For a few years the late Terry Whelan ran a series of Ewan MacColl Memorial Weekends around parts of Manchester and Salford (it was a sort of movable feast which even once took place in the Secret White Lion in Swinton). Although they were widely advertised on the folk club scene and on Mudcat I don't recall seeing such large crowds at any of the events as turned up last Tuesday at Peel Hall. However the quality of the singing at some of those singarounds was of an unbelievably high standard - I still find the hairs creeping at the back of my neck when I recall Terry Yarnell's version of Lamkin which he sang in the back room of the Working Class Movement Library. Another year Jim Carroll and Pat MacKenzie gave a superb illustrated talk on Walter Pardon which gave me a real insight into how deeply one traditional singer thought about his material.

Maybe it would be a good time to resurrect the event - perhaps with a low-key start this coming January to commemorate the 95th anniversary of MacColl's birth. He was born 25 January 1915, on Burn's night, which suggests a possible theme for the night...Perhaps somewhere not too far from the Beech in Chorlton might be willing to host it???

Matthew Edwards