I've been learning and singing songs - in the garden, in the streets, at bus stops, wherever - since I was about ten (I remember singing all three verses of "Vincent" before my voice broke), but somehow I never got it together to sing in front of other people till I was in my forties. And it had to be a folk club, because that was the only place you could go and sing unaccompanied.

After a few years of that, I stumbled on a "mostly traditional" singaround (hi Les!) and everything changed. Where had all these songs been all my life? The melodies! The harmonies! Songs I'd never heard, that sounded like I'd known them all my life! I was hooked, and I've never looked back.