I only knew Tom vaguely (at the folk club we sat ourselves at opposite ends of the bar) until I turned up one rainy afternoon at Sidmouth (it must have been about 25 years ago now). I had come down by coach and was soaked. I went into the Anchor, intending to have a pint before going up to the camp-site, when I bumped into Tom. Neither of us had known the other was coming to Sidmouth. Seeing the state I was into Tom put my gear into his car and said he'd drive me up to the campsite later. Later never came and as it was too dark and wet to pitch my tent he said I should sleep in his which was family sized. We started working together that year, busking on the prom and picking up other musicians and singers.

Tom was a fixer and he soon got us the gig running the Rose and Crown singarounds at Chippenham festival and the York Tap singarounds at Sidmouth for which he recruited Rosie (whom still runs it upstairs), Bubbles, Tim Kent, Simon Reay, Alan Bond and others. We also had some smashing sessions at Poynton every Easter including one when Johhny Silvo managed to knock an iron cauldron off the rafters and onto Tom's head.

Tom could get anyone to join in and one year at the Rose and Crown in Chippenham we agreed to run the singaround in the evenings as well as at lunchtime. The pub was the usual meeting place for people intending to go to the local nightclub, Legends, and one night no folkies has turned up but the bar was still full. Tom asked me to play something (he accompanied on washboard) and after a while the backs turned and feet were tapping. Seeing this Tom started singing the sort of songs you would get at a Rugby club and in a short time had introduced us to what turned out to be the local football team. In the following years they would often come out to see us and sing a few songs themselves.

I could tell a few more stories but Tom was really the one for this. I'm sure he will be missed but more than just his family.