quote from legendary TedPoole a man who would be there supporting if there was a revolution
For Ted Poole, it was just another letter asking for a gig at the folk club he had set up with his wife in 1960s Swindon.
Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon in 1967
Simon and Garfunkel went on the enjoy huge success

The club had an excellent reputation - it offered eight nights work out of 10, and accommodation - and is still going to this day.

The typewritten letter by a relatively unknown American singer-songwriter - Paul Simon - asked for seven pounds, plus expenses.

"We were paying an average of £5 or £6 for leading lights at that time, but £7 was understandable because he had come from the US," Ted, now 79, said.

Simon - later to become one half of the world-renowned Simon and Garfunkel - was based in Britain at the time and is thought to have written some of his best-known works here.

These include Homeward Bound, penned while waiting for a train at Widnes rail station.

In the letter, dated 12 June 1964, Simon declares: "I record for Columbia Records in the States and will cut my first LP for Topic Records over here.

        
Ted Poole in 1960, and now
It was about traditional music and song, and celebrating working people's culture
Ted Poole
"I would appreciate any work that you could give me between the first week of August and the first week of September."

Very soon after, Ted met Simon - who asked again about a gig - after a concert in aid of folk musician Pete Seeger.

"'He asked: How about it? Do you have a space?'," said Ted

"I told him we were starting up and where we met - in the cellar underneath the Communist Party's Swindon branch.

"And then he said 'Ah...sorry'. He didn't want to get on 'the list'.

"He felt it might label him - it was still McCarthyite times in the US".

Ted, a lifelong Communist, has just handed five files and two bin bags packed with archive material about the club to the Wiltshire and Swindon Records Office - including Simon's letter.

"We had no idea at the time that he was going to become this worldwide figure," Ted admits.

'Burnt down'

The club started meeting below the Communist branch HQ for reasons of space.

Ted said: "It was about traditional music and song and celebrating working people's culture.

"The Trade Unions Congress passed Resolution 42 that as trade unionists, we should be interested in our own culture - we said OK and put on alternative nights at what became known as the Folk Club.

"It has always been non-profit making and is now in its 45th year.

"The club is one of the longest running in the country. We are proud of that. We did it for the love of working class culture, not for self-aggrandisement."

Big names that appeared there include Ewan McCall, Peggy Seeger, Dave Swarbrick and Julie Felix.

"Julie appeared no later than 1963, after the venue we were in had burnt down.

"A nearby car caught fire and took the place with it. We had to go elsewhere," said Ted.