The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #99472   Message #2083266
Posted By: GUEST,Guest. Wendy Price in Whitby
21-Jun-07 - 02:11 PM
Thread Name: Canadian folk icon Vera Johnson
Subject: RE: Canadian folk icon Vera Johnson
I've been searching for information on Vera Johnson for at least the last five years, as we were very good friends in the 60/s - late 70/s . My husband Bill Price and myself met Vera when we were living in Canada and this friendship continued when we returned to Yorkshire in the mid 60/s. She was always a very popular guest at the folk club we ran in Dewsbury, and we even found her on the Town Hall steps one day singing to a load of young students! She was never afraid of whipping out her guitar and giving a song to anyone who would listen - she was found under a tree at Vancouver Festival entertaining the crowds not hiding in the artists compound with her peers, and I also remember her standing behind the bar at our local folk club giving the landlady a private concert (after closing time). I think my interest in crocheting was fostered by Vera who was well known on the British Rail Network as the "crocheting" woman. We stayed in the little room she rented in London once and were amused that she had even crocheted a "fire escape" which was attached to the window with instructions on how to use it.

Why I missed this thread I do not know, but I am leaving for Vancouver Island in the morning, and will make every attempt to look up Vera in Ladysmith. Incidentally, I have a book of her songs, which was one she put out herself, I believe.