We were booked at a "Farningham Folk Festival" weekend in the Coach House many years ago. We were all young and not bothered in those days and the younger guests were expected to kip down in sleeping bags on the floor of the barn. Amongst the guests kipping there were Finbar & Eddie Furey and they had a number of undisciplined hangers-on who were also in the barn overnight.

Now, the bar, you will remember was in the Coach House barn and just about the time when people were settling down, one of the hangers-on went to the bar, took a pint glass and said, "Now then, lads, I'm going to mix you a cocktail, the like of which you have never seen before." and started filling the glass by going from optic to optic mixing whisky, brandy, gin, vodka etc. and started to pass it round. There were more than one refills of this deadly mixture as the night went on and as, you can imagine, a very noisy, wild, drunken night ensued. To his great credit, I remember that Eddie Furey went from group to group of those of us who were lying down trying to get some sleep and apologised for the racket and the behaviour, saying, "I thought they were our friends, but they have let us down."

This was the Saturday night. The arrangement was that all the artists were to be paid by the main organiser, John Barker, on the Sunday evening. I was sitting with John at a table near the front during the final set which I remember was by Bob Roberts. It was the year, not long before he died, than John had broken his leg very badly in more than one place and he was sitting at the table with his foot up on another chair; his entire leg was in plaster.

Finbar Furey came up to be paid. John greeted him and thanked him for his contribution to the weekend, took a wad of notes out of his wallet and started to count them out in a very demonstrative way on to the table next to him. He finished counting and Finbar was just about to pick up the money when John slapped his hand down over the piles of notes, then he picked them up again and said, "Oh, and the landlord will need this, for the whisky, this for the brandy, this for the gin, this for the vodka".... each time removing a note of what had been the Fureys' fee.

John then put the remaining notes back on the table and turned his attention back to Bob Roberts. Finbar did not say a word, but glared hard at John for a long, long time. During the uncomfortable time that followed, John did not once look at Finbar but gave his attention to Bob, joining in choruses, applauding etc. Eventually, Finbar scooped up the remaining notes from the table and left quickly.