Hi

Just wanted to add a little bit here.

Gren was a very good friend when we lived in Nottingham from 1975 to 1978. I probably only saw him about every 5-10 years since then, but we've kept in contact even if it was mainly through mutual friends. Gren was briefly a member of the 'Owd 'Oss Mummers with me and also of Sullivan's Sword in the early days. He hosted Bendigo's Folk Club in Arnold with Phil Barber and Idwal Jones (Collectively called "Scroggins") and also hosted the Nottingham Traditional Music Club (NTMC) for a while. We played music together, sang together and, along with several others, went to folk festivals together.

Lots of people will tell you about Gren's music and his singing and it was as good then as it continued to be thereafter. I don't need to say anything about this but, something quite important to me, Gren taught me to play the melodeon.

For much of the time we were in Nottingham, Liz, my wife, and I lived in a small 2-up 2-down house in Suez Street and Gren stayed with another good friend, Bob Barron, in Bob's house in Sherwood Rise, about 5 or 10 minutes walk away.

I had bought an inadequate German melodeon (in F) and was trying to teach myself how to play it. I needed something better to learn on and Gren was the best melodeon player I knew, so I asked him if he'd come round and teach me. We hit on a mutually suitable arrangement, which was that Gren, and sometimes Bob, would come round on Sunday morning. Gren would spend an hour with me and his Hohner Pokerwork melodeon while Liz made Sunday lunch, then we'd all eat together. As always, Gren was relaxed, generous and supportive. He showed me the works, we sorted out a few tunes together and then he left me to get on with it. His approach with the bass end was quite characteristic. "Just play anything till it sounds right" says he, once I'd got the basic 2 buttons going.

They were really good times, but it all ended when Liz and I moved to Belfast in September 1978 for work. In the December, though, I bought myself a melodeon the same as Gren's and he put the strap brackets on for me with Brazing Wire. I still have the melodeon and the brackets are still there.

I was never as good a musician as Gren and my style is much simpler than his - he was always experimenting with what he called the "Twiddly Bits" - but I still owe Gren a lot and my playing style owes a good deal to him. He taught himself to play, and then to sing with the instrument (something I've never mastered). He was always modest about his talent, but I loved his style of playing and thought of him as a master in the art.

I was fortunate to be able to visit him in hospital a week or so before he died. He was his usual self, though he spoke very quietly and tended to drift off (I think with the Morphine) and he still shared a joke. He was kind, thoughtful and always supportive and I'll miss him a lot.

Ian Chandler
Ashwell, Hertfordshire