My Journey to Here. Peter Marlow
My first memory of music was sitting in a Pub back garden with my elder sister, brother and some other children at the age of 3 or 4 listening to the Oldies singing round a piano in the Pub. It was mainly a medley of Music Hall songs. At much the same time I was introduced to dancing at the Luton Labour Party Club, joining in with the likes of the Hokey-Cokey, and the Paley-Glide, great fun and it gave me a taste for more.
My first recollection of what I now know as a Folk Song was listening to the Luton Girls Choir on the BBC singing ‘Nymphs and Shepherds’ and being a Luton boy felt quite proud of them. In 1942 when the American servicemen started to arrive in Britain there were different performers being broadcast on the Radio, the likes of Burl Ives, Hoggy Carmichael and Woody Guthrie which gave me a taste for their music which was mainly sing-a-long type. After the War when the Saturday Morning Picture Clubs stated up we were regaled by singing Cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Later, in the 50’s we were introduced to Skiffle by the great Lonnie Donegan and others. On the dance scene, the social dances were more inclusive with dances like the Gay Gordons, St Bernard’s Waltz, Valetta along with other ballroom dances. I loved them all.
I joined the RAF in 1953 and encountered marching songs some of which, I later found out, were based on old folk songs. In 1956 I was posted to RAF Kinloss in the North East of Scotland and discovered a whole new spectrum of music. The Rugby team used to travel to matches in a old RAF bus and several of the team were National Servicemen from that region and sang quite a few songs from there which I now know as the Bothy Ballad’s.
After a few dark years I arrived in Bodmin in 1969. In 1970 I started work in a factory alongside a certain Vic Legg. It was October time and Vic was singing away, Tavistock Goosey Fair. It caught my interest and he told me he was singing it at the Folk Club on the Friday night and invited me along and that moment certainly changed my life.
The Yetties were one of the early guests I saw at the club and one of them danced a Morris Jig which triggered my dance taste buds. On a Folk Club Trip to Ashwater to meet other clubs for a sing, as we were going back to our bus I saw a chap demonstrating some Morris steps to Vic and a couple of other members. Later Vic got a few of us together and that was the start of Trigg Morris, the team has gone through several changes over the 52 years but is still a great bunch to be associated with.
January 1975 I started courting my dear wife Linda and, as the Folk Club was closed and the Morris taking a break the only Folk item I could show her was the Wassail. I knew a few of them as they worked in the Hospital and knew that one of their early calls was the White Hart Pub, so we went down there to wait for them. When they arrived it was just the 4 older members as the others had not finished work.
Old Tom asked me to give them a hand with the singing and I was only to pleased. We crossed over the road to what used to be the dairy and an old lady with a Zimmer frame came to the door and popped a couple of coins in the box. We next moved round into the Church Square and the rest of the lads joined us. We continued for a couple of other stops and I said to Tom that we would be off and he said well next year you can come all the way round…. and that was my introduction to the wonderful Tradition of Wassailing.
In the early years of my time with the Folk Club we have been privileged to have had as guests many of the ‘Old Traditional Singers’ and so many of the Top ranked revival performers, a legacy that Bodmin can be proud of and I have been fortunate to be part of it for 52 years.
