'we are so fortunate that the St Clair Manuscript has been preserved, and that Ronnie has made it available in a format that is easier for most of us to read!'

Absolutely. I corresponded with Ronnie for a while and we even threatened to meet up at Whitby Festival but our timings never coincided. I didn't know that he had passed on. A great loss to ballad research! I am following the work of Valentina Bold, Mary Ellen Brown and Emily Lyle with high hopes of seeing more of the same. There must be a lot of material in Hornel, Ewart, Abbotsford, Aberdeen and other places that has not seen the light of day yet.