It was our privilege in the Friends Of American Old Time Music And Dance (FOAOTMAD) to have Tom as our honorary life President from our start in 1994 to his recent death. He played many times at our annual festival in Gainsborough, readily accepting gigs with us, and would when not on stage would find a jam and get stuck in. There was only one snag with this - the fiddles and banjos were usually in special trad tunings to suit certain tunes but if Tom wanted to change key, he'd just launch into it and we'd all have to rapidly retune. He was a delight to play with, because he brought a real American feel to the tunes we loved. I was really glad to be Chairman during some of this time (2004 - 2009). The club won't be the same without him.
Ray Banks