FTX-407 - DOWN AT THE OL' WATERMILL

Village Traditions - Devon

Recordings made by Peter Kennedy in the early fifties, with singers like old Bill Westaway on Dartmoor, whose father sang to collector, Sabine Baring-Gould, and singer- musicians like Billy Rew, concertina-player of Sidbury, some of whose dances are now in the repertoire of folk-dancers all over the World. Also featured are Mr and Mrs Fred Pidgeon, of Stockland, the Chagford Merrymakers, a Dartmoor processional street band, Will Thorn, of Kingston, and Bert Wakeham, of Bow Bridge, near Totnes, both playing melodeons.

1. THE SEVEN-STEPS - The HAYMAKERS Band, rec Sidbury Village Barn Dance - 0'46"

2. THE MALLARD - Bunny PALMER, Sidbury (Interviewer: Bernard Fishwick) - 2'58"

3. THE HEEL-AND-TOE POLKA - Bert Wakeham (mel), Bow Bridge, Totnes - 1'58"

4. THAT'S WHERE I MET WITH MY DARLING - Bill Westaway, Belstone - 3'38"

5. THE DANNISH WALTZ/ talk/ DOUBLE CHANGE SIDES - Fred Pidgeon (fid), Stockland - 2'11"

6. WHEN I WAS SINGLE, O THEN - Jim Martin with Sandy Moir (acc), Lifton - 2'54"

7. CROSS HANDS/talk/TWO BETWEEN TWO - Will Thorn (mel), Kingston, Modbury - 1'37"

8. THE FARMYARD BOY - Billy Rew, Sidbury, near Sidmouth - 3'05"

9. THE BOX OF MATCHES/ talk/ WALTZ - Bert Wakeham (mel) - 1'27"

10. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT? - Bill Westaway - 1'33"

11. SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY - Fred (fid) & Fanny Pidgeon (piano) - 0'46"

12. PIMM'S No.1 POLKA - As previous - 0'43"

13. THE DYING COWBOY - Jack Gribble with Pat Shaw (p/ acc), Bradninch - 3'00"

14. THE DEVONSHIRE STEP-DANCE - Will Thorn (mel) (talk bef) - 2'05"

15. THE OLD COUNTRY SQUIRE (Cheer, boys, cheer) - Bill Westaway - 2'14"

16. SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE - Chagford Merrymakers Band - 0'57"

17. WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO, MY BOY, BILLY BOY? - Dicky Lashbrook, Kelly - 2'13"

18. THE TRIUMPH/ Talk/ PLAIN SCHOTTISCHE - Fred & Fanny Pidgeon - 2'04"

19. THE PIG'S COUNTENANCE (Recitation) - 3 women at Denbury - 1'27"

20. GOLDEN SLIPPERS - Chagford Merrymakers Band - 1'24"

21. GROWING OLD - Bill Westaway - 2'37"

22. OVER THE WATER TO CHARLIE (Handkerchief Dance) - Billy Rew (concertina) - 0'55"

Recorded & edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1977.

Most of these recordings by Peter Kennedy were made on the first portable tape recording machine, manufactured by Scophony Baird, in the early fifties. They represent the beginnings of his efforts to draw public attention to the survival of folk traditions which were assumed to have died out before the Second World War. Some were made in people's homes, around their own firesides, while others were recorded at "The Village Barn Dance" radio programmes which Peter organised in village halls throughout the West Country. For many of these he brought along his own HAYMAKERS BAND, which he led on fiddle or melodeon. The comperes were either Ralph Wightman of Dorchester, Dorset or Bernard Fishwick from Cornwall, who can be heard on this album at Sidbury, near Sidmouth and at Kelly, near Lifton, near the Cornish border.

One of the most outstanding families of local folksingers were the Westaways on Dartmoor. Bill and his brother, Harry and other Devon singers, can be heard on another album of Devon Traditions: FTX-086. There is also a whole album devoted to Fred and Fanny Pidgeon on FTX-087. For examples of Devonshire dialect, there are four albums recorded by members of the Devon Federation of Women's Institutes: FTX-401, FTX-402, FTX-403 & FTX-404.