Following on from Shirley's recent Interview in the Observer / Guardian ...

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=157365

folks might be interested in tonight's concert with Shirley and friends to celebrate her 80th year.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/all-in-the-downs-pur-92566
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/all-in-the-downs-92129

The 'downs' actually being the South Downs of Sussex - an area of outstanding natural beauty in Southern England. And so really the events should be entitled 'All in the Downs.' This refers to the old folks who lived and worked in the Downland villages and on the farms. Many were reknowned singers like the Copper Family of Rottingdean (my home village), or musicians like fiddle player Michael Turner of Warnham.

I too have deep connections with Sussex. My direct forbears - the Bryans - owned the workhouse at Petworth, and even earlier forbears came from Singleton near Chichester.

Sadly I haven't seen these events advertised anywhere in the folk press, or anywhere else other than a brief mention in Southbank event listings. Indeed there are masses of (higher priced) tickets still available.

Unfortunately I couldn't buy tickets at the Royal Festival Hall because they insisted I give them my home address. RFH is a charity - I don't give my private address to charities. In which case they said that they couldn't sell me tickets. Talk about 'Jobsworth's (see 'Jobsworth' by Jeremy Taylor on YouTube). Charities are well known in the UK for selling on addresses of supporters in order to bombard them with junk mail. Booking online involves a ubiquitous rip-off booking fee.