarkable Life of James Stuart (1728-1844) Fiddler of Berwick'
​See more details on https://tradsong.org/tsf-online-meetings-using-zoom

​🄵 TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM (2)
TSF Spring Conference  (date was noted in FTJ; these are more details)  
Saturday 6th April 2024; 9.30am - 5.00pm   Venue: Stowmarket Scout Centre, Milton Road North, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 1EX
   Speakers will include Alan Helsdon, Chris Heppa, Chris Holderness, Katie Howson, Hazel Marsh, Martin Nail, John Marshall Potter. Topics will encompass singers like Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, and Fred Whiting; communities such as the songs of Travellers and singing at the Blaxhall Ship, and a report on the recent Vaughan Williams Folk project. There will also be books and CDs for sale.
   This is an in-person meeting but it will be recorded and a video will go up on the TSF Youtube channel after the event.
    You can book your place through Eventbrite, using this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-feast-from-the-east-tickets-816208671107
Full details of the programme for the day will added to the Eventbrite page nearer the time.
www.tradsong.org
​Updates emailed 11 Feb 2024​

🄵  FTJ 74, Nov 2023, print magazine, on www.folklife-traditions.uk/this-issue.html   Online: free, read or download PDF. In print: 1 FTJ posted £3, EU £5, or world £6, subscription FTJ 3 issues £9, EU £15, world £18; Bank card https://ko-fi.com/s/d479e8d448  BACS: Folklife West T/A Folklife, Sort Code 09-01-55, Account 18675181

🄵 FTJ 75, Mar 2024, print magazine - is off to the printers on Tuesday, and it's 20 pages again! 
Researched articles are
  • The Holy Well, by Charles Menteith
  • The Golden Glove, by Rosie Upton 
  • Jane Teare and Catherine Ann Lawson: two singers from Jurby, Isle of Man, by Stephen Miller
  • A Song My Grandmother Taught Me: The Knocker Up, by David Harley
  • The ship is all laden, by Keith Gregson (additional tune by Johnny Handle)
  • Rushes, by Roy & Lesley Adkins
  • My Love's Gone, collected from William Shepherd, by Victoria Lowe
Trac Cymru (folk development for Wales) is our featured organisation.        Other content will include as earlier "Updates", King for a Day andThe Doc Rowe Collection; and as usual Folklife Societies & other news; Seasonal Local Celebrations from Doc Rowe.

  • JOURNAL price increase: March will be £2 where sold in clubs & sessions etc.
  • Posted one copy: £3.50, Europe £5.20, rest of world £6.15.
  • Posted 3 issues: £10, Europe £15, rest of world £18.
  • Or PDF: free downloads from www.folklife-traditions.uk (we welcome an occasional £3 donation, payment details at end of email]
Pre-Order before Friday 23rd Feb  AT OLD PRICES,  payment costs & details as FTJ 74 above.

🄹 COLLECTOMANIA CONFERENCE,  JULY 2024   from Steve Roud
Sat. 20th July – Sun. 21st July.  Collectomania! Folk Song and Music Collectors and their Worlds.   Venue: Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, London NW1 7AY
For well over two hundred years, and for a variety of reasons, ‘folk’ song and music enthusiasts have ventured into the field and become collectors - gatherers of the material which has greatly enhanced our understanding of the vernacular culture of the past. But their activities have come under increased scrutiny in recent years, and it is time for a wide-ranging re-assessment of the collectors’ lives and works. This major two-day conference will investigate collectors as individuals and networks, their achievements and failures, motives, methods, strengths and weaknesses, social and political context, and the underlying ethos of collecting itself.
The focus will be on collecting in Britain and Ireland, but we would also be pleased to hear from researchers in countries with strong historical folk cultural ties to these islands. The conference will be in-person, but papers from delegates who cannot attend can be pre-recorded and played on the day.
Proposals for papers (20 minutes) and other presentations are invited. 

Organised jointly by the English Folk Dance & Song Society (EFDSS) and the Traditional Song Forum (TSF); with the support of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA), the Welsh Folk Song Society, and the Elphinstone Institute (Aberdeen).
Contact: Steve Roud (steveroud<at>gmail.com)
​Updates emailed 21 Jan 2024 
​To go in the next Updates meail, and then in the next issue, March 1st, if not dated by then.   
​Material received just before deadline may simply go in the next issue & not be in Updates.
Folklife Traditions Journal  print magazine -- deadline 1 Feb for 1 March  www.folklife-traditions.uk
Articles received, so far
  • The Holy Well, by Charles Menteith
  • The Golden Glove, by Rosie Upton 
  • Jane Teare and Catherine Ann Lawson: two singers from Jurby, Isle of Man, by Stephen Miller
  • A Song My Grandmother Taught Me: The Knocker Up, by David Harley
  • The ship is all laden, by Keith Gregson (additional tune by Johnny Handle)
  • Rushes, by Roy & Lesley Adkins
and en route: material from GlosTrad archive, by Veronica Lowe.
    Other content will include as earlier updates below, King for a Day andThe Doc Rowe Collection; and as usual Folklife Societies & other news; Seasonal Local Celebrations from Doc Rowe.

🄹 ACCESS FOLK - SMALL PROJECTS GRANTS
For folk singing to remain relevant in 21st century England, new singers and enthusiasts need to engage with both the music and the meaning of a shared English identity. To that end, the Access Folk research project is exploring ways to increase and diversify participation in folk singing in England.
         Access Folk Small Project Grants of up to £1000 are available to help increase and diversify folk singing in England - see https://accessfolk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/activities/action-research
         The first application deadline is 22 January. Subsequent deadlines are on 29 March and 31 May.
See also the findings of the Accessing Folk Singing in England Report (also summarised in the Access Folk Podcast).
Email: [email protected], Website: accessfolk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk, Twitter: @AccessFolk, Facebook: @AccessFolk


🄹 From VIC GAMMON: Dave Harker’s Books on North East Music and Song now online. 
    Six volumes of Dave Harker’s books on North East music and song, published since 2012 and richly illustrated and contextualised, are now available online. You can read and refer to them online or download them as pdfs or other forms of electronic documents.
  Specifically, the books are:       Harker’s book, Fakesong (1985) ‘… which covers the period from c. 1700 to the 1980s, is both historical and critical and has given rise to substantial debate’, has been available for some time from the same source.  https://archive.org/details/FakesongD.Harker/page/n7/mode/2up
       I am pleased to have helped place some of Dave Harker’s books on popular song and music in North East England in the nineteenth century and before on the Internet Archive. Taken together, I think the books constitute the most extensive body of information on local song in its historical context in England that has ever been made. I am pleased this will now be available for those interested and for future generations. I believe hard copies of some of the books may still be available and anyone interested should contact Dave Harker at d1harker<at>btinternet.com . All were produced in limited editions and are likely to become rarities. 
  Vic Gammon, Hexham, January 2024.  :07905 032012 (mobile) 01434 600526 (home) vic.gammon<at>icloud.com 
Publications on line: https://newcastle.academia.edu/VicGammon 
Access ‘Vic Gammon Audio Archive Guide’ at URL above or via https://archive.org/details/vic-gammon-audio-archive-guide
Updates emailed 30 December 2023
​To go in the next Updates meail, and then in the next issue, March 1st, if not dated by then.   
​Material received just before deadline may simply go in the next issue & not be in Updates.
🄵 THE CORNISH NATIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVE is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to hear and play traditional tunes and songs from Cornwall.  It can be accessed on YouTube [www.youtube.com/channel/UC-FQd0apFJSPoE6AAwt2vaw], although a new website is currently being built (https://cornishnationalmusicarchive.co.uk).  There is a vast library of performances from Tea Treats to pipe music, including music that goes back to medieval days such as the Rescorla Snail Creep.  Snail Creeps were popular in the clay country and involved a procession of people walking behind a variety of instruments, eventually forming a close spiral.  One is still performed every year in July at the Rescorla Festival. 
    Lamorna Spry   (Folklife's Kesskrifer - Kernow Correspondent; this is from Lamorna's column in Folklife West, Jan 2024.

 
🄵 TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM.  2024 dates, from Steve Roud
  •  7 January  TSF zoom meeting
  • 17 February  Broadside Day (in person, all day)  London -  https://www.vwml.org/vwml-news/7005-broadside-day-2024
  • 17 March  TSF zoom meeting
  • 6 April  Traditional Song in Eastern England (in person, all day)  Stowmarket
  • 19-20 July  Collectomania (in person two-day conference on the collectors and collecting) London
 
🄵 VAUGHAN WILLLIAMS LIBRARY:  'LIBRARY LECTURES’ series
All on Zoom:  www.vwml.org/vwml-news/7006-library-lectures-2024
  • 16 January, Stephen Rowley. Sticks, Bells and Baldrics: Ball de Bastons – a Catalan tradition evolving with the times
  • 13 February, Frances Wilkins. Seinn Spioradail: Sacred soundscapes of Scotland’s Highland and Island communities
  • 12 March, Adèle Commins., Shaping and controlling tradition: Charles Villiers Stanford’s contributions to the preservation and reworking of folk melodies
  • 16 April, Nigel Tallis. Seeing music: George Scharf and the street musicians of London
Updates emailed 23 December 2023
​To go in the next Updates meail, and then in the next issue, March 1st, if not dated by then.   
​Material received just before deadline may simply go in the next issue & not be in Updates.
Picture
Doc Rowe: see news below
🄵  THE PLYGAIN WEBSITE, in English on www.plygain.org/home.htm  
      A Plygain is a special form of carol service held in parts of Wales around Christmas [Dec. & Jan.] - a service with its emphasis on singing traditional carols, unaccompanied. Many of these carols are very old. Uniquely, anyone can take part - as long as the conventions and customs are respected - and. apart from a short service (a reading, a prayer, a carol for the congregation), no words are spoken. The singers come forward whenever they feel like it!  For more details, see The Plygain Today webpage. The site gives full details of the tradition and how it has evolved, in English.
      The site gives full details of the tradition and how it has evolved, in English.
     The website has the Plygain Diary for December & January.  In the English version of the diary:  'The Plygain Diary' has a link to the map ""To follow the Diary, non-Welsh speakers need only know the meaning of Rhagfyr (= December) and Ionawr (= January)."  Click on the Welsh-language version and go to Dyddiadur [Diary]; direct link:  https://www.plygain.org/dyddiadur.htm​ 
​​
​​​🄹  THE DOC ROWE COLLECTION:  a documentary, and a crowdfunder to digitise Doc's pre-digital moving-image material.  
🄹  From Rob Curry and Tim Plester , 17/11/2023:
We Only Went And Did It!  So, then. This morning, we reached the end of an exhaustingly brilliant 28-day crowdfunding campaign. 
In that time, we have successfully raised over £58,000 to help digitise all of the audio-visual footage shot by "Britain's Greatest Living Folklorist", David 'Doc' Rowe: that includes calendar customs, seasonal events, folk-singers, storytellers, events, lectures, pub sessions, and so much more.
Everything that he has ever filmed (prior to switching to digital recording techniques).
Please see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/docrowe/updates/206686#start for more details of this wonderful achievement.
And please note that donations are still being accepted at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/docrowe  although we're sadly no longer able to offer any of our campaign rewards.
🄵  From Doc Rowe,  30/11/2023:
Doc writes:  The media - radio tv and newspapers have implied that everything is being digitised and being removed to somewhere else etc, etc. This explains exactly where it is.  It is only the moving image material that is being digitised. Selected /curated material will be on line in due course.​     The text below is also on Doc’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/docrowearchive
      Forgive my apparent lack of response to the recent incredible, staggering, overwhelming crowdfunding scheme created by Rob Curry, Tim Plester and Jo Breeze. I have to say that their initial suggestion was met with a simple appreciation of their interest but I was slightly bemused. That changed dramatically after the second day, to being completely overwhelmed and honoured by the reaction. It was initially inspired by a lottery funded project in Cornwall, that local film-maker, Barbara Santi, had set up before the pandemic, for me to digitise all of my Cornish audio and visual material to return to the local community. Barbara and I are now into the second year of that undertaking and that is also going well.            Rob and Tim have also been shadowing me in that period for their proposed film and in order to use some of my earlier moving-image material it needed digitising. Hence the crowdfunding scheme, principally to process the footage of calendar events.  Such has been the support and generosity of everyone - both here and abroad - it rapidly exceeded the requisite fund of £25,000.  We were equally stunned when the total established in excess of £59,000 and is still being added to.  It does mean that we can now look to include the music, song and dance footage, as well.  This I know, many supporters will have been hoping for, so eternal thanks to everyone.
     As you might appreciate, I am finding it extremely challenging to find the appropriate and adequate words just to simply say how indebted, humbled and privileged I feel to have received such confidence in the collection and the support from all over. I am aware of some friends and colleagues who have donated and value their involvement and friendship. I haven’t yet been able to access the complete list of contributors but assure you, I will be attempting to thank you all personally where possible.  Notably, I am grateful that people do recognise and appreciate my over-riding responsibility to keep the material as safe as possible. This, for those who over the years have allowed me to document their performances, words, actions and  beliefs for their future descendants and researchers.
   Personally, it has been a whirlwind of media interest over the weeks. As many of you know, following a piece in a weekend ‘Observer’ I was rolled-out on Monday’s ‘BBC Today’ programme, this was followed a few days later by a wider-ranging piece on CBC Radio, Canada. ‘Yorkshire Post’ then did a full page piece [embarrassing me and wasting half-a-page of text, by showing me in close-up looking at a spool of tape!] Finally, last Friday a two-minute clip at the end of ITN News was shown as a “good-news-item” for the weekend. 
   Inevitably, I’ve had to experience undesirable usage of words such as ‘weird’, ‘eccentric’ and ‘quirky’ and sadly, as they were all recorded in advance, brevity in final edited broadcasts. A few essential statements were not included and erroneous captions declared, for instance,  that “all the archive” has been “saved” or “digitised” however, there still remain audio-recordings in multiple formats; thousands of transparencies; black and white negatives; cuttings and manuscripts which also need digitising and do represent an equal volume of material. Since the year 1999, I have been recording digitally and this is all discretely stored on forty-two hard drives. Yes, I know, yet another worry! There was also a leading newspaper headline stating “the campaign hopes to give it a proper home” - Oh, how we wish.
    Finally, one major omission is the fact that none of this could have been achievable but for the astonishing Archive Support Group set up by Johnny Adams, almost a quarter-of-a-century ago, for individuals to pledge the equivalent of the price of a pint per month which goes towards the rental of correctly conditioned storage. Again, I don’t know the names of most of these good people but feel they should be acknowledged here and applauded for their continued financial support. One hopes that this current media interest in the collection plus the demonstration of this substantial assistance and private funding will provoke major awareness and offer of permanent housing.  Doc Rowe
As ever, we wish to record our appreciation of Doc allowing us to use his photos and lists of seasonal local celebrations for over 20 years.
​     For every issue we have added "The Doc Rowe Collection Support Group has been set up to support the Archive of Doc's unique collection. See: www.docrowe.org.uk and click on " contact "  -- please support them.

🄵   TRAC CYMRU WILL NO LONGER RECEIVE CORE FUNDING FROM ARTS COUNCIL OF WALES
Dear Supporters and Friends,
      We have some important news to share regarding Trac Cymru's funding. After April 1st, we will no longer receive our core operational funds from the Arts Council of Wales. We want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Arts Council of Wales for their support throughout the years. Their contributions have been instrumental in enabling us to promote Welsh traditional arts and culture, and for that, we are profoundly thankful. 
      However this decision threatens to have a disastrous effect, not just for Trac Cymru but for anyone who is passionate about keeping Welsh traditional music alive. There will be no organisation taking responsibility for training the new generations of folk musicians or for helping them make successful careers; no initiatives that support young people to create new songs for their communities, or find a community of musicians who share their love of our traditions.
     In 2003 we sent ten young women to a folk camp in Sweden so that they could see for themselves the tremendous power of folk music to change lives. They are all now active musicians. Some are professional musicians touring the world. Some teach canu gwerin and clog dancing in their primary schools. Some just enjoy playing the fiddle with their friends. Each of them has brought on new generations of young Welsh musicians, who in turn are bringing our living heritage to the globe and more importantly to their villages, schools, chapels and homes.
     Our work has reached over 188,000 people. Some of them have been audiences at Tŷ Gwerin, our groundbreaking partnership with Eisteddfod Genedlaethol; many of them as adults on our Big Experiment Arbrawf Mawr (BEAM) who now use their spare time to run their own folk workshops over the year. More recently we've worked with many young people in music workshop projects such as Gwerin Gwallgo and Gwerin Iau, which helped create our first Youth Folk Ensemble of Wales (AVANC) who are now a highly acclaimed independent folk band performing all around Wales and Europe in festivals such as Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
    The Arts Council say they are planning to undertake a ‘strategic intervention’ in the future. But that is likely to result in some form of gap, maybe of years, before any organisation will be supported to do the scale of work we do now. They are hoping to be able to eventually offer more support for our traditional music but the pandemic has taught us that many things don’t regrow quickly, if they come back at all.
    We are trying to approach this with positive determination. Trac Cymru remains committed to preserving and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Wales and some externally funded projects, including the 3-year Cân y Cymoedd project. This will continue to be at the heart of our efforts. However, our plan to reach into the new curriculum and make sure that every pupil in the country has the chance to discover our folk songs is now under threat. Our plans to reach all the communities of Wales by having dedicated staff members working in local hubs have been knocked back indefinitely. Our online news service, newsletters and website could disappear. We could be back to the 1990s, when there were very few resources available to support our traditional arts.
      But you can help.
     We need you to now stand with us, support us, and be a part of our journey. Your help, in terms of donations, funding, and raising awareness, will be invaluable. Please stay tuned for more information about our upcoming donations campaign. 
We extend our deepest thanks to each and every one of you who has supported us over the years. Your belief in our mission has been our driving force, and we are immensely grateful for your trust and encouragement. As we embark on this new chapter, we remain steadfast in our commitment to preserving the vibrant traditions and cultures of Wales. We are called the Land of Song for a reason. Now is the time to raise our voices. Together, we can ensure that the cultural tapestry of Wales continues to thrive for generations to come.
      With warmest regards,
      Trac Cymru team.
DONATIONS LINK is https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/16001#!/DonationDetails

Updates emailed 20 November 2023
​To go in the next Updates meail, and then in the next issue, March 1st, if not dated by then.   
​Material received just before deadline may simply go in the next issue & not be in Updates.
 ‡‡ FILM:  KING FOR A DAY:  a documentary by Dr Barbara Santi about Padstow's spectacular May Day Obby Oss tradition.
    Inspirational story of indigenous Britain following a marginalized community at the heart of one of Europe’s oldest folk customs. Padstow’s “sexy, savage springtime rite”, known as the Obby Oss, is an ancient, ritualistic celebration welcoming the summer on May 1st.
    Tensions between tradition and progress in a rapidly changing world punctuate the importance of cultural identity and the relevance of folk customs in our globalised society.  A cinematic journey interweaving audio-visual archive spanning 150 years. Will this be the last generation to tease the ‘Old Oss’ from her stable to welcome the Summer?
     King for a Day is a story about friendship, hope, celebration and unity. For the first time, we see the significance of May Day through local eyes.
      “The film signals the need for wider, overdue conversations about what we truly value in the face of the relentless onslaught of capitalism. The film returns the custom to the terms in which folk traditions have historically been understood: as a dynamic, multi-layered act of identity confirmation but also as a political act, where, for a brief moment, the tables are turned - sometimes literally.” William Fowler, BFI National Archive and co-founder of The Flipside at BFI Southbank.
        www.awen.org.uk / Vimeo on Demand https://vimeo.com/ondemand/kingforadayder 
Barbara Santi     Documentary Director | Creative Producer

🄵 Trac Cymru new address  PO Box 257  CAERNARFON  LL55 9DH  https://trac.cymru
Updates emailed 10 November 2023
​To go in the next Updates meail, and then in the next issue, March 1st, if not dated by then.   
​Material received just before deadline may simply go in the next issue & not be in Updates.
🄵  ROY & LESLEY ADKINS.  2 more illustrated talks to give this year. The first is related to our book Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England:
Exeter, Devon, Wednesday 22 November 2023: ‘Everyday Life in Jane Austen’s England’ from 10.45am to 11.45am. Venue: The Mint Methodist Church, Fore Street, Exeter, EX4 3AT. This talk is in the programme of the group called ‘The Exeter Forum’, but everyone is welcome (the hall is large), with a fee of £4 for non-members.
We are also giving a talk in December, based on our book Jack Tar:
Tiverton, Devon, Thursday 14 December 2023: ‘Jack Tar: Life in Nelson’s Navy’ from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. Venue: Cherith Hall, Blundells Road, Tiverton, EX16 4BZ. This talk is in the programme of the Local History Group of the Exe Valley U3A.
      Roy and Lesley's latest always-interesting occasional newsletter is now available: https://www.adkinshistory.com/newsletters/newsletter-68/

‡‡ FILM:  KING FOR A DAY:   a documentary by Dr Barbara Santi about Padstow's spectacular May Day Obby Oss tradition. 
Some info and the trailer: https://barbarasanti.co.uk/portfolio/kfad-trailer 
It's on VoD https://vimeo.com/ondemand/kingforadayder , and being distributed by the prestigious DER in the US https://www.der.org/
www.barbarasanti.co.uk,  www.awen.org.uk

🄵  TRADITIONAL SONG FORUM.  TSF Online (Zoom) Meeting 58, 19 Nov 2023, 4pm GMT (approx. 90 minutes; the UK is now on GMT). 
Linn Phipps:  ‘Salute to Rona Lightfoot project’ The piping songs legacy of trailblazing girl piper and celebrated singer and storyteller of South Uist; Leila Weinstein: ‘Will We Meet Again Someday? A History of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” 1907-1935; Barry O’Neill: ‘Songs of All Songs, songs made up of titles of songs’.  Limited to 100 people, book early to ensure you have a place.  More details on www.tradsong.org
      Videos of all the TSF Online meetings are available on the TSF YouTube channel – https://youtu.be/ty-Or2wGhkQ
      You will also find a calendar prominently displayed which gives you the dates of future meetings: 
10 Dec 23 - TSF Online 59 - Christmas Special
7 Jan 24 - TSF Online 60 - Speakers tbc
17 Feb 24 - Broadside Day (Live event, C# House) [also see in our latest Journal]
17 Mar 24 - TSF Online 61 - St Patrick's Day Special
6 Apr 24 - 'Feast From the East', Conference, (Live event, Stowmarket)
14 Apr 24 - TSF Online 62 - Speakers tbc
20-21 Jul 24 - Collectomania Conference (Live Event C# House)  www.tradsong.org

About Folklife Traditions JOURNAL

we have a large online ARCHIVE
● Articles
● Song, tune, & notes
● Talks & Conferences
● Folklife listings
● Publications announced
● Folklife Institutions: intro., notes, articles, news
● Seasonal Celebrations: list with photos by Doc Rowe, and other contributions
On this website: