A long shot, I know, but yesterday my van was broken into in Deptford, South East London and thieves made off with 3 guitars, a mandolin and a wooden recorder.
The guitars in question are:

My lovely Breedlove American D20/SM accoustic, fitted with a Fishman pickup.

A Tanglewood TW47B electro-accoustic, mahogany with tortoiseshell binding and scratchplate.

A Tanglewood TW60. Dark sunburst design with 6 extra holes drilled into the headstock (don't ask!)

The mandolin in question is my beautiful Paul Hathway ( has a light shrinkage crack on the front of the body)

and a Meinel Maple descant recorder.

Lessons to be learnt:
ENSURE THAT YOUR INSTRUMENTS ARE PROPERLY INSURED.
DON'T BE COMPLACENT AND LEAVE INSTRUMENTS UNNATENDED IN VANS, EVEN FOR A SHORT TIME.

I am devasted at the loss, and angry at myself for not checking on my van insurance whilst carrying this gear. As I am not insured, I will never be able to afford to replace these instruments, but am grateful to a friend who is lending me some of his to tide our band over.
I am only grateful that my bandmate's fiddle and hurdy gurdy weren't in the van.

If any of you lovely UK people, especially people in the South East could keep your eyes open on your travels, or alternatively if you are on Facebook, you could click on our link and share our status I would be so grateful.                     https://www.facebook.com/Larkspurfolkband

Thank you

Rachel xx