There's an excellent obituary of Jim in the current 'Living Tradition' magazine, by a former Marsden resident, Nigel Hammill.
Kevin's point about Christy Moore was interesting- Christy offered us a few words of appreciation for the above article- I'll repeat it here - it's worth repeating....

'I did my first gig with Jim Irvine on October 6, 1968. I arrived at the Marsden Inn on that Sunday night, not knowing what to expect. Jim gave me a warm welcome, and introduced me to the Marsden Rattlers.It was a unique club. The room was thronged and everyone in the room seemed to be on first name terms with everyone in the band. It was one of those clubs where the guest artist was always secondary to the resident band. Jim was a brilliant compere/front man/singer. Through Jim I got to meet so many of the clubs in the North East- the High Level Ranters, John Doonan, the Elliotts of Birtley, Bob Davenport.
It was a golden era and Jim was at the heart of it'
                            Christy Moore