The
thought of cutting firewood sparked (sorry) another series of memories – of a
time long gone but still remembered with warmth (sorry again) and affection.
As a young slip of a lad I played in various folk groups. We did gigs in all the major folk clubs in Newcastle and Durham and, on one occasion, the Edinburgh Folk Festival. The band personnel changed from time to time but was always drawn from the same group of friends.
We spent a lot of time together, and the band almost became a second family to us. It wasn’t all playing and travelling – we had lots of weekends away with time to enjoy the wonderful landscape of Northumberland and the borders. Most of our music was based on the tales and legends of the region – and this helped us to soak in the place and the atmosphere.
We often spent time in an old hunting lodge, in a remote site, overlooking the small market town of Rothbury. One of the chores was collecting and cutting firewood. An old photograph from that time shows me with struwwelpeter hair and a very small size in wranglers - obviously we weren’t cutting wood!!!
This is a photo of Chantry – with Noel Johnson and Neville Williams
– taken in 1975 at Pike House near Rothbury.
Never realised you were in Chantry!
Also.... you and Jason are both on some kind of nostalgia trip.
Posted by: Tim the Enchanter | March 29, 2009 at 11:01 PM