Oh dear, Folkiedave! So sorry to hear this.
I often chatted to Doug at the annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance Day and did so again this year on 11 Sept and so I offer this recollection as a recent anecdote of Doug.
This year we mostly talked about the "Abbots Bromley Horn Dance" tune, which was probably collected in the late 19c and which is used by the Thaxted Morris Men in their annual presentation of the dance on the first Saturday in June each year. The way Thaxted perform the dance is very mystical, with the tune being played by a single violin.
However, Doug was adamant that in Abbots Bromley the tune was never used for the dance itself, as they have always varied the tunes during the day and hardly ever use tunes in minor keys. He said that "it was never used in my time and it was never used in my father's time either!" And that's about 100 years! But he did say that it might have been collected as a tune which was played while walking between dance spots and, although it was written down as the Horn Dance tune, that was in error!
Even though Doug dismissed it in a very forthright manner, nonetheless it is a very haunting tune and I love it. So much so that I have it as a track on my CD. It is an MP3 on my website at www.alanwhitbread.co.uk if anyone wants to listen to it.
Doug will certainly be missed. He was a real character.
Please can someone post the details of the funeral arrangements when they are known.
"... only remembered for what we have done!"
Alan